Ah, the Legend of Heroes series. It’s no secret I love the Ys games and, up until early last year, had no idea the Nihon Falcom Trails series was a turn based RPG. That all changed when I saw a sliver of gameplay in one of Erick Landon’s videos listing out some of his favorite RPGs of all time. The problem is I had a baby on the way and definitely did not have the time to spend diving into a bajillion hours of story rich gameplay spanning twenty years worth of games. I tried watching a few YouTube videos to get caught up on the story and dove into the Trails of Cold Steel arc. While I’m sure this isn’t the best way to go about it, I fell for the series almost immediately, but after putting about 60 hours into Cold Steel and 40 into Cold Steel II, my baby girl was born and I wasn’t able to keep up.
And then, wouldn’t you know it, the Nihon Falcom gods smiled down upon me and announced a new Trails entry that, while taking place in the same universe and being tied to the other arcs, was said to offer the perfect jumping in point with a completely new story and cast of characters. If you’re at all interested in the series, I implore you to play Trails Through Daybreak and by the time you finish, Trails Through Daybreak II should be released here in the West. I definitely plan on diving into the starting point of the series and moving forward….eventually.
Ooo Anyway, let’s talk Trails Through Daybreak. If it isn’t obvious from the above statement of me insisting you to play this game and then the sequel, the latest Trails is a fantastic JRPG. This time, you play as main protagonist Van Arkride who is a Spriggan, whicht as k it, as is someone who takes odd jobs or jobs teetering on the line of legality. I believe previous games called them Fixers. Anyway, his job handles stuff clients can’t or don’t want to go to the cops/the guild. Other times it’s more about saving face and maintaining confidentiality. While Van takes these sorts of jobs, he himself is someone with values who abides by his own moral compass. Throughout your time playing, you’ll be confronted with how you want to handle certain choices and, depending on the path you choose to take during 4SPGs (side quests), the outcome of story beats along with your reputation change. Choices are split between Chaos, Law, and Gray with some having overlap of any two.
Trails Through Daybreak will also see you become acquainted with a whole new cast of characters, both lovable allies as well as new enemies. It’s not just the characters, setting, and story arc that are different this time around. Thee team has also changed up the battle system for the better. In past games you could approach enemies on the battlefield and get the jump on them with a first strike—pretty standard RPG fare. Now, striking an enemy initiates an action RPG battle, allowing you to weaken enemies. This is great for strategically taking out individual enemies from within a pack or to grind lower level enemies. At any point during these battles you can initiate shards which immediately switches into turn-based mode, giving you both the benefit of weakening the enemies as well and doing so launches a targeted attack from each party member simultaneously before switching to turn based mode. I also enjoyed the changes to the upgrade system. While the graphics may look dated to some, this is one of the best games visually from Nihon Falcom with its trademark style.
Just like previous Trails games, everyone carries around a fancy doo-dad that enables them to use magic. This time it’s called a XIPHA, (eXternal Interface for Post Human Activation) and takes the place of ARCUS (All-Round Communication & Unison System) from the previous games. These multipurpose devices are used for communication as well as granting the user the ability to use shards (magic). I’m not going to dive too deep into the customization because you can make it as simple or complex as you like—there’s even an option to have the game auto-assign the best loadout at any given time. Here’s a general breakdown of the updated system taken from Kiseki Fandom.
Holo Core
Holo Cores are AI-equipped Core Quartz of the Xipha and spiritual successor to Enigma II and ARCUS’s Master quartz. The Holo Cores mounted in the center of the Xipha have three vital roles that significantly affect its overall performance:
- Basic Arts Attack Power – Basic stats that boost the power of arts attacks.
- Base EP – Basic stats that increase the maximum EP required to cast arts.
- S Boost Properties – Special effects that can be activated during battle.
Your Holo Core level increases through battle. Your Basic Arts Attack Power, Base EP, and S Boost Properties will grow along with it. Furthermore, the Holo Core is loaded with a navigator that supports Xipha users with voice-based guidance in various situations, such as in battle, on the field, and during quests.
In addition to the voice and speech style adjusting according to the type of Holo Core, the Holo Core shows a more human response to the user.
Arts Driver
Arts Driver allows its user to install Orbal arts, which can be used by mounting it to the Xipha. The availability of arts depends on the level of the Holo Core: the higher a Holo Core’s level, the more powerful arts can be wielded. Separate from the pre-installed arts sets, the Arts Driver also has custom slots. Setting arts into these slots allows one to make up for a lack of recovery or support arts, or install more powerful attack arts.[1]
Shard Skills
Shard Skills are special effects activated by lines’ elemental powers. Holo Cores have four lines that can slot quartz to Weapon, Shield, Drive, and EXTRA. Depending on the elemental powers of the quartz slotted to these lines, shards will deploy that activate various special effects in battle.
- Weapon Line – The line connected to attack functions such as additional elemental damage or effects.
- Shield Line – The line connected to defense functions such as damage reduction, elemental resistance effects, and counterattacks.
- Drive Line – The line connected to arts strengthening functions such as increased casting speed and increased elemental power.
- EXTRA Line – The line connected to unique functions that do not fall in the categories of Weapon, Shield, or Drive.
The types and threshold of elemental power required to activate Shard Skills are determined by their performance. By preparing Xipha while keeping in mind the elemental power of each quartz, it will be possible to activate more advanced Shard Skills in battle.
So as you can see, there is a lot of customizability on offer in this Trails game. One thing I appreciated as the father of a a little one under one is Nihon Falcom’s inclusion of an easy mode as well as the ability to change the difficulty at any time. This can be done either for turn based or action battles separate of one another. At the time of writing I’ve managed to sink in about 150 hours into this gem and cannot wait to get lost in the Trails Through Daybreak 2 next year along with the latest entry in the Ys series, Ys X Nordics, in about a month.
If you’re interested or on the fence, pick up the demo on Switch, PlayStation 4/5, or (my preference) Steam. This will give you a taste of some of the characters and gameplay in the opening act with the abllity to carry progress over to the full game should you decide to take the plunge.
