Falcom thread (Trails, Ys, Xanadu, etc.)

[Mal]

Luckily for me, I have Ys Seven and Xanadu Next to play. They're both replays (Ys, for the most part...) but still, I should play what I have bought first before diving into Zwei II.

 

As for the price, I'd say $25 is fair market price. What XSEED is doing now is bumping up the base price so when sales comes around, they can hit that price. Like when the last time you ever bought a PC game not on sale somehow and somewhere? I get what they are doing but on to my next thing...

2 hours ago, Spooky Scary FLD said:

guaranteed sales from super fans

Maybe going after whales isn't a good strategy... and considering this fan base, we'll smell conniving merchants miles away.

 

Edit: Now that I look at it, I kind of want to play as a vampire princess...

Edited October 23, 2017 by Malloween

[Mal]

Ys VIII PC port delayed AGAIN due to expected re-translation delays.

 

Fucking NISA.

[toxicitizen]

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This is going to come as no surprise to many of you, but after beginning this revision, we have realized that due to the scope of this undertaking, we will unfortunately not be able to release by the end of this month as we had originally intended.

 

That's because anyone with an ounce of common sense could tell this was a massive undertaking and your time table was way too short unless you had been secretly working on the revision for a while already! I mean, holy shit, I'm not one to hate on devs easily but just how fucking incompetent are these clowns?! This is getting so ridiculous that it's almost no longer funny. Almost...

 

Also the PC version is yet again delayed to coincide with the new loc. Not gonna complain about that, I'd hold off until then anyway. But man, they are making it really hard for me to consider paying full price at this point. If they don't offer some kind of apology discount I might actually have to wait for a sale purely out of principle.

Edited November 3, 2017 by FLD

[Mal]

Last Saga is coming out September next year along with CS1 and CS2 ports for PS4.

 

Shit is about to get busy as fuck for XSEED. I have absolute confidence that XSEED will keep the Trails games. It is kind of nice that recently, Hatsu's posts about the English VA work was liked by who I assume to be Kondo. Hatsu mentioned that one of Falcom founders liked those posts.

[toxicitizen]

Huh, a single year is much faster than I was expecting. I guess it's gonna be your typical Trails sequel where it reuses a lot of locations. At least, I'm assuming Cold Steel 2 is like that all the way through. I didn't get very far on Vita. But yeah, given the bump in graphical fidelity, I can't imagine they'll be creating a lot of new 3D assets if they actually think they can get it done it so quickly.

 

Also, I guess it's likely that XSEED have begun working on CS3 by now. Would be nice to get some kind of hint so that we can stop worrying. I'm not as worried after how monumentally NISA fucked up Ys VIII but still. Falcom have proven themselves to not be above making incredibly stupid decisions.

Edited November 9, 2017 by FLD

[Mal]

Looking it up, the turn around time from CS1 to CS2 was about a year as well. FC to SC is actually longer at about two years and about a year from SC to 3rd. The longest breaks were waiting for Zero and for CS3 at about 3 years each. Taking this all in probably means one thing: the Calvard game is a 2021 JPN game with an ENG release at probably 2023.

 

Takeaway: I should learn Japanese. That or maybe Falcom should let XSEED have the script ahead of time.

 

On a completely unrelated note:

I loaded up Xanadu Next and got sucked right in. Sure it's a gloomy game but the combat is rewarding. After late-game Zwei II, I've forgotten how rewarding combat feels like and man does it feels good.

 

@FLD, regarding your first Zwei II run, I suggest the following (copy-pasted from my Steam review/suggestion):

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Gameplay is good as well. It has a simplified Ys vibe going which holds up pretty well. My main gripe with the gameplay though is the late-game where things can get pretty broken in your favor if you dig too deep. It just leads to bland gameplay. With that said, I suggest leaving obvious extra late-game content for after you beat the game. I think that should lead to a better balanced and fun late-game. Besides, there is a NG+ mode with extra stuff to get. You can be overpowered in that NG+ run.

 

I'm very serious about this suggestion because it is one that I wished I had going in.

[toxicitizen]

Doing the bonus dungeon is what broke the game?

[Mal]

No but it makes it worst. The mindlessness of the extra dungeon just bleeds out since you're just way too decked out. It is also kind of pointless to be that decked out on the first playthrough when you can get extra items in NG+ (a lot of things doesn't get carried over).

[Mal]

Xanadu Next replay is done. I have a more favorable impression of the game now than when I played it how many years ago with the fan translation. It's a fantastic game with good progression. The bonus dungeon in this game only shows up just before the final boss and you kind of just run into it if you backtrack. You also got to do some prep work before you can go inside. I personally can't finish the bonus dungeon because it crashes on me... so I went to fight the last boss. While I was buffed up for the bonus dungeon, I wasn't totally overpowered for the boss so that was nice. I actually died once (I revived with an elixir) and I was in danger of running out of healing items! It was mostly due to trying to figure the boss out. Sure, I damaged him hard but I still need to get to the open weak spot which was a bit tricky.

 

On to either Ys Seven or Gurumin.

 

Edit: Seems like NISA worked through the entire Ys 8 script.

I wonder how's the PC port...

Edited November 10, 2017 by Mal

[toxicitizen]

Just goes to show how utterly fucked it was if even they felt the need to rework it so much. I seriously wonder wtf happened here. It was likely a rush job but was the translator also not up to the task or something? Did they assign the game to an intern?? We need Jason Schreier on the case!

 

I'm not getting my hopes up, though. I never had issues with their localization work until this incident (Disgaea and Danganronpa both seem fine to me) but they don't exactly have XSEED's reputation either. I don't expect it'll be up to the series' usual standard. Hell, I wouldn't be completely shocked if it somehow turned out even worse. And that's not even taking the port into account...

[Mal]

Everything seemed like a draft with little to no editorial work done. This is a problem from the translator(s) and up to the highest heads at NISA. The translator(s) for a shit job (e.g., big hole) and on up higher at NISA for allowing such garbage to pass as a product.

 

Ys 8 was probably pushed out due to NISA's contractual obligations and due to Falcom's fiscal year ending sometime within the last couple weeks*. A delay would've meant pushing Ys 8 to the next fiscal year so NISA pushed it out to salvage the situation. Cue the backlash that includes media outlets and fan (you might've noticed that us Falcom fans are dedicated and pretty vocal...) interactions via letters and social media that eventually made its way back to Falcom.

 

Now here we are...

* Falcom released their report like a day or two ago. Their shareholder meeting is next month which should be interesting...

[toxicitizen]

Yeah, from what I've seen the quality really does feel like a first rough pass that somehow was deemed good enough. The crazy thing about "Big Hole" is that the Japanese version has an English name for that area that actually sounds better. Unless they were working from a spreadsheet that only had the Japanese text in it (which, to be fair, is entirely possible), this goes beyond rushed or shoddy work. And even then, if you can't tell that "Big Hole" sounds kinda stupid and probably needs to be changed, then maybe localization work isn't for you...

[Mal]

Say... what is the deal with Falcom and nuns?

Spoiler

She's gonna be a Gralsritter isn't she?

 

And yes, it is extremely dangerous to follow Falcom on Twitter.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Mal

[toxicitizen]

Yeah, I wouldn't wanna risk it lol.

[Mal]

There's actually a lot to like about Gurumin. For example...

First off, like in my first playthrough, there is the adorable Parin.

Parin is easily one of the most adorable MC. A lot of idle animations and stuff to collect for her to wear.

 

Second is actually the combat. While it is hampered by being on the PSP, the basis of a really great combat system is there. Movement is generally pretty good (save for some platforming sections...) and the move sets are interesting. It best shows itself in the optional boss. It just could use some QoL improvements (quick change of parts and hats) and perhaps some enemy tweaks like elemental based enemies. It's be interesting if Falcom ever decide to revisit this combat system. Doubt it though since you really don't see any mention of this game in say Cold Steel or any other Falcom games (while Zwei II and Xanadu Next does).

 

As for the okay to bad... well there is the game structure, the story and other characters which I think are quite the common complaints. Also the lack of a good camera movement is frustrating (again, shows itself "best" in the optional boss). The okay to bad just overpowers the game.

 

I think I might stop my second playthrough and focus on other games since I did what I set out to do: explore the rest of the map and see what I've missed on the first playthrough. Main thing is the optional boss and some mini games. There are some collectables to cute up Parin but I don't want to deal with getting them.

[toxicitizen]

 

The year of Falcom (on Steam) continues! Shitty store image aside, it mentions Dec 8 as the release date, which would make it same day as PS4. Might be an oversight since it was previously assumed to be coming later. But if not, they would actually beat NISA/Ys VIII to release on Steam. If their port is solid (and with Ghostlight handling it, it just might be), then this just makes NISA look even worse.

 

edit: Definitely not an oversight!

 

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by FLD

[Mal]

Tokyo Xanadu got re-translated a bit as well from what I read. Also to be honest, I only finally got a look at the gameplay at the Steam page. It does not inspire confidence. It's basically turn the non-battle portions of Cold Steel into an ARPG. I find the walking portions of Cold Steel to be rather lackluster and a bit stiff. Maybe Tokyo Xanadu will solve it.

 

I'll get paid in two weeks and we'll find out then.

[toxicitizen]

My only issue with the movement in Cold Steel was that the stick on my Steam controller has gone to shit and Rean kept slowing down to a walk whenever I pushed in any direction other than straight up. I actually had to fuck around in the settings and set the detection curve to be more aggresive. Kind of annoying and it's only gotten worse since. I'm gonna need a replacement, I think.  But you gotta hand it to Valve, though. The level of customization on that thing is absolutely insane.

 

And that's good to know about the translation being reworked a bit. I had heard that it was also rough but it didn't seem to be anywhere near as bad as Ys VIII because no one was talking about it. I completely forgot the Vita version came out months ago, too. So yeah, out of all the recent Falcom releases this is definitely the lesser profile one. I've been looking forward to it for what feels like years now but I'm trying to keep expectations in check. 

[Mal]

Tokyo Xanadu's translation had the or a translator took some liberties on some lines and phrases. I'm not sure if this is all (these are not mines).

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This one is not terrible but that's simply because I hear "hella" a lot from living in the California Bay Area. From what I know, "hella" is pretty much solely a northern California slang. I don't think such a specific regional slang should be in a world wide English release and for a character from TOKYO JAPAN.

 

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Eh. I'm not in high school anime club anymore...

 

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This is a bit odd... and again I'm not in high school anymore.

 

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Borderline memes. Don't be like the Neptunia games localization where there are literal memes (One of the reasons why NISA get shit on).

 

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(Fucking A...) Um, uh...

 

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I just don't know. Maybe they are avoiding cursing?

 

I have no idea how close the lines are the original Japanese or they're even remotely close of localization equivalents words/phrases. I just think that the above comes off as almost amateurish even if I get the intent like *nom* *nom*. Some of the stuff though reminds me of bad fan subs and others are just bizarre.

 

Here's some Trails for comparison:

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You can hear the singing voice in your head.

 

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If the bits in the parentheses were add then I find this to be a case where localization made a part better. Maybe you can tell that I love this bit.

 

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Punny.

 

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When I think about it, I don't think audible *sigh* and such were always in text. I think lines like these are holdouts from voiceless parts that carried over. I personally don't mind if they are or are not in text.

I also seem to remember something along the line of *eats*.

 

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This works. Got a chuckle out of me. I actually stopped here for a bit to watch Fie whisk furiously. Maybe it was originally "..." but I need to see the Japanese version to be sure. On a totally unrelated note: I never paid attention to the girls' uniforms and the special touches they made to each until now...

 

Anyhow... I was coming onto here to do a bit of comparison between Sky/Crossbell to Cold Steel jump and from Valkyria Chronicles 1 to 2 jump. Mainly about the move from grounded games to a bit fantastical and quite high school-y setting. I do find them to be a bit similar. I think I'll do it another time. 

 

Gonna leave with this. An old image but hey, it got history and it never fail to get a chuckle out of me.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Mal

[toxicitizen]

See, based on what I've seen of the two, to me it looks like Ys VIII suffered from bad translation while this is bad localization. The Tokyo Xanadu stuff is super cringy and reads like they took too many (bad) liberties with the text, but at least it reads like coherent english and I can kinda see someone saying those things IRL. That someone would come off as kind of a weirdo but at least it doesn't sound stilted or unnatural, which is more than I can say about some of the Ys VIII screenshots I've seen.

 

Hopefully all of this stuff will be gone by the time we get our hands on the game, but if not at least it's the lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned.

[Mal]

Britt finished CS3. Thank the lord for the fan translations of Ao and Zero. I'm still debating if I should wait for Zero to drop to start CS2 since there is a major spoiler after I believe the first boss battle in CS2. Or was it spoilers to Ao?

[toxicitizen]

XSEED had a mystery stream planned for tonight (still going, I think) and the big announcement is that they're also releasing Zwei 1.

 

 

Apparently they had been working on both games concurrently and the second one was simply ready to release first. Kind of unexpected, I figured the first one might be too much of a headache for tech reasons. Especially since they dropped the 2 from the sequel's english title. But hey, at least now I'll get to play them in order.

 

Also, for once they put the Steam store page up right away.

Edited December 1, 2017 by FLD

[Mal]

I just hope the balance don't go to shit. Other than the gameplay in the late-game in Zwei II, I freaking love it. So YES for more wacky adventure in Zwei-land. Falcom, seriously, we could use a proper Zwei 3.

 

Edit: Sound like they had a bear of a time to get this game going. With that, the port will be a bit subpar. But here's the thing, they explained it.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Mal

[Baconrath]

There was a small patch to CS1 and I got really excited thinking it meant that CS2 finally had a page on steam but nah. Not yet :C

[toxicitizen]

Last I heard, CS2 is due early 2018 (I wanna say January but I honestly can't remember if I saw Durante hinting at it or if it's just wishful thinking on my part) so I'm hoping to see the store page go up this month. Then again, I've been burned before by being too optimistic about XSEED's release windows...

 

In other news, the awful store banner for Tokyo Xanadu eX+ has been changed to a much better looking one. 

 

 

Also, I guess it's coming in 2 days! I probably shouldn't buy it, especially with Okami and the RE7 DLC next week, but I probably will -_-. Unless they go "Fuck Canada" and charge like 80 bucks for it, I guess. That would make it easier to hold off.