I LOVE BARRIERS
YOU LOVE BARRIERS
WEE LOVE BARRIERS

Glad we finally got these translated officially for sale.

Wow! What a journey, Azure concludes the story began with Trails from Zero, but this is technically the 5th game in the series and, yes, you have to play all of them. There are many references (some hidden) to all previous chapters in this grand tale spanning various continents and a huge cast of characters. Azure has the same strenghts and also the same weaknesses of its predecessor. It has a great character drama at its core, exploring bonds, family and love amidst complex politics and even some seriously intriguing metaphysics. The depth is there and the writing (as well as English translation) is phenomenal. You understand the motivations and philosophy behind each and every character and the villains here especially give some serious food for thought.
Gameplay-wise it introduces some neat new tricks to make battles more interesting, but still there will be a lot of grind; whoever chose to put a Hi-Speed mode in these games though, deserves a promotion because it really helps with pacing.
That said, there's mountains of text to go through and so it brings the same issue with pacing as Zero. You're mostly here for the story after all, which means you'll want to savour as much out of it as possible. This means checking in with each NPC and location to see how their stories evolve in each chapter. Of course, this is optional but the scope and attention to detail of the world is what make these games stand out. Simultaneously, this also means digging through a lot of fat to get to the actual epic bits. Build-up is LONG, but it is worth it. However, to truly appreciate this whole saga you need to give it a lot of time.
Another thing that really annoys me is the amount of missable character moments and cutscenes. I recommend you check out a guide that points out where to go in each chapter to make sure you don't miss anything, because some stuff is honestly a bit too hidden given the importance it has in the overall context.
In the end, the Crossbell arc was just as good as others say, with an unforgettable cast of characters and villains. Obviously this story is neither a beginning nor a conclusion and there's more to come with the next saga, so Crossbell (just like the land itself) is somewhere in the middle.