Falcom President Talks All Things Trails, Daybreak 2, and Kai in Our Biggest Interview Ever | Push Square

pushsquare.com:

With the release of Trails through Daybreak earlier this year, Ys X: Nordics fast approaching, and Trails through Daybreak 2 arriving in February, we once again got to catch up with Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo at a recent UK press event.

We asked Kondo-san all sorts of questions about the Trails series in particular, resulting in our biggest ever interview with the veteran developer.

Push Square: To start with, can you tell us about what Falcom's been up to since our last interview?

Toshihiro Kondo, Falcom President: So, last year was the Ys X year, so we were working on that, and then this year was mainly — since we've finished working on Trails through Daybreak 2 — we just finished what's called Kai no Kiseki [in Japan]. And that only just released in Japan a few weeks ago, so now we're handling the 'aftercare' for Kai.

What about Falcom's workforce? Have there been any changes to how the company operates?

It hasn't really changed in the last two to three years, but about five years ago we did see an increase in development staff.

Can you tell us about the structure of Trails through Daybreak 2, and how it follows on from the first Trails through Daybreak?

So to talk about the characters first, obviously a lot of the characters are returning from Daybreak 1. And in Daybreak 1, we got to see them when they were still kind of inexperienced — and we got to see their growth throughout that game.

Going into Daybreak 2, even though the party starts out in different places kind of doing their own things — as you progress through the game they obviously rejoin — we get to see them as they reach a point of having all that character development, and personal development, and growth through the first game. All of that's reflected in Daybreak 2.

And to talk about the system briefly, you still have the seamless battles that transition between the action combat and the turn-based combat, and a lot of those elements that were in the first game, those have been iterated