The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails – An Ys game in disguise

Year: 2012 | Publisher: NIS America | Developer: Nihon Falcom| Original format: PlayStation Portable | Version played: Nintendo Switch

Without the influence and impact of Nihon Falcom, it’s entirely possible this blog would not exist. When I played Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of DANA in 2020, I loved it so much I just had to put it down in words, and from there an obsession with its veteran developer began. I’ve burned through several Ys games since and checked out some early Falcom classics, like Dragon Slayer, Legacy Of The Wizard and Popful Mail. But there’s one major Falcom series that’s so far eluded me…

The Trails series is arguably even bigger than Ys and has a dedicated, ever-growing fanbase prepared to spend several hundreds of hours in its company. Initially launched as a part of the Legend Of Heroes series (itself a Dragon Slayer offshoot) it began with Trails In The Sky in 2004 and has extended through multiple connected sub series, including the incredibly popular Trails Of Cold Steel. All of it set apart from other turn-based JRPGs by one big difference, a continuous story that has connected each game for nearly two decades.

What makes Trails so intimidating and impenetrable is also what makes it so alluring. If you can just find a way in, then fans say you’ll be rewarded with the greatest story videogames have ever told. Lord knows, I’ve tried to find a way in…

I put dozens of hours into Trails Of Cold Steel and about the same into Trails From Zero, each the first chapter in their respective story arcs. Though they both feature Falcom’s usual high standard of world design and music, and I enjoyed the tactical turn-based combat, the pace… my word, the pace I found such hard work. If anything, Trails is the polar opposite of Ys. If Adol’s adventures represent lightning fast action then Trails is practically stationary by comparison.

Now I don’t particularly mind a slow pace, but these games were sluggish in the extreme, bogged down by endless conversations and stories that seemed to go nowhere. Maybe things would have been different if I’d started right at the beginning with Trails In The Sky, but I doubt it. After hitting snooze on Trails From Zero, I resigned myself to the idea that this series just wasn’t for me. And then The Legend Of Nayuta: Boundless Trails came out…

First released exclusively in Japan as Nayuta No Kiseki, Boundless Trails finally came to the west this year alongside a flurry of other Trails games as western publisher NIS America frantically played catch-up with the series. I can see in the Falcom community that there’s been plenty of excitement around the various games that continue or flesh out the ongoing Trails story, but comparatively little for Nayuta, which is so faintly connected to the series it barely registers as a spin-off.

I’m not sure why this one counts as a Kiseki/Trails game. I’m told there are some very minor references to the series, but aside from that it couldn’t be more different. It’s set in a completely different location – an isolated island far away from the neighbouring countries of the main games – it has a comparatively economical narrative and, most importantly, its gameplay is all action, all the time.

If anything, Legend Of Nayuta has way more in common with Ys than its Trails stablemates. In fact, if a certain red haired protagonist were in it, you wouldn’t question it at all. It has the same exemplary action combat, lightning fast movement, dungeons filled with platforming and puzzles, and a pleasingly butt-rocking Falcom soundtrack.

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I felt very much at home with Nayuta. Which is kind of funny, because I wasn’t at home when I played it. This was my summer holiday game, although I hadn’t intended it to be. On the flight out I’d started playing Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII in feverish anticipation of next year’s Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. I was enjoying it well enough but the next day, sat by the pool in scorching 30-degree heat, there was a big problem all too common to the holidaying gamer; I couldn’t see the screen.

So out popped the Crisis Core cartridge and in went Nayuta, which turned out to be ideal for poolside gaming in so many ways. Most notably, this is one of the brightest and most colourful RPGs around, even by Falcom’s standards. The small tropical island at the centre of the game’s world boasts bright blue skies, a sparkling coastline and a permanent lens flare that made it easy to see on the handheld screen and nicely replicated that holiday feel. On reflection, its seaside vibes were much more appropriate to a summer holiday than the dystopian darkness of FFVII’s Midgar.

In a nice surprise, I also found the its structure to be holiday-friendly. Even more so than the Ys games, Legend Of Nayuta is a game that can be played in small, bitesize chunks, about 10-15 minutes at a time. The island hub world is small enough you can run from end to end in a few seconds, and the dungeons, which are accessed from a Mario World style map rather than an open world, are short and sweet.

It makes perfect sense that Legend Of Nayuta, a game originally designed for PSP, would be compartmentalised this way. As a Japan-exclusive portable game I expect it got a lot of play on daily train journeys, and a quick google tells me that the average commute of Japanese school kids in 2012 was about 21-40 minutes per day. Just enough time to potter around the island hub, visit the shops, take on a dungeon and smash a boss in the face before reaching their final stop. Or, in my case, enough time to get a satisfying amount of game in before it was my turn to play in the pool with our 18-month-old daughter.

Even if you’re not a Japanese school kid or a middle aged Yorkshire holidaymaker, I’d still wager that Nayuta’s sunny vibes and breezy structure will appeal. We all have busy lives, and in a year crammed with high quality 100+ hour games, there’s something to be said for an RPG that respects your time and delivers instant gratification without the need to mash through hours of dialogue to get to the good stuff.

That’s not to say that Legend Of Nayuta lacks depth. There’s a nice dual character system at the core of the action, which, funnily enough, is an idea revisited with greater ambition in this year’s Ys X: Nordics. While you mainly control the eponymous Nayuta, running, jumping and slashing his sword, you’re also closely followed by a fairy called Noi, who can be equipped with various magic spells, so you get to think about two different attack styles at the same time.

Like the Ys games, the best abilities are used both for combat and traversal

As you’d expect from any great action-RPG, the game unlocks additional melee and magic attacks as you go, so you can mix and match abilities that work best for you while also expanding your combat mastery. Just like the Ys games, this means that every scrap you get into is a welcome one because the power at your fingertips makes every battle feel fast and satisfying, especially with that blood-pumping rock music to put wind in your sails.

I really liked the level design too. Every short stage has a mix of platforming and puzzles that draws upon decades of Falcom’s experience to chart a sublimely perfect difficulty curve. The Ys game it reminds me of the most is The Oath In Felghana – perhaps it was fresh in Falcom’s minds when designing Nayuta, having released the PSP remake only two years earlier – but I also felt the DNA of Popful Mail deep in its design. I’m also reliably informed that Nayuta has a lot in common with Falcom’s Zwei series, which has now gone from the back of my mind to the top of my bucket list.

I also really like how much Nayuta plays with its level design over time. As you start to complete various dungeons on the world map, you’re invited to switch the seasons of their respective areas and revisit the levels, this time with dramatic changes in effect. A switch from winter to summer can result in refreshed visuals, new areas to explore and entirely different enemies, breathing new life into old levels and making replayability one of the game’s greatest pleasures.

Having now finished The Legend Of Nayuta, I might have to say it’s my favourite Adol-free Falcom game. At the very least I can confidently say it’s my favourite Trails game. I’d love to see it get a sequel but that seems unlikely now. It hasn’t had one in eleven years, and the remake/localisation doesn’t look to have done that much to boost its popularity. Trails fans have barely looked up from reading their 12,000^th dialogue box to notice it was even released.

It would be nice if this experience encouraged me to give the Trails series another shot. I know some day I will, but I don’t realistically expect to feel differently. Instead, I’m doubling down on Falcom’s action RPG pedigree. Zwei is getting played soon and the English release of Ys X: Nordics is easily my most anticipated game of 2024.

If you follow the Trails series back to its roots, back through the Legend Of Heroes series and back once more to its Dragon Slayer origins, you’ll find a series that was built much more on variety than it is today. While Trails is cherished for its epic, interconnected story, the early Dragon Slayer games were all totally distinct from one another. Action RPGs, block pushing puzzlers, Metroidvanias, turn-based RPGs and even strategy games, loosely connected by certain philosophies and styles rather than their story. The Legend Of Nayuta pointed to an alternate future in which the Trails series might also hop from one genre to another. Instead, it looks likely to remain a beautiful, special, anomaly. An Ys game in disguise.

ELEVEN LITTLE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE LEGEND OF NAYUTA: BOUNDLESS TRAILS

1. Legend Of Nayuta is a generous game that just keeps throwing more stages at you. Just when you think it’s over, it expands even further, including a post-game story that requires some serious grinding to complete.

2. Falcom mascot Mishy can be found hiding in several locations throughout Nayuta.

3. This awesome transition in the middle of a boss battle

4. This crab boss can spawn a claw made up of other crabs!

5. This fish

6. Add Legend Of Nayuta to your list of Japanese games with awesome pictures of food

7. At the start of the game, Nayuta clearly has two moons visible in the sky, just like the Ys games! Could it actually be set in the same world? By the end, that question is definitively answered. No, no it’s not.

8. This is one of the best things I’ve seen happen in a boss battle

9. The way these anime dialogue portraits fill the whole screen takes me right back to the original Ys.

10. The central island has an Animal Crossing-like museum that you can gradually fill with exhibits, including dinosaur fossils and these sea creatures.

11. It’s a sextant! I first learned about this funny sounding nautical equipment in a very old Amstrad CPC text adventure I’ve long since forgotten the name of, so I always get a little nostalgic if one crops up in a videogame.

Finally, how about some music from The Legend Of Nayuta: Boundless Trails…

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