Trails Through Daybreak is One of the Best RPGs I've Played in Years

[@telonthecat9788]

Just finished it last night, and I have to admit Van Arkride is now my favorite Main Character of all trails games, loved this dude so much..I loved how Van handle every problem. And overall after I finished it, I wanna be like Van lol such a cool dude with a logic and realistic perspective in life

[@countzero5150]

Is it a good jumping in point for someone that's never played a trails game? I would love to play through the series, because everyone talks about how ambitious and great the storytelling is but with the massive list of previous games spanning across multiple console generations, it's a bit... daunting.

[@telonthecat9788]

@@countzero5150 ok, so trails have 4 arc in 11 games, and Daybreak is the beginning of the fourth Arc which is you can directly play Daybreak without playing all 10 games before, at most just miss a little character reference from the previous games before Daybreak, but you can still just playing Daybreak, give it a go.. Daybreak 2 release on early 2025

[@aquatech1753]

​@@countzero5150Great time to ask this question since the first game in the series, Trails in the sky, is about to get the Remake treatment and have the updated graphic and combat of Daybreak. So you can just start there without the fear of missing anything! And hopefully slowly catch up with the lastest entry once the remakes catch up or you're not patient enough to wait the remakes future titles and just end up playing the old games anyway.

[@countzero5150]

@aquatech1753 I will definitely pick it up when it comes out. At the moment I only have trails through daybreak and I plan to buy azure and zero. The cold steel games I'm not sure how to approach. They look like only some of them are available of switch? Lol I feel like I need Falcom to just release the entire series in chronological order in a complete set.

[@thealmightypuht.a.p.]

I started on Azure but went back and played Sky Trilogy and now I am caught up. I can say Daybreak is easily the best game in the Trails series BY FAR! It changes up the setting and makes the cast so much more diverse not just in personalities but in background, age, experience, lifestyle, culture and so much more. And the setting allows it to make it truly feel like a bunch of unique individuals are truly coming together without the setting forcing them to. As much as I enjoyed Erabonia and Crossbell the Penultimate games just felt like they were missing something. Cold Steel 2 and Zero are just by far the best in their respective arcs. Also this Arc is different in many ways and one is a huge tone shift. This is vastly more mature than the rest of the series. Pretty much every mature theme you can think of is in this game and for the better. They even incorporate the D:F Cult into it which is like easily the most fucked up thing to happen in the Trails Series. Also the villains are just as phenomenal as the main cast, mainly Melchior and Gerard. They are amazing because they are unapologetically evil. No backstory, no grand ambition of conquest. They just do evil psycho shit because, surprise, they are evil psychopaths. It is phenomenal and refreshing to not have some morally ambiguous villain or a broken here with a boohoo backstory or a villain with some idea of grandeur or conquest. This feels so much more real. They are the mafia and just like you expect from the real life mafia, they do diabolical shit without any remorse. They don’t apologize. They don’t feel bad. They aren’t doing for the greater good. THEY ARE THE MOB! Ofc they are evil and self indulgent. Speaking of getting real I love that the trails games are loosely following real life history. In Sky Trilogy they had just discovered air travel, in Crosspell they had great leaps in medical science, in Erebonia they hit the Industrial Revolution where things were developed, tested, processed and manufactured in a fast and efficient way. Or more specifically Cold Steel as the name suggests, focused on machinery and advancement in machine structures which was one of the bigger aspects of the Industrial Revolution. And now we are in Calvard where the world has made vast Technological Advancements and is on the very cusp of discovering NUCLEAR ENERGY! When that happened I was like “whoa……shit is quite literally getting real”. Also characters that die in Daybreak actually carry weight. Even the deaths of the villains feel like they matter in some way. There is meaning and weight in the deaths that happen. Also love that Van isn’t some Harem King like Rean or Lloyd. Romance in this game is handl very mature and tasteful. Speaking of the MC Van has got to be one of the most relatable MC in gaming. He is just a guy who enjoys the little things in life. He loves Sugar and he loves his baby Ingret(his car). He is just an average joe living his best life. He also has a lot of baggage and I love that he is willing to carry it by himself. When he said Aaron was just like him in the sense “he loves something or SOMEONE so much he has to let them go”. Basically speaking about Elaine and how he loved her so much he was willing to completely abandon her to protect her. Daybreak is such a great change of pace in every aspect. 🤌

[@KeyToAeris2024]

Finished the game yesterday. God I love this series so much easily top 3 RPG series of all time and Daybreak might actually be my favorite in the series now.

[@CodyMcGaming]

Babe wake up Ian uploaded another trails review.

[@Ianbits]

I'm not addicted I can stop anytime I want

[@KaiSaeren]

Im in the same exact boat as you, I am a massive fan of the trails series, but I am not exactly a fan of the 5 cold steel games, they are still good games for the most parts but compared to the previous arcs and Kuro (Daybreak) I absolutely had much more issues and much less fun when playing them (tho for me CS II is the best of the bunch, dont get the love for III or IV especially). Daybreak is a return to form from Falcom to me, it reminded me of all I loved about the series and I couldnt be happy to see that they can still pull it off (tho much to my chagrin Kuro II already has a split main character pow and Kai which is essentially Kuro III does bring back the cs cast and rean as another mc so its a three way split, which I do not like at all). It is a much more mature take (for Kiseki standarts anyway) on the series and it is a lot more personal again as the first game does start a lot like Sky and Crossbell did, venturing around Calvard (which I really like, especially in comparison to Erebonia) and there is a plapable feeling of adventure at all times. The cast is my favorite since Crossbell and their writing is very high quality, everyone has distinct personality and place in the story, nobody feels like anyone's hanger on or a friend by association, they are all people who are growing closer together through their journey and they develop marvelous chemistry, some more unique than others but all very satisfying. Van is definitely one of my favorite characters now, having a someone like that after so long with the epitome of the goody two shoes is such a breath of fresh air, he understands the realities of the world and it tempered him, it didnt make him cold or unfeeling, he still has a good heart but he understands that compromises and sacrifice is sometimes necessary, such is the world (you know, outside of cs anyway). Imo he is also another tragic character done right, after Kevin, his reasoning for keeping away from his friends and the sacrifices he made in his life, the position that he put himself into all made sense and they arnt delivered through the lenses of him being the most important person in the world, by which I mean that neither the characters nor the game treat him like they are aware he is the protagonist or like he is the one that matters the most. And yet we get to see him being slowly broken out of his shell by his new part timers as his everyday life is changing quickly and he cant hide from his past anymore either, Ferri seeing him as a role model and a master (she is so adorable) Aaron annoying him as a brat of a little brother, Risette chiding him as a serious coworker who cares for his well being and of course Agnes bringing out the good more to the surface and making him feel like he belongs and at the same time he provides them with his advice and experience. His relationship with Elaine and René are also a standout imo, I do hope and think we will get far more of that in the future installment but even here the setup is great and the chemistry, the theme of reestablishing a friendship/relationship so forcibly ended is very interesting and it makes me super invested in what will happen with them in the future. Still, he is cool and unapologetic, has great snark and comebacks, adult viewpoint of life, very clear and defined preferences, what he enjoys and values, and just overall a pleasant chill atmosphere around him. The cast is overall fantastic, Judith didnt grow on me as much and Bergard barely has any screentime but everyone else is stellar. Being able to again go around with a smaller cast, seeing how they slowly get to know each other better, driving around the new setting like they are on a eurotrip or something and having villains who are actually evil and events that do come with actual consequences that arnt immidiately taken away is simply immense for me, the writing is so much better overall, in the last 10 years of Kiseki only C route from Reverie comes close to how much I enjoyed Daybreak. I really hope it does well here in the west, Kuro II is a bit of a filler game with really only the last few bits being important like how CS III was for example but I have at least some hopes for Kai even if they felt it necessary to bring back the cs cast so soon. I just hope that they wont have a kneejerk reaction and change the writing style to the high school shounen harem anime type with battles of will, over power of friendship abuse and no consequences type we had for so long. Mind you, I am not against anime tropes, Sky and Crossbell also had plenty of those, but as you say, they were written strongly enough that it didnt matter and of course the tropes were also far less numberous and less aggregious, but the writing quality is the main thing. Also the updated graphics and combat is big, it does make the game a lot more pleasant to look at and play, it also helps that these are imo the best character designs in the series, everyone looks great but Elaine and Shizuna are masterpieces. As for combat, I always liked it but its just very low on my list of priorities when compared to story and characters. Oh and I love Tharbad's music, that one is absolutely awesome, overall the soundtrack is great, but that one is standout. Great vid :) You earned a sub.

[@EricGraham1987]

Auto sub recommending this game. I fucking love this series I've played them all.

[@nickmaestro]

My PS4 copy comes in the mail on Tuesday. So excited. I've played the entire series so I'm all caught up. I'll start Daybreak once I platinum Trials of Mana.

[@Ianbits]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@diegoarmando5489]

3, 4, and Reverie are better games than 1 and 2 when experienced in isolation. The issue with Cold Steel is the haramization of romance and its impact on character development and intra-party relationships. What's bad ass about the first three arcs overall is the role of the non-playable meta-protagonist, that of course being Gilliath Osbourne. Sky FC is also one of the greatest games ever made. As for this one, I played the fan translation a while ago and it left me wanting the full localization. I'll revisit it as an appetizer to Kuro 2's release, as the game itself is exceptional.

[@Ianbits]

Disagree on Osbourne, the true protagonist of the series is Anton

[@diegoarmando5489]

@@Ianbits That's not how to spell Gilbert.

[@Zephhi]

I agree but 4 is still booty fuck that story

[@bigenson18]

@@Ianbits Jokes aside, the actual protagonist of the series is Olivier

[@AliAlslaman]

Cold steel 1 and 4 for me is the lowest entry in the trails series. I hated Rean since day 1, and he didn't grow on me. Van is day and night better.

[@RPGStory]

Trails through daybreak is my first game in the series! About 20 hours in so far. Going to finish this then go through them in order with Sky onwards.

[@Ianbits]

Hope you have fun! Definitely a fun rabbit hole to go down

[@seifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Oh man I envy you. You have a long ride ahead. You need to play another 10 games to get all the references and cameos in Kuro, you know everytime they are like "omg this guy who we won't name came to lend us a hand ". Other thing is that if you play Sky trilogy first, the gameplay is vastly different, early game in trial of the sky FC is actually hard af due to how limited you are (makes sense lore wise)

[@RPGStory]

@@seifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I'm in Ruan in Sky FC and loving the game

[@braddye4983]

Daybreak is my first Trails game. Played the demo and bought the game yesterday. Enjoying it so far.

[@dobal1]

Nothing wrong with that......... just know it would be five times better if you took enough time to play trails chronologically

[@braddye4983]

@@dobal1 I’ve looked at doing that for years. Even played a little bit of Cold Steal I but when they announced PS5 re-releases of the Sky Trilogy coming out I decided to jump on this game first then play those upon release

[@zwei3179]

i hope Vann sticks around as the protag for more then 3 to 4 games

[@thealmightypuht.a.p.]

Well “Farewell O Zemuria” is supposed to be the penultimate game of the Calvard Arc. So basically Calvard will be 3 games total. But like the older MC of past Saga he will show up for the final game in the next Saga as they always do. Estelle showed up in Azure, Estelle and Lloyd showed up in Cold Steel 4 and Rean will be showing up in Farewell O Zemuria which is the final game in Calvard. Van and like Rean again will likely show up at the end of the next Saga. Wherever that is.

[@CrimRui]

Problem with going back is that people can't handle downgrades. So they will stuck with old combat system and a lot of people will skip it. Some will simply watch youtube videos of past events but that is a slap in a face to the series which takes it time to develop every NPC and cohesive lore which is one of the best to this day. To me it's not a problem where people start it's the problem if they don't want to go back.

[@agamer2000]

True

[@Javifaa]

Well, kinda. On one hand, it's absolutely true that the biggest problem with starting at any point that isn't the beginning is the inevitable downgrade once you go back (for the reasons you exposed). So if the player can overcome that barrier, they can start elsewhere and be fine once they go back. If they can't, they should start at the beginning, even if they can't bring themselves to play on PC. On the other hand, in this series not every game is a starting point. Meaning that the "start anywhere" mentality just doesn't hold up. It's just not that kind of series, and there is nothing wrong with that. (Daybreak does count as a starting point, if you ask me)

[@winterxx1555]

Sometimes that is true. But after I completed Cold Steel 1, I discovered the crossbell arc. I played that and enjoyed it a lot. The characters and story really made up for it.

[@gnuwaves743]

A cutscene is a cutscene. Makes no difference if you watch it on KZbin or play it on your own. Exact same experience. Every npc is forgettable. You can’t have ‘carefully crafted’ scenarios when there’s hundreds of them.

[@Javifaa]

@@gnuwaves743 False. If you need to do as much as pressing anything to advance it, the pace one chooses to do that is enough of a difference to matter. Some people are annoyed with slow "scrolling" speeds, others just read slower than others or would rather have time to process what they have read.

[@marethyux3744]

I love the free moving aspect of the turn-based battles. Going back from this to any of the older games makes you feel like you're stuck in a cage while it's your turn. Instead being able to move around to set everything up is incredibly cathartic

[@bhoqeem1975]

Yes. Aside from the story and characters, the revamped battle system is also the HUGE factor that makes it become the most enjoyable title in the series. It makes it that much easier and painless to grind levels.

[@wakkaluciscaelum1670]

Only used 'Move' once or twice in every Coldsteel game.

[@RetroNerdyGamer]

Daybreak is great! Been playing the series since Sky 1 dropped on PSP. Honestly I love the mix of action combat and turn based. Has made the game infinitely better to try to get through mobs. So cool how you can switch to turn based on the fly

[@CrowYaeger]

Subbed just off of "Avengers for weebs"

[@drakath5727]

While im still going through cold steel 3, just looking at the combat for this next game has me incredibly excited. Its fixing my one biggest issues I had with the combat of the first 3 arcs where you cant control movement without wasting a turn by letting you just rotate around an enemy before making your move. Also i hope im not misreading this menu 8:30 but DID THEY BRING BACK THE QUARTZ LINE ELEMENT TREE?! Thank GOD they did that if so, because that was my biggest criticism of Cold Steel so far!

[@Ianbits]

It's not exactly the same as the PSP games, it's almost a halfway point. Instead of quartz determining which arts you use it determines a set of passive abilities like follow up attacks, elemental boosts, that sort of stuff. It's a nice happy medium.

[@drakath5727]

@@Ianbits Ok that i can accept, still opens up customization routes that were missing.

[@wakkaluciscaelum1670]

No they're not the same.

[@NACHTMERRIEFABRIEK]

I hope part 2 will keep the same combat style

[@thefirebreakerru]

2:23 I feel like it's more of a mix between France and America as opposed to just America. Many of the city names are clearly inspired by French cities, such as, for example, Oración, Creil, and Dijon. French (inspired) names such as Agnés and Quatre. Stuff like liberté égalité fraternité being mentioned at some points, Trion tower, the revolution in Calvard is literally just the French revolution. Calvard has been influenced by Central Eastern cultures like France has with Arabian cultures. You even have stuff like the fact that it borders Erebonia, which is inspired by Germany, and that it fueds with Erebonia a lot over Crossbell, which is a reference to the irl province of Alsace-Lorrain, which switched ownership between Germany and France a lot. Even harder to spot stuff like the fact that Calvard had manpower shortages before Operation Jormungandr, which is also a problem France had before WW2. Given all this, I honestly feel that it's much more inspired by France, with some elements of America tacked on. Loved your video tho, I agree with a lot of what you said having just finished it myself a few days ago

[@throwmeaname]

Finally, a reasonable Trails fan that doesnt force players to start from Sky.

[@kozatron]

I am enjoying the game but my goodness does this game have SO MUCH DIALOGUE!!

[@seifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

That's literally most jrpgs, specially the legend of heroes games.

[@Xebusc]

Feel you on the arts and crafts, wasn’t until I made it to azure(played from sky) that I realized it lol

[@MrPhoxy]

Love trails series basically play every titles.. but iam still so reluctant to play reverie for some reason..

[@riyuphoenix4533]

I dont think there is a wrong place to start, but if your not a hard-core turn based anime fan, then i would start with this game, because its going to save a new palyer alot of time and money. I see it as if you dont like trails of daybreak, then you probably wont like any others.

[@Retro-cabin]

I’ve got the game and played all the previous entries and can not wait to play, but I’m still playing persona 3 reload🤣

[@zenithdragon]

"Being a fan can sometimes be complicated" As a fan of Pokemon and Dragon Quest this has got me feeling some type of way. Also reminds me of the times I have whined about tesl. You play SMTV:Vengeance yet?

[@Ianbits]

Yeah I've been a bit disappointed with it because it's not as much of an overhaul as I thought. I expected the new campaign be super different but it's been small changes so far although I'm guessing it gets more distinct as it goes. The first new area I saw abandoned the desert tokyo vibe and was this ethereal place with mushroom towers which is awesome, hopefully there's more like it.

[@zenithdragon]

@@Ianbits I also thought there was going to be more to it. Like I expected a pretty big story overhaul to make up for the pretty mediocre story of the original. I think the biggest missed opportunity though is that there is no neutral or true neutral ending for the new story, just chaos and law. At least it gave me a reason to play through with a different build than I did in the original.

[@Ianbits]

I wish there was a neutral but I like in SMT that neutral isn't usually the best ending or anything. It should be the worst ending, make people commit to some hardcore shit that's what SMT is about. Gameplay improvements are great and I think a lot of people playing it for the first time are going to have a good experience. Just not as much there for a returning player.

[@diegoarmando5489]

3, 4, and Reverie were better than 1 and 2. The issue with Cold Steel is the haramization of romance and its impact on character development and intra-party relationships.

[@garrettsweet9826]

The patch is downloading right now and im frothing

[@Ianbits]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@juancorrea5339]

Back to tesl!!!!

[@AlbertoMonroy-lq2vw]

If the difficulty is up there, the game will be great for me.

[@Ianbits]

It's pretty easy, but someone put up a mod that I'm using that rebalances a few things if you want to check it out. www.nexusmods.com/thelegendofheorestrailsthroughdaybreak/mods/3 Nightmare might be tough enough as well for a first run

[@marethyux3744]

Just have to play on Hard or above. To be honest that's how I've played every trails and it's always had a challenge. I find most journalists/website posts online who are saying it's 'too easy' never try the hardest difficulties and then act like it never has options to be harder.

[@piper67890able]

@@marethyux3744 i mean it's still pretty easy for a trails game. I'm playing rn on Nightmare my first run through. the only hard thing is the enemies bloated health. They hit like wet noodles. The only time I've ever lost a fight was me literally just spamming normal attacks because I was bored in a side quest.

[@erictate5135]

Playing on very easy you never die

[@janitraho3457]

I love this game, but i think it burns slower even than cold steel 1, haha

[@kazzylangley8850]

they made it so you can't just spam S crafts in Kuro 2

[@matthiasm.5822]

I replayed xenoblade 1 2 3 and wanted something for my empty heart. Its not this one

[@mystic865]

It's good new trails game. I hate action combat mode tho.

[@Ianbits]

Yeah I hope it's not a case where they're slowly going to phase out turn based, it'll be really interesting to see what the combat is like in the next arc.

[@mystic865]

@@Ianbits I heard they won't do that. It's just another form of field combat before you get to turn based element. For me it's one of the most important element of the series. Can't imagine playing it like Ys.

[@zevmerces]

I love the Trails series, but I literally could not finish Reverie. The Reverie Corridor has got to be the worst thing ever introduced beyond CSII. As a plot device, it sucks. Let's have all these chars meet, but not add to the story because their memories are temporary here. Oh yeah here are all these minigames like Pom Pom Party. Felt unnecessarily grindy and I just peaced out. Daybreak I has no minigames? Sign me up.

[@cius2112]

except it does add to the strory especially as a lead up to Daybreak.

[@nitleyy]

I've played the Sky trilogy and Crossbel, but I'm honestly thinking about skipping Cold Steel... it looks too dated for me, should i just skip to Daybreak?

[@Ianbits]

I'd definitely play the CS games. CS3 doesn't feel dated at all to me and CS1 and 2 have their charm.

[@Somulo]

so literally dude is saying he's playing only one jrpg in he's whole life best jrpg in YEARS ahaahhaahahahhahaahhahaa

[@samshils4812]

Ehhh I beat it and not going to lie to me it’s in the middle of the pack for the trails games. The action/fighting was the best yet but the companions you get for arkride solutions are weak. I found them all annoying accept for Aaron, the engineer dude. I found I liked all the side characters that were guest characters for some missions way better like Elaine, Kincaid, fei, and Zin. I hope they give us more freedom in the next game is all. It became linear like how cold steel 1 was.

[@seifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Funny enough, I thought Aaron was the most annoying character in the game with the whole "old man" running gag. It would be funny if it was true, but k'mon 24 years old and Aaron was just 20, there is barely any difference in age. I don't understand what do you mean with "freedom", all the legend of heroes games are linear. There are no choices besides party members in the story that affect the story. I don't recall a single legend of heroes game where you had a choice to change the stories outcome. This game, gameplay wise is a breath of fresh air. The fact that you can play as an action rpg to get trough basic mobs then go to turn based combats against bosses was a neat idea. I thought I wouldn't like it at first but it actually it didn't burned me out like the previous legend games after 50-100 hours playing each game.

[@winterxx1555]

Daybreak's story seems kind of lacking compared to other arcs. Most of the new characters are somewhat dull. This arc in particular also seems to take some of our real world problems and integrate it into a fictional story, which tends to turn me off. I can't speak for everyone, but for me I like to play games to take a break from the real world.

[@gnuwaves743]

Which real world problem are you alluding to?

[@seifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

@@gnuwaves743 K'mon man, did you play the last chapters? Racism was the whole point of Creil being blowed up.

[@Mar-blar]

I've been here from the start ( trails in the sky) and I absolutely hate this game, the combat became instantly boring, the characters bordered from soso to mildly intriguing, the back and forth qursts (4spgs) became tedious and annoying rather than fun and engaging the battles themselves felt excruciatingly underwhelming and had no hype, the battle theme was soft and dull, similar to trails in the sky with no charm, this series is headed down hill and that's alright because it's almost over, the xiphas were dreadful and unimaginative , the only thing that kept me going and will be moving forward is the story i imagine because this series is starting to become boring.

[@ASMRPongpoom]

or maybe wait for sky remake

[@Mar-blar]

@@ASMRPongpoom I loved sky , all three actually, I may be disappointed by the newest entry, but I'll always love the trails series with all my heart. I just found daybreak lackluster and plain.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

The second game is a huge waste of time.

[@CrimRui]

And the third one now has planty of old cast returning, making this a not so great place to start if yiu want to stick just to that.

[@FrozenAXL]

I'm currently enjoying it, but it feels it has too many extreme ups and downs. What makes you think the second one is bad?

[@marethyux3744]

It's character building and backgrounds that we haven't seen before. As far as the overarching story it doesn't move much but that doesn't make it a waste of time imo. The combat is more involved than daybreak 1 and marchen garten is very fun.

[@notslucis9977]

A lot people think cold steel 2 is pointless, but I love that game.

[@WdawgSmith]

my response to your title is you must not have played many RPG's. This game is literally, no BS, 95% dialogue and 5% combat. There is no exploration. It's just so difficult to go 45 minutes and realize you've been watching a scene that is just 4 people at a dinner table plus the 8 characters they introduced during that same scene who just happen to stumble into the restaurant and give you their backstory. I did like the combat but it certainly isn't worthy of an 85 hour game IF you don't skip any dialogue.

[@snickerdoodle2828]

Nope the game is just that goated

[@thomascros]

And you ,you just did not understand what the trails series is … what you did not like is what this series is and it’s great thing . The trails series is not about combat but about story and stories … if you do not like this kind ,stop playing and do not criticize just for criticizing something…

[@Lostlegrand]

Could you prefer an action rpg? Cause dialog is a part of the series mainly all rpgs to some extent. Curious what you're go to rpg is. 👍

[@cius2112]

lol not liking to read isn't a good thing bro. gotta love the dumbing down of modern society.

[@vigil8400]

Criticizing Trails, a series known for dialogue and its strong characters that are built through that dialogue, because it has too much dialogue is a whole ‘nother level of irony.

[@udggy]

I like the game but not a fan of the cooking aspect of this game. The lead character Van, I don't like too much he is just annoying. The free moving in combat is great makes it easier. The new quartz system is annoying. Much prefer the old system. This game seems like they made it alot easier for people who dont play games alot.

[@JohnRambo1947-July-6th]

"What are your pronouns?"

[@Ianbits]

If I remember what the fan patch that's actually not a bad translation. Essentially it's Van trying (and failing) to be smooth and get an answer without giving away that he has no clue if the kid's a boy or a girl