The Falcom Thread

[nocturnal YL]

I know what you're referring to, having played other series with similar structures. I'm just making fun of how there are other game series completely fine with not having major engine overhauls over extended periods.

Ys games come out at a slower pace, so even using the same game mechanics for a few games feel like a long time. Ys Seven came out in 2009, which, now that I think of it, is equivalent to all games in the Kirby example I listed. Kirby got iterative improvements (so Star Allies doesn't really feel like the Wii games), but in the case of Ys, the Ys IX system does feel like it's built upon Ys VIII. Even the time attack mode lists characters in the order of Slash-Pierce-Strike-Pierce-Strike-Slash, following the Ys VIII order and not matching Ys IX. A system renewal does feel overdue.

I'd want to see the party system stay. I guess having solo Adol would help the game stand out more (and feel less like something like Warriors), but at the expense of weapon diversity. Having others tag along also makes visiting remote areas less awkward.

[Nester the Lark]

So, for their 40th anniversary, Falcom held a poll in Japan on fans' favorite games and characters. They revealed the results on a live stream. You can see the results here.

My comments:

SPOILER: Click to show

Not surprised about Lacrimosa of Dana and Monstrum Nox placing so high for favorite Ys game, but Ys II is the second-favorite? Really? Surprising, especially since Ys I ranks so low...

I'm also surprised that Rean Schwarzer is the favorite character. I usually hear people say he was a little bland. Not surprised about Adol and Estelle Bright, though. Even though Trails in the Sky didn't click with me, Estelle was still a standout JRPG protagonist. But no Yunica Tovah in the top 20? Shenanigans! I demand a recount!

As for games you'd like to see on current consoles, this is an interesting list. It includes Zwei II, the only game in these lists not part of Ys or Legend of Heroes. (At least the Gagharv Trilogy isn't directly part of Trails.) Not sure what I would pick. Xanadu Next is under-appreciated, in my opinion, so maybe that. That is, aside from putting every other Ys game on Switch.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a hilarious fan comic for Ys Origin.

[Nester the Lark]

Sounds like Falcom is finally going all in on Switch support, not just with porting games in-house, but also bringing older games to the platform. (Source)

I'm still mainly hoping for more Ys games, specifically Memories of Celceta, the only canon Ys game I have yet to play. I think the chances are pretty decent considering it got a PS4 port just a few years ago.

Aside from Ys and Trails, I can see them maybe bringing over Tokyo Xanadu (I'd prefer Xanadu Next, but I don't know how well that game would translate to a console), Gurumin, or the Zwei games. If we're talking about older legacy titles, I wonder if they're considering having things like Faxanadu or Wanderers from Ys on NSO. (Legacy of the Wizard/Dragon Slayer IV is already on one of the Namco Museum Archives.)

[Nester the Lark]

According to Noisy Pixel, Famitsu will be interviewing Toshihiro Kondo at the end of the month about the Ys series for its 35th anniversary. It will include info about Ys X.


It probably won't be anything too dramatic, but I'm looking forward to what he has to say.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's some early info about Ys X, and the first piece of artwork:

Bullet points from Noisy Pixel:

- Falcom wants to make older Ys titles playable on current hardware.

- Mentions an emphasis on providing new gameplay, as well as new scenarios, actions, and systems.

- The title will take place in Eresia, though the writer of the Famitsu article paints this as speculation.

- Kondo’s favorite Ys track is “To Make the End of Battle”

- Kondo emphasizes that Ys X is not a full-on Souls-like, as there is simply inspiration taken from the genre

- Kondo recommends any Ys game for newcomers. Later games like Ys VIII and IX shouldn’t be intimidating because they’re standalone.

- Similar to Nayuta’s Switch release, Kondo wants to make older Ys games playable on modern hardware.

- Ys X’ story will not be centered around the Romun Empire

- The Party Member system where you change characters and weapon attributes (Slash, Pierce & Strike) at will has received major changes, though it hasn’t yet been elaborated how

- Kondo heavily implies a multiplatform release.

- Adol will be around 17 years old, his age during Ys 1 & 2

- Trivia – Dark Fact from Ys 1 took Kondo an extensive amount of time to debug. He began at 9 AM one day, and he still couldn’t beat him at 10 PM. He went to the programming team to tell them it was too hard.

- Aside from Adol, Kondo’s favorite Ys character is Feena

[nocturnal YL]

Good to see Falcom's head is a "standard" Ys fan.

My most wanted information is the release window, which isn't mentioned.

Looks like the party system isn't gone. So basically we should expect a multi-character action game, just that it doesn't use the system of the last few games. And I laughed a bit at "The title will take place in Eresia", which almost doesn't narrow down anything at all.

I'm also wondering what older games do they have in mind for moving to new hardware. From what I know, there are roughly two kinds of fairly new Ys games — those based on the Ys VI engine, and those based on Ys Seven. And both shouldn't be too difficult to port to modern hardware. That leaves Ys I & II and (hah) Ys V, and I think the newest original, non-port version of Ys I & II is the DS one? I actually want to see yet another Ys I & II remake, since the existing ones are quite outdated.

[Nester the Lark]

Ys X is likely Falcom's big 2023 game, so its release will probably be Autumn of next year for Japan.

Ys I & II Chronicles is considered the definitive, canon version of those games (which is an upgraded version of Ys I & II Complete, which in turn is an upgraded version of Ys Eternal and Ys II Eternal, so it goes back a couple of decades). The DS version is considered rather poor. Not sure if I want to see another remake of Ys I & II before a remake of Ys V.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a more detailed rundown of Kondo's interview with Famitsu from Frontline.

Some interesting bits:

Kondo asks if the Ys series has things that do not change, and Kondo says that one thing that always has the staff divided is the subject of whether or not Adol should speak. They have went with not making him speak in the titles that Kondo has worked on, and he says that this is because he feels that Adol is supposed to represent the player, and having him speak like Rean or Van from the Trails series would make him his own character, and that this would make it no longer Ys: Ideally, the adventure should be completed with the player completely self-inserting into Adol. That being said, he does think that this is something that can change if the times demand it. As such, they put a lot of thought into the scene in Ys IX where the Crimson King speaks.

Kondo next discusses the next Ys game. They already have the concept fleshed out to some degree, and the party, skill, and dodge/guard systems in use since Seven will likely not be returning as a result of them looking at both what they have accomplished in the games since then, and feedback from players.

While the action in the next game will continue to have the speedy Ys feel to it, Kondo says that they are reconsidering other things, such as perhaps having more of a focus 1-on-1 fights with the player sizing up the opponent. The interviewer inquires if this means it will have more “Souls-like” combat, but Kondo says that while it may have some similar elements, it will not go for the heavy and difficult style associated with the term. They are currently in a phase where they are considering whether they can incorporate some such elements while keeping the gameplay Ys-like, making an “Ys-style Souls-like”.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a pretty detailed history of Falcom from a couple of years ago.

[Nester the Lark]

The website Hardcore Gaming 101 just put up an article on Rinne, one of the most obscure and mysterious games from Falcom. I've wondered about this game in the past, as it's rarely ever mentioned, even by Falcom, themselves. It's completely stylistically different from any other modern Falcom game, and that's because it isn't exactly a true Falcom game.

Actually, Rinne was originally developed by Bothtec, and was intended to be part of their series, Relics, but as the company was going into bankruptcy at the time, they handed it to Falcom to finish development. The name and references to the Relics series were changed due to rights issues, and after the game was published, Falcom pretty much never spoke of it again.

It's an interesting curiosity. I'm glad to see an article about it.

Now, if someone could dig up info about that unreleased Sorcerian arcade game...

[Nester the Lark]

Apparently, this is not licensed.

[Nester the Lark]

Ys X: Nordics officially announced for Switch, PS4 and PS5 at Falcom's annual shareholder's meeting, due out in Japan in 2023. (Source: Gematsu)

Official teaser site (Japanese).

Nice to see a native Switch version launching alongside the PlayStation versions, but knowing NISA, it still won't get localized until 2025. At least the quality should be good compared to the previous Switch ports.

And now I also see why this is a prequel. No one in their right mind would give Adol a ship after all of his later experiences.

Also announced, Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana for Switch, due out in Japan in 2023. Includes new and classic artwork, voice acting (including for Adol and a narrator), and the option to choose between three different soundtracks. (Source: Gematsu)

Official teaser site (Japanese).

Sounds like its getting similar treatment as Ys I & II Chronicles, with the option to use new or old artwork, and the inclusion of the legacy soundtracks. There was some voice acting added to the PSP version of Falghana, and Xseed recorded English voices for their localization. They eventually patched it into their PC version.

I ranked this as my least favorite Ys game. Would I be getting this version? You bet I would!

But... will it get localized? I hope so, but I think Xseed might still own the localization rights for this game, so not sure how things will play out considering they never brought over the Switch versions of Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2. I suppose it's possible NISA could localize this version and record their own voicework for it, but again, I wouldn't expect a 2023 release for that.

Quite frankly, now that Falcom is doing their own in-house Switch development, I wouldn't mind if they dropped their relationship with NISA entirely and went with a different publisher.

[nocturnal YL]

To be fair, if you don't believe in the reports of Adol's outlandish adventures, you'd have thought tales of him getting shipwrecked are exaggerated.

I don't think the Switch ports from NIS are that bad. They're low-res and there are some occasions of frame drops and glitches, but is serviceable for the most part. Much better than native Switch games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

That said, NIS is mostly known to be a group of 2D game specialists, not having made 3D games until Disgaea 6 (and even then, it used heavily-stylised cel-shaded graphics) so they're actually a rather weird choice of developer for porting Ys, their relationship with Falcom aside.

While I don't play Japanese games in English, I can't say I'm a fan of NISA. I'm still slightly annoyed that they changed a character's surname in Rorona for a cheap joke.

I know Falcom said they're interested in bringing back the old games, but I didn't expect we'd see Felghana first. Still having little knowledge about the Ys series at this point, I'd want to see Ys VI first just because that's the game that made me aware of the series in the first place.

Either way, I'm glad they're doing this. I'll get it if it's a packaged release.

Aside: I want to see the mechanics of running into enemies to deal damage make a return. This is possible in the new games with the right equipment, but I mean it as a primary means to fight.

[Nester the Lark]

IIRC, Falcom began working with Nippon Ichi specifically because they agreed to port games to Switch. Nippon Ichi handled the Switch and PC versions of Ys VIII internally. Subsequent Switch ports were handled by Engine Software. (Except for Ys Origin. Dotemu was in charge of that. Not sure who actually did the port, though.)

You might remember that the PC port of Ys VIII was kind of a disaster, and PH3 Games was brought in to fix it. They've handled the PC ports in collaboration with Engine Software ever since. (PH3 was co-founded by Peter "Durante" Thoman, a former fan modder who has a reputation for being an absolute wizard with PC ports.)

The Switch port of Nayuta was the first done in-house by Falcom. From what I've heard, it's excellent, even running at 60 fps.

NISA definitely has a questionable reputation. The length of time it takes for them to localize games is aggravating. (Yes, the Trails/Kiseki series is extremely text-heavy, but they licensed fan translations for Trails From Zero and Trails to Azure, and it still took a long time for Zero to get released. Fans are still waiting for Azure.)

Earlier this year, NISA shut down a fan translation project for Kuro no Kiseki. The project was simply a spreadsheet, and did not require patching or modifying software at all, so a lot of fans saw this as hostile and greedy, like NISA was forcing them to wait for an extremely slow localization rather than being able to play the Japanese version.

Not to mention, Falcom, themselves, has expressed frustration at NISA's localization speed.

Anyway, as for The Oath in Felghana, I have no idea what went into Falcom's decision to port it. I half-expected Memories of Celceta because they did a PS4 port of that a couple of years ago.