Trails Through Daybreak Review - Golden Hour
Trails Through Daybreak is a ‘soft reset’ for the venerable series, giving the Trails curious a generous jumping-in point that features enough call-backs and cameos to keep longtime fans satiated. In making the leap to a new protagonist and country, Daybreak developer Falcom improve the game flow in a number of ways and in doing so, trim a small amount of unnecessary if flavourful fat accumulated across the Crossbell/Erebonia arcs.
Taking place in the previously unseen Calvard Republic, Trails Through Daybreak introduces protagonist Van Arkride, a ‘Spriggan’ – a quasi-private eye/fixer/mysterious bad boy type – who sits between the local police, the Bracer Guild and the various criminal elements spreading their tendrils throughout Calvard. From a seemingly innocuous job, Van is slowly drawn into an ever-expanding adventure features the turns and reveals now de rigour for a Trails title. As expected the worldbuilding effort from developer Falcom envelopes the player from the get-go, with numerous NPC’s and in-game texts outlining the popular events and political turmoil simmering beneath the surface that threaten to boil over, just in time for Van to become involved. It’s an effective narrative trick, as foreshadowing makes some plot points feel dreadfully inevitable rather than contrived at the last minute – of course, a JRPG needs to centre the action around its characters, but the deft handling of tonal shifts between goofy side quests and compelling socio-political drama is rivalled only by the Yakuza series. The slimmest roster of playable characters since the Zero/Azure duology is another welcome shift – while the extensive ensemble of the Cold Steel arc suited its initial setting, it was somewhat unwieldy across combat and character development by the end of its first entry let alone it’s fifth.
Aesthetically, Trails Through Daybreak is for me a shining example of how best to balance art style, fidelity and budget. Eschewing photo-realistic visuals, it exudes a warmth through both its anime-influenced character designs and generous use of colour that might not be as ‘cool’ as contemporaries like Persona 5 or as visually impressive as Final Fantasy XVI, but ensures Falcom can get more than a single main series entry out every seven years and won’t go bust in the process. In practical terms, the Trails series seems to answer the question “What if JRPGS never needed to look better than they did on the PS3?”. How pleasing you find that answer will depend on what you want out of the genre. Dense combat systems, expansive storytelling and an unrivalled sense of scope are where Trails Through Daybreak excels, leaving open-world vistas and AAA visuals to the likes of Square. None of this will surprise veterans to the franchise, but it may feel like a step back in time for those as yet unaccustomed.
While much here will be familiar for those jumping in after wrapping up last year’s Trails into Reverie, it’s not all business as usual. Trails Through Daybreak’s biggest shake-ups to the formula are equally split between the removal of a number of side activities and a huge overhaul of the battle system. Mainstays of the genre like Fishing, Cooking and Card Games are either gone or, in the case of food preparation, remain in a severely reduced state. While initially disappointed in such cuts, as I progressed in the game it made sense that Daybreak presented the perfect chance for Falcom to excise some of these genre trappings to tighten the overall pace and flow of the game. I daresay it also freed them up to make such drastic revamps to the combat which is the first in the series to feature a real-time element.
While it pales in comparison to dedicated real-time action JRPGs, being able to attack and stun enemies without entering full-blown combat is worthy addition and much like the removal of some of the optional activities serves to streamline play. Revisiting areas which the party level has outgrown is far more pleasant as Van and his companions can make short work of them with a single swipe, useful for tracking down that single treasure chest you may have missed. The Orbment system has been expanded considerably with a host of changes and additions. The basics are still there; buy or synthesise Quartz which grant Arts( spells and abilities), open Orbment slots in which to place them, unleash hell on foes. Master Quartz have been renamed Holo Cores but still provide a number of stat adjustments as well as dictate the characters ultimate attack/buff, their S-Boost. Arts Drivers are a new item which slot into a characters Orbment and give them a sprinkling of Arts such as a selection of Basic Fire Arts, making it a breeze to switch to another set of Arts without having to redo an entire Quartz loadout on a character. While this may sound like a lot to juggle, outside of the highest difficulty levels it’s relatively straightforward to manage the Orbment system which unfolds slowly over the early hours of the game.
Finally, Shard Skills are another new addition to combat and tie into the level and colour of Quartz slotted by players into their Orbment. For example, placing a red Attack 1 Quartz into a Weapon Orbment slot will unlock a truly exciting 1 in 4 chance of Fire Damage being added to an Attack. This is a really nitty-gritty, min-maxing aspect of combat which I suspect is key to a truly godly loadout, but one that for me is a happy coincidence rather than something vital to experiencing all that Trails Through Daybreak has to offer. Having anywhere from a 25% to 75% chance of a Skill kicking in isn’t something that gets me jazzed about JRPG combat but from previous attempts at higher difficulty levels in earlier Trails games, it surely exists for a reason. If playing around with Shard Skills sounds like the most tedious thing you could imagine, the lower difficulty levels will ensure you never have to pay them any mind.
It’s a little too early to state whether Trails Through Daybreak will wind up as one of my favourites of the series, but it certainly goes a long way to lending itself to a second runthrough thanks to the numerous refinements Falcom have made to the formula, excellent performance on the PlayStation 5 and the extremely useful High-Speed Mode. Having generally soured on JRPG’s over time, the Trails series is one of the few that I still hold in high regard and always manages to rekindle my affection for the genre. With bright visuals, a stellar cast of characters and the high storytelling watermark the series prides itself on are all present, Trails Through Daybreak is simultaneously a compelling start to a new arc and the best entry point since 2015’s Trails of Cold Steel. I implore anyone even slightly interested in JRPGs yet to wade into the deep waters of the Trails series to do so now, if only so you’re ready to go for Trails Through Daybreak II next year.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 system with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
