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InuKen
Posts: 20 |
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I'm a huge Falcom fan especially the LOH series and am glad that I'm able to play all their games. They are such masters of creating grand stories and connected narratives. It's a pity the West, more specifically critics, don't share that same opinion and many just write Falcom off as just another Japanese dev.
Either way, I look forward to Tokyo Xanadu and the new Ys game coming out this year. Will definitely be purchasing Sora no Kiseki Evo for the Vita as well. |
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redcar
 Posts: 172 Location: Texas |
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While there's certainly been some pretty good news lately on the Legend of Heroes front, I just really hope they get around to localizing Zero/Ao sometime. They've been doing a great job getting their games on Steam, and a PC version of Zero/Ao already exists, so...I guess we just need to get as many people as possible to play Sora no Kiseki FC/SC and see what happens. I wasn't really into Falcom's stuff before it went on Steam, and hopefully there are many like me who discovered it and want more.
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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I've definitely enjoyed the Falcom games I've played and I'm really looking forward to Trails 2.
...and on that note, I think it's important to ask that fellow fans give lot of thoughts and support for Carpe Fulgar head Andrew Dice who last year suffered from severe depression from both personal and work related issues and came very close to ending his own life. He seems to have recovered but I think everyone who loves the games he's worked should do what they can to show their appreciation. Thank you Mr. Dice for all your hard work in bringing us these wonderful games. I wish you nothing but the best! Last edited by Shenl742 on Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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Huh. It seems I've played Falcom games without realizing it.
I've never tried them knowingly, but after reading this I'd like to give many of their games a try. |
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belvadeer
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Likely those critics have done next to no research on Falcom's history, so I guess it's inevitable they will make ignorant and shortsighted comments like Falcom being "just another Japanese developer" to them. Or they could just have short attention spans when it comes to well-written stories and worlds. You know, the type who goes, "I don't want to read stuff, I want to kill stuff!" Anyway, as someone who has enjoyed several Ys games and Gurumin over the years, I can say that Falcom is very talented at what they do. They never needed to go beyond what they know to stay successful in the game market and to this day they still haven't needed to. That being said, I eagerly anticipate the release of Trails SC; I've been keeping the ending of the first entry repeating in my mind. Just a note Todd, that "pronounced" gag got old really fast. |
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Rahxephon91
 Posts: 1859 Location: Park Forest IL. |
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This made up persecution complex Japanese game fans have needs to end. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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He's half right, though. Sure, the games recieve good reviews, but the games don't get nearly as much attention as other big Japanese series, despite their quality being similar or even higher. Something like Final Fantasy, that's something people know. It's something editor-in-chiefs know. If if they don't know, Squeenix' marketing will make sure they do. So when it's time to make a decision on what games to cover and how many pages to assign to each title, most will be like: "Well, Final Fantasy is big, readers will want to read about that. Let's do some previews and follow it up with a 4 page review when it's out. Ys? Oh, I think [random reviewer] likes that series. I'll give him a page for a review. Maybe 2, if we don't need to space for something bigger." Then that Ys game will get a good but short review. Maybe even a 9/10 or something equally positive. And when it's time for the yearly top something-something, you'll see one or two writers begging for a spot for Ys. But, since it's not something everyone knows, it'll likely dangle somewhere at the tail-end of the thing. Probably below games that scored 8,5/10s. Because Ys is a Japanese thing and Japanese things are weird. (Which makes no sense whatsoever, because the recent Final Fantasy games are a shitton weirder than anything Ys has ever done.) |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I'm going to spend this week pissed off that I don't have a Vita or PS4. Because Grim Fandango, dammit! Not for PS3...
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I haven't played an Ys game since V, I can tell you why they aren't popular, they were first released on a system that few even heard of at the time in the US. For one, the Turbografx and Turboduo was only marketed in the major cities, the only reason I had one as a child is because my father brought a duo home with him but he didn't like it (he wasn't good at shmups but I was and he had nothing but shmups for the system), so I ended up with it and had a blast with and started my interest in import gaming. Then you have lack of localizations, Ys IV and V weren't localized. A great deal of Dragon Slayer and Legend of Heroes wasn't localized either. Also RPGs weren't as popular in the 16 bit era as they were in the 32 bit era.
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Ultimatum
 Posts: 162 |
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I just bought Trails in the Sky last week or around that in one of the psn store's sales, and I loved every second of it. So much effort and creativity was written in to each and every line of text, and it made me want to never stop playing. This was my first Falcom game, and it was seriously amazing.
I had no idea about Mr. Dice's struggles behind the scene. He probably won't read this, but I talked to just about every NPC everywhere, and their ongoing stories and changing lines really made me appreciate the game on a whole other level. Thank you so much for being a part of it! I'll be sure to get SC the second it goes on sale. Did the first sell really well on Steam or something? I didn't know about the game when it first came out, but some of the articles I've read implied that it bombed on the psp. I just hope we can get more games in the future, and that Carpe Fulgur's involved. Side note: how are the Ys games? I've heard the stories aren't the focus, but how are the characters? |
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GalicianNightmare
Posts: 124 |
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1. Story quality in video games don't matter. 2. Japanese games and consoles sell better in the US and EU than vice versa and are still on average better received than vice versa, so you can't really talk about tolerance in terms of accepting games. Japanese games have been accepted in the US and EU for 35 years. In fact, many westerners for a time had a view that western games sucked compared to Japanese ones, which was kinda true at THAT time. Until the mid 2000s, Japanese games dominated the US and EU markets. The Japanese have yet to accept western games and systems. And unlike animation and comic books, where Japan makes enough or its own, and unlike the latter case where it dominates the comic book share, the Japanese game market is not the biggest by a long shot ANYMORE. Japanese gamers are fickle and racist when it comes to games. They care more about nationality than GAME QUALITY. Not saying Japanese games are better or worse, but a true gamer doesn't care about nationalism or country of origin. Remember, 1.3 million copies of FFXIII sold in the US and that's among the worst of the FFVII- FF games in the US, yet that's STILL more than any game without origins from Japan, so sales of DKC 2 and 3 being "higher" obviously do not count because the characters are not British. 7-12 sold 1.8-3 million. |
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Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
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With a few exceptions of the bigger known titles, western gaming sites always write Japanese games off, that's no surprising. Perhaps it's for the best, though. We don't need prudish eyes glancing at the medium already more than they already do. Trying to apply American values and standards to foreign products. It'd just cause unneeded controversy. Though I am reminded of this one hilarious review of Oath in Felghana that called it sadistic, unfair, and horrible and how it wasn't linear or held your hand like modern games do. Most mainstream reviewers would probably find the Ys games too hard and difficult. It's Metacritic average is 73, which tells you a lot. -Stuart Smith |
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belvadeer
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The cast tends to vary between games, but they're generally a balanced bunch of supporting (and in later entries, playable) characters. Adol has a lot of personality for someone who rarely speaks (and Memories of Celeceta on the Vita finally offers some insight to his actual childhood and his father). Dogi is cool too; the whole trusty good buddy and wall-breaking sidekick schtick never gets old. |
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Hoppy800
Posts: 3331 |
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Most mainstream reviewers don't put the time in to enjoy an RPG, even Ys requires some effort to complete. If I tossed The Legend of Legacy which I'm currently playing at a mainstream reviewer, they would freak out, get frustrated, and give it an unfairly bad review. They don't like difficulty (it's Nintendo Hard) and they hate putting more than 7-8 hours in the game (it's a 30+ hour game). |
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Guile
Posts: 595 |
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The thing people must understand is in the professional field you're assigning a guy to do a lot of reviews in a week. They're obviously not going to spend much time on any one game because time is money and they have lots of other games to go through, so chances are a 100+ hour RPG is going to be given the same investment as a few hour long shooter or action game. If you want to see a proper review of a game, maybe try out smaller sites done by fans, or look up some review on YouTube done by a passionate guy or gal. I would avoid the ones with skits or "jokes" though, they tend to focus on being funny rather than informative. Or perhaps just watch some gameplay footage and judge for yourself, which is why I always do.
Unfortunately, mainstream reviews have been known for doing things like reviewing games they have only played a few hours of, which should be called a preview or a first impressions, not a review because you can't review something you haven't completed. There's also been cases where they play on the easiest difficulty setting, though you generally can only tell in games where certain things are locked out of certain difficulties, like an extended ending or final level. Even people who work on the games have called them out on this practice. It's a rather unfortunate scene when a game is not given a fair shake. We must also keep in mind advertising money and publishers will ensure certain games get more focus than others. |
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