Hello! Before you properly enter this Trails To Azure ST, quick question, have you played Trails From Zero yet? Azure is the direct sequel to Zero and is thus required gaming. If you haven’t played Zero, I highly encourage and welcome you to hop on over to my official, unofficial Trails From Zero ST which should answer many general Trails and Zero/Azure specific questions you may have. If you have even more Trails questions, feel free to bump it or ask in the General RPG ST whichever you are most comfortable with. I’d love as many people as possible to check out these awesome games!
Open spoilers for Trails From Zero are allowed in this thread while Sky/Cold Steel/everything else must be spoiler tagged. I know Sky might seem a little weird as ideally you’ve caught up by now, but we will have some Zero only members here which is cool since this is mainly again the SSS’s journey so let’s keep it welcoming. Ok then, on with the thread!
Welcome to the first official Trails ST on Famiboards! Trails To Azure is here officially for the first time in English on Switch, PC, and PS4. As with Zero, Switch and PC are the definitive editions of Azure with tons of added QOL features and better graphics and performance as these versions are newly created by Durante’s team for the Western release. All three versions of the game do feature a fully voice acted main scenario in Japanese and a cameo addition of a certain Trails of Cold Steel III character, Juna, in the police academy. Again like Zero before it, this release builds off the Geofront fan translations which I myself have played so rest assured the English script is excellent. I’m so excited to host this ST and play and discuss this awesome RPG alongside you Fami.
Before we go further, I do have to note there is unfortunately some gross content in Azure including three groping scenes in the game all worse than Zero’s. This really sucks and feels like a huge betrayal when it happens. Please do not downplay any gross content in Azure.
With this ST here I’m generally aiming to keep it light on content. A huge appeal of these games is discovering everything as you go and you generally should have a good idea what to expect having Trails From Zero under your belts. Though I know others want a decent overview nonetheless so let me at least present mostly what is mechanically new here. Only minor details will be behind ispoiler tags too, so feel free to click through.
NEW FEATURES
Trails To Azure Completes The Crossbell Duology! - Join the expanded SSS on their biggest adventure yet!
The SSS Expands With New Members! – Noel and Wazy join the team officially!
New Combat Mechanics – Burst is a new mechanic in Azure that only appears in select story sections. When the Burst Gauge is full you can activate Burst to essentially let you have a handful of free turns with instant Arts casting. It’s really powerful!
Better Fast Travel – You get a car woohoo!
New Areas To Explore – You haven’t seen all of Crossbell just yet!
New Soundtrack - Including some very cool remixes!
New And Expanded Minigames - Including Pom Pom Party and Fishing Duels!
Expanded Bonding And Romance Systems!
Master Quartz Introduced - Think of these like accessories that level up with you to give you new powerful bonuses and abilities.
More Wazy Hemisphere!
OTHER RESOURCES
Before I wrap up the OP here, I do want to throw two other resources here. First up I wrote a series chronology so you know where Azure fits in and where you can continue your Trails journey next or brush up beforehand if you want. I included the platforms for the Western releases:
Trails in the Sky – PSP/Vita, PC
Trails in the Sky SC – PSP/Vita, PC
Trails in the Sky The Third – PC
Trails From Zero – Switch, PC, PS4
Trails To Azure – Switch, PC, PS4
Trails of Cold Steel – Vita, PS3, PS4, PC
Trails of Cold Steel II – Vita, PS3, PS4, PC
Trails of Cold Steel Northern War – Anime on Crunchyroll
Trails of Cold Steel III – PS4, Switch, PC
Trails of Cold Steel IV – PS4, Switch, PC
Trails Into Reverie – PS4, PS5, Switch, PC (Coming July 7th)
Spinoff - The Legend of Nayuta Boundless Trails – Switch, PS4, PC (Coming Fall 2023)
Kuro No Kiseki – Japan Only For Now
Kuro No Kiseki II – Japan Only For Now
NISA just put out a PC release of Kuro No Kiseki in Japan so we are clearly in store for Western releases of Trails 11 and 12 eventually! Also, for thoroughness sake, there is also a Trails in the Sky OVA collection called Trails in the Sky Complete. It doesn't follow the games exactly and is weirdly best seen after Trails From Zero. It did get a Blu Ray release here so maybe you can track down a copy if you are interested. It is not great, but is ok enough for what it is.
The other resource I want to share is an FAQ. Trails games can be huge time investments and the amount of missables in the Crossbell games is the most absurd in the series given you regularly have a full country available to you at once with no guidance for what to look for. I really recommend this guide on GameFAQs which helped make sure I had everything I wanted to grab before advancing the story. This includes most (not all) events to see, all important items to claim, and details all quests and hidden quests for full Detective Points. Keep in mind this guide does spoil the structure of the game obviously with how many days are in each chapter for example.
FROM ZERO TO AZURE
I think that about covers it. If you have any other questions let me know.
So now then, let’s enjoy Azure and Seize The Truth together!
Open spoilers for Trails From Zero are allowed in this thread while Sky/Cold Steel/everything else must be spoiler tagged. I know Sky might seem a little weird as ideally you’ve caught up by now, but we will have some Zero only members here which is cool since this is mainly again the SSS’s journey so let’s keep it welcoming. Ok then, on with the thread!
Welcome to the first official Trails ST on Famiboards! Trails To Azure is here officially for the first time in English on Switch, PC, and PS4. As with Zero, Switch and PC are the definitive editions of Azure with tons of added QOL features and better graphics and performance as these versions are newly created by Durante’s team for the Western release. All three versions of the game do feature a fully voice acted main scenario in Japanese and a cameo addition of a certain Trails of Cold Steel III character, Juna, in the police academy. Again like Zero before it, this release builds off the Geofront fan translations which I myself have played so rest assured the English script is excellent. I’m so excited to host this ST and play and discuss this awesome RPG alongside you Fami.
Before we go further, I do have to note there is unfortunately some gross content in Azure including three groping scenes in the game all worse than Zero’s. This really sucks and feels like a huge betrayal when it happens. Please do not downplay any gross content in Azure.
With this ST here I’m generally aiming to keep it light on content. A huge appeal of these games is discovering everything as you go and you generally should have a good idea what to expect having Trails From Zero under your belts. Though I know others want a decent overview nonetheless so let me at least present mostly what is mechanically new here. Only minor details will be behind ispoiler tags too, so feel free to click through.
NEW FEATURES
Trails To Azure Completes The Crossbell Duology! - Join the expanded SSS on their biggest adventure yet!
The SSS Expands With New Members! – Noel and Wazy join the team officially!
New Combat Mechanics – Burst is a new mechanic in Azure that only appears in select story sections. When the Burst Gauge is full you can activate Burst to essentially let you have a handful of free turns with instant Arts casting. It’s really powerful!
Better Fast Travel – You get a car woohoo!
New Areas To Explore – You haven’t seen all of Crossbell just yet!
New Soundtrack - Including some very cool remixes!
New And Expanded Minigames - Including Pom Pom Party and Fishing Duels!
Expanded Bonding And Romance Systems!
Master Quartz Introduced - Think of these like accessories that level up with you to give you new powerful bonuses and abilities.
More Wazy Hemisphere!
OTHER RESOURCES
Before I wrap up the OP here, I do want to throw two other resources here. First up I wrote a series chronology so you know where Azure fits in and where you can continue your Trails journey next or brush up beforehand if you want. I included the platforms for the Western releases:
Trails in the Sky – PSP/Vita, PC
Trails in the Sky SC – PSP/Vita, PC
Trails in the Sky The Third – PC
Trails From Zero – Switch, PC, PS4
Trails To Azure – Switch, PC, PS4
Trails of Cold Steel – Vita, PS3, PS4, PC
Trails of Cold Steel II – Vita, PS3, PS4, PC
Trails of Cold Steel Northern War – Anime on Crunchyroll
Trails of Cold Steel III – PS4, Switch, PC
Trails of Cold Steel IV – PS4, Switch, PC
Trails Into Reverie – PS4, PS5, Switch, PC (Coming July 7th)
Spinoff - The Legend of Nayuta Boundless Trails – Switch, PS4, PC (Coming Fall 2023)
Kuro No Kiseki – Japan Only For Now
Kuro No Kiseki II – Japan Only For Now
NISA just put out a PC release of Kuro No Kiseki in Japan so we are clearly in store for Western releases of Trails 11 and 12 eventually! Also, for thoroughness sake, there is also a Trails in the Sky OVA collection called Trails in the Sky Complete. It doesn't follow the games exactly and is weirdly best seen after Trails From Zero. It did get a Blu Ray release here so maybe you can track down a copy if you are interested. It is not great, but is ok enough for what it is.
The other resource I want to share is an FAQ. Trails games can be huge time investments and the amount of missables in the Crossbell games is the most absurd in the series given you regularly have a full country available to you at once with no guidance for what to look for. I really recommend this guide on GameFAQs which helped make sure I had everything I wanted to grab before advancing the story. This includes most (not all) events to see, all important items to claim, and details all quests and hidden quests for full Detective Points. Keep in mind this guide does spoil the structure of the game obviously with how many days are in each chapter for example.
FROM ZERO TO AZURE
I think that about covers it. If you have any other questions let me know.
So now then, let’s enjoy Azure and Seize The Truth together!