It's taken a long, long time, but Trails to Azure is officially available outside of Japan. The excellent RPG was originally a PSP title, but its PS4 re-release is out today (in North America, at least — Europe has to wait until the 17th March).
Anyway, you may not know this, but Trails to Azure was fully translated by fans years ago. A group called The Geofront — named after an underground structure in the Trails games — has long been providing unofficial localisations for Falcom's series, and its efforts were actually used as the basis for the official Western releases of Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, in partnership with publisher NIS America.
A key member of The Geofront's team was Scott Tijerina, who sadly passed away last year. And, in a touching tribute to Scott, the newly localised version of Trails to Azure features a post-credits message that reads: "In Memory of Scott Tijerina".
"Geofront's Azure only happened because of you," writes The Geofront on Twitter. "As a tribute, your name is featured prominently in NISA's Azure — forever immortalized in the game you cherished, alongside the legendary heroes you loved. You are dearly missed — but will never be forgotten."
It's a poignant nod to someone who clearly had so much love for the Trails series — someone whose passion-fuelled work paved the way for the official releases of these games.
With that in mind, and as huge fans of the Trails games ourselves, we'd also like to thank Scott and The Geofront team for everything they've done over the years.
Comments 6
Massive respect to this man and the entire team at Geofront for leading the charge to get these games localized. Thank you very much! And rest in peace Scott.
So as someone who never played a Trails game but wants to try it...should I start with this one? What others are available on PS4/5?
@AFCC no, you shouldn't start with this one. It's a direct sequel to trails from zero. Start with Zero or Cold steel 1
@AFCC on PS4/PS5 there’s the Trails of Cold Steel saga - in total 4 here in the west. You could start with cold steel 1 - but last year Trails from Zero was released. It’s the prequel to this game, Azure. IMO you’d get more out of playing Zero before this. I myself started with Trails in the Sky (not on PS4/5) and have only played Cold Steel 1 of that saga. Hope makes some sense, is a tricky series to get into - but it’s wonderful.
I had just said a few days ago in a comment section , the story of the localization itself deserved an article. Well done.
@saffeqwe trail of cold steel is great series the last game for this arc come out in June I believe or july
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