Fan translation team Geofront has launched an English translation patch for The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki, translated to Trails to Azure for the occasion, here's what you should know about the translation, and the importance of the game in the Trails series.

Trails to Azure Patch explained, how to download

After announcing on May 1 that the patch would be releasing this month, Geofront has launched the translation of Trails to Azure on May 22. You'll need to buy an official Chinese PC version of The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki, and then apply the patch to it for it to work. Geofront made specific instructions for the patch you must follow, including a guide for buying the game.

Geofront and its team again delivers to the Kiseki / Trails series fans an incredible patch. And I've been calling it patch, but similarly with the patch for the previous game, Trails from Zero, this is a full mod. Not only Geofront translated Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki in English, it also did an amazing work when it comes to improving the games.

The Geofront versions of Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure include remaster-like graphical updates, alongside QoL improvements, that are literally better than the official Kai remasters recently released by Falcom in Japan. The only thing missing is the voice acting from the Evolution versions, which was added to the Kai versions. However, you can easily add it to the Geofront versions too through another mod.

Why you should play Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure

The Trails series, while separated into several arcs, forms one single cohesive story. Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure form the Crossbell arc, whose story elements are primordial for fully grasping the rest of the series.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is currently the last game of the series released in the west, and you'll understand some of its plot points much more by going back and playing Zero and Azure. It's never too late.

Moreover, without spoiling too much, the game that follows Cold Steel IV, Hajimari no Kiseki, literally starts with the ending of Trails to Azure, and also includes the protagonist of Zero and Azure, Lloyd, as one of its protagonists.

As of now, NIS America has yet to announce the Crossbell games and Hajimari no Kiseki. Back when the Zero and Ao ni Kiseki Kai remasters were first announced in Japan, Falcom's president Toshihiro Kondo hinted that they would be coming west as well, be we still didn't get anything.

Hopefully, all these missing games will get official Western announcements soon, including the Nayuta no Kiseki Kai remaster which is launching in Japan on June 24, 2021 on PS4.

In Japan, the next game in the series, The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki, starts a new arc and will be launching in 2021, most probably in September. A livestream with new info on Kuro no Kiseki will also be held by Falcom and Clouded Leopard Entertainment on May 28.