Trails Through Daybreak is the PERFECT Entry Point | Review
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- The latest entry in the long-running Trails series, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak, has finally arrived in the West! And let me tell you: it absolutely surprised me! In both good and bad ways.
In this review, I'll tell you about it's hybrid combat system, if this is a good place to start if you're new to the series and if it's worth your time and money.
A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by NIS America for review purposes.
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![The Remaining Sept-Terrions [Trails/Kiseki Theory]](/img/1.gif)
Great to hear that Trails through Daybreak is good! Super hyped for this game!
Never played a Trails game before and this hooked me so much it is one of my favorite games I have ever played. And Van is one of my favorite main characters in any game I played so far or heard about.
Dropped cold steel but i somehow picked up this game and now im at the finale chapter. One of the most enjoyable jrpg i've played in a while def agree with it being a perfect starting point
When one character’s voiced it feels a bit more jarring since they feel they speak longer than in instances from other trails. There’s also seems to be more reading in general.
Agreed. It was so annoying :P
So we basically play for Gintoki Sakata)? Nice!
I thought the same lol, basically Gintoki and Yuri Lowell as a Trails protag (I couldn't ask for anything more)
Yea i got this vibe. Tales of vesperia is my favorite jrpg (rpg) and Yuri Lowell best main charactere. Gintama best anime ever haha
The weird voiced - not voiced thing has been long present in Trails game. I remember in CS2, there was a scene where all characters except VanDyck were voiced and it was just... very awkward.
I'm really looking forward to this game but I still have to play Reverie.
Cannot wait for daybreak 1 2 and when Farewell, O Zemuria the calvard arc has been one of the best in trails of series
which Daybreak 2 should be release next year, and the other one in 2026.
seems to be a 2 year pattern from reveal to ENG release.
2 is alright except for Chapter 3 of it, almost everyone agrees that chapter had potential but was garbage. It was the result of rushing because YS X was already delayed thus took a major hit in the story
I would definitely say daybreak Two is coming out next year but Farewell O zemuria Probably won't see that by 2029 😂
@@The_Maf1a it'll likely be 2026, as lately they have followed a 2 year pattern.
Dude, if you're willing to do it in a 'special' way and own a PC, you can play them both fully fan translated right now.
The Trails series like Cold Steel and these games are definitely on my radar one of my friends is a big fan of the series
I've played every game except the last 2 so far and I think it's closer to an epic fantasy series in terms of investment than your average RPG series. They make a lot of easter egg references to epic fantasy in the games so I think that's what they're going for. I don't think there's anything else like it in gaming actually. It might be one of a kind.
I've played 7/10 them . I haven't played trails in the sky yet but I will when the remake comes out.
Don’t be expecting that for a while
See you in 2045
You single handedly sold me on this game. I’m gong to buy it. It sounds right up my alley. Maybe now I can put down Skyrim. (I always go back to Skyrim between games to take the edge off lol)
I tried the Sky as entry point, its not bad at all but I'm not a fan of the sphere system, the battle overall is interesting but it feels slow even with FF on, but I can say the narrative is clearly what carries the game, but I have a hard time to playing it at all
I'm SO HYPE for Daybreak ever since Rev, that demo was crazy Lit #thehypeisreal
I started with the demo for Cold Steel 3 and enjoyed it. The first Sky game was cheap on steam so I bought played and loved it and now im moving on to the second game.
Going through Sky Second Chapter right now. It's so good, especially if you played the 1st.
That whole thing about some characters being voiced and others not voiced in the same interaction has been present in this franchise since the first game that got voice acting. It's definitely a weird choice since they could opt to voice some interactions for all characters and not voice others that aren't as important instead of mixing voiced and not-voiced lines with no rhyme or reason, but at this point in the series I suspect I would notice it no longer happens if they went full voice acting and feel that something's off like when you walk into your place and a family member changed the drapes but you don't know about it and you feel something's wrong because you're subconsciously noticing the change even if you haven't actually pin-pointed what's different.
You'd think they would have a better solution by now. I feel like they should go all or nothing. Splitting it like this, especially in the same conversation is SO weird.
@@TheGamingShelf Yeah, it's definitely a strange choice. Especially since there doesn't seem to be any sense to how they choose which lines to voice.
@@jmhacesThey actually devolved, at least for the JP voice acting, The first games Sky Trilogy are 100% voiced then on Crossbell Duology, The main story is still voiced but side quests aren’t anymore, then the half voice thing started in Cold Steel where Xseed had to step up and voice 50% more for the Eng dub on Cold Steel I & II.
Then Cold Steel 3 onwards with NISA is the voiced state what we have rn.
@@kentstopme The PC versions of the Sky games don't have voice acting unless you patch them. I played them as is, so the first one I played that was fully voice acted was Zero.
@@kentstopmeactually, didn't the voice patch come from the Evolution versions of the games? The original release didn't have them iirc. And if so, that would make Zero (Evo ver.) the first game to have full voice acting. Cold Steel 1 would release a year after then Azure (Evo ver.) then Cold Steel 2 and so on
Awwwwww yeah!!!! Let’s gooooo! Can’t wait for this game!
Especially for a certain silver haired girl 👀😏
I already finished the fan translation.
Guess I owe Falcom some business though 😉
Alot of words to say I won't spoil .....
Falcom is single handedly keeping me happy about gaming right now. Between Ys and the Trails series, it's so much fun and so many great games. Western devs should take notes.
They’re killing it this year for sure!
Ys has become a constant in my modern gaming life. Is there is one franchise that you can bet on delivering then it's Ys, even if everything else fails. Reynatis and Vision of Mana already disapppinted me. But I'm convinced that Ys X will deliver.
I still haven't gotten into Trails. I tried but the gameplay progression is way too slow for me. I'm not talking about the story but the gameplay. In trails in the sky you had to finish the first two chapters until you finally gut new quartz and new moves. So you were stuck with the same moves for two entire chapters. That's way too slow for me. How is Daybreak in that regard?
@@pandaman1331 Bro.... get off the net, insert the first Cold Steel trails game and go to work. It is a series you simply cannot ignore. It's that good.
@@mspionage1743 That didn't answer my question.
This game is one I’ve been hype to play
It’s great! You’ll dig it.
I am someone who is just starting to get into JRPGs and as I've spent the last couple weeks making a list of all the games I want to play, I have built up quite an extensive backlog of games I want to try out. I've been eyeing the Trails series and was going to start with Trails in the Sky FC but I decided since Daybreak will be coming out soon that I would just wait for it and jump in here instead, and go back later if I like the series. This video has me REALLY excited for this game, especially with the exploring and the hybrid combat system. I've already run across the issue where some days I just don't know if I want to play a game with an active combat system (like Tales of games) or a turn based combat system, and this combat system looks amazing for people like me. I can't wait to try it out!
Oh yeah, the combat is perfect for that! I actually felt the same way at times during my time playing haha.
Can’t decide whether to get this for ps5, Steam Deck, or Switch
These games are so lazy. The developer can't even be bothered to add different weapons, costumes have to be bought not earned , the story is long and contrived now that they're on entry what 12!?? How can people still support this lazy game series!? I miss the old tales games. They offered everything
I've played the first game i think it was? Cold steel 1 and i don't think i beat it either.. it was painfully generic and i hated the school setting. This game doesn't have that?
Can't believe I just finished this game after 4 weeks. This was my sixth Trails game and the only one that I did not enjoy at all. I found it incredibly boring. I loved Cold Steel I-IV and Trails Into Reverie, but for some reason I didn't like anything about Daybreak. The story was bad, the music was mostly bad, and I prefer the combat from the five other Trails games that I have completed. I forced myself to beat this game because I really am a huge Trails fan, but this game was not good at all. It was bad.
Fantastic game, best game Falcom put out since Ys III and best trails since Ao for me, such a breath of fresh air and return to form in terms of writing.
"FnV" LMAO. The fan translation version was already funny, didn't expect them to turn it to 11 there.
Man don't hate on my girl Agnes she has quite the arc of becoming the NOT NICE girl.
I’ve been playing these games since I was a child and Sky 2 is my favorite game of all time. But I learned how to mod and patch games so I could play the fan translation and I can say this is one of the best designed games I’ve ever played.
Trails has always been a good series of games
I think not having everything voiced is both a blessing and a curse. In one hand it would be nice to just have it voiced. But on the other hand having it not be voiced allows them to have alot more dialouge and text boxes in general. Since they can add alot more lore, people to talk to and longer conversations and not go over budget.
Can not wait for next week
Just ordered Daybreak the other day and will get to try tomorrow. First timer here.
I’m really enjoyed the demo, it was so good, so excited for Daybreak next week! 😊
If you're bored with the story and dialogue scenes, that's okay! Trails is not for everyone. One thing about barriers to entry is that they are effective at keeping normies out.
Im looking forward to playing this. And looks like there's gonna be plenty of Boobahs
Haha MORE than plenty!
@@TheGamingShelf honestly looking more for the Hybrid combat than waifus. I wanna compare it to metaphor
How many controllable characters in this new entry?
I've played every game released in the west, with the exception of Trails in the Sky The 3rd. Need to beat Reverie still. I won't play Daybreak until its sequel is closer to release over here.
Keep an eye on NISA's anime expo panel. They may announce a date there if the leaks are anything to go off of.
Can't believe this game is $70
It’s not. It’s $60. At least in America it is.
@@TheGamingShelf Oops I forgot only first party titles are $70, the rest are still $60
When are they gonna let me be a girl again
This is by far one of my favorite series
Awesome review Taylor! I'll be importing this one as we didn't get stock in Australia, and I'm a huge sucker for physical media 😅
Trails in the Sky is the PERFECT starting point but if Daybreak gets someone in the series then that’s fine but go back and play older games and then replay Daybreak lol. Sky SC is still best game in series and your knowledge of past games really makes the game so much better than other jrpgs
Ty
Over the years, I have played every game. Though I didn't beat the third Sky game and I am currently on the final chapter of Reverie. One thing that kind of worries me is.... you always showed like the same three characters in the party. Other than temp characters that are hardly available, is the character pool pretty small? Or did you just not want to spoil anything?
Gotta imagine the “FnV” line was a western localization?
Never played any of these games, was gonna get this, but now idk. I love the Falcom Ys games, extremely wholesome.
Vulgarity just for vulgarity sake is not for me.
I wish them well.
You had me at "Truly innovative" Taylor. NIS/Falcom has done an excellent job at bringing this series to West and for that they have my praise. Bandai Namco could really something from them. Anyway, this seems like another solid entry in an overall pretty great RPGs series. Hope fans & newcomers will keep supporting this series.
There has always been the disconnect with voiced and non-voiced sequences from CSI, so I'm not surprised to see it here. What I am hoping is fresh writing instead of the "rah, rah Class VII" over and over again.
I got sick of hearing that by the end of CS4.
In previous games Calvard always seemed like it was basically the 'Near East' if it was governed like the United States. I haven't played this yet but I know it was having an immigration crisis with what amounts to East Asia in this game's universe. I was getting vibes they were making a commentary on the US-Mexico border. Looking forward to seeing whether my impressions were wrong or not.
No matter how people spin it.there no better entry point the sky trilogy is the only best place to start. Also there is no world building/in game novels which add a great deal to world and mysteries of Zemuria continent. I think they did this in order to push the game releases a lot faster sadly.
Played both this and the sequel fan-translated and they were fantastic. Only disadvantage is now I'm sitting here stuck until Mr. Korean Badass english translates the third entry of this when it comes out.
Kind of annoyed that they're not touching on the obvious time sept-terrion shit in two games, though. I know it's coming but I feel like they're taking way too long with it.
i think the combat system is ok but i really dont understand why the ff12 combat system was a one and done kind of thing, it was nearly perfect. the only thing comparable for me that was just as good was the ff7 remake combat system. the combat system in this game is in the top 3 for me as far as these kinds of games go.
I think Agnès is a pretty neat character. ✨️🙂❤️👍✨️ Plus, there times in the games where she grows to be more capable.
Subbed. I'm buying this. Thank you :)
How is this a perfect entry point when you're pretty much towards the end of entire saga? In the third upcoming game we are already seeing many returning characters.
I just don't know if I can play another JRPG about high school students.
The main character Van is 24, Aaron is 19, Judith is 22, Risette is 20. Most of the main cast are not highschoolers, only Agnes.
@@TheGamingShelf Good to know, thanks!
@@TheGamingShelf But the question is... do they ACT like highschoolers?
@@julioaguait’s a jrpg. What do you think?
@@BasicSneedEducation *sigh*
Yeah this dude doesn’t like trials he’s said it multiple times. At least he’s not just blindly hating points are somewhat valid
Great video though
Can confirm this is a horrible entry point half the characters in the story have ties to other important factions and people that you need prior knowledge of
I'm deeply annoyed by the characters' design recycling models energy
Just due to that one special move that has the tissue with a lipstick pips and a black cat, that isnt a reference to Celine is it? I know this is obviously a total different arch than cold steel
At this point I keep collecting these games but am so intimidated to start them since it will be such an investment at this point 😅
i’ve been playing the trails games over the past two years to finally catch up and play daybreak. looking forward to starting this soon!
Sigh... The backlog increases...
How’s replay and game length
I want to play this, but I'm worried it might open up the flood gates, making me play the other hundred titles. 😂
Well then maybe let this one be lol. You're looking at 10 other games that came before this!
The voice acting is actually there since cold steel 2-3
Im surprised you gave Trails another chance
Now im curious are there any jrpg series that you certain wont coming back to it
If a new entry looks cool I’ll give it a try! That Romancing SaGa 2 Remake for example looks excellent and I’ll definitely be trying it.
does anyone die in this one or does everyone still have plot armor?
@yahyatavakoli1481 Calvad absolutely is more mature then CS it's why people enjoy it so much. Characters die, there is blood,gray characters,nightclubs,I could go on
Hope RUclipsrs located some minor bugs as well before the official release.
I didn’t see any 🤷🏻♂️
@@TheGamingShelf Good, Reverie had a bug with the links for several characters that was fixed a couple of weeks after release.
I actually enjoy the relative transparency of Trails's games structure.
Knowing wich quests and events trigger story events let you pace your gaming sessions as you wish and avoid any hesitation in doing something for fear of locking yourself out of something you haven't done yet.
It also avoid the weird dissonance one can have doing sidequests while there's something a lot more important to do. As in Trails, sidequests are always nestled within story downtime when the characters actually have nothing else vital to do.
I actually agree with that part, I guess meant more the core story. They get so caught up in telling a story about the world that it feels unfocused.
@@TheGamingShelf Ok, got it. I can definitely see how a Trails' game story can suffer from the meta plot, especially as we're getting closer and closer to the actual end of the whole storyline.
Does it still have missables? Like you have a talk npc the right time, when the stars are align.. without giving a clue?
I hate following a guide when I play trails lol
That I don't know lol. I'm not that far down the rabbit hole with this series. I mainly just stuck to the main quest and the obvious side quests.
The "karma" system let you do a route according at your choices, depending on your alignment you can have different guests in party and some different events.
Of course most the story and end of the game don't change but this means there's some replayability to see what could happen if the player is a good or a bad person.
I got a question, was the text for the quartz in the orb menu so small. In the demo the text for it just was small and it even look small here, just wondering on that as it made it tricky to read what the quartz does
I honestly didn't notice until you mentioned it but yeah the detail text is quite small. The Quartz names are easy to read though.
@@TheGamingShelf yeah i mean the names are easy to read it when you read the description of each effect like what each one does. I was wondering about that. That annoying when text is small but least the ps5 has the magnify glass feature that lets you zoom in.
Alright, picking this up even steam summer sale doesn't give it a noticable discount, just the standard ultimate edition discount....
I'm just finishing Tokyo Xanadu and waiting this new Trails, probably i'll have the game for monday or tuesday.
BRO I THOUGHT THE ENGLISH RELEASE WAS EARLY JULY, ITS OUT ALREADY!?
The demo is already out
review copy
Early review copy.
Wait. Is this game getting a rerelease? I thought it was already on steam?
IT's been out in Japan for awhile but this is the official English release.
Looks interesting. I see it's on Steam but sadly not part of their big Steam summer sale. I'll keep an eye on it for a good sale.
Does steam put newly released stuff on sale that fast? There’s also the Japanese version on steam which is getting an English patch for those that own it if you meant that
@@DragoSaul it's been on Steam since March of 2023. they're just gonna patch in the English voices and text when July 4th comes around
@@DragoSaul I wasn't aware how soon the game had been released but no, they usually don't so I'll have to wait until then.
The game's not out yet so it wouldn't be on sale.
@@TheGamingShelf Thanks. I put it on my Steam Wishlist
Great review! Maybe one day I'll check out another Trails game haha...Cold Steel really left a bad taste in my mouth and there is so much out there it's just not a priority for me.
Every time I want to start a new trails game and voice it on here I’m bombarded with posts saying I need to play all the previous ones first. I’m curious what the consensus will be with this one even after hearing what the Gaming Shelf has to say about it. The fan base of this game series is pretty strong.
Don't listen to them. Just play the series how you want!
The series has a lot of references to epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings. I think it's actually trying to translate that sort of epic length to a game series. You can approach it whichever way you want but it's not something you need to rush. I do think the series works best played in order. With the exception of maybe the very first game every game has pretty good payoff at the end so it's not exactly a painful experience. If anything going through them all slowly gave me something to look forward to. It's worth it to get the games on sale at least.
Not a perfect entry point that is Sky. Also calling the story boring is a massive self report and further proves you miss alot jumping around in the series
Or that I just find the story boring 🤷🏻♂️ Trails isn’t objectively good. Some people don’t vibe with it.
Having played all the games, Sky is NOT a perfect entry point for all players.
@@joelhoskins2066 Maybe not for gameplay (though I would debate this) but for understanding the series,the world,the lore and the characters it easily is.
@@controlroomguy correct
@@joelhoskins2066I understand that from a gameplay perspective but if you’re gonna play trails it’s for the story. I started with cold steel 1 and 2 and was massively confused about everything by the end of cold steel 2 so I think going in release order ideal
I really wanna try this series but I just can't find it in me to accept RPGs with stories spanning through multiple games ...
Yeah, in this case it has kinda gone in a middle of the road way, basicaly an anthology of stories, effectively 4(to date) series within a series and a "crossover" one.
The thing that connect them is a mysterious organisation that seems aimless at best and the fact it all takes place in the same continent.
You will be fine for the most part, kinda like the Ys series.
Concise and to the point! Great review Taylor
Thanks dude! I try to keep my reviews on the shorter side. Skill Up and ACG can go ahead and do the podcast-sized reviews lol.
This being the PS5 version is a little concerning with the significant FPS drops in some scenes in the video. I just hope Durante and his team has improved the PC port as always. That said I'm so excited about this game. Only a few more days of avoiding spoilers.
In Durante we trust 🙇
Playing trails with english voice acting… eeew.
Do i need to play the other trails game to understand the lore or i can just go straight with this one?
Watch the video. I give a very detailed answer.
Taylor I WILL start with this one!
DO IT
Note: Daybreak 2 suffers due to its chapter 3, with its horrible story due to juggling randomness as a reuslt of rushing due to other game delays
Yeah I’ve heard daybreak 2 is very divisive which makes me shocked there seems to be much excitement for the game out in September
@@DragoSaul It’s mostly anything regarding that chapter and also the game has less bonding events than 1. Again both likely due to YS X having already been delayed
Bummer!
I haven't played any of the Trails games yet but I've been looking to jump in and haven't figured out where I should start.
Outside of the very beginning with Trails in the Sky, this is honestly the next best place.
I love everything about those games. I wish they removed that shitty action combat from Kiseki games. It's just an option but Kiseki games are turn based. It's not Ys or Xanadu.
You don’t have to use it at all if you don’t want to.
@@TheGamingShelf I know but it's like adding turn based system to Ys. Kiseki games are not action games and that's why many love them.
i dont want to watch the videos for spoilers but does this game require knowledge of the previous ones
Yes and no. You can read the lore of the world and story of the past games in the main menu if you like. This one's a different arc from a different region so I think it's still a good start.
it doesnt but knowing the past games is way better for world and character building
You can get the general story just fine but you’ll miss cameos and callbacks.
How does it run on switch. The cutscene pacing and popping in the demo had me switching off before I started but I liked zero and the cold steel demos had me on the fence both times
I reviewed it on PS5 so I have no idea. Check out a Nintendo-centric review to see what they had to say.
The ps4 version of the demo has cutscene technical issues as well which I never had in another trails
@@TheGamingShelf thanks. There isn't any nintendo centric reviewers I know of whose tastes allign enough with my own to trust their opinions.
I thought it ran fine. It’s 30fps and it’s solid and I did not get any crashes at all. I’m not sure what the cutscene passing you mention is but they’re like they are in Reverie so, some, have been split up a bit with loading screens but you soon get used to them
@@leehardy2025 I'm just gonna pick it up on steam.
The pop in and mixed resolutions are hard to look at for me.
The cutscenes where stuttering and popin in and frame pacing was off on switch. But may be the demo only.
The direction and loading cutscenes into each other was pausing a bit. Not a fan of that sort of cinematics direction for this reason in general.
Overrated series
Correction: Underrated Series. There. Fixed.
No that's Persona
Seems you only really enjoyed the gameplay or at least what you mostly did
Yes! The story literally put me to sleep but the combat is incredible.
@@TheGamingShelf don’t blame you I did fast forward a lot In the demo
So xenoblade and ff7 remake success run so this baby game can crawl :))
😂
Is the difficulty good? I enjoy the orbs system but was hoping they would really ramp up the difficulty, because that with the speed up function would make the game so good for me.
Whats the ratio of cutscenes/dialogue to gameplay/combat? Im also the type to get bored/sleepy during long dialogue sections so im wondering if the combat is really good enough to save it
I tried the Cold Steel series and Trails from Zero, but there's just too much bland dialogue and not enough voice acting, if they made a tldr mode I'd be down.
Just curious... I downloaded the switch demo and i know its expected that switch wont look as good as other consoles. But will the graphics look soo bad in the end product? This is my first legend of heroes game
I didn't review the Switch version so I don't know.
Having played the full game on Switch I can conform the graphics do not change from the demo. So if you think they are bad then that is how they are
Aaah thanks for the info 👍
I’m not sure about this I find long dialogue sections very boring especially if it’s not voiced and this game seems to be incredibly long 😐
Correct on all fronts lol. The combat saves it thankfully.
I’m looking for more imagination from NIS. You can’t buy, I know I can’t, every trails game that is released. I’m looking for something new and different.
Waiting for the new Phantom Brave game in 2025.
Trails and Ys must be big sellers for them or they wouldn't release them so often. But I agree. it's cool to see Phantom Brave back!