Set only a few months after the (quite good!) Trails from Zero (and the Road to the Future audio-drama), Trails to Azure provides the second half of the story that makes up the Crossbell arc in the long-running Trails series. As a direct sequel, it should only be played after familiarizing yourself with the story of Trails from Zero first – similar to how Trails in the Sky: First Chapter and Second Chapter previously told one whole story split into two games.

In fact, even going beyond that, Trails to Azure shares a surprisingly large amount of similarities with Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter (SC). As I’ll expand upon in the following review, Trails to Azure actually shares a lot of the criticisms I had to say about Trails in the Sky: SC in my review of the game.

For starters, just like Trails in the Sky SC, the gameplay of Trails to Azure remains almost unchanged from its predecessor. Apart from the introduction of three new party members, the addition of mastery Quartz and a ”Burst” gauge, which allows the party to dominate the turn order for a bit once built up, everything else should be familiar – from the grid- and turn-based combat system to the “request” quest system and general gameplay loop. Unsurprisingly, you’ll also rarely get to visit actually new locations during Trails to Azure, as most of the game takes place in all too familiar places. In short, if you liked the gameplay and world of Trails from Zero, you’ll probably enjoy this part of Trails to Azure as well – though I once again recommend using a walkthrough such as this one[psnprofiles.com] if you want to make sure you’re not losing out on the (way too many) missable items, events and quests.

That said, before moving on to the story, the dungeons of Trails to Azure deserve a special mention, which remain probably the biggest element of the Trails games that haven’t seen any improvement yet. While they might be straightforward to navigate at least, they’re also playing it safe to the point of just being boring – mostly consisting out of a few hallways, treasure chests and stairs, with almost no gameplay differences between the dungeons such as puzzle solving for example (at most, there’s an occasional lever to pull). This is especially apparent during the lengthy final dungeon, which serves no real purpose but to space apart the last few boss fights and isn’t interesting on its own – a wasted opportunity, to say the least.

On a last note regarding the gameplay of Trails to Azure, it’s a shame how the game handles fast travelling. After establishing a solid method of quickly getting to the various locations of the Crossbell region during the first chapter of the game, which really helps with the often spread-apart side quests, it’s a shame to see how the game handles fast travel in the later chapters – especially the final chapter, where a new method of fast-travel somehow involves going through even more menus than before.

Moving onto the story, Trails to Azure takes another leaf out of Trails in the Sky SC’s book, with a slower first half once again focusing on world-building before speeding up the pacing during the second half of the story. This is especially apparent during the “Intermission” chapter halfway through the game, which basically serves as the anime-typical “beach episode”. In fact, Trails to Azure unfortunately seems to double down on anime tropes such as these - more examples include protagonist Lloyd simultaneously being a womanizer and incredibly dense when it comes to romance or off-putting “fan-service” through blatantly inappropriate groping by a female character. Considering how well-written large parts of the remaining story are, especially when it comes to the political tensions between Crossbell and its neighbouring nations, it’s sad to see Trails to Azure occasionally slipping into this kind of anime trope territory.

Thankfully, spare for the occasional pacing issues and anime tropes, Trails to Azure does a great job at picking up the plot threads that its predecessor deliberately left open. One of my highlights of the game includes a political conference between various Zemurian nations taking place in Crossbell, which is one of the moments where the thorough worldbuilding the Trails series is known for really gets to pay off. That said, while Trails to Azure gets to close many of the open questions regarding Crossbell and its inhabitants, it’s also far from a finished duology story like the first two Trails in the Sky games were: Instead, Trails to Azure is heavily teasing the events simultaneously happening in Erebonia (and thus the next game in the franchise, Trails of Cold Steel). In fact, the ending card of Trails to Azure even says “to be continued … in another land”, which just goes to show how the franchise really doubled down on its multi-game storytelling by this point in time.

Setting itself apart from the previous Trails games however, are the antagonists of Trails to Azure, which are way more interesting this time around, as they receive a more thorough build-up and are driven by different motivations instead of just being “evil”. The Special Support Section also receives a fair share of character moments, some of which genuinely brought a tear to my eye. However, it’s important to note that Trails to Azure treats its protagonists quite differently from each other, with some getting a bigger focus and backstory than others. This is especially notable when it comes to the new party members, as one of them barely appears throughout the entire game for example, while the others are significantly more involved in the story proceedings.

Still, Trails to Azure provides a great 40+h story overall, with the familiar strengths (world building, characters) and weaknesses (pacing, tropes) fans expected of the franchise by now. Everyone who liked Trails from Zero should enjoy Trails to Azure just as much, maybe even more considering it’s doing a better job of scattering mini-climaxes throughout its story. And if you’re set on continuing with the series through Trails of Cold Steel anyways, the various Erebonia story teasers shouldn’t detract from the overall experience anyway.

However, Trails to Azure might prove less satisfactory if you’re either hoping for significant innovations in terms of gameplay or graphics or just want it to be another good drop-off point for the series. The same goes for players who are hoping for the game to focus on the political instead of the supernatural side of Zemuria – while Trails to Azure certainly doesn’t neglect the political conflict between the various nations, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the (JRPG) franchise doesn’t abandon it’s more fantastical elements in favour of it. As long as you enjoyed the previous Trails games however, you’ll most likely enjoy Trails to Azure as well.

I love and hate at the same time when a game brings me to tears