A two-decades old RPG series with over a dozen entries can be a daunting thing to begin, especially when so much of the storytelling is rather involved. But 2023’s Trails Through Daybreak finally gave fans a new place to jump in, with one of the best cast of characters ever seen in any role-playing game. Daybreak is the Trails series’ magnum opus. Following up on that is a challenge — but it already looks like Trails Through Daybreak 2 is more than up for it. This sequel carries forward the strong foundation of the first game but doing what the Trails series does best —experimenting.
Inverse had the chance to see a short hands-off presentation of Trails Through Daybreak 2, and talk to Alan Costa, senior associate producer at NIS America. Even in just that short glimpse, it’s abundantly clear that Falcom’s follow-up to Daybreak isn’t just doing the same thing again.
Traditionally, the second entries in each sub-series of Trails have been quite different from its predecessor — from Trails in the Sky SC doing a split story with two protagonists, to Trails of Cold Steel 2 focusing on a tightly-paced story about rebellion. Both narratively and in terms of structure, Trails sequels deviate, but the new Trails Through Daybreak 2 definitely seems like the most drastic so far. However, that might not be a bad thing, as a lot of the ideas in Daybreak 2 feel genuinely compelling.
The most obvious change is the very structure of the story itself. The narrative is separated into multiple different timelines, with the party occasionally splitting up for chapters you can play in any order. At the same time, these forks in the road can sometimes lead to “dead ends” that result in the party’s demise, forcing you to go back and figure out a new way to do things.
Daybreak 2 is clearly taking inspiration from the multiple timelines of Trails Into Reverie, a game that made fantastic use of that idea — but putting its own twist on things. The key difference is that Daybreak 2 focuses on a much smaller cast of characters, giving you a chance to see the world and story from different perspectives. In some way, it reminds me of Final Fantasy IX’s brilliant Active Time Event system but blown up to a larger scale.
But the other side of the coin is the protagonist of Daybreak, Van Arkride. I’ve talked about how I think Van is genuinely one of the most compelling RPG heroes in history, and Daybreak 2’s shift in structure made me a bit worried about his role.
“Van is still the main focus, he’s still the main character of the game, even though in these situations the point of view switches,” Costa tells Inverse, “Van still has a lot to learn, and now we get to see him in a different stage. He feels more comfortable with those around him, so he opens up a lot more.”
Costa notes that, in his opinion, Daybreak 2 is one of the most character-focused games in the Trails series. Of course, the entire series has always been heavily character-focused, but it sounds like Daybreak 2 essentially doubles down on that idea. Scaling back to a character-driven story is entirely welcome after the first Daybreak liberally took time to set up the country of Calvard, the society, and governing bodies. Falcom has also said the Trails franchise at large is starting to near its conclusion and the next game, Kai No Kiseki, could start setting up for that eventuality. Taking a moment to really dig into these characters and what makes them tick is smart — an entry that builds attachment before the series launches into a grand finale.
Of course, Daybreak 2 doesn’t just shift the formula of the first game but makes some crucial improvements as well. The combat system looks even more fluid than before, having seamless transitions between the action combat on the field and launching into the turn-based mode. Two new mechanics have been added, Cross Charge and EX Chains, and these new moves apply to both versions of combat. For example, dodging an enemy attack in action combat lets you instantly swap in another character for a combo attack. EX Chains are similar to the Unite Attacks of the Cold Steel games, letting you launch a special entire-party combo if you meet certain requirements to stun enemies during turn-based battles. In general, the combat system just looks like it flows better and provides more robust strategic options.
Perhaps what’s most impressive about Daybreak 2, though, is the fact it’s coming out just eight months after the first game. Trails games used to take years to get localized, but NIS America has drastically increased its localization output, and according to Costa, that’s due to two key reasons.
“For one, we were able to open up channels of communication with Falcom earlier, meaning we're able to get started quicker. That was a big hurdle in the past was getting on the games from an earlier stage,” says Costa “The second thing is getting cracking on the localization software. The Trails games, in particular, are so lore-heavy, and they require so much knowledge of what's come before. We’ve built a system and improved our processes in terms of having resources available to research stuff that came out before, so the localization staff, once they get to work on the game, they can hit the ground running. That just makes things all around more efficient.”
That should be good for Trails fans to hear, as it likely means we can continue to expect shorter wait times between the Japanese and Western releases of the franchise. But Costa is also quick to clarify that NIS America doesn’t want to “sacrifice quality for speed.” The first Daybreak definitely felt like it raised the bar for the franchise, both in terms of core writing and the localization work that NIS America did, and it’s heartening to hear that the company has perhaps found a winning formula.
“We want to leave something that stands the test of time. The cool thing about JRPGs is that 20 years on, people can pick it up and still have a good time. And part of the reason for that has to do with the fantastic localization,” Costa says, “JRPGs have a really interesting life cycle, and a long, long shelf life. We want to do them justice in terms of making sure that the story and the localization is tip-top.”
