Its a good entry game for new player into the Trails franchise. A good JRPG all around, maybe a bit too long and bloated at the end but thats a problem most of the Trails games have.
As someone who played nearly all the games in the series i rank it somewhere in the upper middle of the pack and a solid 8/10.

It has a lot of story and gameplay tropes most Trails fans have seen a few times by now and which can get a bit annoying.
But if you are a brand new player who just wants to try out this massive franchise this is a good starting point.
There will still be references to the events of previous games and cameo appearances of characters from older titles but its not front and center and everything is explained nicely for first timers.

Just dont expect the newest tech and high end graphics, the Trails games are a fairly niche series, even in Japan and are usually a generation or two behind from the technical side.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Its a good entry game for new player into the Trails franchise. A good JRPG all around, maybe a bit too long and bloated at the end but thats a problem most of the Trails games have.
As someone who played nearly all the games in the series i rank it somewhere in the upper middle of the pack and a solid 8/10.

It has a lot of story and gameplay tropes most Trails fans have seen a few times by now and which can get a bit annoying.
But if you are a brand new player who just wants to try out this massive franchise this is a good starting point.
There will still be references to the events of previous games and cameo appearances of characters from older titles but its not front and center and everything is explained nicely for first timers.

Just dont expect the newest tech and high end graphics, the Trails games are a fairly niche series, even in Japan and are usually a generation or two behind from the technical side.

thanks!

Where is it rated meh to good? I guess for people not used to Trails it might be seen as that but this is a very well-liked entry in the series.

As with any Trails game, you do have to like reading (though you can easily skip through it) but the story and characters are pretty great, along with some very innovative combat action/turn-based hybrid... This came out before Metaphor ReFantazio, Trails did it first!

Originally posted by CalokAndQkourQcuarante:

Where is it rated meh to good? I guess for people not used to Trails it might be seen as that but this is a very well-liked entry in the series.

As with any Trails game, you do have to like reading (though you can easily skip through it) but the story and characters are pretty great, along with some very innovative combat action/turn-based hybrid... This came out before Metaphor ReFantazio, Trails did it first!

Gamefaqs. I was looking for a Switch rpg but if I spot an interesting one I check if it's on steam too, as pc ports are almost always better than Switch versions.

Originally posted by jamielefeaux:

Gamefaqs. I was looking for a Switch rpg but if I spot an interesting one I check if it's on steam too, as pc ports are almost always better than Switch versions.

Daybreak's got only one review on GameFAQs, and it's a positive one, giving a score of 9 out of 10, so I wonder where you got this 'meh to good' rating from. Most reviews on other sites are positive as well.

Not that those matter all that much anyway, since they're just someone's opinion, nothing more, nothing less, even if that someone is a 'professional reviewer', if such a term has any meaning, particularly on the internet, with little way of checking someone's credentials.

And regarding the Forums, here, on gameFAQs or anywhere else; those tend to overflow with whiners, haters, trolls and other assorted gits, since the people who like something are typically not going to seek validation for their opinions from strangers by posting online.

Don't listen to random dudes online, play and find your own opinion. If you gotta listen to somebody, listen to your friends and other people who you have specific reason to trust, and even then, you might find yourself disagreeing with them.

Originally posted by Dr. Rudolf von Richten:

Originally posted by jamielefeaux:

Gamefaqs. I was looking for a Switch rpg but if I spot an interesting one I check if it's on steam too, as pc ports are almost always better than Switch versions.

Daybreak's got only one review on GameFAQs, and it's a positive one, giving a score of 9 out of 10, so I wonder where you got this 'meh to good' rating from. Most reviews on other sites are positive as well.

Not that those matter all that much anyway, since they're just someone's opinion, nothing more, nothing less, even if that someone is a 'professional reviewer', if such a term has any meaning, particularly on the internet, with little way of checking someone's credentials.

And regarding the Forums, here, on gameFAQs or anywhere else; those tend to overflow with whiners, haters, trolls and other assorted gits, since the people who like something are typically not going to seek validation for their opinions from strangers by posting online.

Don't listen to random dudes online, play and find your own opinion. If you gotta listen to somebody, listen to your friends and other people who you have specific reason to trust, and even then, you might find yourself disagreeing with them.

On Gamefaqs, you can select each system the game released on to see the different ratings for each. Way more than one rating btw, each version has 20-40 ratings going from 3.5-4 stars which is quite the difference from the kind of suspicious 100% it has on steam.

Originally posted by jamielefeaux:

Originally posted by Dr. Rudolf von Richten:

Daybreak's got only one review on GameFAQs, and it's a positive one, giving a score of 9 out of 10, so I wonder where you got this 'meh to good' rating from. Most reviews on other sites are positive as well.

Not that those matter all that much anyway, since they're just someone's opinion, nothing more, nothing less, even if that someone is a 'professional reviewer', if such a term has any meaning, particularly on the internet, with little way of checking someone's credentials.

And regarding the Forums, here, on gameFAQs or anywhere else; those tend to overflow with whiners, haters, trolls and other assorted gits, since the people who like something are typically not going to seek validation for their opinions from strangers by posting online.

Don't listen to random dudes online, play and find your own opinion. If you gotta listen to somebody, listen to your friends and other people who you have specific reason to trust, and even then, you might find yourself disagreeing with them.

On Gamefaqs, you can select each system the game released on to see the different ratings for each. Way more than one rating btw, each version has 20-40 ratings going from 3.5-4 stars which is quite the difference from the kind of suspicious 100% it has on steam.

Don't forget Gamefaqs, or whatever website where ppl can note a game and give a small review, are full of random online users :
- giving a positive / negative and unbiased review (rare)
- trolling / hating / whining because it's from X devs / Y devs said something on August 21 2005 at 4AM that they didn't like / this game took inspiration from Z game....
- review bombing
Looking at it is like walking on a landmine.

Same for the pseudo journalistics websites like IGN, Gamespot.... where one "video game journalist" give his review of the game. They are known to give scores that don't really go along with the players' one in a lot of cases (for better or worse).

Don't listen to reviews, buy the game if you find it cool or search on websites that gives only informations and no judgement (no reviews, like "its a RPG, out in September, the 25th game of the serie, there is time management, the graphics are updated... ).
Create your own opinion.

Everyone on this planet has an opinion different from his neighboor, based on personal tastes and life experiences. What ppl will hate, you could like it and vice versa.

You can refund it if it's not to your liking. You lost nothing except 2 hrs of your life or you won a game.

If i stopped playing games catching my eyes because i looked at online reviews from "professionals" or individuals, steam ratings or videos from "testers", i would have played no games at all XD

Originally posted by jamielefeaux:

On Gamefaqs, you can select each system the game released on to see the different ratings for each. Way more than one rating btw, each version has 20-40 ratings going from 3.5-4 stars which is quite the difference from the kind of suspicious 100% it has on steam.

Ah, OK, I just considered the actual review section of this games' GameFAQs page, which does only have that one positive review.

Anyway, I stand by my point that the opinions of others, particularly those found online, are worth little if anything. Find out for yourself if you like it or not.

It is one of the best Kiseki (trails) games and in general a great jrpg.
Im a big fan of it personally, and was very glad to see how Daybreak turned out after being dissapointed by the previous arc in the series, so I can only recommend it.

It isnt up to the Persona games level of quality but if you enjoy jrpgs, intricate world with interesting worlduilding and generally likeable cast with a proper jrpg journey to go through, you will have fun with this. It looks nice, plays well and the writing is at worst solid and at best fantastic.

The only downsides are the general downsides for Trails games, the games are long and usually poorly paced, drawn out, it takes a while to get to the meat of things so its important for you to enjoy the moment to moment interactions and not just the hype times. It also tends to be overwriten, very wordy but Daybreak is one the better side of things.

But yea, in general, in terms of the whole narrative, characters and their interactions, villains and stakes, its all there and all good.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Its a good entry game for new player into the Trails franchise. A good JRPG all around, maybe a bit too long and bloated at the end but thats a problem most of the Trails games have.
As someone who played nearly all the games in the series i rank it somewhere in the upper middle of the pack and a solid 8/10.

It has a lot of story and gameplay tropes most Trails fans have seen a few times by now and which can get a bit annoying.
But if you are a brand new player who just wants to try out this massive franchise this is a good starting point.
There will still be references to the events of previous games and cameo appearances of characters from older titles but its not front and center and everything is explained nicely for first timers.

Just dont expect the newest tech and high end graphics, the Trails games are a fairly niche series, even in Japan and are usually a generation or two behind from the technical side.

On that note I have a question. Is the trails series like final fantasy where each new title is a new world and setting or is it a continuing story that would be better if you start from the beginning? I have been interested in the series for a while but never really tried getting into it.

Originally posted by Silamon:

On that note I have a question. Is the trails series like final fantasy where each new title is a new world and setting or is it a continuing story that would be better if you start from the beginning? I have been interested in the series for a while but never really tried getting into it.

Continuing story, starting with Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Best to start from the beginning. :-)

Nah, there is a great story undolding at each game, but each arc is pretty much complete by itself.
There is the Sky trilogy, the Crossbell arc (2 games plus Reverie), the Cold Steel arc (4 games) and this new arc Daybreak.

If you don't care about the great story, or don't have time/money to buy all of them, you can start at the begining of any arc without loosing the arc's story, only some references and cameos.

This is not going to be an objective comment. For me, everything about the Kiseki series after Azure is just meh. It was one of the best games I've ever played in my life. Sky and Crossbell raised the bar for me, but after Azure, we haven't gotten a single good game.

For me, every Kiseki game that's out now looks like a low-budget Ubisoft game.

But don't worry too much about what I say. I am a very old fan of the series. This affects my decision making. If I were to evaluate Daybreak 1 objectively, I would call it a good game with its shortcomings.

Because of this, I can have a bit of a negative and sarcastic attitude.

As others here say, play and see. Form your own opinion. Don't be dependent on others. Maybe you'll love it.

Originally posted by BK-BERKE:

This is not going to be an objective comment. For me, everything about the Kiseki series after Azure is just meh. It was one of the best games I've ever played in my life. Sky and Crossbell raised the bar for me, but after Azure, we haven't gotten a single good game.

For me, every Kiseki game that's out now looks like a low-budget Ubisoft game.

Very curious why. Daybreak 1 was my favourite arc-intro game in the series (4th favourite overall) and Kai no Kiseki recently became 1st best in the series, finally knocking Sky SC into 2nd.

I'm also curious about your other comments, like what you say about Cold Steel killing people's care of the series. I'm not really a fan of Cold Steel myself, but I won't deny it remains the most popular arc in Japan and the West with Rean being the most popular MC. Plus, what you mean by Kondo being an immoral person. \just I've seen your posts for a while and they kinda baffle me.

Originally posted by Endora:

Nah, there is a great story undolding at each game, but each arc is pretty much complete by itself.
There is the Sky trilogy, the Crossbell arc (2 games plus Reverie), the Cold Steel arc (4 games) and this new arc Daybreak.

If you don't care about the great story, or don't have time/money to buy all of them, you can start at the begining of any arc without loosing the arc's story, only some references and cameos.

So, the games are in the same setting but in different locations/times? Or do these story arcs overlap at all?