The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure Review (Steilon)
Trails to Azure being the second game in the Crossbell arc/series is a curious game, there were many improvements to the system compared to the first game but there were a fair share of flaws too in some regards, overall it's still a fun game and the story is great hence why I'm still suggesting it, frankly it's a satisfying end to this arc and I hope ya'all enjoy it as much as I did dood!
Okay onto the main review! So the games much the same as it was originally but with the brand new addition of a new mechanic, that being master quartz, what's the difference between master quartz and normal quartz you ask? For starters they give you a set amount of elements meaning even if you had absolutely no quartz equipped you'd still get a spell or two but even better it means while equipped you can get much more varied and powerful spells due to the extra boost, it also raises various stats which increase over 5 levels and finally! Each one has a unique effect to it from starting with buffs to increased critical rates ect ect, it's a super nice addition especially in the era when what quartz you equipped in combination determined what spells you had dood.
Combat is very much the same bar an edition in certain scenarios known as burst, this gives the player free turns to attack at 20% increased damage and even let's you cast spells instantly allowing for a myriad of strategies, otherwise bar one aspect I will talk about later, the games mechanics are pretty much the same dood.
The game has additional characters which is a nice change and allows you to make use more often at points of the assist skills for characters not on the field, certain things are more expensive than normal but also have an increased effect due to it which is super nice dood.
Mini games! Yeaaaah so they added a mini-game and also made fishing a bit more annoying, they aren't horrible granted and the one only happens once and is easier than it seems at first glance, they are the kind of thing that's fun if you're into them but I feel detracted from the game while kind of forcing you to play them for the ridiculously great rewards at the end that you'll be wanting for the actual gameplay, all in all they both add and take away from the game based on who you are but I'm of the firm belief that mini-games of that nature should never be too hard if they have a reward of that nature to them dood.
The music is on point as always and combat is fun but there is a huge gripe I have with it and that's how later on Melee is barely really viable, particularly against bosses, I feel the aim was to get the player to use spells to buff players but even then it wasn't all that viable, the damage was too low, even using S-craft just wasn't really doing it outside of ATS damage attacks and even those seemed rather on the low end, especially with how slowly CP raises in this, it meant the way I played turned from two melee + two casters for a variable team to one tank and three casters meaning the way to play the game changed drastically for any of the fights that were actually a challenge dood.
But yeah that's Trails to Azure, it's definitely still fun despite my issues with it on both a personal but also practical level but it was a game that did a lot in it's time and a lot of good at that with a great storyline and characters as is known for the series in general, I hope this helps you decide on whether you wanna buy it or not, thank you for reading and until next we meet dood! *throws a rose*