The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki
Featured DLC
About the Game
[Game Description]
The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki is finally coming to Steam®!
Kuro no Kiseki’s revamped combat system swiftly and seamlessly transitions from field battles to command-based turn battles, allowing players to enjoy fast-paced strategic combat. With the touch of a single button, you can shift from field battles to command battles at any time.
In command battles, players select commands such as normal attacks, battle techniques, magic, and items to progress through combat. To take on even the strongest of enemies, players must cultivate a keen undersanding of the special effects of all these components combined.
[Exclusive features for the Steam® version added!]
High-Speed Mode allows players to change the speed of field and command battles, and the text size change function customizes the display to suit individual preferences.
Kuro no Kiseki can also be played on 21:9 ultra-wide monitors, allowing players to experience even more spectacular scenery at once. In addition, the player’s left and right views have been expanded, giving the player an advantage when attacking and defending.
[Story]
The sprawling Republic of Calvard is experiencing an unprecedented economic boom brought on by post-war reparations. At the same time, feelings of uncertainty stemming from a massive influx of immigrants and bold political reform by the new president are rife. Deep within its capital city, a young Spriggan man named Van receives a strange request that threatens to plunge the entire nation into chaos…
[Prologue]
The Spriggan is a type of undeground agent, born in the melting pot of diversity that is the Republic of Calvard.
Spriggans take on any and all requests, acting as detectives, negotiators, or even as bounty hunters.
They subcontract requests that the police can’t handle, consult with citizens on matters that can’t be brought to light, and even take on legitimate requests from criminals and underground forces. This earned them the apt nickname “jack-of-all-trades”.
In the year 1208 of the Septian Calendar, a well-to-do student dressed in the uniform of a prestigious school visits an old building located deep within the Republic’s capital.
The girl stares at the plaque, upon which Arkride Resolution Office is emblazoned in plain letters. She clears her throat and then knocks three times.
“How odd, we don’t receive many callers before noon…”
The calm voice of a surprisingly young, though mature-sounding man is heard from within, and the doorknob slowly starts to turn.
And thus, our story begins.
Game Discussion
Steam User 0
战斗系统真不错。
剧情尚可，人设很棒，音乐总体水平比原来下降，但神曲也有。
总之是个合格的开篇。能看出改进了之前一些问题。
其他小问题还是有，但作为轨迹粉丝放心玩。
Steam User 0
Overall nice game. I have played only this game for the rail series and it is a nice entry for me. The worst problem is that this game is trying to justify all the bad guys and Callahan is the most nasty part when everyone is trying to say "he is a nice man and has a golden heart".
Steam User 0
Kudos to CLE for releasing the game way before the localization abusers at NISA.
I guess I will be sticking to CLE versions with fan translations from now on.
Also the price of CLE version is lower even if it's the same game.
♥♥♥♥ NIS America
Steam User 0
One of my favourite entry in the Kiseki games.
While a bit slow at time and suffering from pacing issues, the game is much more modern than before and I tremendously enjoyed it
Steam User 0
(Just as a pre-note, I'm currently about 25 hours into Kuro 2, and a couple of gameplay flaws I address here have been addressed there.)
(second note: I played this via a English injection patch.)
Overall, I would say Kuro no Kiseki (or Trails through Daybreak for those of y'all playing the official localization) is the best 'intro game' in the series so far, and a bit of a breath of fresh air for the series, after my worries that the series would get too over-convoluted after Cold Steel/Reverie. That said there are a few nagging things that keep this game from being truly amazing, but I also have a lot of great things to say about it!
Characters: This party so far is very strong. Van Arkride is the man, 10/10, easily the best protagonist in the series, in just one game. Him being a more 'mature' MC fits this arc's setting and tone, making me appreciate the atmosphere of this game more. It was also a genius idea to have Van already be familiar with the goings on in Zemuria, so that it doesn't feel like I'm being subjected to exposition I've already heard for several games now. More shoutouts to Feri, Quatre and Risette. Agnes took a bit of time for me to impress me but she grew on me at some point.
The villains this time around are not all that deep character wise unfortunately, but the good part is that this time they aren't playing around, being perfectly willing to murder innocent people. Again, it felt fresh after several games of villains that had to be 'redeemable'.
Gameplay: The combat in Kuro feels like a back to basis sort of thing, with the addition of field combat and a simpler 'link' system in the form of SCLM. It is a fun system, but some systems such as the S-Boost system, the revamped S-Craft system and the changes to Earth Guard/Aegis Shield just makes this game WAY too easy, even on Hard difficulty. The game to me didn't really start to bite back until late into Chapter 5. Secondly, due to the way the field combat works, if you keep at it long enough, you can start nearly every encounter with an advantage which makes enemies sitting ducks. Obviously bosses are set to command.
The orbment system was also fun to experiment with, they brought back the points system from Sky/Zero/Azure which was nice, though instead of arts which come pre-built through 'arts drivers' you get certain skills instead. Real nice on paper, but a certain few skills were incredibly broken I couldn't not put it on all of my party members. Hollow Cores are basically the type of buffs you get when you S-Boost, not much else there.
Story: Like I mentioned above, this is probably my favorite 'intro game' and the story is mainly why. The darker tone fits this game perfectly, and it feels like there is genuine stakes and actual long lasting consequences this time around. That said, up until Chapter 5 the pacing is pretty formulaic to the point of predictability at times, but I enjoyed almost every setpiece so it's not too bad. My one complaint however is that the final chapter is kind of...fillery? As in 'we forgot we need a proper endgame so let's just shoehorn this in' which was pretty disappointing honestly.
Now the million dollar question: can you start with Kuro? Well, yes...but I wouldn't recommend it, imo. While it is a fresh new start and definitely feels that way for the first half, from the second half up until the ending there are many callbacks to earlier games, particularly Trails into Reverie, so you may be scratching your head at some points, just know that going in.
TLDR: Best intro game in the series, a step in the right direction in terms of characters and tone with a cool new orbment system, but has several kinks that need to be ironed out, mostly from a combat standpoint.
Final score: 8/10
Final score: 8/10
Steam User 0
Although I've only played for 1h so far I'm your typical Trails fanatic so I know I'll love it. Just really wanted to write this in order to thank the folks over at 4chan who worked so hard on the English translation, it fits BEAUTIFULLY, it's like professionally done I think. So thanks so much if any of you ever read this, amazing work!
Also I wanted to quickly say the graphics have got a lovely update, characters movements are more natural still than Reverie, (the height of the last engine) and somehow the story feels more mature which is a nice change if that's the case. Loving it so far as I love them all with all my heart.
This game series is truly like no other when taken as a whole, so happy I started playing the first game on a whim and now 15 months later I'm on game 11/12, soon to be 13. Thanks to all the fans who buy and support these games like me too. Thanks for reading!
Steam User 1
If you have made it this far with Trails there really isn't really anything else to say at this point. It's great.