Falcom Games (Legend Of Heroes/Ys/Xanadu etc.)

[Raylen Cypher]

A series of games produced by Falcom that can do with more exposure.

The day before, Falcom confirmed that Trails of Cold Steel III and Ys VIII were set to release for 2017. Yesterday at the annual shareholder meeting, the planned release for Cold Steel 3 is set for Fall 2017. Their Official Twitter also tweeted that it'll be exclusive to the PS4.

Seemed like a perfect time to start a dedicated thread. And the place where I get news of what Falcom is up to is here.

To start off the thread, what was your entry point into Falcom's games? Favorite soundtracks?

Falcom's official Twitter.
https://twitter.com/nihonfalcom

Falcom's official website.
http://www.falcom.com/

You can get the games on Steam.

The Legend of Heroes series:


http://store.steampowered.com/app/25...ls_in_the_Sky/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/25...in_the_Sky_SC/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/43...e_Sky_the_3rd/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/53...of_Cold_Steel/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/74...Cold_Steel_II/



Ys series:


http://store.steampowered.com/app/22...II_Chronicles/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/20...h_in_Felghana/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/31..._of_Napishtim/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/207350/Ys_Origin/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/587100/Ys_SEVEN/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/57...imosa_of_DANA/



Xanadu series:


http://store.steampowered.com/app/312560/Xanadu_Next/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/587260/Tokyo_Xanadu_eX/



Zwei series:


http://store.steampowered.com/app/42...ges_Adventure/


http://store.steampowered.com/app/42..._Insurrection/

[GundamFSN]

Ys: Oath in Felghana.

Music are hard to pick, but they're probably from Trails in the Sky and Ys Seven.

[Raylen Cypher]

Ys: Oath in Felghana.

Music are hard to pick, but they're probably from Trails in the Sky and Ys Seven.

Trails of Cold Steel here obviously, lol.

As for music, the majority of their Legend Of Heroes OST Albums. But definitely this soundtrack that got me into their music from Tales of Zestiria's secret compilation album.

[Akyuu]

Fuck yeah a Falcom thread.

Got into it with TitS FC on the PSP, ventured into some Ys games afterwards but I'm pretty bad at 'em and Seven was boring too so I was mostly stuck at waiting for SC until it miraculously came last year or so. Then CS1 and 2 came out and holy shit it feels pretty damn good to be a Falcom fan. Shame CS3 means I'll legit really need to buy a PS4 though.

Trails' OST in general are nice too, and so are Ys' battle tracks but my absolute favorite is what actually introduced me to the series, this thing here. Saw it in a Touhou video showing off some soku stuff, looked it up and discovered Falcom and led me to trying FC.

[Raylen Cypher]

Got into it with TitS (...)

Not the most awful acronym lmao.

Trails' OST in general are nice too, and so are Ys' battle tracks but my absolute favorite is what actually introduced me to the series, this thing here. Saw it in a Touhou video showing off some soku stuff, looked it up and discovered Falcom and led me to trying FC.

Oh wow, even though Zero/Ao duology isn't localized, I really liked the original from scanning the album. Get Over The Barrier's nice, too, from it playing in Divertissement which made me look into it.

[Rue]

My 1st exposure to Ys was trying out one of the old ones on a emulator but it didn't interest me much then.

Later, it got me interested again after seeing the artwork of The Ark of Napishtim, got it in my PSP & enjoyed it.

I then went on & tried the PSP remake of Ys I & II Chronicles...all the work & effort in the extra dialogues then really made me love the series more.

Like...a looottt~ more

Fireballs! Fireballs for everyone! Bwahahaha!

And holy crap, he actually talked here!

All the extra freedom/reactions should be in games more.

I then jumped to & finished both The Oath of Felghana & Seven. I do have Memories of Celceta in my laptop but I have yet to install & start it. My ever growing but barely lessening gaming backlog assures me that it would be a while longer before I do.

The OSTs are awesome too.

[Raylen Cypher]

I then went on & tried the PSP remake of Ys I & II Chronicles...all the work & effort in the extra dialogues then really made me love the series more.


Like...a looottt~ more

Fireballs! Fireballs for everyone! Bwahahaha!

-here be glorious script snips-

☚(ﾟヮﾟ☚)



Falcom puts so much effort into giving the characters agency and even the treasure chests. It's not surprising that the scripts are LotR length and above. Novels, Newsletters, and Historical Documents enrich the in-universe.

[Akyuu]

Speaking of that, one of my bigger complaints for Cold Steel + 2 is the lack of unique treasure chest messages. 2 has some unique ones for each bond battle chest or something but that's about it iirc.

[Mcjon01]

Relegating Zwei and Gurumin to an "etc." that's fucked up fam

- - - Updated - - -

What about Brandish huh???

[Raylen Cypher]

Relegating Zwei and Gurumin to an "etc." that's fucked up fam

- - - Updated - - -

What about Brandish huh???

Flagship titles. Yes, I could have put Dragon Slayer, but I don't think anyone still remembers or knows of the originals (I don't).

At least my first sentence somewhat pardons me.

A series of games produced by Falcom that can do with more exposure.

- - - Updated - - -

Speaking of that, one of my bigger complaints for Cold Steel + 2 is the lack of unique treasure chest messages. 2 has some unique ones for each bond battle chest or something but that's about it iirc.

Sadly there is no chest messages, nor was I aware that the Bond Chests had any.

[GundamFSN]

Fuck yeah a Falcom thread.

Got into it with TitS FC on the PSP, ventured into some Ys games afterwards but I'm pretty bad at 'em

My main gripe with Ys is the platforming lol. Like there was this secret method in Ys VI where you have to Lightning Dash to get to the secret boss, and I can't seem to pull it off ??? for reasons and another.

There were moments where I accidentally slip and fall, too, I think.

[Akyuu]

My main gripe with Ys is the platforming lol. Like there was this secret method in Ys VI where you have to Lightning Dash to get to the secret boss, and I can't seem to pull it off ??? for reasons and another.

There were moments where I accidentally slip and fall, too, I think.

Platforming Ys is ok. A bit hard sure but the most fun I had with a Ys game (not that I finished it) was Oath in Felghana. Seven and Celcetta on the other hand, had active party members which made traveling and fighting feel a lot more cluttered and messy and kinda boring even if I still suck at 'em.

Sadly there is no chest messages, nor was I aware that the Bond Chests had any.

They do if you don't have the required party members when you attempt a chest. I'm not sure if it's unique for every chest but it's definitely unique for each missing member.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

I'm a late-comer casual to this series, starting with Trails of Cold Steel I, and I don't regret it. This game is fun, chill, interesting and atmospheric and Towa is Best Girl among a group of best girls. I'd go on and on but I haven't touched the game in months because of university.

Incidentally, this was the video that turned me on to the whole series

I know Falcom's actually a corp. and not an indie studio, but they way they do dialogue and story absolutely sold me on this series. No regrets, can't wait to play more of it.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually started using Steam again to play Trails in the Sky.

[Raylen Cypher]

I'm a late-comer casual to this series, starting with Trails of Cold Steel I, and I don't regret it. This game is fun, chill, interesting and atmospheric and Towa is Best Girl among a group of best girls. I'd go on and on but I haven't touched the game in months because of university.

Incidentally, this was the video that turned me on to the whole series

I know Falcom's actually a corp. and not an indie studio, but they way they do dialogue and story absolutely sold me on this series. No regrets, can't wait to play more of it.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually started using Steam again to play Trails in the Sky.

That's what I love so far about Falcom's Trails games, they excel at Characters when it comes to storytelling. NPCs and store clerks that you would surely forget, have lives of their own.

And since all their Trails Games take place in the present, it's a really great universe for in-crossover...

Spoiler:

The main cast of each respective Arc interact with others, like Joshua and Estelle with the cast of Zero/Ao. And even Rean meeting Lloyd in Divertissement.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

I'm the type of person who talks to every NPC in games anyway, so I knew that I found the love of my life--vidya-wise--once I discovered that juicy detail.

[Akyuu]

One thing that I feel Cold Steel exceeds TitS at is how you always return to one single location every chapter(Trista and Thors) so they were able to really develop the NPCs a lot more so than the usual. Everytime I walk around to talk to every NPC student I get something new and since I'm in Trista often, that also happens really often, it's pretty nice.

[GundamFSN]

In light of Ys VIII, I wonder if we'll ever get middle aged Adol as our PC.

[SynMirage]

Will Adol ever stop crashing his boat?

[GundamFSN]

He did in Seven, lol.

[Rockxas]

He did in Seven, lol.

Dogi was even surprised they got to their destination safely!

Anyways, I got into Falcom after listening to some of their games' music some time ago, I've played a bunch of Ys (I&II DS, Ark of Naphistim, Oath in Felghana, Origin, Seven), tried Trails in the Sky for the PSP but got bored of it after a few hours, might give it another try someday.