I just finished Azure and all I could think about is what an insane ride that was for the "end" of the crossbell arc, and I would definitely give azure a 5/5. It was the type of experience where for every 3-4 absurd highs there was also a head-scratching low, which is why I think that azure is ultimately a flawed masterpiece(I know how pretentious this sounds but bear with me).
Similar to my last post, I'm going to break this "review" up into smaller subsections to really organize my thoughts
Lore
In Azure, Falcom basically cashed in every single piece of lore and facet of worldbuilding(or should I say continentbuilding) in order to craft the tumult that Crossbell faces this game. Pretty much every major power showed out in some capacity to really exacerbate the "Crossbell Problem". One of my favorite examples of this is with the “High Bloods” questline. Here, we see that wealthy Calvardians can functionally do whatever they pleased in Crossbell, even with the progress of the Dieter admin. Worldbuilding like this really sells the sheer desperation of the situation Crossbell was in.
Starting with the church, in my "review" on Zero I noted that it was quite strange that there was no Dominion in Crossbell, and boy was that incorrect as Wazy was just hiding in plain sight the entire time. The schism between the congregations for divine worship vs sacraments is quite interesting to see play out, and its even more interesting that Owen from Sky the 3rd seems to be part of the root for this. This schism being part of the reason that the Zero-Azure plan was so successful was just a fantastic touch.
The West Zemuria Trade Conference is probably the single best chapter in the entire series so far. This felt like the natural progression from what we saw in Sky the 3rd for Osborne/Olivier, and getting to see Rocksmith for the first time was cool. The interactions between the major powers here was top notch, especially with the different approaches and psuedo-collaboration that Calvard/Erebonia was using to strong-arm Dieter/Crossbell into occupation. Also making the terrorist/opposition factions into the villains of this chapter was an amazing way to flesh out the politics of Calvard/Erebonia. This was definitely the peak of the game and there were basically zero lowpoints here.
The last lore piece I want to highlight centers around everything we learned about the Society/13 factories this game, as well as the Phantasmal Blaze Plan. We got a lot of insight into what the inner workings of the Society are, as well as their technology, and that raises a bunch of questions. Like what is even the common throughline for being aligned with the grandmaster, as Arianrhod is radically different from Weissmann/Norvatis who is also different from Bell? What is the actual goal of the phantasmal blaze plan? etc
Narrative/Story
This is unfortunately where all of the lows for this game are concentrated, but there are also just so many high highs in the story that I still rate it very highly overall. I think that in Azure, Crossbell as a character was served really well by this narrative, while most of the main characters and villains were not served by this narrative well at all, especially the women.
Going chapter by chapter, The leadup to and aftermath of the West Zemuria Trade Conference was fucking fire. And Everything from the end of chapter 3 to the finale was absolutely HEAT. Like it was just bombshell after bombshell being dropped on our cast for 40 hours straight. Chapter 4 might genuinely be the most bleak segment in one of these games lol. Like the part where the Aions came out of the sky didn’t even feel like we were in the same game anymore, and I mean that in the best way possible. And while the finale was long, I felt like there were enough dynamic attractions within it that it did not feel like too much of a drag.
Overall I think this game is probably the bleakest in the series. Our heroes basically do not get to have a single victory until the finale, and its nothing but a series of failures for 80 hours. In the prologue, we almost failed to save Ernest if it wasn’t for a clutch save from Kevin. Then we spend the first half of the game getting outsmarted and outworked by the Red Constellation and Ouroboros over and over again, and we’re also completely unable to “stop” the terrorists. Then in chapter 4 we just straight up lose everything, so the point that Lloyd is on the brink of giving up in the fragments chapter. We finally get some smidgeon of hope in the finale, but then Osborne/Erebonia just colonize us after saving KeA. Aight..
Also before we get into specific story elements, I just want to say that the opening for this game is perfection. However I also watched the Evolution opening after completing the game and they really spoiled literally every single plotpoint in that one lol?
Bonding Points System
I'm starting here because I think that this is where a lot of the problems with the main cast, particularly the women, comes from. The biggest issue of the bonding system, especially as it pertains to main characters, is that the BE is simply way too important.
Persona 3 and onward serves as the grandaddy/standard for JRPG bonding systems, and by nature they are usually self-contained adventures that don't affect the story, as they are optional content that not all players will get to see. When that "standard" is broken, you get situations like Kawakami in persona 5 where there is a dissonance between development in the bonding chain and the actual game. This system generally works because the main cast/playable party is usually developed within the core narrative itself, so you don't really lose out on any character understanding from the BE. Additionally you can also complete bonding events in Persona at varied points within the story, so we aren’t just dumping character progression all at once.
In Azure, the final BEs for the main cast either give us necessary backstory that should have been part of the mainline character arc(Wazy/Rixia/Randy) or they borderline contradict everything that we saw earlier in the game(Elie). We'll get more into this later but Rixia's place in the story and the meat behind her confrontation with Shirley feel so half baked if you don't see her BE which provides her backstory, same with Wazy. With Elie's BE, there is just no way that Lloyd only having eyes for Elie makes sense with the 80 hours of dense playboy LLoyd humor that I was just subjected to. However I will say that the BEs for KeA/Sully/Cecile/Illya were perfect because they did not have mega narrative importance.
I also just think that a bonding points system(especially one with a harem component) is antithetical to a long running series like trails. In fact I’d even go a step further and say that this is the main reason why Sky’s female cast is a cut above what we get in Crossbell. Estelle is obviously a very strong protagonist but Kloe is allowed to be her own complete character even if her crush on Joshua gets shut down. Compare that with crossbell where Elie just does not work as a character if she isn’t with Lloyd, and she can’t ever be with Lloyd because of this system.
Characters
Supporting cast/Crossbell
I thought that most of the supporting cast brought their A game here and really helped to make the entirety of Crossbell come alive as a character. The Sully/Illya/Cecile bonding moments were very well done. I will say though that it was pretty weak to show us that Illya made a full recovery in the end credit sequence. It kind of undermines the moment she had with Rixia a bit, and this is a journey that I’d love to have seen. Also the bonus scene we get with Cecile after the Arios fight was heartbreaking. Jona was lowkey the mvp of this arc like without him we’d have just gotten completely rolled by the antagonists, and his signs of maturing were really nice to see(like him being concerned about the SSS right before the last battle). Nielsen was a welcome addition and his quest line elevated the story. Even beyond the society lore tidbits that he was dropping, Rosenberg was also a very interesting guy. And all the CGF characters were fire.
However I do think that we unfortunately dropped the ball with Sergei here. Despite the position that he had in the opening, he seems to be pretty detached from the overarching plot after chapter 3. Like we don’t even get a scene where we can talk to him after beating Arios and we find out the truth behind Guy’s death and Arios’ role in it. We got a scene with Michel for this but can’t get one with Sergei? He’s probably the character that wanted to see the truth the most but we just don’t really give him anything?
Protagonists
In Azure, we expand the SSS to include Wazy and Noel who are welcome additions, and we sort of just tack on DUDley and Rixia towards the end. I think that the character writing for this set of protagonists was all over the place ultimately.
Lloyd - I love static characters that need to stay true to themselves in a world that is trying to tear them down at every turn, and mista Bannings fits the bill perfectly. Watching him regain his resolve after that Garcia pep talk was definitely one of the highlights of the game. And that same resolve is ultimately what lets him reach the hearts of Ernest, Arios, and most importantly KeA. My main issues with Lloyd in Azure are still basically what they were in zero. Dense Lloyd is just not a funny bit and it undermines every interaction with women in this game. He also still doesn't really have a flaw that he needs to navigate. Like while I do appreciate the incremental ways that Lloyd is getting out of Guy's shadow, him being in Guy's shadow does not seem to be an obstacle for him, as there is never really a situation where him wanting to approach a situation as Guy would limits him or causes an issue for him. He's decent as a protagonist. He's not gonna consistently move me the way that Estelle or Kevin did, but he is also capable of hitting extremely high highs like during his final conversation with Guy, or when he confronted Randy after his departure.
Randy - I have only played 5 trails games so far, but if you have red hair you are destined to be a top tier character in these games, them's the rules. Pretty much everything we got out of Randy this game was top tier, and he carried a lot of the non-KeA emotional weight here. Watching Sigmund just completely mentally break Randy in that bar was heartwrenching. I also love the angle that they take with Randy's "redemption" here. Randy isn't shifting into a completely different person here. Like a big part of the self hatred he has throughout the game is based on the fact that he is fully desensitized to the violence his family is inflicting, because that's what he was raised on and accustomed to. Watching him grow from that self hatred to being able to accept forgiveness/his place on the SSS was fantastic. I did think him letting go of his overt hatred for his family in the finale was a bit weak but we’ll take it.
Tio - Tio doesn't really get a lot of plot-driving moments this game and I actually think thats fine. A huge focus on Zero was on her opening up to the SSS about the trauma the cult put her through, and it seems like in Azure we're just watching her continue to heal from that. She shows a much wider range of emotions to the SSS and is acting more like a giddy teenager(see everything in the intermission). She is also significantly less cold/mean here as well. Its a subtle shift, but quite noticeable. I also liked how in her BE she's even willing to see her parents again which is nice(I however did not like the implications here with Lloyd but we move)
Noel - I initially thought that I would not like her on the SSS. She was a fine supporting character in zero and she didn't really have the kind of charm or mountain of questions that Wazy/Rixia do. But I really did enjoy the perspective Noel brought as being from the military, and this did not seem to overlap with Randy much. The only real criticisms I have for her arc was that we should have interspersed how she felt about the Crossbell Problem more through the story. Because her temporary betrayal and justification for it was truly powerful, it just needed to be longer. Like living in fear of Erebonia deciding to wipe you off the map with railguns is a very strong motivation. Unfortunately I did not like how the writers decided to undermine Noel's reunion with the SSS by turning it into another Lloyd harem joke. But I think what we were given with her was generally quite strong, and I would have preferred Noel having more screentime and Elie having less.
Wazy - Not going to lie to you Wazy is my fourth favorite Trails character behind Kevin, Olivier, and Agate now, and he is tied with Randy for that spot. He is just so funny and I just love the way that he goes out of his way to troll people in every support request. Like he was absolutely FRYING Pierre's shit when he thought his wife was cheating on him with a “host”. I also loved the way that he called out Lloyd when he tried his usual "lets protect Tio/Elie/Wazy" gimmick. His actual arc in this game is very compelling too. Gameplay-wise he never left my party because he gave me easy access to arts reflect. The only criticism I have is that his backstory should not have been part of his BE, and instead should have been given right before he left to do his Merkabah scouting, but overall another strong character.
Elie - I have never been more disappointed in how a series handled a main character ngl than I have with Azure and Elie. Azure is a game that should have practically been MADE for Elie to shine, but she just doesn't. In the first half of the story with the looming Crossbell Problem nearing its climax, the fact that she's so worldly and has such deep political knowledge/ties should have been quite relevant but it wasn't. Elie was practically raised by 2 of the main antagonists of this game and thats ALSO not relevant. Genuinely what does Elie actually DO in this game? It also doesn't help that around 85% of her dialogue is either exposition or "OMG Lloyd stop seducing women" like alright bro. Granted, the Arianhod exposition was cool. I'll give her that.
I think the issue with Elie is that she is basically designed around being in a relationship with Lloyd, but the harem nature of this game structurally prevents that. The Elie that we see in the BE with Lloyd(both in zero and in Azure) is so radically different and more complete than what we get for the rest of the game. It also doesn't help that she doesn't really challenge Lloyd or the SSS at all the way that Tio/Randy do. Like her worldview and sense of justice should be much more informed and wider scoped than Lloyd's but this literally never comes up. The Crossbell independence referendum would have been a perfect time to go into how Elie feels about independence vs how say Noel does, but we simply do not explore that. Elie just ends up feeling like a gigantic waste of potential for me by the end of Azure. Like her backstory literally embodies the Crossbell problem and we don’t get her PoV on what Crossbell’s independence means? During the confrontation with Dieter, Elie briefly touches on how his proposal was “bad politics”. Why could we not flesh this out? Overall Elie is just a way worse version of Kloe
Rixia - I just was not feeling her for both gameplay and story reasons. Gameplay wise, her entire kit is based around a brawler that applies deathblow. The only issue with this is that we get her in the finale, where literally every single enemy is immune to deathblow. So she is just strictly worse than the only 3 brawlers on the team. Story wise, the yin/Rixia dynamic does not seem as integrated into the narrative. We get snippets of her conflict between Yin and Arc en Ciel(which also lines up with Shirley) up until she gets unmasked, and then we kind of just drop it until the finale. This is another case where the BE context should have come into the picture earlier because I really did not care about Rixia much until the BE. However I did think the tension she had with Ilya and her reluctance to face her was really well done, so she at least has that going for her unlike Elie.
Dudley - On paper this should be one of my favorite characters. He's cut from the same cloth as Midorima from Kuroko no Basket, and his no-nonsense hypercompetitive streak with literally everybody is just so entertaining. I also like the way he challenges Lloyd. However Azure gives this dude quite literally nothing important to do or say. Gameplay wise we only get him for a handful of content in this game which is a shame because his crafts are quite fun. Narratively, he just doesn't do anything? Like I brought him along for both the Arios fight and the Grimwood confrontation and he literally has NOTHING to say. Dudley finds out that Arios, one of his longtime rivals who was also on the force, was an accessory to the murder of Guy(who Dudley was quite close to based off of his BE), and he has 1 line of dialogue to say? Dudley finds out that Grimwood, a person that we see him collaborating with regularly, was the one that shot Guy and he doesn't have shit to say? Like what? What was the plan with this character dawg? Genuinely Dudley brings less to the plot than Jona.
The saving grace for the SSS is that they mainly operate as an ensemble, so Wazy/Randy/Tio/Noel are often able to make up for how lacking other parts of the protagonists are. It is just very hard not to notice after a while that Rixia/Elie/Dudley are just actually ass.
Antagonists
The antagonists in this game are kinda weird. I think the easiest way to understand things is that this arc doesn't really have a Weissmann "Big Bad", because the problems that crossbell faces are so multi-faceted, so they can't just start and end with 1 person. I actually liked this approach, and I think that the villains overall work really well as an ensemble that carries out the Azure-Zero project even if some of them are quite weak.
- KeA - A truly tragic character. She just wants to be the SSS’s kid and feel the love that regular kids get. But at some point she comes to the obvious conclusion that she wasn’t a regular kid or even human at all and starts to doubt the love that she’s surrounded with. Yet, she still wants to help the people close to her in whatever way she can(see how she painstakingly chose a braille book for Shizuku early in the game). The combination of this lack of self worth as well as the genuine love she feels for her family/friends is what makes her susceptible to the machinations of the Azure-Zero project. So she decides to throw KeA away and become the new Sept-Terrion, no matter how much it hurts her, as by effectively throwing away her humanity she can “help” those closest to her. This obviously makes her a prime target to get exploited here, as seen when Novartis uses her power to create juiced up Decepticons. By becoming God she can effectively eliminate the barriers that affect the SSS.
The game further builds on KeA’s struggle during the (actual) finale where we learn that KeA was subconsciously manipulating people into loving her. This just drives her into the pits of despair that Demiourgos experienced, and it is truly tragic. Pretty much everything that surrounded KeA was very well executed
- Arios - This dude is probably the most well written loser I have ever encountered. Pretty much everything we learn about Arios in the 2nd half of this game made me despise him more and more, but this is ultimately what makes him so compelling as a villain. He is the perfect foil to what we saw from Cassius. Cassius faced absolute despair and also turned to the Bracer guild, but he NEVER ran from his family. Meanwhile Arios can barely look Shizuku in the face. He couldn’t even muster up the courage to kill Guy himself. At the start of this arc he projected this untouchable, god-like aura and at the end he was just a whimper. The only thing that I do not like about Arios though is that it feels like he gets off with a slap on the wrist based on the end credit sequence of him working with Lloyd. Probably because while he is legally an accessory, he didn’t actually commit murder, on top of still being the strongest combatant in crossbell for the resistance. At the very least I hope he isn't allowed to be a bracer anymore coz it is just insane that his "self penance" would be enough here
- Arianrhod - While she is basically a cameo villain, the crumbs that Falcom gave us with her are delicious and also make me question the nature of the society a bit. Obviously Weismann/Novartiis are evil and even Loewe was more of an anti hero than anything. But Arianrhod is like genuinely a good person? She’s even more righteous than our protagonists like word? And even her legion of lesbians consists of very honorable people like ok. What really sold me on her was the 2nd Minnith side quest where she just decides to save the day because Minnith scalping medical supplies was that despicable. I am really looking forward to seeing her in Erebonia. Also yeah she’s obviously really hot, but I’m also not a fan of how the opening spoiled her face reveal.
- Dieter - Man oh man I hate how this character was handled. He is the PERFECT foil to the SSS. He is an idealist that recognizes the 2 massive barriers looming over Crossbell’s head, so he uses the Crois legacy in order to gain the strength necessary to blast those walls down. While that parallels the SSS broadly and also Randy/Rixia specifically, it's pretty clear that his methods were supremely messed up even if the ends(his justice) were noble. Beyond the fact that this "peace" he'll bring Crossbell is going to be based on exploiting both KeA and Erebonia/Calvard, he also sacrified a shitton of people with his false flag operation too. He was also charismatic as hell, and unlike Grimwood we actually relied on him heavily. Also the way that he basically put KeA into a situation where she HAD to awaken in order to save her friends was masterful. Finally I thought that Lloyd's refutation of his ideals was way more powerful than what he did with Grimwood. Bell and Grimwood would have to be Loewe level in order to justify not using Dieter as a villain and um…..
- Grimwood - I genuinely think that this twist only exists so that we can redeem Arios later. On paper, the setup for Grimwood has a lot of room to be interesting, as his trauma is heavily connected to Lloyd/Guy as well as the broader Crossbell Problem as a whole. The issue here is that because the villain cast is already SO BLOATED we spend 0 time building up Grimwood to the point that this reveal would do anything. Unlike Dieter, the SSS really does not have to rely on Grimwood much for help, so I really did not feel a sense of “OH NO IT’s YOU???” like with Dieter. And then after the reveal, he has 1 confrontation with the SSS where he uses none of his skills as a lawyer to plead his case. He doesn’t even try to appeal to Lloyd with a “but we’re gonna revive Guy anyway” argument or anything, he just FOLDS the moment he’s confronted. Even his “death” was lame as hell too. This dude is just a fucking geek.
(Fun fact, I accidentally semi-spoiled myself on this twist when I was checking achievements right before a point of no return. Luckily I already completed the Nielsen quest line but still WHY did Falcom have to name the achievement that? They literally could have just named it "discover the mastermind behind the plot")
- Mariabell - Now I think Bell was actually a great antagonist until she lost. The way that she went about dropping bombshell after bombshell on the SSS and KeA was very entertaining, and her sheer cruelty served as a great balance to the lofty “noble” ideas of the rest of the villains. Her boss fight also requires some amount of creativity which is nice.
What ruins Bell for me is just how the SSS doesn’t give a shit about her at all once she lost. This is Elie’s version of Sasuke and all she can say is “bell…” every 2 seconds. And after Bell finished emotionally and physically torturing KeA the SSS just doesn’t give a shit? Like ok. I would have also respected her if she murdered Grimwood at least but she can’t even do that properly.
- Wald - Genuinely I don’t know why the writers added him to the main villain cast. He should have been a chapter villain that was part of Bell’s plan to do some gnosis shit. Instead he just lingers in the story because his totally-not-gay relationship with Wazy is in tatters. Like alright? At least he wasn’t a complete asshole once he got his jaw tapped
- Sigmund - Now this is a real villain. He’s pretty simple, and his dynamic with Randy is quite straightforward. He probably has the coldest introduction in the series. I thought his domain was quite interesting and really personified him as being the worst-case-scenario for what Randy could become. Also I cannot wait for the visual of him blowing up the IBC to get remade/modernized coz that was insane. I was overall quite satisfied with him unlike with..
- Shirley - She’s kind of like Renne if you take out all of her good qualities and just have her be a sexual predator for some reason. I know that this is a JRPG but the sequence where she groped Elie and Lloyd/SSS just let it slide was a new low. I did think her dynamic with Rixia was interesting, but I’m not a fan of how she basically got away with everything she did. Like she deadass shot up a theater and murdered CGF guardsmen and instead of getting some amount of internal or external consequence she just continues being a villain in the next set of games?
- Campanella/Novartis - Both of these cameo villains had a bit less presence than Arianrhod but were still quite solid. Campanella is a troll like usual and I also really appreciated the fight we had with him as it also required some amount of creativity. Novartis’ was kind of chilling the entire game but I will admit that the sequence where the Aions descended is the best scene in trails so I have to give him his props for that one.
Gameplay
Combat
I gotta say this is probably the best combat has been in the trails series for me so far(not counting FC remake). I opted to play on hard instead of nightmare this time around because I really was not a fan of it in zero. As a result the combat approaches felt way more diverse. In the early game status effects/crafts dominated as we could no longer cheese high level quartz via fishing/coppe as easily. In the middle part of the game defense starts to creep up and enemies start to be completely immune to status effects like they were in Zero, so arts become the go-to again. However in the late game once MQs are leveled up there is a lot more tactical diversity(read: having Randy with Chevalier wipe the screen with Berserker or having Tio with Criminal wipe out the screen with Lucifen Wing) which made the finale quite fun outside of the final boss(we will get to them later).
The addition of master quartz is such a great change that opens up party compositions and adds a whole new tactical layer to the game(with the exception of the fire MQs because I just put the best ones on Randy). Having them level up with you is also solid, and of course having them play a vital role in orbment lines is such a nice touch. Also the master Arts are all so fun to play around with like I just love being able to pop Rune of Illusion and just blitzing a boss.
Outside of MQs, I really loved the endgame "bell" quartz. It felt like I was able to turn all of my arts into sky the 3rd richard's crafts. Being able to heal or buff up my entire party with minimal delay was such a gamechanger, and obviously the offensive gatling gun was nice too.
I will say that the bosses in this game are definitely a step up from zero. From the cryptids to (the non shadow clone) Arios I really enjoyed the different challenges/gimmicks each boss fight brought to the table, with the sole exception of the final boss of course. The "unwinnable" fights in this game were mostly fine. I enjoyed the sigmund/Wald time limits, and Arianrhod really showed me that there's levels to this Oroboros shit. Mishelam Arios was fantastic because of Inevitable Struggle playing but I have never felt more disrespected in my life than when he revealed that we got pushed to extreme diff by a clone. I don't even think that's a move in 8 leaves one Blade the devs just made that shit up for the sole purpose of driving me into despair.
I will say though that when it comes to superbosses, I prefer arts based ones like Campanella over physical attackers like Arios/Sigmund/Arianrhod/Cassius/etc, only because they force us to actually be crafty and not just cheese evasion.
Lastly, the final boss made me glad I was not playing this shit on nightmare. The positives of this fight obviously include Azure Arbitrator and the fact that you needed a balanced approach between arts and crafts in order to solve this boss's gimmick. The cons of this fight include everything about the actual fight, from the regenerating guard + arts deflect to the boss countering every strategy you have used so far to finally the fact that this shit had a trillion hp. What I ended up doing was having LLoyd suck 3/4 of the minions together, Ellie using strike bell on Loyd so he could spin again, and then randy nuking them with war cry + berserker. I also cooked a bunch of the food stat restores EP and Craft Points(I am NOT using that acronym) so I could recover from getting vanished. This shit still ended up taking me a long ass time
Quests/Exploration
I just wanna say that having the orbal car/Merkabah made exploration very seamless in this game and was quite the welcome addition. Also being able to add functional customization to the car to the point where you could have a free mobile inn was a godsend for monster quests/farming.
The quest design was mostly fine, but I just hated how plot relevant the hidden side quests are in this game. The Nielsen questline was this game's version of the Jenis Royal Academy hostage situation from SC, where there is a lot of crucial information/interaction for the plot that gets revealed in a purely missable quest line. But the Nielsen line takes it even further because he is literally in places that you would not intuitively think to check without a guide(like why on earth would I be circling out to Guy's grave or a room in the Mainz inn at this specific juncture in the story). The Grimwood twist is already half baked like I said above but the Nielsen quest provides most of the context for it so if you missed it then the reveal is even worse. Luckily I use a guide for just finding where these quests are but this was quite convoluted
I do wanna say that the Minnith questline was fire for how it relates to what happened to the Capuas, and the followup quest where Arianrhod blitzed him was fantastic.
