The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Preview

The Legend of Heroes series has quickly become a household name in JRPG since the release of the Trails in the Sky games, which offered not only extremely engaging stories but a level of worldbuilding that is hardly found in Japanese role-playing games. Despite some tweaks and changes to the formula originally introduced in the game starring Estelle and Joshua, the Trails series formula has seen its first major shakeup with Trails Through Daybreak, especially in regard to combat, introducing a field combat option that expanded the experience considerably and truly set the game apart from all its predecessors. Building upon the new features introduced in its predecessor, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II may not seem to be as innovative, but this isn’t going to make it a worse game. If anything, the refinement of features and mechanics, such as field combat, will possibly make the experience even more engaging.

During a press event hosted last week by NISA, I was able to check out the Western version of the latest entry in the Trails series ahead of its launch this coming February. Set three months after the events of Trails Through Daybreak, Van Arkride is informed by his old friend Elaine Auclair about the mysterious Crimson Grendel terrorizing Edith, who seems to be related to him in some way. At the same time, Swin and Nadia are in the capital of Calvard to find a certain someone, an apparently unrelated issue that will eventually link up with the other during the course of the game.

Bringing back the full team from the Arkride Solutions Office, Trails Through Daybreak II also sees the introduction of new characters and the…