Trails to Azure is set a few months after the ending of Trails from Zero. The protagonists, the police's Special Support Section (SSS), are joined by new recruits – the Army sergeant major Noel Seeker and the former gang leader Wazy Hemisphere.
Again, unscrupulous figures seek to use the powers of KeA, the young girl adopted by the SSS in the first game, for their own ends. They are led by the mayor, Dieter Crois, who wants to use KeA to maitain Crossbell's independence, and his daughter Mariabell, who would rewrite history through KeA. The SSS have to brave civil unrest and occult intrusions to foil their plans. After the Croises are defeated, KeA relinquishes her powers, but Crossbell is annexed by the Erebonian Empire, which leads into the events of the Trails of Cold Steel arc.
Release
Ao no Kiseki was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable on September 29, 2011.[1] It was later ported to Windows for release in China on March 28, 2013.[2] It was also released for the PlayStation Vita in Japan on June 12, 2014, as Ao no Kiseki: Evolution. This version features improved visuals and more voice acting.[3][4] The Evolution version received a remaster for the PlayStation 4, releasing in Japan under the title Ao no Kiseki Kai on May 28, 2020.[5] It was also released for the Nintendo Switch in China and South Korea by Clouded Leopard Entertainment on April 22, 2021.[6]
Trails to Azure and its predecessor, Trails from Zero, were not localized in English by the time of the Japanese release of Trails of Cold Steel in 2013. Falcom subsequently approached Xseed Games, who had previously localized Trails in the Sky, and requested that a localization of Trails of Cold Steel be prioritized instead, resulting in Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure being skipped.[7] An English fan translation was released in 2018,[8] with another one by a team known as the "Geofront" released in May 2021. Geofront's release would serve as the foundation for an official English version by NIS America for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows, released in March 2023 in North America, Europe and Australasia.[9][10] That version was also released in Japan for the Switch by Falcom on August 31, 2023.[11]
The game was listed as one of the best upcoming games of 2011 at that year's Tokyo Game Show.[20] Along with Trails from Zero, Comic Book Resources highlighted the game's "persistent overarching storyline, immersive and detailed settings, masterful character development [and] unique battle system". They noted that, despite the lack of an official localization at the time, the plot and characters were integral to understanding later games in the series.[1]
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