Falcom Thread

[LaserMoose]

Feel free to talk about all things Nihon Falcom here, including the Ys games, Trails series, and others.

If talking about the story of these games, please mark your comments as spoilers accordingly!

 

[Tonberry]

I've played a teeny tiny bit of Ys Origin and Oath in Felghana. I really like both of them from what I played, but I suck at them, and should really dedicate some time to actually beating them.
I'd like to get into the Ys series more, they seem really cool overall.

 

[Felipe]

I like Ys games although i didnt play anything after Ys 8 because of my video card. I started i guess more than 10 years ago with the basic (non-chronicles) version of this one when it was translated by Nightcrawler (i guess this is the name of the translator):

Ys I & II Chronicles+

Long, long ago, there was an ancient kingdom called Ys which prospered under the auspices

www.gog.com

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I like Ys but i have only played SEVEN and Monstrum Nox. I don't like that they got NISA to translate the games, but what can we do.

I used to like Trails, but Cold Steel made me drop the series, and i will never pick it back up, all i know is that everything post-Cold Steel makes everything i hated about it worse. I will never respect anyone who says they like the post-Cold Steel Trails.

Tokyo Xanadu its pretty good, i like to say that its what Persona would be like, if Persona was good.

Edit: Forgot about Zwei (just like Falcom did), its pretty fun too.

 

[Super Funky Piece]

i got burned out on Trails pretty bad during the release cycle of Cold Steel. I may go back and finally play the Crossbell duology some day just for the older magic system. and Wazy

i still love Ys quite a lot. i had picked them up when XSEED first started translating them and held off for a few years during the messy switch to NISA, but around 2020 i finally played Ys 8 and had as much of a blast as everyone always says. i went into 9 the following year expecting a good time but maybe a bit weaker than 8, only to be surprised how much i loved its cast and vastly different locale. i think 9's ending for being one of the happiest in the series actually wound up rather bittersweet for me just because of how much i enjoyed my time getting to know its characters. along with some more overt ties to the larger series in its plot, 9 really did cement to me again just how dear Ys remains to me

All that said! Still a bit miffed they announced an updated Ys X just after the english release! I really hope that will be distributed as an upgrade DLC option down the line. very interested where they go with the next Tokyo Xanadu too. i dont expect as good a soundtrack though.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

very interested where they go with the next Tokyo Xanadu too. i dont expect as good a soundtrack though.

Are they making another one?

The ending of EX+ (the post-game one) felt pretty conclusive to me. Now i am curious about what they do.

 

[WesternYokai]

My experience with Falcom games is a hot mess. I played like a dozen of games, some I finished, some I just dropped even I didn't find bad or something and none of them was in order or from the same franchise lol.

I really liked Ys Chronicles, for example, and played VIII and IX to death, right now I'm trying Ys V for the Snes and just found that it's like a black sheep of the franchise. Well, I'm enjoying it even the game being slow af to things to happen.

Also, I played Xanadu Next, Trails in the Sky FC (planning to play it again on my Vita before the remake comes out) and maybe some other game that I can't remember.

Overall, a neat developer. I respect them so much because their sensibility and sense of fantasy and adventure.

 

[Super Funky Piece]

Are they making another one?

The ending of EX+ (the post-game one) felt pretty conclusive to me. Now i am curious about what they do.

they announced another one for its tenth anniversary, this time set in Kyoto and that's about all we know. i wouldnt mind if they outright set it the year of release again for a major time skip to a new cast and maybe some older returning ones. i think the only thing to really follow up on was getting further in the actual nature and origin of the whole labyrinth dimension of the game

 

[Barbed Lotus]

I miss their 2003-2011 output. I think that era was their peak, creatively. You had the Napishtim engine Ys trilogy, Gurumin, Zwei 2, the Trails in the Sky trilogy, the Crossbell duology, Brandish: The Dark Revenant, and Xanadu Next. Barring Ys VIII, I feel like they've largely fallen off ever since.

Trails devolved into a trend-chasing mess with a noticeable drop in writing quality.
Celceta and Monstrum Nox didn't really live up to their immediate Ys predecessors.
Tokyo Xanadu is about the most banal, derivative game I've ever played from their library.

Granted, I haven't played Ys X or the Calvard arc yet, but Trails into Reverie burned me out on Trails and I'm still waiting for the upgraded re-release of Ys X before jumping into that title.

 

[Lokgamer]

I'm not very familiar with Falcom, I've only played Ys Origins and Gurumin, and I really liked both.

 

[NachoChi]

Proud to say that I only need to play 2 more Legend of Heroes games and I'll be caught up. Yes, I did play the original Dragon Slayer series as well before it went to the Gagharv Trilogy followed by the Trails series. Ys, I've beaten all but V,VIII,IX, and X. Another great series for sure. But, the honorable mentions go to both Xanadu and Gurumin.

 

[UnDubious]

Solid, veteran company that has been around since the beginning of action RPGs. It's great that they managed to survive this long and remained largely true to their roots. Rare story.
I've beaten Ys 1 & 2 Turbo CD, 3 Genesis, both 4s (Dawn of Ys and Mask of the Sun are not two different versions of one game, they are two different games), 5, 6 PC and 7. I liked all of them originally except 7, especially 4 I'd say. In retrospect, I was probably wrong about 7 - the change in gameplay style was probably a good thing, and hopefully I'll play 8 and 9 some day. I've heard 8 is incredible.
Xanadu Next is dope too. Trails of Nayuta is very dope and yall should play it on PSP. One of their best games. I beat Trails of Sky, didn't like it. Very bland and wordy. Legend of Heroes 1 on Turbo CD was solid. I played the Legend of Heroes PSP trilogy (III-IV-V) but the horrible localizations ruined them so I don't know if they're legit or not, honestly.

In summary, great company, especially when it comes to action RPGs. I'm really interested in Tokyo Xanadu, it looks cool.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Falcolm in the middle

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Finally Gadobadorrer thread

 

[Felipe]

I forgot to mention this one. It's a nice game too:

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection

In a world where magic and technology exist side by side, vampire princess Alwen must rec

www.gog.com

You have to go back and forth A LOT OF TIMES but it's fun to play.

 

[Zarathusta]

Big fan of Kiseki and ys Just finished reverie which was a great finale to the Sky/crossbell/cold steel cast.

 

[Esau]

There's something that the Falcom games I've played so far seem to lack that I can't put my finger on... Nayuta, Trails in the Sky FC, and TLOH White Witch all felt like chores and I had to force myself to complete them.

 

[LaserMoose]

I guess seeing as I made the thread, I probably should put my thoughts here:

I love Falcom's music, for one. Get Over The Barrier and Sophisticated Fight are stellar, and surpass many normal battle themes in most other games, in my opinion. Sunshine Coastline from Ys VIII is a standout, too. The list can easily go on - Falcom Sound Team JDK are a treat.

If I'm being honest, I am less familiar with Falcom's games, but I was aware that it is rather difficult to find Ys content here due to its short name being unable to be searched in the forums here (for an understandable reason, as it would impact search performance and costs). I have dedicated some time to Trails in the Sky FC and Ys Origin in the past, and enjoyed what I had played from both of them. I have an interest in both Ys and Trails, and I'm interested to hear everyone else's thoughts on the games.

I kept seeing resident Falcom fan @Leon around the forums and thought "Falcom needs a dedicated thread!"

 

[Yuniheim]

Good thing you made this thread indeed, and I gotta thank this place because it was what introduced me to Trails series (back when the site wasn't even called cdromance or RGT), I found Trails in the Sky around the time I started playing PSP games and this site was my go-to place and since them Trails has been one of my favorite JRPGs, it wasn't long till I found Ys too.

I'm a bit saturated from Trails games right now because I played it a bit too much in the past years so I'm waiting for the Sky Remake to release so I can reignite my love for this franchise and play some of the recent games (Kuro/Daybreak).

I haven't dedicated as much time for Ys and I did for Trails so I won't talk about Ys.
So what can I say about Trails franchise as a whole?
It's a JRPG on it's roots, it has a great story with great worldbuilding, it may be a bit cliche or a bit cringy with it's anime troupes, it may have a bit of fanservice (on cold steel games onwards) and some flaws but the franchise is great. I recommend every JRPG fan to venture into it.
The OST of the games are one of my favorites too.
If I had to criticize something is that they often take too long to localize their games to the west.

Also, I really would like to recommend a youtube channel called The Kiseki Nut, he's a cool guy that talks about Falcom games and many other JRPGs. He also have dedicated videos explaining the story or many parts of the game that people may find confusing or difficult to follow so it's worth to check it out.

 

[Barbed Lotus]

My two cents is don't skip out on Falcom's mid-2000s PC titles. They're all really good - especially if you enjoy action RPGs. I'll forever shill Zwei 2: The Ilvard Insurrection as one of their most fun and comfy games.

 

[bigstinkie]

falcom is an absolute gorilla for the zwei games and gurumin alone
ys is a series i absolutely need to get into more, i fall into the category of having beaten the original ys title on three different game consoles, yet i've never played any of the other games in the series

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

I think Nihon Falcom is one of the most unsung studios out there. I mean, looking at their output, we got classics like the Trails in the Sky trilogy, Gurumin, the Zwei duology, Xanadu Next liek c'mon man. We got banger after banger in their catalog

 

[CalamityJade]

I wish Falcom would make Trails games like Sky/Crossbell again. i liked Cold Steel at first but with 3 and 4 that arc devolved into a mess. Daybreak is better imo but still a boring slog to play through.
doesnt help that every new Trails game is 100 hours long and 75% of that is filler. i cant deal with that shit anymore -.-

 

[Barbed Lotus]

I wish Falcom would make Trails games like Sky/Crossbell again.

Well, I got some news for you, buddy.
https://d271o128cqhgss.cloudfront.net/assets/article/2024/12/18/contrailpr-feature_2740_feature.png

 

[Poltergeist]

If I want to get into Ys series, what is the best game to start from?