I've been playing through this series as a first timer and writing reviews for the type of person I was. The ones who keep seeing this game hyped every where but playing the first couple minutes of the beginning and wondering, "What in the world are people talking about".

For my thoughts on the first game see: https://steamcommunity.com/id/RaginCaucajun/recommended/251150/

You can check out my second game review here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/RaginCaucajun/recommended/251290/

The third game I reviewed here https://steamcommunity.com/id/RaginCaucajun/recommended/436670/

The problem with the way most fans rate these games is they give them all 9's which leaves no room for improvements and when you experience the problems early in the first game you'll wonder deeply if this is as good as it gets.

Now that I've beaten the og trilogy I've begun to work my way through the crossbell arc. My goal is to experience these games to the fullest I aim for near 100% completion of every achievement before reviewing. Which can take a real sizable amount of time for each these games. I want to have the full scope of the game before settling into review it.

Story 8/10

Characters 9/10

Gameplay 7/10

Music 6/10

Overall Score 8/10

*I don't use fractions in my scoring

Story

This is my first new arc after the original trilogy. It can feel a bit like starting all over again which I was quite worried about as in the first trails game the story starts off exceedingly slow.

I can now safely say the Crossbell arc hits the ground running. The plot is immediately intriguing and being in the role of a beleaguered new special detective branch of the police is a fun change of pace. The cast isn't slowly doled out to you here you immediately get your full cast of characters and they are all great which I'll cover down in the character section. It doesn't take long before you start to earn some reputation and respect from the townsfolk who mostly rely on the bracer guild. This slow build of trust comes off immensely satisfying in its execution as compared to joining the bracers guild; an already flourishing well respected job.

The main plot of the story revolves around uncovering corruption in every nook and cranny of the city. Corruptions arm spreads long and into every part of life in Crossbell. There's never been a more pivotal moment in modern history for this kind of story. I found the conclusion to this game rather self contained and it definitely goes out on a high note. In the previous games we'd be introduced and surprised by mecha but this game has some surprises of its own which I won't spoil.

Characters

The characters are what really make this game shine the most. It's never been more true in the series than in Crossbell. You have a tight knit group of four who you go everywhere with, Lloyd, Randy, Elie, and Tio. They all play off of each other and have various hidden backstories of how they all ended up where they are. Each new reveal is a surprise both for you and the other party members.

Dialogue here is handled expertly with some funny bits of levity and some serious conversations. Our protagonist can be a bit of an airhead sometimes but we should all be used to that by now with our last protagonist. He does lock in though when the situation calls for it.

You're all caught in a tight web where you're trying to do the right thing but the corruption makes the right thing difficult to figure out and hard to achieve. Seeing the characters all find their own way to navigate through this maze is where the tight dialogue comes into play. That's not to say you don't still get some of the standard tropes in here but I imagine if you're playing a series like this you expect that at this point.

I personally was a big fan of Randy. He's a bit of a Spike from Cowboy Bebop.

Game-play

Gameplay here compared to Trails in the sky 3 takes a couple steps forwards, couple steps back. It introduces dual arts which are fantastic. It's nice to see characters specials tie in together where you can see how they might realistically assist each other. But you've got a lot less variety and variety of builds here because for obvious reasons there are far less characters to play with.

Trails in the sky 3 really let you kind of play around with builds to your hearts content there was a character for anything you naturally wanted to achieve. The small cast here doesn't quite let you experiment in all the ways you might wish too. It's still extremely fun to play. Combat feels good, bosses are challenging. It's the same core experience you've come to expect. That hasn't changed all that's really changed is that you've felt what trails can be like at a peak endpoint and now you're kind of back to a more beginner set.

There are a few other small combat additions which do really help. In a series known for surprise twist final bosses this one was pretty great. He was decently hard and really let you use the culmination of your skills and knowledge. And he had some truly flashy and fantastic moves. I think I would have preferred a bit more of a final uh oh moment from the last section of the fight which is just more of a victory lap where you win easily. The last minute fights where you think you won and its over and than there's one last challenge are always extremely fun.

Music

I think there are some good songs in the run of this game but the music didn't hit me quite as hard as Trails in the sky 2 or 3. After all was said and done with the game there wasn't really a single track that was calling out to me or that was stuck in my head. I think if you can make it through a whole game and not really memorably remember any of the music it's not really doing its job. Or maybe you could say it's just barely functioning at its job.

Maybe that's a harsh criticism but as I said there are some good songs in here. Just good. Not excellent. None of them really make any of the moments go from "oooh" to "aahh".

Overall

A much stronger start than the first trails in this series. The second I finished I couldn't wait to see and hear more from these characters. I didn't mention throughout the review process but there are some points in the gameplay where you gain full control of some guest characters. I look forward to these characters most likely being a bigger part of Azure.

Based on the start of this arc I expect the conclusion to hit me even harder than trails in the sky 2 did. Which I currently still consider the peak of this series as of my current progression. This is overall a really great game that I would recommend to anyone. Even as long as the review is there's so many little things I left out. See you guys on the next review.