The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails - PC Review

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America—PC(Steam) review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

 
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

---

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a title that has been on my list for *checks notes* two years now, waiting for it to get an English patch for the PC release. Wouldn't you know it, that English version is finally here! Come join me as we take a look at this action RPG title from Falcom!

Legend of Nayuta stars the eponymous Nayuta, a young man on his summer break from Saint Elysee school on the mainland. On his return to his island hometown, he gets involved with a fairy he finds in ruins that fall from the sky. This leads to Nayuta exploring another world along with Noi, the fairy he helped, in order to restore order to the world. It is your goal to help Nayuta through this arduous task!

If you're at all familiar with Falcom titles, such as the Trails or Ys series, then you're going to be right at home here with Legend of Nayuta. A 3D action RPG that is closer to Ys titles in nature, you will spend most of your time traveling to the world of Terra in order to help fix the environmental anomalies, while taking the occasional trip back to Remnant Isle, Nayuta's hometown, in order to complete quests for villagers and turn in long-running goals, as well as check in on your family and friends.

Remnant Isle is where you will find all your standard RPG affairs, such as the weapon and item shops, the villagers you can interact with, a mailbox where you can receive sidequests, as well as a number of other facilities, as well as NPCs you can interact with. Terra is where you will traverse through a number of stages, fighting your way through violent creatures to reach the teleporter at the end of the stage. In the village on Remnant Isle, apart from the standard shops, you can also donate to the museum, get your sister to make you food, and go see your swordsmanship instructor about learning new moves.

The museum is pretty simple, you can donate collectible items you get as random drops in stages for cash and they will be displayed in the museum. All collectibles can be exchanged for cash, and every benchmark of new items will see you given bonus rewards. Your sister is also hanging around your house, and she can make you some delicious lunchboxes. These not only heal you, but will also provide exp as well as other possible bonuses, like increasing strength temporarily. After making a meal once, your sister will teach you the recipe, allowing you to make the meal on your own. Your swordsmanship mentor is down by the beach, and will teach you new moves every six stamps, which I'll talk about how to get later. These new moves include increasing basic combo hits, as well as a guard, so it's a good idea to put at least a little effort into this.

Now that you're all ready and geared to explore, it's off to Terra with us! Don't worry, you're not alone though, as the fairy Noi will join you on your adventure, and she's a lot more useful than you may think! But first though, how does exploring Terra work? Well, upon your first foray into adventure, you will be introduced to the four continents, each of which is experiencing a seasonal change in climate. You then need to make it through a number of stages to get to the temple and correct the season change. Stages are one of two types that you can tell from hovering over them on the map screen: "adventure" stages, or boss stages. Adventure stages have optional objectives, and boss stages don't, a handy tip for you.

On the map screen, adventure stages will have three crystals, one or two chests, and maybe a powerful enemy, as well as three star indicators for whether you've completed the side objectives or not. You get one star for finishing a stage, one for whatever the optional objective is, and one for getting all the crystals and chests. Thankfully, none of this has to be done in a single run. Powerful enemies are special fights which will reward Noi with a new spell, which I'll get to in a bit. If these stars seem familiar, these are the stamps used for the swordsman training.

Now then, the stages themselves are a 3D action adventure style deal, where you will do some platforming and fighting with enemies, solving puzzles, and interacting with the environment in order to get to the end. Depending on the season, this could mean sliding around on ice, avoiding pools of lava, jumping across giant mushrooms, or hopping across invisible platforms that only appear during lightning flashes. Barring your way will be both enemies and environmental obstacles. Nayuta can swing away with his sword, either a 1-handed or 2-handed option, dodge or jump away, or guard attacks once unlocked. Hitting enemies will also build up a chain combo, which can provide bonuses based on number of hits, although waiting too long or getting hit resets it.

Noi, your fairy companion, can help out too! Noi is capable of using arts, what are essentially spells, and are generally some form of projectile attack. These arts are primarily learned by defeating the strong enemies in select stages, indicated by a monster icon on the map screen, and have a certain number of uses associated with them, as well as a level. Arts can level based on uses, and uses will slowly recharge either over time or when Nayuta attacks enemies with his sword. Noi will also gain adventuring abilities, such as a grapple or a shield, which also have a gauge under Nayuta's health that drains while in use and recharges over time.

Get through stages by employing your action platforming skills, with the occasional mandatory fight here or there. Beating enemies does reward Nayuta with exp so he can level up and get stronger, and enemies will also drop cash, which you'll probably need a fair amount of. Enemies may will also drop food and collectibles for you. Stages will also have switches you may need to hit to open gates, as well as tricky terrain you need to cross with Noi's help. There will also be the occasional circle on the floor that stepping in starts a mandatory fight and blocks your exits. These will open up a new route or grant access to a crystal or chest when completed. Reaching the end allows you access to the next stage.

A couple of handy notes for you: first off, sidequests are usually given to your mailbox at home. Lucky for you, there is an indicator on-screen for new sidequests in your mailbox, new rewards for unique museum donations, and if you have enough stamps to learn a new move at the swordsman training. Be aware though that not all sidequests are handed to your mailbox, although most will be. Secondly, if a sidequest can be completed in a certain stage, an exclamation mark will appear above the stage on the map for the stage selection. This is really handy to keep you from replaying long stages that may or may not be where you need to go to fulfill a requirement. Thirdly, and arguably one of the most important late game, is that you can get more lunchbox slots by making set numbers of new dishes for the first time. The more new dishes you make, the more lunchbox slots you can have for healing items, which can be used pretty much whenever you want through your menu.

Now, let's talk about what I feel is one of Falcom's greatest strengths: the music. Falcom titles always have an absolutely stellar soundtrack to accompany them, whether it's an emotional piece during a sad cutscene, an exciting piece during an epic moment, or just some absolutely amazing stage, battle, or area themes, Falcom always seems to really nail the music. Even from the tutorial stage it starts off hard on the stage themes, and this concept is carried all the way through, whether it's a boss theme, the song that plays on remnant isle, or the cutscene music. All throughout Legend of Nayuta I always felt I was on an adventure, through both the music and gameplay.

Now, while the music tracks may be absolutely amazing, I do have to inform you that Legend of Nayuta originally released in 2012 for the PSP. Yeah, the graphics are fairly dated looking, and rather obvious they were originally modeled for a handheld console. Yes, things have been improved for this PC port, but you can still tell. For me this wasn't a deal breaker at all though, as the focus here should be the gameplay and storytelling, but those expecting some new age graphics will be let down in that department at least.

I ended up finishing my run clocking in at about 23 hours for the full game through to the end of the epilogue. Good news for you though, there's actually a fair amount of replayablity. First up, there are more stages, sidequests, as well as bonuses you can purchase after hitting a certain point in the story that are only available during a new game. Plus, the new stages are...rough, especially if you decide to try out the new difficulty *shudders*. Speaking of the new difficulty, this may add even more to your play time, as I would highly suggest a full playthrough before the new hardest difficulty to get all the other achievements and such, although not strictly required. The new difficulty is quite the challenge increase, so those familiar with Ys Nightmare/Infernal mode can feel right at home here.

While I absolutely loved Legend of Nayuta, there are a few issues you may run into. First up, while the jumping and platforming is usually reasonable, there were a few instances where my depth perception just wasn't having it, or a platform was a little too close and I bonked my head on it instead of going over and on top of it. While this is mostly due to my platforming habits, it's usually just a bit of a nuisance and nothing more, as it is only very rarely it happens near a bottomless pit, and those tend to be a little bit more reasonable at least. Late game stages can also get really rough, especially the optional challenges like "jump ten times or less" or "don't get hit". At least those are optional, but some of the stages themselves can be challenging, either due to lots of tricky platforming, rough enemy placements, or a lot of mandatory fights with annoying enemy combinations.

Overall, I have to say that The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is an absolutely amazing action platformer RPG. There is a lot of interesting stage design, a solid gameplay core, interesting and engaging characters and storyline, and a spectacular soundtrack to accompany it. While the graphics may seem a bit dated and there are a few rough spots in terms of fights or stage design, there was never any point I got super frustrated any more than a "who decided to put those enemies there", and even that was pretty rare. If you're a fan of the Ys series you'll feel right at home here, as Legend of Nayuta is a great title to add to your collection.

Score: 9 / 10

Read More

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie Review

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes. 

Note: This review may contain spoilers but the biggest ones are being kept under wrap as they are worth experiencing without prior knowledge. 

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie is like coming home. This is a title, that for better or worse, is for the longtime fans of the series as it jumps right back into the swing of things with both the Special Support Section and Thor's Military Class VII(s). For new players, while there are some notes and nods to past events, I could only recommend starting WAY back with Trails in the Sky First and Second Chapters* as those cast members will also play an important role in the events to come. 

Trails Into Reverie is almost like a Trails “After” Azure meets Trails of Cold Steel V as it’s a direct sequel to both of these adventures. With the war and ensuing Great Twilight having come to an end in Erebonia (Cold Steel) and the Azure Tree and Crossbell being liberated (Zero / Azure), you would think that these heroes would finally earn a well deserved break. Unfortunately for our very large returning cast, the series is called The Legend of Heroes for a reason!

Before getting started with Trails Into Reverie, players should make sure of a few things. The first is that you should ensure that you have your clear data for Trails From Zero and Trails to Azure, as you get rewards for both, and a combined reward for both together. The second is that you should ensure that you also have your clear data from Trails of Cold Steel III and IV as it’s the same thing. The tricky part here is that the clear data from Trails of Cold Steel IV is only available after unlocking the true ending which is also the path that Trails Into Reverie follows. So without it? You could be confused and also miss out on a few extra bonuses.

Unlike the last few entries of Cold Steel which in particular found a way to mesh main and side quests together in the form of field trips or operations, Trails Into Reverie wasn’t afraid to move away from the well established format. Instead, Reverie moves back towards the more streamlined JRPG approach but holds its own twist and turns that if I said anything specific would spoil a fair amount so I’ll keep those as light as possible. 

Starting up with Crossbell’s Special Support Section’s liberation of Crossbell itself, the opening act was a thrill ride to get back into the swing of things. This prologue helps to expand upon Trails of Cold Steel IV’s ending dialog of Crossbell and actually allows players to experience it. From there though, Reverie allows you to either continue on the adventure with Lloyd as Crossbell prepares to finally sign its independence, or, switch over to Rean who’s still instructing the new Thors Military Academy’s Branch Campus Class VII. This switch? Can be done at any time which I really enjoyed. Adding to this you can also switch to a third point of view as the mysterious “C” returns to the spotlight once that's available.

These three points of view mesh rather well together and a lot of it lies with how the switch between can be done. Being able to switch between at any time and not worry about losing any progress was fantastic. What was also a great touch is that each independent story can only move so far before events lock themselves and you need to switch over as a built-in spoiler prevention. Sometimes these blocks could be because of specific dialog which would blow your mind as the whys and the hows. Other times these blocks are actually gameplay related as one group needs to do something for the other in order for them to move forward as all roads lead to Crossbell. 

In terms of gameplay, not too much has changed since the most recent Trails of Cold Steel IV. While most of us would have recently played the older Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure that we recently and amazingly localized, Reverie takes all the new and shiny and adds in a few more interesting mechanics. Arts and Crafts are both back and to up the ante a bit, everyone’s favorite ARCUS (All-Round Communication and Unison System) units are back with some neat little upgrades with a new higher level of Quartz slots allowing for even more powerful magical abilities in combat and stat boosts. 

Alongside the more powerful magical abilities, the combat tactics have also gotten an upgrade. While BP (Brave Points) are still being used for Rush attacks (2 people), Burst Attacks (4 people) and orders (individual range of 1BP to 5BP), there are now Unity abilities that can be used which consume your AP points. AP was previously used to get a better head start on the enemy with three whole turns. On top of that, now AP can also be used to get everyone including the combatants in reserve in on the action. Attack, Arts or Healing, each of these powerful moves can easily change the direction of battle and the only catch is to both AP, and more than four party members available in battle.

This new feature alongside all of the pre-existing ones are all going to be extremely important to use to their utmost as without them? Well let’s just say that there is no hand holding and with levels already starting over 100? You’re going to need to be mean especially in boss fights. If you can “cheese” an enemy? Do it. Otherwise there are cases that no amount of grinding will save you even if Reverie provides you with the ultimate grinding ground.

Unlike the other titles in the series, the meshing of each group's paths has one other feature that has been added and it’s the Reverie Corridors. These corridors can just about be accessed at any point in time unless you’re given a head’s up. Otherwise, to level up your characters either buy or upgrade their gear. As each group finds their way over, your inventories will mesh, meaning that ANY character can have access to ANY equipment or Quartz that is on hand. This alone made certain parts much easier, but at the same time, because this is there, there are some pretty nasty boss fights in the wings.

Clocking in around 40~45 hours all depending on how much time you spent in the Corridors alongside the main story, there are probably countless other hours to be spent in there. If we are talking about pure screen time, Lloyd, Rean and “C” have the most as they are the three main protagonists. Other members of the Special Support Section, Class VII new and old, members of the Bracer’s Guild, the Church and even Oroboros will show up, but it’s these three that steal the limelight. While this alone would have been ok because the story has epic pacing and others do get some good screen time in, the Corridors have a few other special treats for players.

Aside from having floors that resemble the old school house in the original Trails of Cold Steel, the Reverie Corridor also has a “gatcha” system. This system rewards you for the amount of time you spend going through its dungeons and resetting them to do it all over again. The rewards span from new characters outside of the main three protagonists parties, new equipment, a return of Pom Pom (Doctor Mario, Yoshi Cookie, basically Tetris Versus), a return of Magical Girl Alisa as a SHUMP (Shoot ‘Em Up / Bullethell) AND Daydreams.

Unlike the other titles in the series, the meshing of each group's paths has one. Daydreams are basically side content that explore the various characters of The Legend of Heroes series. At first I thought that these were directly related to the characters present for the latest adventure, directly or indirectly. As they continued to unlock it was nice to see characters not present here, but that played a major role in prior events. The best part of these Daydreams is that they could give Konami’s Metal Gear Solid IV a run for its money in terms of time not playing and instead enjoying cutscenes with a bucket of popcorn! When you experience these Daydreams however? That’s up to you. I saved mine for post game breaks from grinding experience to defeat the FINAL boss.

If I had two issues, one would be in the voicing over. The voice overs themselves are amazing. Both the returning English cast and the newly cast which were previously Japanese only. Where my issues lay is that a few lines could be voiced over and then suddenly it switches into text only, to eventually finish with one more voiced over line. I have no issues with a mix of these elements but the mix would be better split between cutscenes and not all in the same one. The other is the gameplay speed. It felt great until you speed it up and once slowed down it feels so slow. I wish that a balance could be found and then simply let us speed up how fast combat flows. Otherwise in the grand scheme of things these are not big issues.

I really enjoyed The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie. It was really well paced. I enjoyed the mix of characters from across the various titles that we’ve had the chance to explore and I’m really looking forward to the newest entries in the series that treads ground that we as players haven’t seen yet over in Calvard. 

Score: 8.5 / 10

* Note: I really need to play Trails in the Sky the Third which moves away from Estelle and Joshua.

Read More

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox Review

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America—Sony PlayStation 5 Review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox for PlayStation 5 is an updated version of the same game with the same name from 2021, but with some included DLC and other improvements. These updates might not provide enough change to warrant a return trip for those who played the PlayStation 4 / PC release a couple of years ago, but this is the best version of what is an excellent action-RPG title. As such, if you are new to the series or even just Monstrum Nox? This is a great place to start. If you were a fan of the prior Monstrum Nox release and have been thinking about giving it another go at some point? This is the superior version.

I’ll start by talking about the game itself, which features true and tried protagonist, Adol Christin. Given just how long this series has been going, Adol’s proven to be one of the more durable RPG characters out there, as he finds himself in one unexpected mess after another. The premise behind Monstrum Nox is actually a pretty amusing one out of the gates, as Adol – who has saved countless lives and is viewed by many as a hero for his adventuring exploits – is arrested. It turns out word of his many too-hard-to-believe travels have landed him in hot water with the local law keepers of the city.

This strange if mildly amusing string of events (I mean, after all of these adventures, I suppose it tracks that someone might be skeptical of whether he was the one who resolved the issues, or perhaps was the cause of them), Adol finds himself being tossed into prison. From there, you get a pretty breakneck introduction to the combat system and how to move about in dungeons and interact with things. The real storyline involving the Monstrums begins here, being drip-fed over the next several hours.

From a narrative standpoint, for a series that has been around for this long? It’s kind of surprising that you can by and large just pick up and run with it as what little important context may be needed is shared along the way, but by and large Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a pretty self-contained one, and the experience is better for it. I do have some quibbles with the pacing early on. Things start a little slow as Adol gets arrested, then you have this high intensity jail-break, then you… spend about the next hour or two doing… very little. I get that it sets the stage, but there’s no combat for about another 90 minutes, as you go through the events between Adol’s capture and escape, then running around town looking for shelter, and having some of the game’s non-combat systems slowly doled out.

Then, when you do finally get to have your next battle, it is an interesting sort of action-tower defense that varies things up. But this too is just a simple, quick tutorial style of battle to help you learn the basics of things. After that, you’re given a bit more narrative and then dumped out into the city and told to explore again. After this things start to ramp up steadily from there and the pace of the adventure begins to even out, but it took some time for me to really feel like I was getting into the meat of the title.

Additionally, Adol is far from the most intriguing protagonist in RPG history - he just sort of stumbles onto problems and is a generally nice guy who tries to solve them for people. There’s not a lot of personal growth to the character at this point, but the setting and story were enjoyable. I found most of the side characters more interesting than Adol was.

This is a series that has done a great job of refining it’s solid combat over the years, and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox continues that trend. Fast combinations, jumping and dashing, rapid strikes and quick dodges all keep combat feeling fluid and fun as you switch back and forth between the characters in your party. The tower defense portion of content provides less meaty combat than the primary portions, giving it an almost Dynasty Warriors vibe where your few slaughter many waves of enemies.

In terms of presentation, Ys has always been a pleasant series and that trend continues here. The visuals are colorful, characters are interesting to look at and I always enjoyed finding new areas to explore. The music in particular deserves recognition. I have long held that the Ys games have some of the best soundtracks of any video game series, and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox doesn’t disappoint here either, with fantastic and rousing melodies that stick in the back of my head.

Exploration benefits from fast travel around the large city, and there’s a maid who can tag along to shop and help keep what could have been a messy inventory system fairly clean and quick. The power of the PlayStation 5 helps a bit in aspects such as fast travel, which is snappy. Load times in general are brisk, by and large. While this is the same game as what was released a couple of years ago, it feels like the hardware is put to good use here. The visuals aren’t really updated in any meaningful way. There’s no real change in draw distances, though the framerate is certainly more stable and sits at a pretty steady 60 fps. That being said, there is a bit more pop-in from time-to-time than I would have expected.

Additionally, this release comes with all of the DLC packaged with it. This is mostly just accessories and a variety of cosmetics you can apply to the party. I don’t think this is enough of a reason for most people who played the first release of Ys IX: Monstrum Nox to go out and purchase it again. That’s about it from the notable changes between the version from two years ago and now.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on its own merits is an excellent game. The combat’s entertaining, I enjoyed the story and the presentation is very good. There’s a lengthy game to be had here, with a lot of adventures to be had once you get past some uneven pacing to kick things off. The biggest question for most people, is whether they already played this release a couple of years ago or not. If you have and you feel like you got what you wanted from the game then? There’s probably not much reason to come back to Ys IX: Monstrum Nox now on PS5 as there are some upgrades, but they are not overly significant when compared to the original release. However, newcomers to either this title in particular or the series in general who enjoy a good action-RPG should absolutely give Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on PS5 a go.

Score: 8.25 / 10

Read More

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - PS4 Review

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is the direct sequel to Trails From Zero that we happily received last year. Continuing on the story of Lloyd, Elli, Randy and Tio, players who have played through Trails of Cold Steel will finally find out just what happened in Crossbell while the Civil War was raging in Erebonia.

There are a few things to be happy about here. The first, is that we, waves globally, are finally getting to see the entire events that transpired in Crossbell. The second, is that these events give more background into various cast members to Trails of Cold Steel III and IV, but also to the upcoming localization of Trails Into Reverie that sees everything up to this point in the timeline converge. Sky, Zero / Azure, Steel. Finally? It's damned good and solidly gives us a new 40-50 hour experience in a city and its outskirts that we've already spent 40-50 hours exploring.

Sequels oftentimes find themselves in a tough spot. How do you stay faithful to the entry before it while still keeping things feeling new and interesting? This can be doubled down when it's another entry into a long running series. Falcom thankfully has that down pretty well especially considering how many entries this series has before even considering the Ys Series.

So starting up three months after the events of Trails From Zero, Trails to Azure returns us to the point of view of "a day in the life of" the Special Support Section of the Crossbell Police Department. The start of every day sees the issuing of a series of tasks in an order of importance and of time to complete. Do you have to do all the tasks? No. Some of these could be ignored completely if you're trying to rush through, but that would be a disservice to yourself, and to the design and localization teams. Queue montage!

Puns

It’s been years, and I still can’t figure it out… what is ‘Zure,’ and why do the trails lead to it?

What is the difference between an RPG protagonist and a rare metal collector? One treasures your steel, and the other steals your treasure.

My name is Inigo Chestoya. You opened my father. Prepare to die.

Talking treasure chests? Oh, Lloyd… You’re so tired, you’re speaking nonsense. Here: let’s get you some shuteye. Just step inside and close the lid…

Congratulations on beating Chst IX: Monstrum Knox. <- Hilarious in its own right as Ys IX: Monstrum Nox came out in 2019 while this was originally released in 2011.

Dunno much about the orbal net, but cloud storage sounds like heresy. Chestkind should not infringe upon the domain of Chestios, She Who Stores Above…

Take me down to the Crossbell City where the Plemora is blue and the girls are pretty, oh, won’t you please take me home?

To sum it up, I’d say she’s… a bat out of Gehenna? <- Yay Meatloaf Bat out of Hell reference

Messages of thanks

Thank you to the Geofront for giving me the chance to help release the definitive version of the Crossbell arc in English. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. -- ‘AG’

Though it had its ups and downs, I’m grateful for the opportunity working on these two games gave me. -- ‘AZ’

This series set my path in life with its incredible focus on attention to detail. I was led to finding a community--a group of friends and passionate fans. Together, we made two wonders we can be eternally proud of. -- ‘NB’

Back to the review

Back to the reason that we are all here though, that's one of the major draws to this series. The level of depth that goes into any aspect of the story. Main events or simply side content, each of these are well crafted and worth going out of your way to explore. Not all of these events will be added to your journal once you check in at the start of the day. Some of these require exploring the town and speaking to residents to see if there's anything that could be helped with.

The visual style and gameplay are nearly identical to Trails From Zero with only a few small tweaks such as the inclusion of Burst Mode for battle. Burst Mode allows all four party members to act instantly, removes any cast time, recovers all ailments and can interrupt both enemies arts and crafts. This can't be used all the time but more within climactic story events. So, unlike most things that you may be saving up for on a rainy day? This should be used whenever possible. Plus you get a 20% attack power boost and your Craft Points regenerate automatically.

Getting around another feature that a lot of sequels have issues with, new Enigma units for Orbal Arts are assigned at the very start which easily explains why you have to restart your quartz collection from scratch in order to cast arts. Your Crafts at least are still intact and will continue to improve, but when it comes to the spells to cast? It may take a while before they are back in your hands for some serious damage.

In terms of more accessibility in getting around, you are only forced to "walk" for the first small portion of the game. This is highlighted by one of your characters saying they are neither designed or dressed for it. Sorry Wazy! You should have worn better boots if you're going to keep up with the rest of the veteran Special Support Section and military personnel. From there though, you are given a car which makes taking public transit a thing of the past unless you've parked down the highway while chasing after dangerous monsters. If you did? You can tell your car to go home and you can pick it up there. Yay!

All of this comes together so well that it's shocking that this was all originally only available in the palm of your hands with a PlayStation Portable like Trails in the Sky before it. More impressively, is how this 9/10 adventure, will definitely be playing again, managed to steal some magic away from two other titles.

Having come out long before Trails of Cold Steel III and IV as well as Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, I feel like their magic was lessened a bit by Trails to Azure. Trails to Azure, probably should have been split between two titles itself. The first two thirds probably brought me up to some 35 hours and I’m certain I missed a bunch of things. The last act though, was a 15 hour thrill ride that did away with the day in the life of and instead went for a “this just got real” Crossbell world tour adventure. You had strict goals and it channeled the linear JRPG route but in such a great way that it was so hard to put down.

The reason I feel like it lessened the magic of the other two is in the “how” it had done it. In the later Trails of Cold Steel entries, you essentially end up within the same format of gameplay and it felt so fresh compared to the “a day in the life of” as the Thor’s Military Academy Class VII are learning a different route which is half Bracer, half Military. They have that flexibility and so, they generally have the same gameplay flow. So when you get to the linear, well written parts, they feel new and fresh. Seeing that it had already been done, well I felt like that magic disappeared but made my appreciation that much more for this title that was done on a previous set of hardware that you wouldn’t even think could handle that load.

As for Ys VII: Lacrimosa of Dana, I felt like there were some design choices in some of the late game dungeons that looked so cool in there, but diving into them here? It too had already been done, making me once again appreciate this all the more because of how long ago it was originally released. This could obviously also be just an over romanization of how freaking good Trails to Azure is as both a sequel and a finale to its story arc. That and that it’s been a very long time since I’ve played Trails in the Sky Chapters 1 and 2, that I need to replay those and then Chapter 3 to brush up on Estelle and Joshua’s adventures.

That said though, seeing that these all came before made Trails to Azure all the more impressive. Not only that, but the localization team did such a fantastic job. There is A LOT of dialog in this game, voiced over in Japanese or simply plain text. In either case, it’s on the screen, it had to be translated, and they obviously took some liberties such as the joke about Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. They had fun with it and it only increased how much fun it was to go through.

So overall, The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is a great conclusion to the Crossbell Arc. While only two titles, both of these are action packed, contain some twists that I didn’t exactly see coming and were really hard to put down as hours could go by and only feel like minutes. Thank you Falcom and NISA for bringing these two games over as well as the continued work on the series!

Score: 9 / 10

Read More

The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero Review

The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes 

---

Having taken a long time to come into the hands of fans of the series, Falcom's The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero is finally here with the help of NIS America Inc.'s localization efforts. Starting off on their first day on the job, Lloyd Bannings, Elie MacDowell, Tio Plato and Randy Orlando find themselves in a unique position. Having joined the Crossbell's Police Department's newly formed Special Support Section, our protagonists must navigate both the day to day routine that is anything but as well as Crossbell's has a unique structure as it belongs to both the Erebonian Empire and the Republic of Calvard.

Note: Please be aware that this review contains some spoilers either in the text or in the screenshots taken during gameplay.

Not just the main cast, but the players too will find themselves in a unique situation. Placed after the events of the Trails in the Sky series, Trails From Zero starts before and then runs parallel to the beginning of Trails of Cold Steel. The reason this is important is we in North America have already had the chance to explore Trails in the Sky's First Chapter, Second Chapter (Digitally Downloaded) and Third Chapter as well as Trails of Cold Steel, Cold Steel II, Cold Steel III and Cold Steel IV where the Special Support Section appear in both Cold Steel III and IV. So because of this, we already know "how this ends" with the upcoming localization of Trails to Azure in 2023, but how does it all begin? This was a 40+ hour JRPG adventure that I wouldn't have traded a minute of as the credits rolled just shy of the 51 hour mark.

Moving onto Trails From Zero itself, having originally released back on the PSP over a decade ago it uses the same engine and artstyle as Trails to the Sky's First / Second / Third Chapters. What’s impressive with this style, as well as Falcom’s Ys Series that had releases in the same time period, are that the system and the artstyle don’t hold any part of the presentation back. Character models are unique and detailed and in true Falcom fashion, they weren’t afraid to take their time and tell a story. Whether the releases of yesterday that we are now getting to see today or the releases that we’ve recently had a chance to experience, there is a LOT of text, dialog, and storytelling. The only downside to this? It’s a time investment and to truly understand what’s going on? You’ll either need to play every entry or consult several wikias. Otherwise, what are you waiting for!?

So to tell this story, the events of Trails From Zero will happen within the various districts and surrounding areas of the city of Crossbell. From the city center to the upper lavish residential quarters down to the downtown slums, each of these spaces holds its own charm, people and establishments to go with it. What I really appreciated with this design is that while new and exciting at first, it never gets tiring as the hours go by. While always at your fingertips, and while it will obviously contain a lot of back and forth, the city has been designed for this alongside the stories being presented. This in a form of retrospect really helped set the stage for the Trails of Cold Steel series’ move over into the Empire’s Thors Military academy which somewhat emulated this approach but on a much larger scale.

Starting off on the very first day of work, Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy will have their work cut out for them. While the unit that they’ve been assigned to has a fancy name, the Special Support Section, it may not be as glorious as it sounds once you get to know what’s required. Basically being the Police Department’s attempt to gain better favor with the townsfolk, this new unit is, at least in the beginning, looked down upon from the core Police Department Divisions as well as the Bracer’s Guild that already does what the Special Support Section is supposed to do, help the people out first, and worry about the rest second.

Divided into chapters, each chapter will have “days” that play out in which you’ll be taking on requests from finding lost people, looking for vendor stall thieves and taking on dangerous monsters. Basically, everything that a Bracer (a member of a guild that exists to help people and should not be confused with mercenaries) would normally do to keep the people safe and happy! What’s great about this style, and the series itself as it’s almost the core function to move everything along, is that the “side quests” or “side content” don’t feel like they are simply there for padding. In a more modern take as they came out after, think of Bioware’s Dragon Age 2 which takes place in a single city merged with CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3’s quests. They are both entertaining and fulfilling and next thing you know? It’s ten hours later and you’re only now moving onto the main story event.

The flip side of this is that you don’t actually have to do these side quests. It will reflect poorly on you of course, you’ll be out a fair amount of reward money and items and finally? It would be a disservice to Trails From Zero itself as it’s also through these side events that you’ll both get to better understand Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy as well as the city of Crossbell. Taking it a step further is that, while I did finish just under 51 hours, there is a lot that I probably missed. Not all of these side events are given to you at the beginning of each day, or in some cases half days. Some of them require you to do what you’re supposed to do. Explore the town, talk with people and find out if they need anything. Through those conversations it’s possible to get new quests to follow further expanding the experience.

Not all sunshine and lollipops for our Special Support Section, it’s a good thing that each is trained in a form of combat because they are going to need it. Street thugs, various mafia, military training exercises, ghosts, monsters and just general crazy pants cultists, you name it, they’ve faced it. Having to remember that Trails From Zero was in fact released before Trails of Cold Steel, while combat still has some enhancements from the Tails in the Sky series (which I REALLY need to play the Third Chapter that was more of a stand alone), there were some items that I had to remember didn’t exist. Or that they didn’t exist in the same manner.

Combat for the Trails series is a unique take on turned based JRPG systems. Having a set turn order, this turn order can be flipped on its head in a manner of seconds depending on character actions. Split into normal attacks, arts and crafts (that never gets old), every battle participant can choose an action on each of their turns. Normal attacks are just that, normal attacks where Lloyd will use his tonfas, Elie her long ranged orbal gun, Tio her orbal staff that emulates arts (magic) and Randy with his modified halberd. Each having their own uses, these will keep with the normal flow of battle.

For those stepping in now, arts and crafts and where things get nuts. Arts are basically magic which can be split into the core elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and then the higher elements of Time, Space and Mirage. Once a quartz of these types has been equipped, these not only allow for stats buffs and new abilities such as seeing enemy stats without an analysis or all chests on the field, but they allow for casting magic. The more powerful the ability, the more energy points (EP) that are going to be required to cast it alongside time. This will shift the order or battle around as characters are no longer in the normal flow because of it.

Crafts, unlike arts, are character specific abilities that can be used in battle. Having their own pool of points, craft points (CP), unlike HP and EP, these are set in number from start to finish. Totaling up to 200, CP can be used for normal abilities costing 10-20-30-40 points, or, when using 100 can be used for a seriously powerful solo or partnered character ability. Unlike the partnered abilities that cost 100 CP each, if a character can accumulate up to 200 they can unleash an even more powerful version. Where crafts are a bit different is that they can also be used to stop an art in its tracks, preventing it from ever being cast and wrecking havoc against you. Just remember, whatever you can do? So can the enemy!

So it’s a little bit of rock, paper, scissors to keep things in check however battle doesn’t stop there. That timeline of who is going when and doing what? It has a side element such as being able to restore HP, EP, CP, cause critical hits, gain more sepith (currency and can be used to turn into quartz) as well as two functions that will see a revamp in the Trails of Cold Steel Series. Rush attacks and all out attacks while needing points in future entries, are here within part of the timeline. Rush will allow a character to go twice and all out attack will allow every party member to attack at the same time. Because it can’t just stop there! Once the higher elements are involved you’ll also have to deal with hits being able to vanish a character from battle for a limited amount of time, flat out block attacks and deathblows that you do NOT want to be on the receiving end of.

It sounds like a lot, and at times depending on the boss fights it can be, however it all works so well together. This is actually a big point that I want to make as unlike the other entries that I’ve played, I barely touched arts until about the 40ish hour mark. The reason? I didn’t need to as each character's crafts were so well designed that it just wasn’t needed unless I needed a mass healing from someone other than Elie or Tio. In those cases I would use breath or holy breath under the wind quartz from Lloyd, Randy or one of the other supporting characters at that point in time such as the Bracers Estelle or Joshua from Trails in the Sky who tag along now and then.

So with all of the above put together? Trails From Zero was fantastic from start to finish. Well paced and well written, what really brings everything together is how everything is intertwined. Seemingly unrelated, everything has a way of coming together making you realize just how deep some storylines went and how important other self-contained stories really were in the larger picture. Finally? As good as it all is, I don’t think it would have carried the same weight without the musical talent of the Falcom Sound Team which are always a pleasure to listen to either while playing Falcom’s work or otherwise. I often have their albums playing while working on something or another.

Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero was worth the wait and I’m happy that NIS America Inc. have localized both it, and the upcoming Trails to Azure in 2023 for us. Well paced and well written storytelling is only ever elevated by the characters that you’ll get to adventure with as they establish what the Special Support Section is all about as they trek through and around the city of Crossbell solving problems big and small.

Score: 9 / 10

Read More

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox - PS4 Review

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox by developer Nihon Falcom and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony Playstation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

After what feels like forever after it's initial announcement and even longer after having played the demo, Falcom' Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is releasing this week for both fans of the series and action adventure RPG enthusiasts. Taking another leap from Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Ys IX shows that the series isn't afraid of taking new leaps in different directions especially when that direction is up.

Kicking this off with a prison break, we find out favorite red haired protagonist Adol Christin, aka Adol the Red, thrown into prison by the Romun army for suspicion of his involvement with mysterious occurrences that he may or may not have been involved in over the years. Alright, he was totally involved (see previous titles) but that's beside the point! After breaking out and making his way down to an uncharted area of the prison, our hero comes face to face with a woman with a gun who then places a curse on him by shooting him in the chest and thus dubbing him the Crimson King.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a big departure from the rest of the series in terms of gameplay while still feeling like it belongs with the rest of the Ys Series and a continuation of what Ys VIII put in place. Gone for the most part are the wild unexplored reaches of the wilds with hidden dungeons just begging to be explored with the use of boots to crush spikes or air shields to breathe underwater. Instead, with the cursed powers of the Crimson King, Adol and the eventual rest of his party will be exploring a large gothic city with dark secrets by the use of their individual and combined powers.

The joke has already been made several times but... Assassin's Creed?

Spoilers ahead: There’s only so much that can be gone into without spoiling certain elements so I’m going to try to hold back on certain aspects such as real names of the Monstrum as some were obvious while others were what the hell moments. Good what the hell moments.

Some of these powers, while neat, are really only going to be used sparingly like Adol’s Crimson Line which allows you to teleport to anchor points both high and low to save some time from running around. Other powers like White Cat’s allow you to run up walls which alone broke what the Ys Series has always had in place which was running on flat ground and only really being able to hop ledges until Ys VIII which allowed you to jump but still kept a 2D kind of plane. With the ability to run up walls the world got much bigger as well as some of the puzzles as you could no longer simply assume that you’ll find a way up there eventually as you may already have the ability and just need to figure it out.

Adding to these abilities are Hawk’s ability to glide, Vengeance’s ability to become a shadow and glide underneath low barriers, Doll’s ability to see the hidden which also highlights switches, monsters and collectibles. Finally the other massively used ability is the Raging Bull’s ability to break down both cracked walls as well as break the armor off of enemies. Adding all of these together makes for some interesting puzzles at times depending on the dungeon layout but perhaps the best part of these abilities is that as the part comes together, each power is shared through the party so you don’t need to switch to that specific character which really helps getting those trophies for exploring a certain amount of time as one character in particular.

Some of your dialog options are hilarious at times

Alone these powers are neat and change the pace that the series has had for decades now but they wouldn’t have been able to be as effective if the series hadn’t moved into a more urban setting for the latest installment. The change is a weird one to be sure and it’s possible that it may not be for everyone who’s been playing entries on and off for years now. Another point to make there is that while Ys VIII could be viewed as the perfect starting point for someone in the series, Ys IX is designed more for veteran fans who will pick up on certain aspects a lot faster coming in knowing a lot of where the series has gone and how all of the new shiny aspects fall into place within it.

Making its return for a bit of familiarity is the three person Rock, Paper, Scissors combat that’s been around for a few titles now. Adol and Doll are your Slashers, White Cat and Raging Bull are your Breakers with Hawk and Vengeance being your Piercers. Equipment exists in order to change these rolls if you need it, but for the most part, the gameplay of each character and their skills works really well over the course of the journey. Flash Dodging and Perfect Guards both make their return to give you an edge in combat, slowing down time allowing your party to get a few more hits into the enemies that you’re engaged with. It’s fun enough that it doesn’t get stale as the hours move on especially when switching between characters and trying out new skills as they are acquired.

Now while most of Adol’s latest adventure happens within the city walls, there’s a bit of classic Ys flavor thrown in for the ride once you get outside the city’s walls for a few minutes here and there. Another change for the series is that oftentimes Adol, and eventual party starting with Ys VII, are blocked off because they don’t have the tools to move forward. Air Bubbles to breathe underwater. Boots to crush lethal spikes. Tools to break large stones from your way. None of these cause problems this time around as everything revolves around the cursed powers of the Monstrums and the barriers created by the Grimwald Nox.

In an interesting twist, these barriers don't affect normal humans as they cannot see or be affected by them. So while everyone is free to come and go from the city (assuming they aren’t inmates in the prison itself), Adol is forced to come up with creative solutions around these which often result in fighting off extra dimensional beings from the Grimwald Nox known as Lemures for Nox points to initiate tower defense battles which are back in order to break down these barriers.

While tower defense battles are making a return, I found myself indifferent to them as they were more of a means to an end compared to Ys VIII where they were mandatory in order to protect the safety of your fellow castaways as there was only so much Dogi could do to defend it while most of the strength was out and about the rest of the island. Now, these battles other than the very few story specific battles are essentially just locks on metaphorical doors that you need to break in order to move further. They are great for grinding experience and materials, great for reminding the player what the Grimwald Nox is and it’s dangers, but for the most part? It could have been left out and the overall experience wouldn't have changed much.

This is perhaps my biggest issue with Ys IX, the Grimwald Nox. It’s there, the monsters look cool for the first few encounters, but then that’s about it. It’s a means to an end and otherwise your biggest worries are going to be how to get through the dungeons that are thrown at you and surviving the boss fights which are still great. Otherwise, “Monstrum” is heavily used as Adol the Crimson King, the Hawk, Raging Bull, Doll, Vengeance and White Cat all use their powers in order to prepare and get tougher to tackle the “Nox”, but it’s always in the background until really the last chapter and dungeon which was both fantastic and grants you that amazing Ys Series feeling that a lot of the other dungeons throughout had been lacking.

Where things are made up for are in the story telling, the main and supporting cast, and the various areas of the city and the peoples therein that you’ll meet and do requests for. Taking another note from Ys VIII, Ys IX will once again have Dogi sitting on the sidelines as he helps set up your base of operations out of what was an abandoned bar that Adol finds himself hiding in the first night “on the run”. Branded the Dandelion, this bar will bring everyone together over the course of the series from your main smithy to your errand girl who simplifies so much back and forth as any item found through the local shops can be bought directly through her instead of having to run around and remember exactly which shop was selling flour to make pies.

From there, you’ll have a quest board and the ability to talk to your fellow party members and support staff. Gifts can be given, dialog can be exchanged and it makes the world feel a bit more real as time moves on they’ll move through the bar whether to sit at a table or literally walk around. It’s a nice touch between all of the city and eventually outer city exploration that you’ll be doing.

Note to PS5 users: Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a PS4 title but it ran really smoothly on the PS5 until it would randomly crash. I’m not sure if the same issues will exist for PS4 users or even PS5 users after the Day 1 launch patch, but as a just in case, even if I had twenty or thirty crashes in the thirty and a half hours of the adventure, with the speed under the hood and the very well configured auto-save system alongside the manual saves, I never lost anything but a few seconds before getting back into the action.

Summary

Overall, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox sets up for some rather interesting possibilities to the eventual Ys X that I’m already stupidly excited for. The change of direction from the rest of the series and having Adol explore one city and its surroundings instead of unknown and untamed wildlands with loads of ancient runes and various villages and towns isn’t a bad one but I do hope for more of a mix of the two in the next adventure.

Now we just need to sit and wait to hear from Falcom whether Adol’s next adventure continues on his future adventures or settles somewhere between the past events that we’ve explored alongside him.

Score: 8.5 / 10

Note: Played and reviewed on PlayStation 5

Read More