Kicking off an entire new saga in Falcom’s storied Trails sequence, Trails through Daybreak represents a step ahead for the franchise in so some ways. Boasting an up to date sport engine, pretty vital gameplay additions, and a very new setting, that is most likely the freshest that Trails has felt for the reason that authentic Trails of Cold Steel — and that was 5 complete video games in the past.
The Republic of Calvard has at all times been a staple in Trails lore, however in Dawn, followers lastly get to discover this much-discussed nation. The place Chilly Metal’s Erebonian Empire was a rustic on the cusp of technological revolution, Calvard is borderline futuristic by comparability. It is acquired supercomputers, laptops, its personal F1-style sport, robotic pets, and a thriving movement image trade. It is a nation that is drastically benefitted from its conflict with the aforementioned Empire, with reparations paving the best way for an enormous financial increase.
Taking all of this under consideration, Calvard makes for an thrilling backdrop. Falcom is ready to push themes and concepts that might have felt misplaced in earlier titles, and the result’s a surprisingly mature instalment. This newfound maturity is mirrored in Dawn’s protagonist, a 24-year-old ’spriggan‘ by the title of Van Arkride.
Van’s been across the block. He is primarily a mercenary working out of Calvard’s capital metropolis, and he is not averse to choosing up jobs that the majority would deem shady. The place prior Trails leads have been righteous through-and-through (obnoxiously so, at instances), Van is a real breath of recent air — a hero who’s keen to get his arms soiled. His considerably aloof character finally ends up being a incredible focus, as he is slowly surrounded by a vibrant forged of social gathering members and supporting gamers.
Certainly, Falcom’s managed to create one more crop of memorable characters — a feat that grows increasingly more spectacular with each sport that it releases. Dawn’s acquired quite a bit of latest faces — and fairly a number of returning ones — however preserving monitor of so many roles not often overwhelms. That is largely right down to the title’s methodical pacing, as every story chapter steadily introduces new locations, characters, and ideas. The Trails video games proceed to be a masterclass when it comes to world constructing.
That mentioned, there is no getting away from the truth that Dawn is very heavy on textual content. The script — which spans a marketing campaign that lasts round 100 hours — is completely colossal, and issues get extremely wordy at instances. Once more, this strategy helps Falcom in its makes an attempt to flesh out virtually each doable element — and it is engrossing in case you have the persistence for it — however it does sluggish proceedings to a crawl once in a while.
Nonetheless, we have to reward the localisation staff. The English script is immaculate and emotive, and that is one hell of an achievement given the sheer dimension of the factor.
Talking of localisation, Dawn comes with an non-obligatory English dub, however very like its Japanese counterpart, it skips nearly all of the dialogue. Now, when a script is that this massive, it is simple to just accept that corners have to be lower — however fashionable Trails video games have this jarring factor the place some characters‘ traces will likely be totally voiced, whereas others will reply with voiceless textual content bins. We dare counsel that you simply get used to it, however it’s a difficulty that stands proud in Dawn as a result of there are simply so many interactions.
Fortuitously, the storytelling holds up all through, and we might go as far to say that this is without doubt one of the finest, most well-rounded narratives you may discover in a Trails title. Sure, it leans on occasions from earlier video games — particularly in a while — and sure, recurring characters can have way more affect if you happen to’re truly accustomed to them, however as a standalone story, Dawn feels full; this is not a case of 1 massive sport being sliced into two halves, like with Cold Steel 3 and 4.
As such, we might suggest Dawn to newcomers, with the caveat that you simply would possibly wish to work backwards by previous titles so as to get the total image. Its solely new setting and essential characters go a great distance in making the sport really feel like one thing of a recent begin. And who is aware of, you would possibly simply spark a long-lasting relationship with this excellent sequence.
Anyway, let’s discuss concerning the gameplay. Probably the most vital change to the Trails blueprint comes within the type of an overhauled fight system, which now incorporates a full-on motion part earlier than leaping into a standard turn-based mode. Out-of-battle assaults are nothing new for these video games, as you have at all times been in a position to smack an opponent on the sphere so as to acquire a bonus when the right struggle begins — and that mechanic has advanced fairly dramatically in Dawn.
Van and his allies can assault, dodge, and straight-up stun enemies earlier than opting to enter a turn-based battle. The controls are a little stiff throughout these action-based assaults, however they add an pleasing rhythm to the same old dungeon crawling, as you seamlessly change between the 2 modes of play. For the document, the motion portion of fight is solely non-obligatory — though as talked about, beautiful a foe does afford you an enormous benefit forward of the total encounter, and you may defeat a lot weaker enemies outright if you cannot be bothered taking turns.
In the meantime, on the tactical facet of issues, fight is extra fluid. Throughout their flip, social gathering members can now transfer freely throughout the designated area, whereas making use of intelligent positioning to overwhelm opponents with staff assaults and skills that hit tougher from the facet or behind. The system strikes a very nice stability between strategic pondering and turn-by-turn adaptation, as encounters are usually extra dynamic total.
However the underlying mechanics of previous Trails titles stay in place, and so they’re nonetheless among the finest you may discover in fashionable RPGs. Every character has entry to numerous magical arts and distinctive crafts, in addition to omnipotent tremendous strikes. You have acquired a whole lot of choices to mess around with proper from the beginning, and exploring the person toolkits of your social gathering members is a constant pleasure.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Falcom has tweaked fight stability as an entire. Within the Chilly Metal video games, you may utterly break the system by particular character builds and methods, and though you may nonetheless unleash some pretty busted combos in Dawn, the mechanics merely aren’t as abusable as they as soon as have been. This adjustment could come as a disappointment to some gamers, however we do assume that the title’s overarching problem curve is best for it; battles are usually a bit extra backwards and forwards, with consideration afforded to defensive techniques, versus merely nuking your enemies as shortly as doable.
On the subject of character builds, the sequence‘ returning quartz system has been given a reasonably substantial overhaul. In previous titles, gadgets known as quartz granted new spells and stat boosts when geared up — not in contrast to materia in Final Fantasy 7. However in Dawn, quartz is tied solely to stat will increase and passive perks, when you acquire entry to new spells — or arts — by totally different gadgets, generally known as ‚drivers‘. Separating these two parts of social gathering customisation offers you extra freedom, however it does really feel convoluted — particularly through the opening couple of story chapters, if you’re nonetheless making an attempt to wrap your head across the fundamentals.
A part of the issue is that the sport virtually starves you of motion at factors. When fight encounters might be this a lot enjoyable, it is an actual disgrace when Van and the gang are compelled to tackle detective work that sees you run round city, speaking to a seemingly limitless provide of NPCs as an alternative of walloping all method of monsters. Certainly, a few of Dawn’s facet quests fall into disappointingly tedious territory — the form of duties that, in idea, ought to solely serve to bolster the sport’s world constructing. However in follow, they quantity to little greater than trekking between goal markers and wading by a brief novel’s price of dialogue.
Fortunately, the all-new ‚alignment‘ system provides a contact of spice to those in any other case dreary escapades. Being a morally murky man, Van will usually must resolve on how one can settle a quest, selecting between conclusions which can be both law-abiding or rule-bending. In flip, your choices can decide sure story beats, and though it stops wanting being a really branching narrative, your alignment does have some cool implications down the road. We might like to see Falcom dig deeper into this type of stuff.
Earlier than we wrap up, we should always talk about Dawn’s improved visuals. It is not a large leap over the later Chilly Metal video games — and it is undoubtedly not what you’d name graphically spectacular by at this time’s requirements — however it’s a beautiful launch given the developer’s comparatively restricted sources. The principle character fashions particularly look nice, though their glow-up does imply that the usual NPCs can look tough by comparability. Nonetheless, the general artwork course’s robust, and Falcom’s crafted a few of its largest, most detailed environments up to now.