Preview | The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 Offers Welcome Changes
Releasing two major RPGs in consecutive years would be unfathomable for many developers these days. When the lengthy development cycles show no signs of letting up, how do you keep a rapid-fire sequel interesting without simply becoming an extension of the previous game? With Trails Through Daybreak 2, the answer lies in the narrative structure. Launching in early 2025, I recently went hands-on and interviewed Nihon Falcom's president, Toshihiro Kondo.
Playing the PS5 version at a recent event in London, this preview granted access to three different sections. The prologue reintroduced me to local Spriggan Van Arkride, and he's teaming up with Elaine Auclair to investigate a series of unusual murders. Daybreak 2 raises the stakes by making time travel, something we've previously seen (briefly) in the Crossbell arc, an integral element that lets you replay segments for a better outcome. Instead of a straight line to the finish, chapters are also split between acts with different characters taking the lead.
Though it's too soon to offer any firm judgments on the new structure or time travel elements, I'm certainly intrigued. Curious about why the team suddenly introduced time travel mechanics, Kondo calls the fact that it's happening at all a big narrative hint. He specifically notes how the Sept-Terrions - powerful, ancient treasures gifted to this world from the goddess that each embody an element like Mirage or Fire - were split across different major regions.
"Each Sept-Terrion has some kind of influence over that region, which gets explored throughout the relevant arc. Judging by past arcs in the series, it stands to reason that this is a pretty big hint as to why there's some kind of time shenanigans going on."
Given the expansive scale of Trails' worldbuilding, I queried how Nihon Falcom approached the Calvard arc's narrative tone. Because the Republic of Calvard was already established in prior entries - this is the fourth major arc and 12th main entry - the team had to adapt the existing framework. The nation's complexities also necessitated that an underground fixer like Van needed to be an older character.
"The situation in this case is that the setting comes first, not the characters… Different groups have a lot of power in different areas, all vying for power.” Kondo explains, ”That creates the necessity for a main character who can walk between these places and interact with these different groups in a very natural way. You've got the mafia, Heiyue, all these different organisations including the police and Bracers. The main character needs some level of access to make the story work, so that's where you get a character like Van."
This prologue's dungeon crawl is unsurprisingly familiar. Combat continues offering an enjoyable hybrid system that offers in-depth turn-based 'Command Battles' and a simplified action RPG-esque 'Field Battles. Command Battles remain straightforward, granting each party member a standard attack alongside more specialized abilities like magical Art attacks to exploit strategic weaknesses for a rewarding finish. The spectacle with 'S-craft' abilities is equally fun, considering these are basically ultimate attacks. While exploration feels slightly drawn out, the high-speed mode and sprint options mitigate this.
Daybreak 2 introduces some minor but appreciated combat changes. Field Battles only let Van do melee attacks in the first game without swapping characters, which isn't a huge problem but it feels strange considering each character can use Arts. I'm pleased Daybreak 2 now gives everyone a quick Arts attack too. Scanning the wider area during Field Battles is a good addition that lets you check enemy weaknesses, while EX Chains lets you perform a dual-strike on stunned enemies with another party member for a satisfying finisher.
Asking how the studio approached these gameplay additions given the shorter development window, Kondo explained the second game allowed the team to fully implement the ideas they couldn't originally fit into the first entry. Alongside reusing existing assets, Kondo also points to how the orbment system - which can improve your stats and provide new orbal arts during battle - always changes when a new arc begins.
"Because the orbment system changes, that allows the development team to begin to think of new ideas. How is the orbment system going to work? How is combat going to work? How do they work in tandem to offer a new experience? The truth of the matter is that oftentimes, the team has all these great ideas for this new orbment system but they can only implement about 70-80% in that first game. Because there's still 20-30% that's left over, they're able to implement all of those things in the next game and go all out."
Fishing makes a welcome return after its absence in Daybreak, and scanning helpfully lets you find the best spot where they'll bite. Finally, the last preview segment occurs in a new area called the Märchen Garten, a virtual space similar to the True Reverie Corridor from Trails Into Reverie. I couldn't explore much but this already feels repetitive when objectives are just "Kill X number of small or medium enemies to advance" for each floor. I like that you can now choose one of three rewards upon clearing objectives, and choosing your path while advancing adds a small but nice amount of freedom.
Historically, it's not uncommon to see Trails sequels launch this soon after the original game and that's also true with the Japanese Daybreak launch. While I didn't expect any sweeping changes given it's a direct sequel, these smaller updates could go a long way in Trails through Daybreak 2. I'm particularly curious to see how the time travel mechanics play out narratively, and I'll be checking out the full release next year.
The interview was translated on-site by Alan Costa, the NIS America EU Marketing and Sales Manager.
