So XSEED is bringing over both parts of The Legend of Heroes VIII as "Trails of Cold Steel" later this year, which is obviously great news and I'm psyched to play them, but I'm worried because they're skipping VII (and the last part of Trails in the Sky) at first, possibly releasing it later.

Falcom claims that VII and VIII can be played in either order, but can anyone who has played both confirm this? Would switching the order have any negative effect on the storytelling of any of the games?

Alright. I've heard that I'll run into major Crossbell spoilers with Erebonia, but I guess that it could be a good reveal no matter the direction form which I approach it.

And what about Nayuta?

Nayuta is completely unrelated to the Trails subseries (different setting) and even The Legend of Heroes as a whole (gameplay is unlike any other game in the series). The official reason for the title is that it has the qualities of the other Kiseki games (worldbuilding, incredibly detailed NPCs etc.), but it's pretty obvious they were just banking in on the brand recognition. :P

Fans think it's more of a spiritual successor to the Zwei!! games than anything else.