I’m unsure how I really feel about The Legend of Heroes: Trails By Dawn II, which often shouldn’t be the case once I spend this lengthy with a sport. This can be due to how a lot time I’ve spent with the collection because the Swap launch of Trails of Chilly Metal III again in 2020. With so many video games and so many tweaks to these video games, parts I like and dislike come and go. That’s anticipated and appreciated, however there’s one component that ought to stay constant, and I’ll get to that in a bit.
First, let’s take inventory of the place we’re. The sport opens with…really, let’s not try this. I’m going to jot down this overview as when you’ve got a working information of those video games and the characters inside. In the event you do, you don’t want me to elucidate who everyone seems to be. In the event you don’t, this isn’t the place to find out about them. At the least bounce again to Trails By Dawn to introduce your self.
This sport opens with Elaine visiting Van at Arkride Options to element a collection of violent murders brought on by somebody with the power to transform right into a monstrous beast…as beforehand solely Van may.
Contemplating that Arkride Options exists to handle issues that lie within the grey space between the regulation and crime, that is Van’s sort of factor. So, he and Elaine got down to decide what’s up.
In the meantime, Swin and Nadia return on a mission of their very own that considerably enhances Van’s agenda. The events find yourself teaming up, on and off, as they discover the Calvard Republic in quest of solutions. And, as you’d count on from a Legend of Heroes sport, every reply solely results in extra questions and better hazard forward.
The issue this time is that the construct to something of precise curiosity may be very gradual. Earlier video games within the collection have began with a bang, kicking you instantly into motion and solely later revealing how everybody matches into it. Right here, we meet the characters (that we’ve met earlier than) and simply…spend time with them. We discover, positive. We battle. We play playing cards.
However we solely get small glimpses of something urgent, which makes the primary couple dozen of hours appear inconsequential. If this have been another collection I might’ve misplaced curiosity.
However that is The Legend of Heroes, so you realize one thing loopy is in retailer. And it’s not like the sport doesn’t provide you with something to do as you push in direction of it. As earlier than, there are a ton of things to purchase, craft, prepare dinner, and accumulate as you’re employed your approach by means of the quite a few cities and dungeons. And when you’ve ever misplaced your thoughts making an attempt to recollect what stall sells what and which shops you haven’t visited, Trails By Dawn II does a significantly better job of guiding you alongside.
It additionally introduces the Märchen Garten. The closest parallel to this might probably be the True Reverie Hall from Trails Into Reverie, however higher carried out and extra helpful right here. First, you will get there from just about any city at any time. Entry is even supplied on the save factors earlier than boss fights. Why? As a result of the degrees you push by means of within the Märchen Garten will stage up your characters, reward you with useful gadgets, present sepith to buy higher gear, replenish your CP, and so forth. It’s a good way to buff up your characters as a result of it doesn’t really feel like stage grinding. The randomly generated dungeons have distinct visuals and a large assortment of monsters to face, and that helps to maintain issues contemporary.
As new characters are made out there within the Märchen Garten, you possibly can create groups that in any other case wouldn’t be out there within the sport. And so they don’t simply must battle. The mini-games are slowly added, permitting you to fish, play 1v1 basketball, observe your hacking, and so forth. That doesn’t imply you’ll wish to, after all; these video games are mildly entertaining at finest (fishing is enjoyable, however you get sufficient of that in the primary sport) and infuriating at worst (the unfastened controls of the hacking sport will undoubtedly get in your nerves). Oh, and those that take pleasure in dressing up warriors in spa towels for lethal fight ought to be aware that that is the place these towels (and different costumes and equipment) are obtained through the gacha system of the Mystic Dice.
The Märchen Garten could be the greatest new addition, however it’s not the one one. Keep in mind how Trails By Dawn added some real-time bodily fight options to hurry up the dungeon crawling? There’s now an arts component to that, too, and you’ll unleash particular assaults by swapping characters on the proper time. It’s nonetheless all fairly primary, however it makes the minor battles extra partaking as you press by means of.
That’s essential, as a result of urgent by means of now entails the occasional repeat. For the primary time, main battles don’t at all times finish the way in which you’d hope. Characters will die! (Which is bizarre to see contemplating what most needed to overcome to outlive up up to now.) However when this occurs, a mysterious energy whisks them again to a earlier level the place they will make a special choice to have an effect on the end result. These moments are completely story pushed, so it’s not like it’s a must to determine what you probably did unsuitable. In truth, the characters even sort of know one thing’s occurring with this, they’re simply not completely positive of what. This implies you could have to work your approach by means of the identical dungeon a number of occasions, however opened chests stay opened and defeated semi-bosses stay defeated. Additionally, the second (and third) walkthroughs often include new shortcuts to get you to your purpose quicker.
The downside to the time hops and the Märchen Garten is that they chop up the narrative, stopping the story from ever actually gaining any momentum. It appears the writers relied solely on “Hey, look who confirmed up!” to maintain you versus giving us something to essentially care about. That’s unlucky, as a result of the gameplay is fairly strong. So many tweaks have been made to the orbment system, fight positioning, ability activation, and different system settings that it’s beginning to really feel like a wholly completely different sport from earlier entries (nearly extra like an Ys sport), however the system nonetheless works.
And boss battles retain the true Legend of Heroes really feel…proper all the way down to their length and the huge dialogue dumps at their conclusion. These intricacies are exhausting to grasp, however will entice JRPG followers who love the trivialities of occasion administration. If that’s not you, no worries; simply set a neater problem and push by means of with out fretting over shard optimization and such.
The sport appears to be like nice, too, with splendidly designed landscapes to discover and a few attractive fight animations. Efficiency does get uneven, although, and an in-battle glitch at one level compelled me to reboot the sport. Fortunately, auto-saved dropped me proper again firstly of the battle.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails By Dawn II is an effective sport. I simply want a bit extra focus had been utilized to the narrative in order that gamers would have extra incentive to push by means of all of it. Fishing shouldn’t be essentially the most attention-grabbing a part of a spriggan’s day.
