I'm at a loss. Which ever road I go down they both seem great, played about 2 hours so far of Overlord Unicorn and 2 of Daybreak in the demos but I'm having trouble choosing I'll be nearing their demos end soon. UO is 37 euro while Daybreak is 47 euro and this is my last game of the year I'll be buying until KCD2 or MH Wilds unless Indiana Jones is a heavy hitter. So I wanna make it count. These are to get me through the most depressing, contenless week of the year between Christmas day so characters are important. UO is obviously the better deal but Daybreak seems more cosy JRPG like.

What would be the correct choice here? They both are 50+ hour games according to HLTB which will easily fill the most boring week of the year. I need them to be top tier stuff. 

Have you played all the previous entries in the Trails franchise? If not, go for Unicorn Overlord.

I have not but they say this is a soft Reboot. I mean, how would anyone playthrough hundreds of hours to get into a franchise... surely it can't be that big of a deal...

As a fan of tactical RPGs I did not like Unicorn Overload. It's the most overrated game this year for me, I dropped it before 20 hours

First the art style just screams "generic" to me, and I'm not fan of the direction of using full body 2D models, feels like watching cutscenes of fighting games like KOF or Guilty Gear

Second, I think this kind of game works better when we have clear definition of turns. They can be fixed turns (like X-com) or mixed turns based on initiative (like Triangle Strategy). But constantly needing to pause the game to evaluate your situation in battle is not something engaging for me, the only game that I think did this right was Final Fantasy VII Remake but this was more an action game than a tactical game, so the strategic burden is much less important

Third, the IU is not one the worst I've seen in my life. Terrible, clunkly designed. Maybe it works on PC, but on console... jeez. Looked like a mobile game IU

Fourth, the story and world building is just way too barebones. It's just not memorable, nor engaging. I guess some people don't care for story when playing games, but I need a story that at least try to be something in RPG

It is overrated, but still worth playing.

I haven't played Trails, but this one is a good palette cleanser due to the easiness.

After the difficulty of Elden Ring, Rise of the Ronin, and smt V Vengeance, it felt nice to play.

It's more of a new "arc" within the franchise. Each "Trails" series (Trails in the Sky, Trails of Cold Steel, Trails from Zero, now Trails through Daybreak...) is a different arc within The Legend of Heroes franchise, taking place in one of the countries within the franchise's world. While these arcs are "separated", they share the same time and universe and their stories are tied in many ways (this is specially true for the Trails of Cold Steel games).

While you can totally start with Daybreak and have fun with it, the main selling point of the Legend of Heroes franchise is its worldbuilding. While it's true that asking someone to play several 60+ hour games is insane and I totally understand how absurd it sounds, that's where the main value of the series resides. With all of these games and arcs, Falcom has created universe with an incredibly deep lore, complex and interesting politics and international relations and tons of amazing characters. Each game on its own is great, but they are even greater when you have the bigger picture.

Again, you CAN play Daybreak first, without any previous knowledge of the series. But if you do, keep in mind that there will be many things that you will just not get. It will be kind of like watching Avengers: Infinity War without having watched the previous MCU movies. You can do that. You'll have fun. But it's far from ideal.

If I were you, I would play Unicorn first. It's a great game an it's self contained.

Hmm. I played The Witcher 3 without prior knowledge (apart from a bit of TW2) and It has mountains of lore behind it. 

*Sigh...

If you have made up your mind about what is best for you, why are you asking for a recommendation in the first place?

Go play Daybreak then xD

PD: The Witcher 3 was created as an entry point for newcommers to the series. It's not the same situation. Plus, the Trails lore is quite more complex and bigger than the one in The Witcher (games).

Trails is an amazing franchise, but best would be to play at least Trails of Cold Steel 3/4 first and move on from that afterwards. 3 explains the events of 1/2 quite well. Also they are graphically not terrible.

I'm just pondering. It's wild that they would continue a series that allows for no new fans to be let in the door. These games aren't even available on modern systems. It makes no sense but yeah, if this is the case I suppose I'll have to let Daybreak go and just do with Unicorn Overlord.