|OT| The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure / 英雄伝説 碧の軌跡 | Geofront's Localisation Patch | Blue is the Warmest Colour | v1.0.1 Out NOW!

[Kvik]

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Introduction

Here we are, at last, the second part of the Crossbell duology. It's been a little over a year since Geofront's patch for Zero was released, and to say that I have a large expectation of this game won't be an understatement. Trails from Zero is my personal GOTY of 2020 and unless Azure turned out to be a nukige halfway through, I'd say it's already in the running for my GOTY for 2021. To be able to play these two games without compromises in terms of localisation and PC features rivalling those of professional developers — all these years of waiting have been worth it. I hope Azure will live up to my expectations, and I hope yours as well.



The Features

While the list below is not an exhaustive list of all the features implemented by Geofront, I hope it will still give us a rough idea of how extensive the project is.

A. Localisation

• Dual language support without system locale emulator.
• A fully-edited English script, inline with XSEED's localisation style of Trails games.
• English script is checked against Trails in the Database for editing consistency.
• Certain terminologies are adapted to follow NISA's localisation choices in Trails of Cold Steel III and IV.
• In-game lore consistency is checked against Kiseki Wiki as the primary reference.

B. Bugfixes

• The game no longer has extreme slowdowns from a common graphical effect during Aerial, other arts, map fadeouts, and numerous other instances.
• The game no longer inexplicably flickers every so often.
• The game no longer runs poorly if you play without a controller attached.
• Text no longer shakes when scrolling in.
• Character art for portraits, menu art, and any other place is no longer of a muted colouration compared to the PSP and Vita versions (and all three versions of the sequel).
• Numerous other small fixes.

C. Graphics

• Arbitrary resolution support.
• Up to 144 fps framerate target.
• Anisotropic Filtering (16x).
• Multi-sample Anti Aliasing (up to 8x).
• Borderless Window/Exclusive fullscreen mode.
• High-definition variable-width fonts support.
• Extended draw distance.

D. Quality of life improvements

• Improved mouse input support.
• Fully redrawn detective notebook graphics.
• Edited in-game sign graphics.
• Alphabetised Crossbell City Library material.
• Context-sensitive custom cursor support.
• The game autosaves when entering a new map.
• Improved save/load menu.
  • A modernised interface that is similar to Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel PC ports.
  • 1000 save slots (not including autosaves).
  • Viewing and saving of savegame metadata independent of the system locale.
  • Viewing and loading of PSP or Joyoland port savegames.
• Turbo mode up to 8x speed.
• Input binding and remapping for KB&M and gamepads.
• XInput controller API support.
• Fully-rebindable button prompt icons for Xbox, DualShock 4, or Switch Pro controllers.
• Native support for Ao No Kiseki Evolution voice assets (voice mod), soundtrack and HD videos.

E. New Features

• Message log history.
• Custom soundtrack builder.
• A BGM track name indicator. (*backported to Trails from Zero as of v1.1.1)
• Treasure chest messages.

Buying and Patching

NOTE: Joyoland's website does not have an international version. For an English-speaking audience, I'd advise using Google Translate/DeepL to navigate it, or follow Geofront's guide, below.

The link here will take you to a post from last year explaining the process which has been updated with a visual guide.

The game can be purchased here. It costs ¥60.00 (approximately $12 AUD), and they accept PayPal as a payment method.

NOTE: Geofront has advised NOT to install and activate the game. Instead, their launcher will install and patch the game seamlessly. Additionally, all the options related to input, graphics and sound are accessible from within the game.

Two files can be downloaded from the Baidu account as described in Joyoland's product page for Azure, [UWSL]BG_setup.rar[/UWSL] and [UWSL]AO_JOYO_Patch.zip[/UWSL]. The file BG_setup.rar is the game asset archive, and the latter is Joyoland's platform patcher for the executable. While these two files are free to download from their server, the download times can be quite slow due to various circumstances, and sometimes it will take days(!) to finish. The direct link to [UWSL]BG_setup.rar[/UWSL] plus mirrors is provided below.

Joyoland
archive.org mirror

Additionally, I have mirrored the file below exclusively for MC (react to this post to reveal). You can compare the checksum as well.

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[UWSL]md5sum: 628d24cd12e7769c5307e711bdcddcc6[/UWSL]
[UWSL]sha1sum: 70a0e1b6d523e96aed91e4a0ab10a785784ddcc2[/UWSL]
[UWSL]sha512sum: c102fa85543222ca75e96771a0a1d2a7fb22b919091232e5af607ec43b1baa496ab289e163bdc0ea981cb459309817a086b73e48e7d87d119e05abd36862960e[/UWSL]


The patch can be downloaded here.

Direct link: London mirror

Installation Instructions:

https://geofront.esterior.net/2021/05/22/trails-to-azure-out-now/

Evolution Voice Assets


NOTE: The voice assets of the (Switch) KAI version of Ao no Kiseki is of higher quality in terms of bitrate. I don't have access to these files, unfortunately.

Geofront provides native compatibility with Ao No Kiseki Evolution voice files. Players will be able to hear voiced dialogues taken from the Ao No Kiseki Evolution version. The installation will detect the voice files from the game package when placed in the game directory. Follow these instructions to prepare the voice asset files.

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Other Mods

HD Texture Mod v2.5 (+HD portraits, HD UI, environment textures, fixes) (assets upscaled using ESRGAN neural network).

New for this version is many new textures including all HD character portraits, and most UI textures, icons, art and environmental textures and more. All the environment textures have been redone too for hopefully better quality and less buginess.

The mod has been repacked to follow Geofront's mod installation format as well.


Order of Play


For new players, I highly recommend playing through the entirety of Liberl arc (Trails in the Sky FC, SC and 3rd) before jumping to Crossbell arc (Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure) and ultimately, the Erebonia Arc (Cold Steel I to IV).

Screenshots

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I found a bug! Literally unplayable! What do?


Squashing bugs sometimes aren't as easy as it sounds, so providing as much concise information as possible will help them replicate the issue, and hopefully fix it. And to do so, Geofront has set up an issue tracker on their website. You can also check other cases reported by other users.

Issue Reporting - The Geofront



Alternatively, you can join Geofront's official Discord here and ask for support in [UWSL]#azure-troubleshooting[/UWSL]




Special Thanks


Nihon Falcom — for making great games for 40 years.
Geofront — for their dedication over the years towards completing this project.

 

[Dragon1893]

Already played it with the old patch, fantastic game, the Crossbell duology shows the jrpg genre at its best.

 

[QFNS]

Excited to play this again with a proper translation. The Geofront team are a blessing for the long suffering English speaking audience.

 

[Kvik]

I've updated the script in the Evolution voice assets section to accommodate the newer version of the tools. Thanks, Knurek for alerting me.

 

[Kvik]

When Trails to Azure was originally released for the PSP by Nihon Falcom in September 2011, Falcom’s limited edition contained a number of items. The most well-known of these items are the Tio and Elie nendoroid petits. However, what it also contained was a drama CD.

This drama CD, named Road to the Future, fills in the blanks regarding what happens with the Special Support Section between the end of Trails from Zero and the beginning of Trails to Azure.

Preparing for Trails to Azure: Road to the Future - The Geofront

Check out the Geofront edited release of the Trails to Azure drama CD, Trails to Azure: Road to the Future.

geofront.esterior.net

The drama CD can be found on Youtube.

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And the translation can be found in the special pages Geofront has provided, below.

Trails to Azure Drama CD - Road to the Future

A Geofront edited translation of the Trails to Azure drama CD, Road to the Future.

geofront.esterior.net

 

[Mivey]

For those wanting to play with voice overs, here's a download to the high quality voice files from the Kai release:

As the title suggests, the voice acting from Kai has improvements made to the mastering of Randy's lines. I'm not quite sure how many people were actually aware of this fact since the PS4 version (and its Asian Nintendo Switch port) obviously haven't seen the light of day in the west and were only dumped fairly recently. With The Geofront's release of Azure being on the horizon, I decided to bring this to people's attention and provide a link to the files so people can have them ready on launch day. The installation process is the same as previous voice mods. Drag and drop the talk folder into the game's data folder and the Geofront mod will recognize the files.

 

[Kvik]

I'd like to know if anyone has dumped the Zero Kai voices as well.

Or better yet ..

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[Kvik]

Based Hatsuu.

 

[freshVeggie]

Really nice write up Kvik
Great job

 

[MegaApple]

Geofront is doing really good with these releases!

 

[curi0usBystander]

I downloaded the patch yesterday and checked if it worked properly, but it was like past 1 am so I decided to start it later today.

 

[Ascheroth]

Awesome, that means I can start with Zero and play the Crossbell duology back-to-back
Is there some way to get notified when something is on sale on DLSite? Or do they have some regular summer sale time?

 

[Ascheroth]

I'd like to know if anyone has dumped the Zero Kai voices as well.

Or better yet .. [Hidden content]

Zero Kai voices seem to be in a comment in the thread that Mivey posted

 

[Mivey]

Finished the Prologue to Ao today.
It's really great to have both Crossbell games fully translated, and with an amazing fan patch that really closely matches the experience you had when playing the Trails in the Sky games.

 

[Kvik]

I didn't have time to play much, today. Still in the prologue, and I still need to download that hotfix for the OP/ED.

 

[Kvik]

Is there some way to get notified when something is on sale on DLSite? Or do they have some regular summer sale time?

I forgot to answer this. DLSite does have a regular sale (the last one was during Golden Week), and if you sign up and subscribe to their newsletter, they periodically send 15%-30% off vouchers you can use on the site.

 

[Kvik]

GOTY.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Yesterday I finished the prologue and started chapter 1 and proceded to speak to every NPC this is gonna take a while.

 

[Mivey]

GOTY.

Finally a proper sequel to Trails From Randy.

 

[Ascheroth]

I forgot to answer this. DLSite does have a regular sale (the last one was during Golden Week), and if you sign up and subscribe to their newsletter, they periodically send 15%-30% off vouchers you can use on the site.

Thanks. Also saw that it has a wishlist and you can opt-in to get mails when something there goes on sale.
Cool cool. That got me covered then.
Looking forward to finally playing these and then continuing on with the rest of Cold Steel and beyond.

 

[Kvik]

Some light statistics from Discord.

• Trails to Azure was downloaded 8,211 times across all official mirrors during its first day of release.
• Since its release on March last year, Trails from Zero was downloaded 76,000 times across all mirrors, counting all of its version updates.

Better than some no-name indie game, I'd say.

Hopefully I will have more chance to play on the weekend.

 

[Kvik]

I've finished with Chapter 1 over the weekend. It's hitting the ground running instead of easing you into it. Reminds me of how 3rd started. Localisation is still on point, as well as chest messages. I've been taking screenshots of Trails in the Chest so I can read it later at my leisure.

NPCs commenting about the side quest Lloyd & co. did for them in Zero was a nice touch.

 

[Kvik]

Added a link to a newly-released HD texture mod (upscaled via neural network) to the OP.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Chapter 2 finished.
It's nice to see what was happening during the trade conference..
There's even a mention of a military academy (although I suspect that at the time it wasn't set in stone what it would be).

 

[Kvik]

1.0.1 Update includes modding support and a bunch of fixes.

Modding Support and Trails to Azure Patch 1.0.1 - The Geofront

It's been a few weeks since we released Azure, and in that time we've been gathering feedback. We've decided to put out a minor update. Since there isn't too much to be said about the update, this article will be dedicated to talking in more depth about the launcher and its mods.

geofront.esterior.net

 

[Kvik]

Wazy knows.

 

[Mivey]

Wazy knows.

I like how Falcom is calling out their own lazy writing here. Saves the player the effort of having to do it.

 

[Kvik]

I'm a few days late (my excuse is because I was playing Trails~!), but there's an update for the HD Texture Mod with more additions.

The link in the OP has been updated accordingly.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Chapter 4 finished.

I finally got to see how The railway guns were removed from existence. at the end of Cold steel.

Also

End of Chapter 4 spoiler

Did crossbell just become a sort of proto-Authoritarian police state.

I find funny that what's left of the game should take place in about the same amount of time that the majority of CSII takes place.

 

[Mivey]

Crossposting my reaction here from the Zero thread, as I got confused about the OTs.

So, I finished Chapter 2 yesterday, and if things keep up, then Azure might easily be my favourite Trails game. That last scene when Mayor Crois calls for the independence of Crossbell State was pure kino.

Really love the addition of Noel and Wazy as well, keeps the interactions in the SSS fresh and interesting, though it's nice that near the end of Chapter 2 you again have the old motley crew again.

Kinda bracing myself for the intermission, as I've been hearing bad things about it for a long time.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Kinda bracing myself for the intermission, as I've been hearing bad things about it for a long time.

Do you like anime beach episodes ? Cause that's what you're gonna get (well the first half).

 

[prudis]

official western release by NISA leaked though EGS

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure Coming Soon - Epic Games Store

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is coming soon to the Epic Games Store. Please check for availability and add to your Wishlist

www.epicgames.com

Available 2023

 

[curi0usBystander]

The deed is done. Game finished, I'd have been nice to get the announcement tomorrow morning as intended instead of just when I was about to finish the game.

The ending is nice, but it basically feels like the story is not over it will continue elsewhere.

After finishing I decided to watch the Divertissement from CS II. It's cool to understand now what's going on but seeing now it just feels like fanservice, mention every important character that you can in this short section of the game.

Also

Not really a spoiler, but pain

E; Next CSIII but not any time soon.

 

[Kvik]

Chapter 2 done. They sure got played right into Rocksmith and Osborne's hands didn't they?

Randy's lines are on point as always. Of course, there's an argument to be made whether Geofront is being too liberal with their localisation choices. But personally, I'd imagine a real-life Randy will be speaking these lines exactly since it is totally in his character.

On to Intermission.

 

[Mivey]

Kinda hope NISA will not tame his lines too much, though given how many fans hate the Geofront translation over their liberal use of language, it's probably going to be pared down quite abit.

 

[QFNS]

I kinda hope they just leave it all in there.
Bruhs, off-color lines, and weird semi-memes included.
If not well, I'm sure the original patchers will circulate on the internet forever if someone wants to go back.

 

[Kvik]

Intermission done. Trying to see all the permutations of dialogue in MWL was an exercise unto itself.

I still think the "haremification" some people has strong opinion of in Azure after seeing the intermission is way overblown.

Still, Randy is not entirely wrong.

Chapter 3 next week~!

 

[curi0usBystander]

I still think the "haremification" some people has strong opinion of in Azure after seeing the intermission is way overblown.

It is.

But it's a sign of where they were headed.

At least most characters seem aware of Lloyd's, let's call it, magnetism.

 

[Mivey]

I still think the "haremification" some people has strong opinion of in Azure after seeing the intermission is way overblown.

I think this is due to Geofront toning it down a ton. Their lead editor even stated on Twitter that they tried to "save" the intermission, and make it be actually good, and that they think they succeeded. So I'm going to assume they weren't going for a faithful translation there, and instead toned down the creepiness of it.

I know some people freak out at this stuff and scream "censorship" but frankly, the less cringeworthy harem shit is in there, the better.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Their lead editor even stated on Twitter that they tried to "save" the intermission, and make it be actually good

Interesting, didn't know that.

On the one hand now I'd like to compare them but on the other I'm not sure if I want to ...

 

[Knurek]

I think this is due to Geofront toning it down a ton. Their lead editor even stated on Twitter that they tried to "save" the intermission, and make it be actually good, and that they think they succeeded. So I'm going to assume they weren't going for a faithful translation there, and instead toned down the creepiness of it.

I know some people freak out at this stuff and scream "censorship" but frankly, the less cringeworthy harem shit is in there, the better.

If Zero is anything to go down by, they actuall add tonnes of flavoring to their text.
It's really noticable if you play with the voices where a single うん line (yeah) can have a textbox with several words.

 

[Mivey]

If Zero is anything to go down by, they actuall add tonnes of flavoring to their text.
It's really noticable if you play with the voices where a single うん line (yeah) can have a textbox with several words.

I wouldn't call that flavouring at all. Japanese as a language works very different and abbreviates things more, and Falcom's writing in parcticular is crazy dry and repetitive. You also saw this in how XSEED localised the Sky games. Tons of lines where Estelle just says a very simple "Yes." or other brief affirmation are translated in English with more variants. I appreciate that, just as I do here in the Crossbell games.

I really, really, really do not agree with the view that the closest and most direct translation is somehow the best or "correct" one. That's false even for languages that are very similar, and it becomes downright comical to suggest when you look at how different Japanese is from English (and that's on top of the fact that Falcom can be very lazy in their writing).

 

[Kvik]

You also saw this in how XSEED localised the Sky games. Tons of lines where Estelle just says a very simple "Yes." or other brief affirmation are translated in English with more variants.

If we take a look at Geofront's aim to follow XSEED's localisation style, I think they largely have succeeded in doing so. I seem to remember people have issues with Estelle's lines in the Sky trilogy as well. The "Time for Ul-tra-vi-o-lence~" line is one prime example. Even though that is perfectly in line with her personality. Same case with the removal of "senpai-kouhai" references in the relationship between her and Joshua in early Sky FC.

I'd like to think that this kind of localisation style really elevates Trails above its peers. Without this kind of freedom in localisation, I don't think games like Ace Attorney or Vagrant Story can achieve mainstream success as they did.

 

[Kvik]

Finished with Chapter 3 (And continued on to complete Chapter 4, Day 1) over the weekend. Life was kind of getting in the way, so it took a whole month to finish it. Anyway, great chapter~!

That really escalated quickly. Some really great localisation choices here. Really good character development for Randy too, although they didn't really expand the circumstances leading to him leaving the Constellation in great detail. It's still effective, however, and didn't detract from the crux of the matter in this chapter: The sacking of Crossbell.

If I'm being honest, the reveal of Master Yin's true identity also kind of loses its impact somewhat. They should've held it off until the confrontation in wetlands. Also, I'm not a big fan of "Defeat Boss X within N turns or less" conditions to get the maximum DP. Imagine my frustrations when they added a time limit into a certain boss fight. I had to retry this fight 3 times, only to realise that I forgot to scan them for the Bestiary.


Finally, I was gushing about Randy for a bit, but Tio's one-liners are also worth noting.

On to the second day of Chapter 4 later this week.

 

[curi0usBystander]

although they didn't really expand the circumstances leading to him leaving the Constellation in great detail

One think I don't like about this game (and this also applies to the CS games, at least 1 and 2, but I expect it to continue on the other two) is how certain information is hidden behind the final bonding event

 

[Mivey]

On to the second day of Chapter 4 later this week.

If you thought Chapter 3 had things escalating quickly, then you're in for a treat.


I myself finished Azure last week, and overall I must say it's the best Trails game for me yet, though there are a couple of things that did bother me about it and mostly they are due to Falcom rushing things, presumably to get it out just a short year after Zero. I'll write a much more detailed review of it later at some point. Still processing a bit what I think of it all.

Still, overall the Crossbell arc really feels like a step up over the Sky games, and I already really liked those too.
I hear a lot of negative things about the Cold Steel games, so I guess it won't be a clear improvement, but I'll try to go into them with an open mind.

 

[Shantom]

I finished Azure a couple of weeks ago and I'd agree that it's the best game in the series. SC and 3rd both have higher highs but Azure has a really smooth ramp up in terms of tension and hype all the way from Chapter 3 to the end so it's that consistency that makes it my favourite so far.

I did play Cold Steel 1 and 2 before Crossbell, and going back to this arc has improved my opinion of CS1 somewhat, a lot of little things in that game that seemed like a bit of a jump worldbuilding wise from Sky were set up neatly enough in Crossbell that it now feels more cohesive. It's made me even more convinced however that CS2 is the low point of the series, and a completely pointless game. Still, it's out of the way and I'm looking forward to going through CS3 later in the year.

 

[Kvik]

I hear a lot of negative things about the Cold Steel games, so I guess it won't be a clear improvement, but I'll try to go into them with an open mind.

For the first half of the quadrilogy at least, I think it's better to temper your expectation of Rean. His leadership qualities aren't so readily apparent if we try to draw a parallel with Lloyd who almost immediately takes charge of his team and apply his detective training from the get-go. Cold Steel II is where Rean actually develops as a character.

CS2 is the low point of the series, and a completely pointless game.

I'm not convinced that it's completely pointless. There's quite a bit of lore in Cold Steel II involving the 13 Factories, Arianrhod and the Black Records, but the problem is that there are way too many characters and not enough development for all of them, and the worldbuilding can be trimmed if Falcom didn't split the first half of Cold Steel into two games.

Add Rean's slow character development into the mix and we have --in my opinion-- two of the weakest games in the entire Trails saga. If nothing else, XSEED has tried their best in making Rean's character stand out, because I've heard his dialogue in Japanese was rather "plain", sort-of-speak. Still, I'm keen to see how Rean's character will develop in the second half.

 

[Kvik]

Chapter 4, Day 2.

Shit got real. REAL FAST.

It's quite interesting to hear the thought of most Crossbellan about their new independence. Most are supportive, of course. But for a state which mostly relying on regional trading and tourism, they can't help thinking that the execution isn't exactly well thought out. Like the baker complaining about the lack of imported ingredients, or a tour guide observing the lack of tourists. Even more damning is the exodus of expatriates because of the fear of imminent violence, uprooting the lives they've built in Crossbell. It's a shame we can't visit the outer region on this day. I would love to see what the mining industry would say about this.

 

[Kvik]

Done with Chapter 4. And what a chapter!

Had to cheese a bit during the final boss fight though. I'm sure glad I bought that Evergreen.