REVIEW: The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II

Visually, Trails through Daybreak II still looks great. Many of the character designs I loved from the previous game return, and some characters return with different outfits, specifically Elaine and Shizuna. I think Elaine’s new outfit looks very elegant and suits her perfectly. On the other hand, Shizuna’s new outfit is very casual compared to her old combat uniform from the previous game. I appreciate Falcom giving us the option to switch back to their first Daybreak outfits. Agnès new outfit is also quite beautiful, though in her case, she doesn’t have an option to switch to her default outfit from the previous game. And when you use the old outfit, their character art in the main menu changes to match, which I found to be a very nice touch. Talking about the characters, Risette also had some updates in that her attack motions were revamped in Field Battle. They were much smoother and made for attacking enemies that much better. The enemy designs are still stellar as well, with a good mix of enemies ranging from cute to terrifying. Of the enemies, the Grendel Zolga had my favorite design. It really looked like a perfect foil to Van’s Grendel form. In terms of environments, I appreciated being able to visit different parts of Edith that weren’t accessible in the first game, like Trion Tower and the Grand Circuit. I was slightly disappointed that Van only gets to visit one new city in the game, but I understand it had to be this way due to how the story progresses. I was also disappointed that Longlai was not revisited in this game, mainly because it was my most favorite locale to look at in the first Daybreak. But, I did get to see more of Langport’s Eastern Quarter and its nice Eastern style architecture, so the blow was softened a bit.

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Trails through Daybreak II, like many of the past Trails games, is stellar in the sound department. The music in the game is good with some standout tracks like “Where to Join the Chorus,” “Extreme Visitor,” “Chaotic Loop,” and “CRIMSON SiN.” I was left slightly disappointed because I liked “Rise of the Grendel” more than “Solid-State Shard Blow” as the Grendel theme, but both themes are excellent in their own way. For those that love “Rise of the Grendel” as much as me, don’t worry, it does actually play at least once late in the game, you just gotta find it since it’s not during a main story event. Voice acting is still done well with options for both English and Japanese voice acting. You can switch between both options during the game, so it’s really up to your preference since both sound great to me. If I had complaints, it’s that sometimes the English voices didn’t match up with the Active Voice text, but it was a very minor issue. I also wished more lines were voiced because sometimes a scene starts with voiced dialog and then switches to it being unspoken, which got very jarring at times. Sound effects and ambient noise are implemented similarly to Trails through Daybreak, so I have no complaints there. Another great outing in the sound department for Nihon Falcom.

The localization in Daybreak II is pretty good. I appreciated how they added subtitles for the opening movie, it was nice being able to understand what the lyrics meant. However, I did see a couple of typos and other issues (wrong word usage, missing punctuation, etc.), but not enough for me to say it was terrible. In comparison to the amount of text the game has, it really wasn’t that much. I was able to understand the story and enjoyed my playthrough. I guess the only other thing I could see as being controversial is the choice of translation for Elaine’s nickname, but that has been a topic since the first Daybreak, and I really see no avenue where that gets changed in future overseas releases.

Trails through Daybreak II ran great on both my PC and Steam Deck. I was able to play on my PC at 4K at 60 FPS with most of the settings on Ultra and some settings on High. There were some points where my framerate dropped to the 50s, but they were a scant few times. On the Steam Deck, I put the game on the Performance preset, and I was able to play at a smooth 60 FPS, even during battles. And, it still looked pretty good, in my opinion. I played through a floor of the Märchen Garten on my Steam Deck and had no issues whatsoever. If I had one issue, it’s that during a battle that takes place in the city in Act III, an enemy got stuck in the wall, and I was unable to hit them with normal attacks or Crafts. Luckily, I was still able to attack them with an S-Craft, but it was still a very weird issue. I don’t know if this is a problem in just the PC version or it also affects the console versions, but that was a weird thing I ran into. There was also another issue involving screen flickering when at the Arkride Solutions Rooftop, but this has been remedied in the most recent update. All in all, this is another fantastic PC port by PH3 Games.

It took me almost 106 hours to complete the main story on Normal difficulty while doing all available 4SPGs and filling out the fishing notebook. Once you beat the main story, New Game+ is unlocked as well as new floors in the Märchen Garten, so there is post game content to tackle if you’re itching for more.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II is a good RPG with a fun combat system, great visuals, and a strong soundtrack. Unfortunately, this game is a prime example of one step forward and two steps back. It definitely improved upon the battle system and overall gameplay, but it’s hampered by a flawed story with a plot hole that’s too big for me to ignore, which is a shame because it had the foundations and the potential to be one of the best in the series. If you liked Trails through Daybreak or are a Trails series veteran, you’ll most likely find something to enjoy in this game, and I do recommend it. If you’re a newcomer to the series, at least play Trails through Daybreak before jumping into this one.