Kicking off an entire new saga in Falcom’s storied Trails collection, Trails by Dawn represents a step ahead for the franchise in so some ways. Boasting an up to date sport engine, pretty important gameplay additions, and a totally new setting, that is in all probability the freshest that Trails has felt for the reason that unique Trails of Chilly Metal — and that was 5 complete video games in the past.
The Republic of Calvard has all the time been a staple in Trails lore, however in Dawn, followers lastly get to discover this much-discussed nation. The place Chilly Metal’s Erebonian Empire was a rustic on the cusp of technological revolution, Calvard is borderline futuristic by comparability. It is obtained supercomputers, laptops, its personal F1-style sport, robotic pets, and a thriving movement image trade. It is a nation that is enormously benefitted from its warfare with the aforementioned Empire, with reparations paving the best way for an enormous financial increase.
Taking all of this under consideration, Calvard makes for an thrilling backdrop. Falcom is ready to push themes and concepts that may have felt misplaced in earlier titles, and the result’s a surprisingly mature instalment. This newfound maturity is mirrored in Dawn’s protagonist, a 24-year-old ‘spriggan’ by the identify of Van Arkride.
Van’s been across the block. He is basically a mercenary working out of Calvard’s capital metropolis, and he is not averse to choosing up jobs that the majority would deem shady. The place prior Trails leads have been righteous through-and-through (obnoxiously so, at occasions), Van is a real breath of contemporary air — a hero who’s prepared to get his fingers soiled. His considerably aloof character finally ends up being a incredible point of interest, as he is slowly surrounded by a vibrant solid of celebration members and supporting gamers.
Certainly, Falcom’s managed to create yet one more crop of memorable characters — a feat that grows an increasing number of spectacular with each sport that it releases. Dawn’s obtained lots of recent faces — and fairly just a few returning ones — however holding observe of so many roles not often overwhelms. That is principally all the way down to the title’s methodical pacing, as every story chapter steadily introduces new locations, characters, and ideas. The Trails video games proceed to be a masterclass by way of world constructing.
That mentioned, there is no getting away from the truth that Dawn is very heavy on textual content. The script — which spans a marketing campaign that lasts round 100 hours — is totally colossal, and issues get extremely wordy at occasions. Once more, this method helps Falcom in its makes an attempt to flesh out nearly each doable element — and it is engrossing in case you have the endurance for it — nevertheless it does sluggish proceedings to a crawl now and again.
Nonetheless, we have to reward the localisation workforce. The English script is immaculate and emotive, and that is one hell of an achievement given the sheer measurement of the factor.
Talking of localisation, Dawn comes with an elective English dub, however very similar to its Japanese counterpart, it skips nearly all of the dialogue. Now, when a script is that this large, it is easy to simply accept that corners have to be lower — however fashionable Trails video games have this jarring factor the place some characters’ strains shall be absolutely voiced, whereas others will reply with voiceless textual content bins. We dare counsel that you simply get used to it, nevertheless it’s a problem that stands proud in Dawn as a result of there are simply so many interactions.
Happily, the storytelling holds up all through, and we might go as far to say that this is likely one of the finest, most well-rounded narratives you will discover in a Trails title. Sure, it leans on occasions from earlier video games — particularly afterward — and sure, recurring characters could have way more influence in the event you’re really conversant in them, however as a standalone story, Dawn feels full; this is not a case of 1 large sport being sliced into two halves, like with Chilly Metal 3 and 4.
As such, we might suggest Dawn to newcomers, with the caveat that you simply would possibly wish to work backwards by previous titles with the intention to get the total image. Its fully new setting and most important characters go a good distance in making the sport really feel like one thing of a contemporary begin. And who is aware of, you would possibly simply spark a long-lasting relationship with this excellent collection.
Anyway, let’s discuss in regards to the gameplay. Probably the most important change to the Trails blueprint comes within the type of an overhauled fight system, which now incorporates a full-on motion part earlier than leaping into a conventional turn-based mode. Out-of-battle assaults are nothing new for these video games, as you have all the time been in a position to smack an opponent on the sphere with the intention to acquire a bonus when the right struggle begins — and that mechanic has developed fairly dramatically in Dawn.
Van and his allies can assault, dodge, and straight-up stun enemies earlier than opting to enter a turn-based battle. The controls are a little stiff throughout these action-based assaults, however they add an satisfying rhythm to the same old dungeon crawling, as you seamlessly swap between the 2 modes of play. For the report, the motion portion of fight is fully elective — though as talked about, beautiful a foe does afford you an enormous benefit forward of the total encounter, and you’ll be able to defeat a lot weaker enemies outright if you cannot be bothered taking turns.
In the meantime, on the tactical aspect of issues, fight is extra fluid. Throughout their flip, celebration members can now transfer freely throughout the designated area, whereas making use of intelligent positioning to overwhelm opponents with workforce assaults and talents that hit more durable from the aspect or behind. The system strikes a very nice steadiness between strategic considering and turn-by-turn adaptation, as encounters are typically extra dynamic total.
However the underlying mechanics of previous Trails titles stay in place, they usually’re nonetheless among the finest you will discover in fashionable RPGs. Every character has entry to a variety of magical arts and distinctive crafts, in addition to omnipotent tremendous strikes. You have obtained a variety of choices to mess around with proper from the beginning, and exploring the person toolkits of your celebration members is a constant pleasure.
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that Falcom has tweaked fight steadiness as an entire. Within the Chilly Metal video games, you would fully break the system by particular character builds and techniques, and though you’ll be able to nonetheless unleash some pretty busted combos in Dawn, the mechanics merely aren’t as abusable as they as soon as have been. This adjustment might come as a disappointment to some gamers, however we do suppose that the title’s overarching problem curve is healthier for it; battles are typically a bit extra forwards and backwards, with consideration afforded to defensive techniques, versus merely nuking your enemies as shortly as doable.
On the subject of character builds, the collection’ returning quartz system has been given a reasonably substantial overhaul. In previous titles, objects referred to as quartz granted new spells and stat boosts when outfitted — not in contrast to materia in Remaining Fantasy 7. However in Dawn, quartz is tied solely to stat will increase and passive perks, when you acquire entry to new spells — or arts — by completely different objects, referred to as ‘drivers’. Separating these two parts of celebration customisation provides you extra freedom, nevertheless it does really feel convoluted — particularly throughout the opening couple of story chapters, whenever you’re nonetheless attempting to wrap your head across the fundamentals.
A part of the issue is that the sport virtually starves you of motion at factors. When fight encounters could be this a lot enjoyable, it is an actual disgrace when Van and the gang are compelled to tackle detective work that sees you run round city, speaking to a seemingly countless provide of NPCs as an alternative of walloping all method of monsters. Certainly, a few of Dawn’s aspect quests fall into disappointingly tedious territory — the sort of duties that, in concept, ought to solely serve to bolster the sport’s world constructing. However in apply, they quantity to little greater than trekking between goal markers and wading by a brief novel’s price of dialogue.
Fortunately, the all-new ‘alignment’ system provides a contact of spice to those in any other case dreary escapades. Being a morally murky man, Van will typically should determine on the best way to settle a quest, selecting between conclusions which might be both law-abiding or rule-bending. In flip, your selections can decide sure story beats, and though it stops in need of being a really branching narrative, your alignment does have some cool implications down the road. We would like to see Falcom dig deeper into this type of stuff.
Earlier than we wrap up, we should always talk about Dawn’s improved visuals. It isn’t a large leap over the later Chilly Metal video games — and it is undoubtedly not what you’d name graphically spectacular by at the moment’s requirements — nevertheless it’s a beautiful launch given the developer’s comparatively restricted sources. The principle character fashions particularly look nice, though their glow-up does imply that the usual NPCs can look tough by comparability. Nonetheless, the general artwork course’s robust, and Falcom’s crafted a few of its greatest, most detailed environments to this point.
