The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II review

As efforts like EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Steins;Gate, and Radiant Historia have all demonstrated, time travel can make for some stimulating storylines. At its best, the device is a powerful tool used to reveal the breadth of consequence. Of course, not every work truly capitalizes on the potential of alternative realities.

Undoubtedly, that’s the fundamental setback that burdens The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II, a follow-up that otherwise mends many of the intermittent missteps of its predecessor. Thought that Daybreak didn’t provide enough of the diverting mini-games that’s often been a hallmark of the series? Here, Nihon Falcom provides a quartet of recreations, that range from basketball, a card game, hacking, and even fishing, where Van Arkride can become a seasoned angler in his spare time. But that’s hardly the only renovation.

Sinuously Swapping Between Field and Command Battles

Smartly, Daybreak II’s combat builds on its predecessor’s shrewd mixture of real-time and turn-based battles. Now, a precisely-timed Perfect Dodge will trigger the appearance of an on-screen icon. Tap the corresponding button and you’ll execute a Cross Charge. This maneuver swaps in an additional party member with augmented stats who’s capable of stunning a foe.

Once an adversary is incapacitated, this feeds into Daybreak II’s more strategic style of combat, introducing a mechanic called the EX-Chain. Now, after meeting certain conditions, it’s possible to join forces with a SCLM-linked party member to double up on the damage. Jointly, both additions boost the momentum of the game by speeding up fights against fodder foes.

Still Doing it for the Mira

Fighting the obligatory subordinates remains engaging, as you dispense basic strikes as well as Arts, and S-Crafts. Play Daybreak II on any but the highest difficulty settings and you’ll be able to spam your way through mobs, as you monitor resources like Energy and Craft points.

Gradually, the level of involvement upsurges, requiring players to analyze opponent weaknesses and habitually harness the proper debuff. However, the game’s boss battles are the real tests of combat acuity. As such, delivering a narrow defeat by harnessing the potential of your party is consistently gratifying. And even if you do fail, Daybreak II lets you freely switch up the intensity of challenge, prohibiting players from becoming stuck.

Alternatively, you can send a hand-picked adventuring party into the Märchen Garten. Here, you’ll descend down sixteen procedurally-generated floors, defeating basic enemies, tackling missions, and overcoming the occasional heavy-hitter. Sure, it’s a bit derivative but earning a healthy disbursement of shards can make the whole effort worthwhile.

Both Skilled and Spiritless Storytelling

With characters and context established in the first game, the second chapter in the Calvard arc devotes a significant amount of its 50+ hour playtime to fleshing out its cast. Set a few months after the events of its predecessor, the introduction squanders little time getting up to speed. Here, Van and Elaine’s routine is disrupted by a perplexing serial killer who resembles the same crimson Grendel that Van can transform into. Undoubtedly, it’s a potent premise that’s soon accompanied by a narrative gut-punch. But Daybreak II’s storytelling squanders with the inclusion of time travel.

What follows feels like Falcom finding inspiration in Edge of Tomorrow, the film where Tom Cruise’s character repeatedly dies and comes back, learning from each misstep. So, when the main party or even certain NPCs perish, the plot jumps back, prodding players into trying a different approach. Although some quick deaths are played for laughs, the results can be more annoying than amusing, eliminating a sense of vulnerability and menace from events. At worst, some of Daybreak II fills like filler, with the majority of its plot detached from story canon.

That said, the game occasionally redeems itself. A visit from a pair of Reverie characters results in a gratifying epilogue, while personal motivations for secondaries get time to simmer, leading up to a conflagration against Calvard’s antagonists. No longer burdened with set-up, Daybreak II delivers captivating backstories and enthralling interplay between members of its main cast. Best of all, it’s not always light and sunny, with recollections of trauma poised to pull at player’s heartstrings. As such, it’s evident that Trails Through Daybreak II could have been a better game without the inclusion of time travel.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II was played
on PC with review code provided by the publisher.