Trails through Daybreak’s localization is fantastic; I would say it’s NISA’s best effort since they took over the series’ localization. Out of my entire playthrough, I only found two misspelled words, which is amazing considering the amount of text the game has. None of the dialog had me scratching my head or questioning its original intent. There were also no lines left untranslated. I was also impressed they kept some of these lines in the game, especially relating to Aaron. That man really has no filter, and he had no problems making statements that some would find offensive. Expletives, dirty jokes and sexual talk, nothing was off limits with him. The English voice acting is also well done and almost all the voice actors knocked it out of the park with their respective roles. I’d also like to specifically point out Damien Haas, the voice actor for the game’s protagonist, Van. He voiced him perfectly, nailing his dialog whether it be casual, comedic. or emotional. His work really got me more attached to Van as a character. The only voice work that slightly disappointed me was for Zin, and that’s only because his original voice actor from the Trails in the Sky games did not return to voice him in Trails through Daybreak. Other than that, it was an amazing localization effort for this game.
Trails through Daybreak performs very well on PC. I played a majority of the game at 4K resolution on the Ultra preset, and my rig was able to almost always keep a frame rate above 60 fps. There were some instances where the frame rate would drop below 60 into the upper 50s, but this wasn’t common. I did notice a frame rate drop to 49 fps while in the dance practice room in Tharbad, and this may be due to the lighting conditions and the mirror reflections in that specific location. Other than that, it ran almost perfectly throughout my playthrough. The options lets you choose from five different presets: Performance, Console, Default, High, and Ultra. There are also a plethora of options to tweak for rendering quality, draw distance, and other features if you need to change anything to get it to run well on your rig. The game also runs like a dream on Steam Deck and it has a Verified Steam Deck compatibility. I played at least one and a half hours on the Performance preset, and it was able to stay at 60 fps even while in combat. It also looked pretty good visually on my Deck. In fact, if I didn’t have my gaming desktop, I wouldn’t mind playing the game entirely on Steam Deck. I tested out playing on Steam Deck at 80% battery life, and it ended up dropping to 35% after one and a half hours of play. You could probably lower the drain by decreasing the frame limit to 30 fps. This is a fantastic PC port and if you were on the fence because you were worried about how it would perform, either on desktop or Steam Deck, I hope this assuages your fears. It runs great.
It took me 127 hours to complete the story of Trails through Daybreak on hard difficulty while talking to every NPC, fighting almost every monster in front of me, and completing every 4SPG. Once you beat the game, you can play New Game+ to complete any achievements you may have missed, and you also unlock more outfits for your characters. If you lower the game’s difficulty and just play through the main story without talking to the NPCs and doing any of the optional 4SPGs, you could definitely cut the playtime down. Just know that even if you do that, this game will most likely still be a time sink. If you want a shorter game or don’t have the time to play a long adventure like this, this might not be the game for you. If time is no problem for you, then you won’t be disappointed in the amount of content the game offers, even if there are no minigames.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak is an outstanding RPG and an exciting start to the Calvard arc. It has a mature story that’s accessible to newcomers, interesting characters, beautiful visuals, a stellar soundtrack, a unique hybrid combat system that caters to both action and turn-based fans, and an exceptional localization made with care and respect. Combine all these elements and you get an experience that is sure to grip you and not let go. It was so close to perfection, but the barebones Field Battle mode and lack of minigames held it back from that exclusive class. I highly recommend this game to long time Trails fans and even newcomers who love RPGs. This was an unforgettable experience and I’m definitely looking forward to the next game in Van’s story.
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Review copy provided by the publisher. A copy of the game (physical and digital) retails for $59.99.
