Trails through Daybreak Review (PS5, also on PS4, Switch, PC) | Backlog Battle 

That's the problem with hardcore Falcom fans recommending people start from the very beginning - there's either this regret that people didn't start sooner, or that the game they really wanted to play is several games down the line. As I said in my review, Reverie served as a clean break for the series. Yes, you're going to know very, very few bits about what happened before when you play Daybreak, but nothing that will ruin your entire experience should you play those games. So if you really want to play Daybreak, I say go for it! Don't punish yourself by forcing a playthrough of other games if this shiny new one looks good to you!

Yeah, it's definitely a journey. I started with Sky FC last February and am now at the epilogue of Cold Steel 4. I've loved the journey of playing through them in order (understanding all the references and getting excited about all the cameos), but I fully support people jumping in at whatever point in the series makes sense for them! I'm glad that Daybreak is giving us a new entry point for people who might otherwise be turned away by the length of the series.

@@BacklogBattle The issue is that it will permanently ruin the best possible experience. Every game is peak so you're correct to say that they will still have a great time regardless of where they start, but the best possible experience will always be to play from the beginning. I would never encourage someone to lessen the experience of what I consider to be the greatest franchise of all time. There may never be another experience like this, or at least not any time soon. And once you get spoiled, that's it, you can't undo it. And I can speak from experience, because I started with the cold steel 3 demo on switch, realized i liked the game, and went back to fc but even just the hour or so I played was too much, and I couldn't forget what I had seen. Don't want to spoil specifics, but because of the intro to cold steel 3 i knew the outcome to the major event that takes place during Cold Steel 2, so my experience was lessened. I'm so glad I didn't see more than I did. It's not gatekeeping, it's genuine concern for others, and wanting them to have the best possible experience long term. Instant gratification instead of long term benefit is what you are promoting.

Don't worry man, you don't need to rush. And don't feel stuck in the past titles if you don't wanna be.

@@tlk777 I can guarantee you my experience in Sky and Crossbell were enhanced by my time playing Cold Steel.

That's a great way to go about things!

You're very welcome!

Let me tell you a secret: You can skip to this one, then go back to the other games you missed if you want to!

@@BacklogBattle I would, but I've already played through the previous five games, so I'm pretty set on chronological (based on release) progression at this point. I'm a stubborn idiot, haha.

I call it how I see it, so thank you for recognizing that!

Yeah, it’s one of the reason I found this review really interesting compared to others I’ve seen which cover much of the same positive points. He’s fair but critical and not afraid to say what he didn’t like.

I hope you do find something to enjoy in it! It's definitely up there as one of my favorite games of the year!

@@BacklogBattle It'll be one of mine for sure too! 😃

Zero is fantastic, and used to be my favorite Trails game to recommend for newbies!

Make sure to check out the demo!

Did you try Cold Steel? That was my starting point and it has been very enjoyable.

@@Renegator1 I haven't because I've been convinced by the internets that it's not "The Way." Maybe I'll check it out for Steam Summer Sale...

There is a way to do it without being too laborious, and that's just simply one example out of many that pepper the entire series, storyline reasoning besides.

@@BacklogBattle You're not wrong about that. World building has a point of diminishing returns; there comes a point where more world-building slows down the pace and people tune out from the story. That's why it's niche and why no Trails game will ever sell a million copies worldwide. I'm one of the tiny few who want to know, but most people want to get on with the story.

Oh wtf i didnt notice that. It does remind me of ToX

One thing that I used to have in the script for this video is suggesting "dialogue chirps" similar to Persona 5 during those voiced sections, that way, you can at least hear the characters react sometimes. But I opted to remove it because there are PLENTY of other things Falcom could be doing to save money where they need to but they just don't!

I don't get that either. Dub is phenominal and a lot of important scenes and parts are FULLY voiced but then you have scenes where only one character is voiced, or they just voice one line each character. It's really weird and I'd rather have less scenes voiced but have voiced cutscenes just be entirely voiced. Budget is always a consideration but what the hell

Reverie really is just an epilogue, so I think you’ll be fine!

There *is* a demo of it, should you wish to try it out!

@@BacklogBattle Will do! 🙏

It’s definitely a lot of dialogue, but there’s also a lot of gameplay too, especially if you love diving into the lore of the world and talking to NPCs!

@@BacklogBattle thanks Alex, I really appreciate your reply! I think I will start my journey with this series here then!!

Could always meet in the middle and play Tokyo Xanadu (if you haven't already.)

@@drewtheunspoken3988 Yeah, I ended up playing that one already, including all of the post main game content and endings.

@Veo87 As long as you know that the action combat isn't available all the time, I think you'll be fine in Daybreak! Also, I think the way it handles turn-based combat is actioney enough that you might even like it!

@@BacklogBattle I was able to play and beat the Sea of Stars game, which is turn-based. I'm also going through some Radiant Historia on my 3DS right now. So, I'm probably building up a tolerance for that kind of combat system.

That was the "surprise" I was alluding to in the video!

That's weird - I tried doing that but it never worked for me.

@@BacklogBattle i did it during the demo and it worked fine in the prologue, plus it is in the pop-up menu during one of the early fights

A lot of people out there will try to argue against my point, but Daybreak *is* the perfect entry to the series. There's plenty others, but this one is the best one.

To be fair though that two decade old top down sprite game ends in such a way that if you're not automatically sucked into the series then none of them are going to do it for you. Otherwise agree there are spoilers for the older games and things you may not entirely understand as a result in Kuro but is as clean an entry point you're going to find (especially when the last point in CS 1 is nearly a decade old now)

@@leehardy2025 While it's true that Sky 1's ending does grip you in and makes you want to immediately jump into Sky 2... The early and mid game sections are extremely boring. It is the only trails game that I struggled to finish, those initial 25 hours or so were a slog of endless exposition before the plot picks up.

My favourite game in the series is still Sky SC despite me not being particularly into retro games. A lot of that is due to how amazing the story and characters are so you're mileage with those aspects.

No

@@siphons5737 will I be able to play all the trails in PS5? Or if not will the list in ps5 suffice?

Yes

@@siphons5737 No. I was looking for games like Persona 4 that have School.

I've got good news for you: Despite what others might say, this is a great entry point! 😊

Maybe try the Daybreak demo first? It's quite beefy at 8 hours. You can always go back to Reverie after Daybreak!

Despite the hardcore fans suggestions. I started with Trails of Cold Steel since I didn't have access to Trails in the Sky. There's a couple of moments I didn't fully understand in Trails of Cold Steel 4, but nothing that ruined the game for me.

@LastMinuteGuess I didn't start with Sky as I didn't really have a way to play it at the time, so I started with Cold Steel 1. And having played all of them, I can truly say that Daybreak's a great one to start with, for the reasons I mentioned in the video.

Sky is the best to understand the detail of the story but you can totally get away with starting at zero (the game), cold steel 1, trails through daybreak. Each new arc is an entry point and you'll learn some of the context regardless.

@@drewtheunspoken3988 agreed, I started with cold steel 1&2, granted I didn't know there was other games at the time, but when I realized there was sky and crossbell arcs it made me want to go play them.

Lots of fans, some even youtubers that regularly cover the series had their start with Cold Steel. If Daybreak is your entry point there's no need to worry about it as intro games like it and Cold Steel 1 are made exactly as a gateway for new fans too even with the connectivity and I say this as someone who did go in release order from Sky up to Reverie before Daybreak.

Similar, but different, but yes!

What do you mean? Are you talking about the japanese version? Because the english one comes out on 5th July. It's 2 july today. How did you play it in advance

What do you mean? Are you talking about the japanese version? Because the english one comes out on 5th July. It's 2 july today. How did you play it in advance

The frame rate problems of the ps5 port are known since a couple of years. Unfortunately, the reviewers ( including backlog battle) highlighted that the problems were not addressed with western version. The only way to play it at 60fps on ps5 without stutters and judder, is to play the PS4 version on a ps5.

Certainly NOT what I was expecting him to sound LOL

Try the demo and see for yourself!

It says so on the thumbnail!

I just beat the final boss so i'm already ready for this ;p.

In terms of a specific gameplay mechanic? No. In terms of storytelling? One can argue that there is.

That’s fine everyone enjoys there own thing

Nothing wrong with that. Apart from Tales Of Arise, none of the other Tales games did it for me for example. The same with the Final Fantasy stuff. I love the Trails series, but also the Ys games and Tokyo Xanadu eX+. But also the more "fluffy" games like the Atelier and Blue Reflection games have a high score with me. As said - Everyone is different, and so are the tastes...

Not so different than Marvel comic stories, to be fair - but I get how taxing that can be!

Meanwhile I fucking love those moments no matter how often they spew them at me :P

@narius_jaden215 One or two is okay and leads to a genuine surprise. They really overdid it, though, and it just became an eyeroll moment. If anyone further did "die" it took any impact out of it too, as you knew they'd be back again later. It was really lazy storytelling imo. They could have at least left Miriam dead. I really hated her 😂

@@BacklogBattle Well, I like superhero stuff even less 👍

@@sonictelephone1526 Here's the thing though man. I have never empathized with the idea that characters dying can improve a story for me. It always leaves a bad taste in my mouth xD I'm a happy go lucky dude in gaming so series that bring back characters after death just make me smile. I don't blame you for having your own opinion, though! I just know that for me, it's only a good thing.

I've actually talked to people who have played Crimson and said that while stories did connect, prior knowledge isn't required.

@@BacklogBattle Personally, having finished Crimson Sin, I would argue that a large part of its emotional impact is lost if you didn't play the prior games (especially concerning Sky the 3rd, Zero, Azure, and especially Reverie). Like, you could get away with not playing them, but then certain moments in Crimson Sin just don't hit as hard. You get the sense that certain characters have "been through a lot", but you haven't played through those moments yourself, so you don't fully get it, if that makes sense? And for me, emotional impact is like the #1 reason I play the series. So I mean, no, prior knowledge isn't required, but I feel like you'd be missing out on a huge part of Crimson Sin if you don't have that prior knowledge. Which like, is especially important with Crimson Sin because it's mainly just a huge character exploration dive... which again, wouldn't really mean that much to you if you don't have knowledge of the previous games I mentioned. But that's just my two mira. In my opinion, Crimson Sin is a "payoff game", but only if you've experienced the games that the culmination of certain character arcs were leading to. Trying to be as vague as I can without spoiling... I'll be interested to see what people think of Crimson Sin when it releases, though~

I actually think that Reverie's massive roster was to its detriment