download the new version for apple The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

And that’s before the final dungeon, which is quite long and boss-filled in its own right. And the final chapter is an absolute slog: it’s entirely too long and sends you all over Crossbell and through a ton of bosses.

An intermission chapter, for instance, serves almost no purpose other than to squeeze in the bathhouse - or in this case, beachfront - hijinks that Falcom just can’t help repeating over and over. That’s not to say that the pacing is perfect. The prologue is much more dramatic and action-packed this time around. Having said that, Trails to Azure does hit the ground running a bit faster than its predecessor and has more mini-climaxes strewn throughout the story to keep the tension up. In true Trails fashion, things start relatively slow and build to a fever pitch, with lots of huge twists in the second half of the game, some of which are hands down my favorite moments in the series. Almost immediately, there are suspicious characters, mysterious monsters, and political machinations to deal with - and that’s just the first half of the game. The SSS is a household name now, beloved by the people and generally respected by both the Crossbell Police Department and the local Bracer guild, but that doesn’t mean they have it easy.

Trails to Azure is set a few months after the events of Trails from Zero and sees a newly expanded Special Support Section getting back into the swing of things after a short hiatus. Though not without its faults, Trails to Azure is one of the strongest entries in the series, and experiencing the highs of this game with a proper English localization has been incredibly enjoyable. Now, Trails to Azure is finally available as well, and this is the Crossbell game I was most excited about playing. Last September, we finally got an official localization of Trails from Zero thanks to a collaboration between NIS America and fan translation group Geofront, and I was quite pleased to report that the wait had been worth it. Collectively referred to as the Crossbell games, this duology has long been seen as perhaps the peak of the series, and the difficulty in obtaining and playing the games in English up until now has undoubtedly only increased players’ expectations. For fans of Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes series, Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure have had an almost mythic reputation.

Download the new version for apple The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure