My favorite moments in Trails through Daybreak were, somewhat ironically, all set at night, when frosty protagonist Van Arkride would slip away from the boisterous party of teens and young adults growing under his wing to get some quiet—and drop the act. He goes to the movies and bumps into an old friend, now flourishing after he helped her find a new family years ago. He drops in on his old flame and they dance around their desire to spend more time together. He does a sidequest for the ghost of a long dead child.
For as much as The Legend of Heroes’ Trails series is a sprawling epic with dozens of characters and ballooning geopolitical conflict, all that grandiose world building matters to me only because Nihon Falcom is a master of place making. For all the action and drama, I’ve always returned to the series to get cozy in my chair and hang out in the fictional world of Zemuria. And now, as a new day dawns in the series’ 11th mainline game, everyone has a little room to breathe.
