After my brief time playing the first dungeon in Trails Through Daybreak II at Pax West, I hungered for more. I was luckily able to get invited to an event to learn more about the game. Here is what I was able to find out at that event.
Expanding On Trails Through Daybreak
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is set only a short three months after the ending of Trails Through Daybreak. It begins as a new crimson Grendel is sighted terrorizing the town of Edith. Wanting to get some backup, Elaine recruits the services of Van Arkride to get some answers. Trails through Daybreak was one consistent story from the viewpoint of Van. When it comes to the Story, Trails Through Daybreak II is a lot more like Trails Into Reverie. Trails Through Daybreak II has segmented routes that you follow that shift between the perspectives of a variety of protagonists. It is different however that you can’t go on the next path in the story until you finish the route you are on.
One of the best parts of having a direct sequel in Trails is that the entire cast from the previous game is back. Not only are Arkride Solutions back, but Trails Through Daybreak II will have a bigger permanent roster including characters that were just guest characters from the last game. One of the complaints about Trails Through Daybreak was about how time is shown during combat. Using delay didn’t feel like it did anything, so with Trails Through Daybreak II, they revamped how the turn order looks. It now also shows where the turn ends up if you use delay on an enemy making it easier to plan for future moves.
Time is Important
With the addition of Swin and Nadia, there is a new ability they are able to access, time travel. Together Swin and Nadia can use the Genesi from the first game to manipulate time. The folks over at NIS America wanted to make sure we understood that time was just a story mechanic, not a gameplay one. You might start and finish a dungeon, and then be taken out or get into an impossible situation, this is when Swin and Nadia can come up with different strategies to alter the events of the dungeon. For instance in the preview, Elaine, Swin, and Nadia got overwhelmed by monsters. Swin and Nadia then get popped back in time and are able to choose an option that could change the outcome. In this preview, they chose to call over Zin to help them out and give them a fourth member of the team. They still had to go through the dungeon but with the whole thing already mapped, it didn’t take long to get back to the end. One of the best things is that treasure chests stay open if you found them. You can skip the routes for treasure the next time around.
Guest characters do make a comeback in Trails Through Daybreak II. We saw two of them show up in the preview event. One was Walter, the Direwolf, and Zin, the bracer we loved from Trails in the Sky. These characters have their own loadouts and cannot be controlled. They will act independently but will still be a part of your battles. One thing that makes a return from Reverie is Artes with multiple elements. Instead of being called Lost Arts like in Trails Into Reverie, they are now called Dual Artes.
I am so excited to see what else there is to look at when The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is released February 14th, 2025. It will be released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
