The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Review

The Trails series is a long-running franchise that (so far) consists of 12 mainline titles. These turn-based RPGs are some of my personal favourites of the genre, so I was excited to jump into the first spin-off game to be released in the West: The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails. With zero connection to Trails of Cold Steel and the rest of the main games, as well as featuring an emphasis on action-orientated combat, does Boundless Trails reach the same lofty heights as the other series entries?

Right from the start, it’s clear that this is a game that wants to set itself apart from the rest of the franchise; you won’t find any deep political intrigue or countries waging war across numerous titles. In fact, you’ll be absolutely fine if you’ve never played a single Trails game before, as this — outside of a few vague references — has zero connection to the mainline series. Instead, Boundless Trails feels like a throw-back RPG (which isn’t too surprising, as it was originally released back in 2012) for better and for worse. You play as Nayuta, a sprightly and energetic main character who dreams of travelling to unexplored areas of the world. Luckily for him, after a chance encounter with the fairy, Noi, Nayuta gets his opportunity to explore a lot more than his home on Remnant Isle.

Thanks to Noi, Nayuta and his childhood friend Cygna are spirited away to a world known as Lost Heaven, beginning an adventure that — whilst never completely enthralling — is still equal parts charming and well-written. The journey through multiple worlds trying to rid them of evil is a much more whimsical experience that is certainly easier to follow when compared to the franchise's other games, but at the cost of being less engaging.

As Boundless Trails was originally released in 2012, this remaster can only do so much to spruce up the visuals. However, Falcom has done a great job in making what was already a charming, colourful-looking title on the PSP look even better on larger screens. The well-designed character models have much more detail, as do the many environments you’ll explore and battle through. I was instantly reminded of classic RPGs from the PlayStation 2 era, giving me a heavy dose of nostalgia that is becoming increasingly rare these days.

If you’ve read any of my reviews of The Legend of Heroes series, you’ll know that I absolutely love the soundtrack to these games. Boundless Trails is no different, from its light-hearted island melodies to the sinister-sounding dungeon music, Falcom has once again created a fantastic videogame score. The voice acting isn’t quite on par with the other titles, and although a lot of the dialogue is simply text-based, it’s tough to define the performances as anything other than just “okay”.

If you’re familiar with Falcom’s other long-running series — Ys — then you’ll feel right at home in terms of gameplay mechanics. Whilst not identical, the similarities are there, making this feel like a combination of two fantastic franchises. This is an action title through and through, no turn-based strategising here! Each of the four face buttons is used to perform melee or ranged attacks, dodges, or jumps. Combos can be chained together to deal some heavy damage, and you’ll unlock new moves as you level up. It’s a shame there’s no option to remap the controls; it took me a while to get used to dodging with the triangle button!

It feels far too easy from the outset, but things get a little bit trickier eventually, meaning mindlessly slashing an enemy won’t always pay off. This becomes much more evident during the boss encounters, which are (just like the Ys series’) really well-designed and fun to play. Each one almost becomes a logic puzzle of figuring out how and when to go on the offensive and when to beat a hasty retreat. It’s always great to play a game that has bosses that are more than just “I have a big health bar haha”, and instead have some genuine thought put into the strategy to defeat them.

When venturing outside of Remnant Isle, you’ll battle through a series of short stages that will always reward those who stray from the main path. You’re also free to revisit stages at a later point in the game for new rewards and challenges, and with the changing of the in-game seasons and newer abilities unlocked, they feel a lot less like backtracking than I originally thought replaying them would entail.

It also pays to take a wander around the hub town every once in a while, and not just for upgrading your equipment. New dialogue will become available that helps flesh out the world and its inhabitants, as well as new quests to undertake with some tantalising rewards! It’s also just a nice, relaxing area to explore too, so that’s always a welcome experience when you’ve just spent 20 minutes trying to kill a particularly nasty boss.

Whilst The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails strays from the more serious tone of its mainline counterparts, with a story that never had me fully gripped, it’s still an enjoyable (if slightly too brief) time full of whimsy and wonder. Regardless of if you’re a fan of the franchise or don’t know your Class VII from your Special Support Section, there is a good action RPG to be found here.