2023 Game of the Year Countdown #8 The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Nintendo Switch, 2023 (PlayStation Portable, 2012)
Originally a Japan-only game from Falcom, NISA ported it when they also brought over the Crossbell games from the Trails series. While it does have the word “trails” in the title, this game is not canonically connected to the massive Trails universe, despite a few coy remarks from the CEO and president of Falcom.
That said, there are a few cool little crossovers that are fun for Trails fans to enjoy. Nayuta’s last name is the same as one of the main characters from the Cold Steel series, and the two also share an interest in astronomy. Creha, the silver haired girl from the Nayuta’s art, resembles the mysterious Grandmaster of Ouroboros of the Trails universe. It’s fun for fans and I liked it.
This is a fairly straightforward action RPG: you enter a level and whack everything that moves. There’s a decent amount of platforming as well, and the fact that it was originally a PSP game means that the controls are simple and easy to understand.
The music is perhaps a little bit underwhelming as far as Falcom releases go, but I did enjoy Remnant Island’s main theme, and the rest of the OST is decent background music.
As far as characters go, I love Noi. Maybe I’m a sucker for little helpful fairy characters (Razzly from Chrono Cross is an all time favorite of mine), but Noi has really cute little animations and voice lines that are really endearing. Plus, I love magic attacks and Noi is the one that actually fires all of them while Nayuta swings the sword.
I only found myself lost one or two times while traversing the levels, which is one of the issues I have with action RPGs. Sometimes, games make things too complex or hidden and that harms my enjoyment. Puzzles were sometimes long, but rarely difficult. I found the attack combos easy to figure out as well. It’s just a simple game to pick up and play in every aspect.
I’ve been waiting for this game for a few years, always expecting NISA to officially localize it at some point. If you see it on sale and like a more laid back RPG experience that still has some action combat, this could be a good one for you.
