There’s a literary device called the Deus Ex Machina (no, the game series didn’t invent that cool-sounding word), which describes when an author uses a plot device to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story. It’s possibly the most difficult literary device to use, since, if you calibrate it wrong, it undermines everything you’ve done leading up to that point. Yes, don’t click away, this is a review of Trails Through Daybreak 2. It’s not an English studies essay. I’m getting there.
Related reading: Our review of the first chapter of this chapter in The Legend of Heroes.
Here’s a good example of the difference between the two: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, has two Deus Ex Machinas in short order. Firstly, in the massive battle for the city, it seems like, however valiant they are, the humans just don’t have the numbers to deal with the invading orcs. Even after that spectacular cavalry charge. But then the totally invincible ghosts turn up and kill all the baddies before disappearing again.
This Deus Ex Machina is defensible because it had thematic purpose. Sure, it undermined the desperate struggle on the battlefield, but it was Aragorn, finally coming to terms with his role as the king of Gondor. It was a theme, see.
The second Deus Ex Machina comes shortly after, once Frodo gets his finger bitten off and Gollum sets a new lava diving record. The volcano erupts, and with lava flowing all around them it looks like Frodo and Sam have no escape. But then the eagles show up and save them and… that’s it. That Deus Ex Machina was clearly because no one could figure out a more convincing way for two hobbits to survive a volcanic eruption, and to this day people now ask “well, why didn’t the eagle just fly them to Mordor in the first place?” There are decent answers to that, but the fact the question is asked is proof that the whole mess undermined people’s faith in the rest of the plot.
That was a long introduction to get to the point: Trails Through Daybreak 2 has a Deus Ex Machina in it, and unfortunately it’s a terrible one. Basically, and with no spoilers: The game’s narrative is clearly inspired by All You Need Is Kill (better known in the West as Edge of Tomorrow, from the film adaptation). Throughout the game there are bad endings. When those happen, time winds back and events go differently.
The problem with approaching the narrative this way is that it runs the risk of removing all the stakes from the action. If death is no longer final then death stops being a concern. Edge of Tomorrow used this brilliantly by making the entire point that death was no longer the concern. Indeed, the big threat was that you wouldn’t be able to loop again. Trails Through Daybreak 2 tries to use it to keep you guessing about what the true “canon” destiny is for the characters, but that’s a generous reading. Mostly it comes across as a contrived way to throw characters into deadly situations for soap drama points without any finality. Most disappointingly of all, this is all an own goal, as the game’s noirish detective opening act was more than intriguing enough to build a story around without toying with time travel.
This is actually the first time I’ve been disappointed with a Legend of Heroes plot, but then it’s also a fairly substantial departure from the typical Legend of Heroes plot. This series has always been about offering an epic, ever-building narrative sweeping across entire nations. Even when one entry in the game is more focused and narrow in scope, it contributes to the growth of the whole. Trails Through Daybreak 2, meanwhile, is very narrow in scope (given it only really takes place in the one city), and feels like it doesn’t cover as much ground because so much of its run time gets eaten up with these time resets.
With that being said, the character writing is exceptional, and while the overarching plot is one of Nihon Falcom’s messiest, getting to know these characters in much greater depth makes it worthwhile. They were well-introduced in the first Trails Through Daybreak, and now they’re really starting to take their position within the pages of the overall grand epic of the project.
Speaking of which, though, it is worth reminding people that if you’re playing Legend of Heroes games you absolutely must not play a sequel until you’ve finished the original. Trails Through Daybreak 2 assumes you are fully done with its predecessor, and jumping ahead is like trying to skip a chapter in a book and expecting it to still make sense.
Trails Through Daybreak 2 plays wonderfully, even if I’m still unsure about the attempt to fuse real-time and turn-based combat together. The developers have built out the real time element a bit more, giving you some major advantages if you time the “perfect dodge”… perfectly… and it does now feel like you have to make strategic use of it, though, so it comes across as less gimmicky this time. On the turn-based side of things, there are additional special attacks that allow you to do even more damage, deepening the tactical side of the game nicely.
In addition to the main quest, there are the usual side quests that you expect from the Legend of Heroes series, and those add just enough personality to the story to be worthwhile on balance. There are also a smattering of side activities that are standard with JRPGs these days, for those who still can’t get enough of card-based minigames. Most significantly, however, is the roguelike Marchen Garten, which allows you to take your characters into randomly generated dungeons for some big experience and loot. The main game is difficult enough on Normal and above that you can’t ignore this, but thankfully as far as roguelike bonus modes go, this one remains pretty enjoyable through the grind and is entirely on-demand so you can make use of it in your own time.
Nothing about Trails Through Daybreak 2 dampens my enthusiasm for the series as a whole. I will be playing the next one the moment it’s available. This is one of the more disappointing Legend of Heroes titles, given that its biggest failing – the narrative – is typically what you want to play this series for – but even on a bad day The Legend of Heroes is a more interesting and entertaining vision and project than most JRPGs can aspire to be.
