The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Review

It’s been a good five or so years for fans of The Legend of Heroes. From wrapping up the Erebonia titles to new releases of the Crossbell duology, right up to the journey of Van Arkride through Calvard. Coming to us from developer Nihon Falcom, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, which continues the Calvard arc, the most recent storyline of the over two-decade-old Trails series. But one thing was nagging me after playing so, so many of these games: “Am I getting a little burnt out with this franchise?” Well, after many hours with Daybreak II, here are my thoughts on the latest grand adventure through the world of Zemuria.

Set a few months after the first Trails Through Daybreak, players once again follow the story of Van Arkride and the rest of Arkride Solutions. With the defeat of Almata in the previous game, Calvard returns to a period of peace, and the group gets some much-needed downtime. Unfortunately, things don’t stay quiet for long, as the game starts with Van and Brace Guild member Elaine Auclair investigating an unusual crimson Grendel sighting. Things only get worse when the body of a Central Intelligence Division agent is found in Edith, Calvard’s capital, and Van is brought in to help find the murderer.

Meanwhile, Agnès Claudel is searching for the eighth and final Genesis, with her and Van eventually reuniting and joining forces to tackle both of their problems together. This is when things go in a completely new direction for the series, as the party discovers that the Genesis can cause a strange phenomenon that rewinds time. Over the course of the narrative, the group or certain NPCs will die, but thanks to the Genesis’ power, they’re able to go back to moments before their deaths and take a different approach. It’s a bold new direction for the franchise, but unfortunately, one that doesn’t really pay off. The overall plot is still incredibly engaging and, at times, dark, but I can’t say I was a huge fan of the time-bending story beats. It could have been a unique gameplay element, but instead, it is mainly used at scripted points throughout the adventure, which is just a little disappointing.

In terms of pacing, Daybreak II feels like it’s going too fast at times. Whilst other games in the series have some downtime between key story moments or trawling through dungeons, Van and his team seem to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire… constantly. This isn’t necessarily a negative point, but I do enjoy the calmer moments of the Trails games, where I can get to know the heroes more and mop up some sidequests. Whilst those things are still here, it feels like more pressing matters are always lurking.

The Trails games have never pushed boundaries when it comes to graphical prowess, but that doesn’t mean the games are hard to look at by any means. Daybreak II retains that same charming, anime-esque visual style as the previous 3D Trails titles, with a slight bump in graphical fidelity thanks to the current console generation. It doesn’t look any different from the first Daybreak, with the magic and skills in battles as flashy as ever, but it’s still a bright, colourful game with some uniquely striking environments and detailed character models.

Once again, Nihon Falcom knocks it out of the park when it comes to the audio design. The soundtrack — whilst not the most memorable of the franchise — still features some brilliant music and a killer battle theme. The voice actors heard throughout are also excellent, something that has always been the case with The Legend of Heroes series, so no surprise there!

With this being a direct sequel to Daybreak, the gameplay remains practically the same, albeit with some new additions. First of all, the Field Battle System makes a very welcome return! It’s such a fantastic mechanic that blends real-time and turn-based combat seamlessly, allowing players to quickly take out weaker enemies or jump into the classic Trails tactical gameplay for tougher foes. There are some changes, though, such as the ability to cast Arts in the field or the Cross Charge, which grants an ally a powerful counterattack move when a dodge is perfectly timed.

The turn-based battle system has seen a few tweaks to address balancing issues. Now you’ll only be able to use one S-Craft per boost, and you’ll need to wait until that boost expires before using another one to unleash the devastating S-Craft moves. This certainly stops the spamming of these ultimate attacks and makes fights much tougher, especially on Nightmare difficulty! There’s also the introduction of Dual Arts, magic that can combine two elements at once. This sounds like it could have been a deep system to really exploit enemy weaknesses, and whilst that is somewhat true, they end up being used just as frequently as normal Arts. Although, they do look ridiculously cool!

When you’re not carving up monsters or raining fire upon squads of goons, you’ll be exploring Calvard and all it has to offer. Daybreak II does take place mainly in Edith, which is a little disappointing after being able to explore the wider region in the previous game. Nevertheless, there is still a good amount to do, with optional quests (known as 4SPGs) obtained from bulletin boards, minigames such as fishing and an addictively satisfying card game, and so on. Then, of course, as is tradition for the series, there’s the optional dungeon for players to venture through as they see fit. The virtual world known as Märchen Garten lets you play as all the cast members — even if they’re not currently in your party — and explore a seemingly endless amount of floors to gain experience, unique rewards, items, and quartz. It’s well worth investing a bit of time to explore at the very least, as the Shard Tokens found in the real world allow you to unlock Mystic Cubes, which provide some incredibly useful and powerful items!

At the start of this review, I asked whether I was suffering from burnout of the franchise. Thankfully, the answer is no, as I once again found myself loving the time I spent in Zemuria... mostly. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is yet another great title in the long-running franchise, but it’s just not quite as good as its predecessors. The combat remains as excellent as ever, and the story is still engaging, if a little too frantic. Perhaps my biggest issue with the narrative is that the time-rewinding element just didn’t quite hit home for me, and the stakes don’t seem quite as high in this entry. At times, it feels like Daybreak II is more of a side story than a fully-fledged sequel, although getting to spend more time with Van, his team, and some returning characters will always be a good thing in my opinion.