Time travel is a story device that can either be a saving grace or the downfall of a tale, and in The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2, it’s a bit of both. The sequel to one of last year’s sleeper hits brings some new features to the table, but overall it’s a safe entry in NIS America’s new sub-series based on their long running saga of a franchise.
The game opens up with hero Van Arkride doing what he does best, taking a nap at his office. The local spriggan, the dude who takes care of jobs that neither the police or the bracer guild – this universe’s version of a nation-spanning group of super warriors – dare not lay a finger on, was an integral part of Almata’s takedown during the events of the first game, so it is indeed a well-earned rest.
Then again, it doesn’t last too long. Old time friend Elaine, a bracer herself, knocks at his door, bringing a new case to light, one that has an unexpected relation to Van as you’ll find out throughout Trails Through Daybreak 2. She reveals that the culprit behind a number of murders around Edith, Calvard’s capital and the setting for the series, has a power that’s very similar to Arkride’s own.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he’ll become the number one suspect, and that has him carelessly rush head-on into the investigation, with some disastrous results. He even dies at one point, which would mean a ‘game over’ in any other RPG, but this one, don’t forget, has a gimmick relating to time.
Agnés, Van’s assistant, who carries around a relic passed down through her family, has discovered a new function that allows her to shift back to moments before its activation, which comes into play often during this chapter’s runtime. That means that whenever things don’t turn out the way characters want, it comes into play and rewinds it all, an event that plays a little too often for my taste.
Still, time travelling aside, there are parts of Daybreak 2 that kept me interested in playing, only not related to the story per se. The new investigation tools at Van’s disposal, thanks to his friend Marduk’s work, add new and fun layers to snooping around town, be it to open locked chests using Orbal A.I companion Mare and run through a cyber maze, or a tracking system that scans the environment in search of clues regarding whatever the next objective might be.
Then there’s the Marchen Garten, this game’s own Reverie Corridor from Trails into Reverie, which boils down to a dungeon crawling sub-mode composed of randomly generated floors and plenty of boss fights. It’s a good way of earning XP as well as the cavalcade of add-ons such as new outfits for your crew, but most importantly, skill points that serve the purpose of giving permanent stats upgrades to the team. It’s certainly a neat way to break from the comings and goings of the main game, even though it has no bearing on Daybreak 2 as a whole, given that it’s optional content.
Those, while not exactly earth-shattering, add a neat wrinkle to the overall running around town picking up odd quests and solving them in-between the story progression, which remains practically unchanged from part one. That’s not to say that it’s bad or repetitive, mind you, as Van’s side activities tend to spring some of the series’ excellent character and world development into the mix, giving way to a lot of the country of Calvard’s rich history. Going through the same avenue as before, Arkride’s decisions play into the morality meter, just like the previous game, where it would influence who would end up joining the team, something that’s bafflingly missing this time around.
The same can be said about the additions to the already excellent combat of the original, one that lets you engage with enemies in both real-time and in turn-based fights. During the real-time segments you can now use Ex-Chains, which are basically dual attacks that take place between two party members. Employing them on dazed opponents kills them outright, speeding up the dungeon progression even more. In order to help out with the part of stunning said enemies, you’re now also able to escape their attacks at the very last moment, opening them up to a partner’s special attack, in turn making your target see stars for a turn or two.
Actual turn-based and more traditional RPG fare battles revolve around turns that strictly adhere to a timeline, with punctual bonuses that can play a huge roll during your attack turns, like letting you use magic that would otherwise take a while to be conjured right away, or for no cost to your mana pool, for instance. It’s an exciting way to keep you enthralled in the action for sure, making an already dynamic system even more well-oiled and fun to master during the game. What worked in Daybreak 1 remains as good as it was then, but then some.
And even before duking it out, don’t forget that there is a whole other layer to making sure your team is ready for whatever dangers lie in their way. The orbal system makes a welcome comeback, letting you slot gems into various aspects of each character in order to power them up, give them new moves, and make exploiting weaknesses a cinch. These provide a good reason to scour levels in search of chests as well as going out of your way and fighting trash mobs, as both are great means of farming those crystals.
Where Trails Through Daybreak 2 might not shake things up story-wise, along with the cavalcade of juicy lore-pusing side content to beat, there are a number of activities that will be instantly familiar to those who are used to playing the Legend of Heroes games, absent in the first game. Namely, they are the fishing minigame, where this time it’s a little more manageable to play.
The other is a brand-new card game that rivals Trails of Cold Steel’s addicting Blade. It’s called Seven Hearts and it’ll remind you of Magic: The Gathering, where the main objective is to pile up elemental cards in order to beat your rival’s deck, all the while defending your own the very same way. Last and definitely least are two other activities you’re bound to not care about at all: playing basketball and tailing targets. One has you mindlessly dotting around trying to score baskets and the other will drive you bonkers, having to repeat sections in the same way early stealth games would during the 32-bit days. Yuck.
Along with these are the investigation tools that I touched back earlier in the review, and while some feel like obvious time-wasters, the majority are neat enough to keep you busy and entertained for what they are. If, however, there were any more, I would start to think that NIS America was purposefully adding these for the sake of upping the playtime even more, and considering that the story isn’t nearly as good as the previous games that they put out in the saga, it would make this one a unfortunately quick pass.
Van and co are as entertaining and colorful this time around, too. If you’re like me and enjoy getting to know otherwise mundane details of character’s lives and seeing them develop into meaningful interactions, you’ll get a kick out of all the development that it’s in this game. If it weren’t for the time travel gimmick, I would consider this to be the strongest in terms of character progression of all the recent releases that I’ve gotten to review, but in the end it serves to give them useless fluff in their otherwise excellent progression.
It’s worth talking about performance as well. Playing Trails Through Daybreak 2 on a Switch only goes to show how long in the tooth the system is at this point. Long load times, cut back visuals, and an inconsistent framerate make this version of the game the least impressive out of all. Taking into account that these aren’t exactly the most demanding presentation-wise currently out for any console out there, it’s disappointing to see Nintendo’s hybrid getting such an underperforming port such as this.
If you have the means of playing this on any other platform, it’s a good recommendation to those looking to immerse themselves into the already packed, story-rich universe that The Legend of Heroes is. Like the original, it’s the best jumping in point, and in case you haven’t played that game, there’s a handy glossary that will get you up to speed on the events that precede it, letting you get into the action right away. And you’ll surely want to do so, since even the worst of these tends to be a step above most RPGs of its kind – even with warts and all, Daybreak 2 is no exception to that rule.
