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Trails to Azurenotably takes the structure of its predecessor, Trails from Zero, and enhances it in every conceivable way. This includes an increased focus on mini-games, which were relatively lacking (though still present in the form of the casino) in the first game.
Related:Trails To Azure: Sunshine Agnes Book Location Guide
Our guide’s goal is simple - to acquaint newcomers to Crossbell’s second chapter with the flurry of fun you’ll have if you stop for some quirky detours. One particular mini-game commands the lion’s share of the game’s attention, but there are several to enjoy!
Pom! Pom! Party
Here it is, the star of the show, Trails to Azure’s major addition to the world of JRPG mini-gaming.Pom-Pom! Partyproved popular enough to return twice and counting across the Kiseki series, once inTrails of Cold Steel 4(which is actually the West’s first taste of it since that game launched here first) and again in Trails into Reverie.
Your personal enjoyment of Pom! Pom! Party will hinge in large part on the answer to the following question:do you like Tetris?Indeed, the puzzle games are similar; but then, perhaps it’s unfair to typecast Pom! Pom! Party as ‘just another Tetris’ when there’s a widespread subgenre of games that have successfully spun off from the base formula, like Candy Crush for financially prime example.
In Pom! Pom! Party,your goal is to get your opponent’s screen filled with Poms (the colored bits) before yours is overrun. Notably, you only need four or more of a particular color to be aligned in order to remove them from your board.The fun stems from the following little twist - clearing out big blocks of Poms grants CP, which can be expended to attack your foe. (you’re able to also use them to protect yourself against your foe’s own attacks.)
If you’ve played Tetris 99, or any of its themed derivatives, you may be familiar with the concept of launching strikes against enemies to stay ahead of the curve. The same applies here, except less frantically, since it’s one-on-one. That said,there are some tough enemies as you traverse the game.
The ultimate prize is the Magus Master Quartz, which can only be obtained bydefeating every Pom! Pom! Party rival in Trails to Azure. There are eight rivals in all;you have somewhat limited windows of opportunity for when you may exchange contact info with them to begin playing, so we’ll let you know precisely when.
Speed and Difficulty Ranking
Medium and Easy
Slow and Easy
High and Easy
High and Normal
Slow and Normal
Slow and Hard
High and Hard
Finale
Medium and Hard
Mariabellis only available if you’ve completed the side quest ‘My Missing Collection’.Campanellais only available after you’ve defeated the rest of the opponents.
Horror Coaster
Horror Coaster, as its name implies, straps you to a rollercoaster and sends you through a horror-themed mini-game. You’ll be shooting targets for points;importantly, Lloyd gets bonding/affection points with the partner he chooses to take with him.
You can access Horror Coaster during theIntermission. Note that, unlike Pom! Pom! Party, this is theonlytime you can play Horror Coaster - that is,until you beat the game, at which point it can be played on the ‘Extras’ portion of the main menu.
4,000 or more points nets you a trophy/achievement entitled’The Phantom Menace'. And they said the Star Wars prequels would be forgotten to time!
While it may be tempting to select Easy rather than Normal - which reduces the number of face buttons you’ll need to keep track of from four to two - bear in mind thatEasy reduces your points earned by half. Hitting that 4,000 is, at least in our modest estimation, potentially impossible in this fashion.
Our best advice for Horror Coaster is to ignore most enemies until they’re fairly close to the ‘camera’, AKA the screen. There’s a rhythm involved in going after them as they approach; we haven’t really found any similar rhythms otherwise. Chasing everything as soon as it pops into view is likely to scatter your shot and reduce your overall output.
Casino Games
The Entertainment District Casino marks its triumphant return after debuting in Trails from Zero. The gist here is the same as before; there are multiple iconic casino-based games to play, none of which are native to the Kiseki series.You’ve probably heard of poker, blackjack, roulette, and slotsoutside Trails games, after all.
Slots is the simplest to understand. Just match the, well, slots as the reels stop spinning. It’s also the most luck-based of all, at least in our estimation.Better to play something with a degree of strategy involved, like poker or blackjack.Explaining these card games in detail is probably outside the purview of TheGamer dot com - a billion sites exist on the net better equipped to dive into the intricacies of the pristine poker hand.
Don’t worry too much about becoming a poker master; Trails to Azure’s AI isn’t really expecting it from you. Just double down as much as you can to build up your currency of casino chips/coins, which can be exchanged for various prizes.
