The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II

The worst of the Trails games but still really good, just deeply flawed.

Since I know most people reading this haven't followed my journey through this series, I'll just say that I have fallen deeply in love with Trails. It has consumed me. I do consider it the best JRPG series of all-time. It's a series with basically a baseline of 9/10 in quality, and a series that has a bunch of 10/10s. So when I say it's the worst game, just know it's still probably an 8/10.

I'm just going to come out and say the bad and then I can reflect on the other stuff a bit, with random thoughts and whatnot:

The time leap mechanic sucks.

I am never hard on Trails for relying so heavily on tropes. I find it endearing. Plus these games weren't meant to be played back-to-back-to-back so I just notice it more since I've lived in the franchise like that, rather than wait a year or two between releases. How many times do people jump in right in the nick of time and save the day? Too many to count. I mention that trope specifically because the time leap mechanic is basically the final boss of it.

So here's what happens: your team does something and dies (most of the time, well someone dies at least). Then the Geneses reacts and takes you back to an earlier period, with knowledge of what happens so the team makes a better decision.

Trails from Zero had that excellent twist at the end where KeA reveals that the heroes had died but she used her powers to change the timeline because she didn't want to lose them. Then they nerfed her (which was smart because relying on the mechanic gets old). And boy, it gets old. The first time it happens is a cliffhanger that quickly resolves itself in the next chapter, but for the brief moment it's like OH SHIT WHAT DID THEY DO?

Then it's a reoccurring thing. And I got more and more frustrated with it as time went on. It makes you rewatch some things, and it never really feels necessary. Like, full disclosure, the explanation for why it happens is completely fine, but in terms of storytelling it's annoying. The other trope that Trails does is never kill anybody, and again, this is like the final boss of that. You want to know how I felt every time I walked into a boss room? Well, something is going to kill us. Welp. Oh well. Who cares? We'll come back immediately.

My other problem is it makes Van and the crew seem incompetent. These are our heroes? I have a rabbit and I often joke about how he tries to do everything possible to kill himself because he gets into everything. That's how I feel about their choices here. They're more competent than this.

So yeah, that really hurt the game. I still found a lot of enjoyment in it but if they would have maybe lessened the amount of time leaps, it would have probably still been a 9.

So the positives:

With all that said, I really love the music that plays during the time leap selection screen. It's got a mysterious but eerie/menacing vibe to it that really fits what's going on. The soundtrack as a whole is solid, though I don't think either of these Calvard games have OSTs that match earlier games.

More Renne lore, always good.

Nadia and Swin being back, with honestly some of the more emotional material in the game... always good. Been a huge fan of them since their introduction.

Get to play as Elaine more! Also good.

More Divine Blade of Silver, also good.

Gameplay is still awesome. Combat system is still fluid, orbment system still rocks. Game is faster than previous games.

Story outside of time leaping is completely solid too. Sure, doesn't put the overall series plot forward THAT much, but it's still a good tale. I mean, at least they let Dingo stay dead by the end (though with a happier ending where he can move on, which I'm actually okay with).

So in closing, it still does what Trails does best. I just wish they would have altered the time leap mechanic. I won't say I love this one as a whole just because I got annoyed a little too often for that, but I certainly loved a lot of it.