A solid 3D remake of a Super Nintendo classic.
Original Score Before Backloggd Rounding: 7.5/10 (Good)

Trials of Mana is a game I have consistently come back to for three, going on four years now. I still remember the excitement in the E3 2019 Nintendo Direct when not only was the original, released 25 years prior, finally localised in the Collection of Mana in an official release hardcore fans had begged to see, but when that long sought after, ever absent third game was getting a full 3D remake. And it looked positively gorgeous. After the disappointment of the Secret of Mana remake for PlayStation 4, it seemed Square Enix had listened to feedback, and Mana fans were finally about to be rewarded for their patience.

Horrible English voice acting aside (play in Japanese if it bothers you that much, ‘ya nerds!), Trials of Mana is a game that doesn’t really do anything wrong, while doing a whole bunch right. It’s cute, it’s charming, the characters are fun, it has great monster designs, the action combat is decent, the music is absolutely fantastic, and the story that’s told no matter who you choose as your protagonist is a pretty pleasant journey. Some will point to the recycled NPC models as the game being cheap, and low budget, but I think if anything it adds to the feeling that the game we see today built off of a Super Famicom great. And either way, it is still much higher production value than the previously mentioned lacklustre Secret of Mana remake. If I had one significant complaint about the game and how it plays out, it might be that the AI party members are incredibly stupid and will often get themselves hurt or killed, especially in easily avoidable scenarios. If this had been addressed, I likely would have given the game a flush 4 star rating. That being said, Trials of Mana is an increasingly rare and triumphant Square Enix win despite these problems.

The main feature unique to this game that sets it apart from its contemporaries, other than simply having that trademark Mana charm, is its narrative and party structure. At the beginning of the game, you’re tasked to create a three character party combination out of six possible characters, and whoever you choose as the main character will determine the path of the game’s story, where it leads, and where it ends. Whoever you bring along for the ride will then have their own occasional unique interactions with your chosen protagonist, making for a fun and dynamic storyline system with a degree of replay value perhaps not seen in other RPGs of this style.

I would recommend this game to anyone with a desire for cute RPGs, or the classics in general, as the most excellent rendition of Mana to come out of the series for a very long time. It is a truly grand adventure, packed with vitality and love. Perhaps it doesn’t quite reach the same heights as the original 1995 release, but you can play that in Collection of Mana on Nintendo Switch if you so desire. Either way, this hidden gem's legacy is now preserved for all to experience, whichever form that might take, and that is a fact that makes me very happy.

One of the most rewarding ‘pretty good’ games I have ever played.
Original Score Before Backloggd Rounding: 7.5/10 (Good)

Whoever is reading this review is probably seeing it and going, “you loved the game but only gave it a 3.5?”. And while yes, I did thoroughly enjoy the game, and subjectively had a great time with it, from a more objective standpoint the game is far from perfect. That being said, if there was a spectrum, this is one of the highest 3.5 star reviews I’ve given, and is closer to a subjective 8 or even 9.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is so unbelievably cute and charming on every level. The characters, the setting, the theming, all of it is so earnest, wholesome, and fun. Every time I booted up the game, it was always a delight to join Nayuta and Noi on their journey. The art direction is impeccable, and still holds up today, even all these years removed from the original PlayStation Portable release. The music is absolutely top notch, and features some of my favourite pieces out of any Falcom title in relatively recent memory. The story, while pretty standard for the majority of it's run time, goes off the wall at the end of Chapter 4 and for the rest of the game, possibly even rivalling the excellent final third of Trails to Azure. The game is just a delight to spend time with.

Most of why I think Boundless Trails in the end warrants this score is the gameplay. There’s no real overworld or dungeons to speak of, and the game is instead divided into levels or stages, like any traditional platformer. This means while they do some interesting things with stage conditions, and adding collectibles and replay value to each stage, it also has this disjointed nature to it which disconnects the world. This is especially noticeable when one of the things the Trails subseries is most renowned for is it's worldbuilding. The combat I believe could have also used some tweaking. Falcom’s other flagship series, Ys, also used to have a single playable character, but those games were much faster paced. The games lost a bit of that pace switching to a party formation, but The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is trapped in some weird in-between where it has the design of Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, but pacing more similar to Ys Seven. With a party system implemented, the levels would have had to be redesigned entirely to accommodate, so making the gameplay faster and smoother probably would have been the ideal fix here. It doesn’t always feel the most pleasant to play as is, and can slow down the experience, which is especially frustrating combined with some of the stage conditions required for 100%. Enemies can also hit you as you ascend on platforms, remaining out of sight, or through barriers that you can’t jump over, with you being unprepared to block or evade the attack. That being said, the combat and additional skills and abilities you can learn do keep the gameplay loop interesting, and there's some real fun ones and gems in there.

In conclusion, The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is one of the most pleasant gaming experiences I’ve had in a really long time. It never really attempts to do anything crazy (minus some of the late game revelations, which could very well be key to the future of the Trails/Kiseki franchise), but it does everything with a smile on its face, honest and earnest, and I loved every minute of it. Though I might not have given the game a 4 or 4.5 star score, I do absolutely believe it is worth playing and experiencing, and it is a game I will remember fondly in times to come. This game is absolutely a classic of the PlayStation Portable platform, a celebration of the platform as one of its final games from it's twilight years, a final gasp of greatness before receding into the annals of gaming history.

A narrative disaster held together by the thinnest of tape.
Original Score Before Backloggd Rounding: 5.5/10 (Mediocre)

Oh boy... where do I even start with this one...
I am not a Trails of Cold Steel hater. I am a huge, huge fan of Nihon Falcom, both old and new. For as much flak as this arc in the greater Trails/Kiseki canon catches, I quite enjoyed the first Trails of Cold Steel, and I loved the third entry. Despite my problems with the second game in the subseries, I still appreciated the game for its ambition and new ideas. This game though? To put it lightly, it's one of, if not the most sloppily written JRPG I have ever played, and one of the most disappointing sequels I have ever had the misfortune of playing.

There are no stakes. Any semblance of stakes were removed, and Trails of Cold Steel IV completely botches the perfect setup that Cold Steel III set up for it. All the pieces were in place for a slam dunk, a layup, and they somehow dropped the ball in spectacular fashion. Events from Cold Steel III get reversed, and the things that get reversed don't even add to the game in any meaningful way. They are, for lack of better words, unneeded, and actually make the game worse, both it's narrative and it's characters. Most of the storytelling choices as they're presented are nonsensical, and despite a few great moments here and there, sprinkled throughout, it is overall abysmal. There's a scene towards the end of Act 2 that left me completely taken out, scratching my head as to why a certain group of characters were there, why they were called there at all given the circumstances, and the fact that nothing in the scene would have changed if they weren't there. They didn't improve the scene in any way. It was plot contrivance for the literal sake of it. A lot of the new concepts and terminology introduced in this game is also very poorly explained, to the point I had to go to the wiki to learn what 'Sacrifice', or 'Immortal' meant in universe. Given this game wraps up the entire first half of the series and ties together the threads of the Trails in the Sky games and Crossbell duology (at least until Trails into Reverie? Kind of?), it cannot be understated how disappointing this game's story and writing is. This was NOT the game to fumble. Add onto this the forced harem that is absolute cringe, and exposes a middle aged, male Falcom writer for trying to live out their fantasy of having 9+ different young girls/women fawning over him, plus the game's tendency to portray lesbian sexual harassment/assault as goofy and funny, and not something to be taken seriously, and the proliferation and encouragement of a borderline paedophilic relationship (between a 28 year old man and 16 year old girl, yes I am aware of Japanese age of consent, that does not make this okay by any stretch of the imagination), and I was done with this game incredibly quickly. To the point the game was a slog to get through, and I only did so because I was already committed to the series. So many stupid little things add up and make the experience intolerable.

The gameplay is, at the very least fun (if even more badly balanced than ever before) and the music is still good even if it is a step down from prior entries, and in general from Falcom's rich musical history. The max AP conditions in some of the Act 1 and Fractures boss fights are also incredibly poorly designed and not thought out, and I hope whoever made them is sentenced to an eternity of walking across LEGO pieces. Fun core gameplay, good music, and a cast of (mostly) great characters does not make up for how terrible this game's narrative is however, nor does it excuse the horrible depictions of lesbianism, borderline pedophilia, or the gross harem mechanic. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV would have been a 2 star total from me, if not for Fractures and the Finale, and I'm not afraid to admit that. I am considerably less excited for the future of this series and it's storyline going forward, knowing that this game will forever be a part of that canon, and no matter how good future entries might be, this will forever be a black eye on the franchise. I am, ultimately, disappointed.