this is my second favorite trails game, so far. this game does what sky sc did for the first game. this game is just so peak, such an amazing game, with the best geo-political storytelling in the series so far, and insane world building. this game is peak..and also the end of the 2d games. curious how they'll go with 3d in the next entry! my only complaint with the crossbell duology is that NIS didn't dub them in english, but it's whatever, at least the next...8...games all have eng dubs

One of the best in the entire Trails series and one of the best blend of traditional quartz/arts system with the newly introduced Master quartz. Too bad Falcom doesn't pursue this design in later games.

Current game as of writing: Trails Through Daybreak

If I put all of the kiseki games in a tier list, this would be at the top

Best cast. Best setting. Best plotline.

I love Crossbell.

10/10 peak fiction
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Spoiler ramblings:

initially when I played this game last year I loved the journey but hated the ending. It left me wanting a bit more and I wasn't satisfied by the ending similar to how i felt finishing Trails in the Sky SC the year prior. There was also the fact that the azure ending spoils the events of cold steel 2 which kind of sours the Osborne assassination in cold steel 1.Having said that, I loved everything about the SSS and the multiple plot twists in the journey.After playing the over bloated cast in the Erebonia arc I come back appreciating the SSS' smaller cast even more when I reflect on this game these days. I loved where the story took these characters mentaly but have problems with how some of it is locked behind the final bonding scene. If I recall correctly I was particularly bummed with wazy and rixia's backstory being locked behind that. Other than that, this game was stellar. great villains,interesting character moments and developments. The way these characters would make decisions based on their morals,history, and motivations is very real which i liked.

However that was what i liked when i played this game. When I loved this game was many months after I played it. After playing through cold steel 3. In cold steel 3, The current protagonist of that arc Rean Schwarzer visits Crossbell post Erebonian annexartion. You are even introduced to Juna Crawford, one of Rean's students and also a transferee from Crossbell police academy, a place you would frequent in Azure. Seeing crossbell in 3D and the state it was in during the annexation. All of the npc's you've bonded with in the crossbell duology suffering and Juna's moments in that chapter of cs3. I realized just how much I was attached the crossbell games. Its kinda crazy I only realized it 3 games after azure but it cemented my placing for the crossbell duology among the other kiseki games.

Overall,
Barriers.