Is this game for me?

[Element]

I love Jrpgs, star ocean xenoblade secret of mana. This something like those games?

[steven]

Can't really compare since i didn't play these 3 games but i can explain what this game / the serie is.

General

Trails through Daybreak is the 11th entry in the Legend of Heroes serie.
The serie is a JRPG, known for it's important lore and it's quality.

All the games are interconnected and takes place in the same world :
- What / Who you see in the first game will maybe appear in the 7th game or the 13th.
- What you do will also have an effect / be mentionned in another future game

The serie is divided in 4 Arcs (currently), named after the country it takes place, and play in release order :

1. Sky Arc in Liberl (3 games)
   --> Old games that will have a Remaster in 2025 (for the first game at least, more if it sales good)
   
2. Zero/Azure Arc in Crossbell (2 games)
   
3. Cold Steel Arc in Erebonia (4 games)
   * Reverie (1 game) = the conclusion of the 3 previous Arc, takes place in Crossbell and Erebonia, and introduce you to Daybreak
   
4. Daybreak Arc in Calvard (3 games ?)
   --> Second game in 2025, The 3rd game will be out in Japan soon TM and we don't know if it's a conclusion of this Arc, all the Arcs or another episode before a 4th
   
5. Maybe 1-2 more Arc to end the serie, maybe in the Far East (we were in the West / are in the Center of the global Map)

Sky FC starts in 1202 (different calendar) and Daybreak in 1208.
In general the plot is about War, politics, independance, Secret society, Mafia, Militaries, catastrophies, power of friendship.... can't really resume 20 years of connected plots easily XD

These games can be heavy on text (Reading > Combat, some games are 50/50, other are 70/30) and takes between 40-60 hrs if you just play for the story to 80-120 hrs if you are here for side quests, talking for lore, bonding.... (depend of which game you play, older ones are smaller, recent ones are longer)
Some new players on the forums were suprised of the amount of text (good or bad) and kept playing or dropped (is it to your taste or not ? More battle is better or more text ?)

Gameplay

For all the games : you have a map of the country, you start in a city (in general your HQ), and you go left and right to do stuffs (side quest, traveling, exploring...)
All the areas are connected : a city is connected to another city by roads with monsters (like mini dungeons), cities have dungeons with monsters too like caves, trains stations, undergrounds, mines, gardens.....

Like all RPGs, you can upgrade your characters with Armors, Weapons and Quartz.
--> Quartz are used in something like a SmartPhone to boost your stats and use magic attacks

You can bond with your friends (something like Persona, but smaller) to boosts your / their stats, earn special items and have some lore.

You can cook outside battle to create dishes with bonuses (buff attack, restore health...) and fish to earn rewards (not in Daybreak)

When you finish main quest, side quests or perform some actions (like finishing a special battle in X turn or doing X % of boss life, talking to X or Y at a special moment....), you earn Special Points that will add at the end of a chapter.
The total will net you a Rank and each time you Rank up, you earn good rewards.

Battles

All the games before Daybreak were Turn by Turn classic battles :
- You enter a battle, the fastest character start first, you choose a move (a simple attack, specials attacks call crafts, an ultimate move call S-craft, magics attacks call Arts, items and running away), you kill the monsters, you earn XP + items, you go back to exploring

From Daybreak, you can choose between :
- Live Action Battles --> you can attack freely without turns and dodge
- Turn by Turn Battles --> Classic RPGs
The damages, hps, resistances .... are different between the 2

You are limited by your CP (how many time you can use Crafts) and EP (how many time you can use Arts).
Each arts and crafts cost a various amount and can be replenish in battle or outside.

Conclusion

Daybreak is marketed for new players. It can clearly be played as the first game coz the story can be understood as such (but you will miss things) and the gameplay is fresh and appealing.
And if ppl really like the serie, they can go back to previous games !

Personaly, i think ppl should not jump in the serie from here but rather play more recent Arc like Cold Steel / Zero - Azure to have a better understanding of the lore and the characters since everything is connected.
(with the problem they have, time flies and ppl tastes changes : graphics, QOL missing, old references to 2000-2010s culture, story is slow, battles....)

I say that because we interact with older characters (from Sky, Crossbell and Cold Steel) and they speak (more like spoil lol) about what happened in previous games (important events, aftermath of some, what happened to X character).
So it can be confusing and you will not be attached or recognize recurring ppl.

HOWEVER, THIS IS ONLY MY POINT OF VIEW !!!!!
You play as you want, you can totally start with this one or go back.
Ppl may not have the time to play 10 games before or this amount of game can affraid them. IT'S OK !
Some purists will yell at you for not starting from the very beginning (Sky FC), but F them.

Just understand you should NOT start an Arc in the middle : don't play Sky SC, Azure, Cold steel 4 or Reverie first ! You will be heavily lost !!!!!!

[Reitschuster]

Originally posted by Element:

I love Jrpgs, star ocean xenoblade secret of mana. This something like those games?

Trails is not really like anything else, so it's hard to compare it with anything. If you like what it looks like, and how it plays, and you want more of it, it's a game for you. You can start with this game, or with the older Trails of Cold Steel games.

[Book]

Mechanically, Daybreak doesn't have very many JRPG elements. Each character has a very specific slot they fill on the roster (attacker, healer, tank, etc) and there isn't much room for customization. Also this is definitely the easiest game in the series. If you are looking for a brainless action RPG give it a try, but if you actually want depth or challenge you will probably be disappointed.

[Shoopuf]

Originally posted by Bookworm:

Mechanically, Daybreak doesn't have very many JRPG elements. Each character has a very specific slot they fill on the roster (attacker, healer, tank, etc) and there isn't much room for customization. Also this is definitely the easiest game in the series. If you are looking for a brainless action RPG give it a try, but if you actually want depth or challenge you will probably be disappointed.

Don't think that's much of a way to look at it. By the endgame I had Judith as a caster which is definitely not her role. That and you don't come to Trails games for the mighty challenge, you're here for the story! Plus there are some difficult fights here and there on nightmare.

To OP, you can easily just jump into this game an enjoy it. I'd recommend going back to at least Cold Steel though, you'll have people telling you to start from the very beginning with Trails in the Sky but my personal recommendation is starting from Trails of Cold Steel 1 and then 2 if you enjoy it. From there you could just finish the Cold steel arc or go back. Cold Steel is how I got into the series and I've since played everything that's available officially in English, so up to this game. It's all great!

[ToxiCyborg]

Originally posted by Bookworm:

Mechanically, Daybreak doesn't have very many JRPG elements. Each character has a very specific slot they fill on the roster (attacker, healer, tank, etc) and there isn't much room for customization. Also this is definitely the easiest game in the series. If you are looking for a brainless action RPG give it a try, but if you actually want depth or challenge you will probably be disappointed.

What a bunch of BS

[Book]

Originally posted by Shoopuf:

Originally posted by Bookworm:

Mechanically, Daybreak doesn't have very many JRPG elements. Each character has a very specific slot they fill on the roster (attacker, healer, tank, etc) and there isn't much room for customization. Also this is definitely the easiest game in the series. If you are looking for a brainless action RPG give it a try, but if you actually want depth or challenge you will probably be disappointed.

Don't think that's much of a way to look at it. By the endgame I had Judith as a caster which is definitely not her role. That and you don't come to Trails games for the mighty challenge, you're here for the story! Plus there are some difficult fights here and there on nightmare.

To OP, you can easily just jump into this game an enjoy it. I'd recommend going back to at least Cold Steel though, you'll have people telling you to start from the very beginning with Trails in the Sky but my personal recommendation is starting from Trails of Cold Steel 1 and then 2 if you enjoy it. From there you could just finish the Cold steel arc or go back. Cold Steel is how I got into the series and I've since played everything that's available officially in English, so up to this game. It's all great!

Judith is better as a support character since she can cancel buffs on enemies. For me it was pretty clear that Van is meant to be a tank, Agnes is a healer, Feri is an evasion tank, Aaron is a damage dealer, Risette is a support character, etc. I'm not saying you can't do other things with them, but there clearly seems to be an optimal way to build them.