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[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Apparently Sara, their programmer, is more or less going at this alone since Falcom no longer has any PC programmers on the team that could possibly help with knowledge of the inner workings of the game. Finding out that this game doesn't actually use Ys engine must have been a really nasty surprise, but hopefully Sara is at least picking up new tricks for her toolbox in the process.

This brings up a question I've had for a while... does anybody know why Falcom has done such a reversal on PC support this gen? Not counting localizations/ports of older Ys/Kiseki games, they haven't really spearheaded any PC projects in a long time.

 

[Shouta]

This brings up a question I've had for a while... does anybody know why Falcom has done such a reversal on PC support this gen? Not counting localizations/ports of older Ys/Kiseki games, they haven't really spearheaded any PC projects in a long time.

Hand-helds and consoles sales are better than PC in Japan, on average, and with universal hardware, they can streamline production and reduce costs in areas like QA. You have to deal with the tech limitations and of course Sony but for a company like Falcom, who's in the low to middle end of production values, they don't need to be worried about the PS3 being underpowered yet.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I suppose that makes sense. I do wish that more LoH games past the 3rd were available on PC though, its much easier for me to check kanji and definitions that way.

 

[jdkluv]

Apparently Sara, their programmer, is more or less going at this alone since Falcom no longer has any PC programmers on the team that could possibly help with knowledge of the inner workings of the game.

Except they do. XSEED handles all aspects of localization -- including the programming -- in order that it requires only minimal involvement by Falcom, since they are always busy working on new games.

 

[Aeana]

This brings up a question I've had for a while... does anybody know why Falcom has done such a reversal on PC support this gen? Not counting localizations/ports of older Ys/Kiseki games, they haven't really spearheaded any PC projects in a long time.

They had better sales on PSP than PC, and they also had a falling-out with their PC publisher.

 

[kiriin]

This brings up a question I've had for a while... does anybody know why Falcom has done such a reversal on PC support this gen? Not counting localizations/ports of older Ys/Kiseki games, they haven't really spearheaded any PC projects in a long time.

There a good interview with the president of Falcom, Toshihiro Kondo on the matter.

Baha: Before, Falcom used to exclusively develop games for the PC. What is the reason for the decision to shift to console gaming?
Kondo: Actually, I was not the one who made that decision; the decision was made by the former president of Falcom [Shinji Yamasaki]. The reason was because the customer base for PC gaming was shrinking significantly over the years. With this change in the environment, we felt it was necessary to reach out to a wider number of gamers interested in Falcom games on accessible platforms.

 

[omgfloofy]

This brings up a question I've had for a while... does anybody know why Falcom has done such a reversal on PC support this gen? Not counting localizations/ports of older Ys/Kiseki games, they haven't really spearheaded any PC projects in a long time.

I don't mean to just randomly post links from my site, but it might be easier to post them here, instead of just throwing tons of quotes and spamming the whole thread.

Link # 1: http://www.esterior.net/2011/03/falcom-and-publishing-pc-games/

Several years back, someone on Falcom's BBS (which doesn't exist anymore. I think it was finally taken down about a year ago or so), put a lot of details together on what may have happened with the PC game development, based on the information from their financial reports. This details some stuff with the publisher as Aeana mentioned earlier.

It’s from none other than their own Investor Relations documents. Look at their 2008/09 marketable securities report here: http://www.falcom.co.jp/kaisya/ir/library_pdf/yuho0809.pdf

On Page 5 in the section on the company’s development, under November 2001 it says ‘With the aim of separating the business of PC game planning, production, development and sales, old Falcom was transitioned into a new company with these areas split.’

On Page 9, in the section on production, orders and sales, Softbank’s sales successes are shown as having gone down from being 47.9% of the total to only 5%. However, they’re still clearly marked as an important client.

This can also be seen by what Kondo said in an English interview with GameInformer:

In 2006, just before Kondo took over as president, Falcom made a sudden and surprising development shift. Where they had previously created games almost exclusively for PC, they realized the market was starting to dry up and started looking toward other platforms.
"Back when I was still on the development staff, the founder of Falcom told us: Don't think it's going to be like this forever. We're not going to be able to keep releasing our games on PC forever", Kondo explains.
Despite skepticism from the staff, the president's warning proved true. A shrinking market for PC titles in Japan made it increasingly difficult for Falcom to break even on its games. Clearly, they had to take a chance.

Link #2: http://www.esterior.net/2013/02/fal...or-smartphone-tablet-and-pc-game-development/

Falcom may be dabbling a bit in the PC development area again, but if the Innovation Unit is doing Mobile AND PC dev, then they probably currently have their hands full.

Before that last innovation unit link, though, Falcom has shown that they haven't quite abandoned PC entirely. (Testing Zero no Kiseki PC In-House, and the the title itself for sale on Falcom's shop - which actually has the DRM of the Chinese version stripped from it, as well.)

While they're not actively developing for PC, because the money isn't there, I think they still have a few things up their sleeves, and they definitely seem to show some interest towards the PC- but a company needs to develop where they get the best Return of Investment for their work. (Kondo has stated something similar to this in interviews with NHK World.)

The 2013 stockholders meeting has more information on potential PC development, though, especially as XSEED's releases of the games have done so well on Steam:

They were also asked about plans to release a PC version of Ao no Kiseki, like how they ported the Joyoland PC release of Zero no Kiseki. The shareholders also expressed an interest in future titles being released either multiplatform with PC and console, or straight to PC. The Ao no Kiseki port is still being considered, as they’re still researching the market conditions to ensure that it’s feasible. Regarding PC titles, the Steam releases of Ys 1+2 Chronicles, Ys the Oath in Felghana, and Ys Origin in North America was mentioned- these titles have managed to have over 100,000 downloads. As a result, they are currently investigating the viability of releasing to Steam domestically in Japan.

EDIT: and I somehow still manage to spam the thread. Sorry.

 

[Eusis]

Would be kind of interesting if XSEED indirectly led to Steam actually starting to catch on in Japan, even if it's a smaller base proportionally to just about every other country in the world (unless I'm grossly overestimating some places like NA.) But I guess Valve would need a partner there and I'm not sure how big they are into doing that.

Still, this does sound like the same trajectory western developers went through: PC became less and less relevant, but then Steam caught on and so PC started to become a lucrative market again. It's just physical has gotten really bad for it, for many reasons I suspect.

 

[t26]

Except they do. XSEED handles all aspects of localization -- including the programming -- in order that it requires only minimal involvement by Falcom, since they are always busy working on new games.

Well Falcom has enough free time to work with Korean and Chinese version of Sen no Kiseki. In fact Sen no Kiseki II is getting Korean, Chinese, and Japanese release on the same day

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

You ain't spamming, you're ejucumacating, don't appologize!

As a result, they are currently investigating the viability of releasing to Steam domestically in Japan.

Silver lining: it's the Trails fan way!

Would be kind of interesting if XSEED indirectly led to Steam actually starting to catch on in Japan, even if it's a smaller base proportionally to just about every other country in the world (unless I'm grossly overestimating some places like NA.) But I guess Valve would need a partner there and I'm not sure how big they are into doing that.

Still, this does sound like the same trajectory western developers went through: PC became less and less relevant, but then Steam caught on and so PC started to become a lucrative market again. It's just physical has gotten really bad for it, for many reasons I suspect.

The timing on that was so rough for such an old PC stalwart like Falcom, too. Another squall in the perfect storm.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

On the topic of the Sen no Kiseki II CM.

Gaius, why you throwing your bird. There's no way he's ok with that. STOP.

 

[omgfloofy]

Well Falcom has enough free time to work with Korean and Chinese version of Sen no Kiseki. In fact Sen no Kiseki II is getting Korean, Chinese, and Japanese release on the same day

This is because SCEJA is partnered with Falcom for the whole thing. The article that Kiriin quoted a few posts back actually has a lot on that whole process.

You can find the whole thing here:
http://www.esterior.net/2014/05/tra...ut-sen-no-kiseki-ii-and-the-future-of-falcom/

Gaius, why you throwing your bird. There's no way he's ok with that. STOP.

This makes me think of an Animaniacs quote for some reason:
"Nevermind that! Just give me the bird!" "We can't... this is a family show."

 

[Shouta]

On the topic of the Sen no Kiseki II CM.

Gaius, why you throwing your bird. There's no way he's ok with that. STOP.

He's Nakoruru but tall, dark and handsome. It's OK though, the bird is probably covered in super powered energy.

 

[t26]

This is because SCEJA is partnered with Falcom for the whole thing. The article that Kiriin quoted a few posts back actually has a lot on that whole process.

You can find the whole thing here:
http://www.esterior.net/2014/05/tra...ut-sen-no-kiseki-ii-and-the-future-of-falcom/

Even if someone else is doing the localization, it still takes time for Falcom to do the coding to put the text in the game.

Edit: You probably want your translator to double check. There is no simplified Sen no Kiseki

 

[Shouta]

Even if someone else is doing the localization, it still takes time for Falcom to do the coding to put the text in the game.

Edit: You probably want your translator to double check. There is no simplified Sen no Kiseki

Falcom would make so much money if they coded their games to make it easy to localize.

 

[Eusis]

This is because SCEJA is partnered with Falcom for the whole thing. The article that Kiriin quoted a few posts back actually has a lot on that whole process.

Makes me wonder how things could've gone if SCEA had taken on bringing Kiseki out to the states. But then we'd probably get a quicker yet flatter (hopefully still competent) translation versus what XSEED's offering. But then they have gone to 8-4 for some games like Rogue Galaxy (although XSEED did too) so... who knows.

Falcom would make so much money if they coded their games to make it easy to localize.

And maybe not write faster than they can translate, almost literally.

 

[Barrylocke]

Except they do. XSEED handles all aspects of localization -- including the programming -- in order that it requires only minimal involvement by Falcom, since they are always busy working on new games.

I was more or less going based on what was said here. Perhaps the more accurate takeaway is that the game is simply older and there's not as many people available to help out on the Falcom side because, as you point out, Falcom has resources tied to making new games while Xseed is localizing the older ones.

 

[HRose]

Judging by what XSEED has been posting here and there, FC on Steam will probably be out by summer. They kept running into new game-breaking bugs.

"Judging by what XSEED has been posting here and there" FC was supposed to be released a few months ago.

If now they think SC could be out before the end of the year you could be optimist and MAYBE get FC by that time. Maybe.

SC, only a miracle could make it happen.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

*big post*

Wow, thanks for all that info. Its very interesting.

 

[Aeana]

'Kay. I'm on vacation and now I'm going to finally play and beat Sen.
This time, it's for real.

 

[Nightengale]

Makes me wonder how things could've gone if SCEA had taken on bringing Kiseki out to the states. But then we'd probably get a quicker yet flatter (hopefully still competent) translation versus what XSEED's offering. But then they have gone to 8-4 for some games like Rogue Galaxy (although XSEED did too) so... who knows.

I may be wrong, but I've always felt that it's always due to somewhat of a structural difference.

SCEJA's non-Japanese divisions aren't involved in game development, so their focus are probably strictly localisation and marketing, and it makes sense that there's resources in place to support broader localisation efforts that's probably cost-effective.

SCEA otoh, seems to have a bulk of its resources dedicated towards first-party, to the extent that Boyes/Gio Corsi literally had to start a whole division from scratch ( 3rd-Party Team ) to build up resources to do things we've been asking for years.

 

[dhlt25]

I did my part and bought all Falcom games on steam. Now impatiently waiting for the kiseki games.

 

[redhairedking]

^You sir have done a good thing

 

[Rootbeer]

I did my part and bought all Falcom games on steam. Now impatiently waiting for the kiseki games.

Same, I've owned them all for some time. Can't wait for the kiseki releases to start! It's a way more enjoyable series for me.

 

[Hasemo]

I've finally cleared Sen no Kiseki yesterday. Took me over 60 hours over 2 weeks to do all the quests, reach maximum rank and find all the recipes (didn't care about fish etc.).
I must say, that it's one of my least favorite entries in the Kiseki series and my current ranking after playing all the games looks like this:
Zero > Ao >>> Sora 2nd > Sora 1st >> Sora 3rd/Sen

Maybe it's because I'm tired of the (I don't think that's a spoiler, but whatever)

Spoiler

school theme - I've dropped both Persona 3 and 4 because that part wasn't appealing.

Performance problems were also really annoying. In the patched Vita versions, about 1/3 of the cutscenes had really bad fps drops, animations were clunky and the loading times were still quite long.
Oh, I also didn't like the changes to the Quartz system.

That's about it for complaining. The overall story was quite interesting, characters likable (with a few exceptions) and the very last part of the game was so good, that I can't wait for Sen 2. I just hope they solve most of the technical issues...

 

[Aeana]

3rd being at the bottom of your list makes me so sad.

 

[Hasemo]

3rd being at the bottom of your list makes me so sad.

I really liked it at the beginning, since it was so different from 1st and 2nd, but near the end I just wanted it to end. To be honest I don't even remember why.

 

[Shouta]

I really liked it at the beginning, since it was so different from 1st and 2nd, but near the end I just wanted it to end. To be honest I don't even remember why.

It's the third game with the same cast and graphics would be the big thing. Then the game/narrative would be the next thing on the list to me.

 

[redhairedking]

The opening for Ao Evo was posted online, it's apparently very spoiler heavy for Ao so watch at your own risk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCeu9UMzO70

 

[Aeana]

Aside from a couple of things, a lot of that is only spoilery to someone who knows it's a spoiler.

 

[Linkark07]

I plan to buy the first Trails of the Sky on PSN for play on my Vita. My question is, has this game ever gone on sale on PSN?; don't want to buy it and then find out the next day it has been discounted.

 

[redhairedking]

I plan to buy the first Trails of the Sky on PSN for play on my Vita. My question is, has this game ever gone on sale on PSN?; don't want to buy it and then find out the next day it has been discounted.

Not to my knowledge, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's a wonderful game that is well worth the money (and it helps out xseed).

 

[Levyne]

In the case that it does go on sale right after you buy it, I've had luck getting the difference back in PSN credit.

 

[Linkark07]

Not to my knowledge, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's a wonderful game that is well worth the money (and it helps out xseed).

Thanks for the info. Well, when I can I'll buy it

 

[Shouta]

How are the Kai versions of the Sora trilogy for PS3? I need an HD version of them, lol.

 

[Bebpo]

How are the Kai versions of the Sora trilogy for PS3? I need an HD version of them, lol.

So excellent. Absolutely loved playing SC on PS3. Was playing on both but eventually just stuck with PS3 because zero instant load times (so nice) and better visuals compared to PSP (probably not as big of upgrade from PC versions though).

 

[Shouta]

PC Versions aren't really HD so they're not that great looking. I played SC on PC and the max res was like 1280x720 or less, lol.

 

[Aeana]

PC Versions aren't really HD so they're not that great looking. I played SC on PC and the max res was like 1280x720 or less, lol.

Nah, it supports higher resolutions, it just doesn't support widescreen. The PS3 versions have the PC sprites and textures plus a new HD font and widescreen aspect.

 

[Shouta]

Nah, it supports higher resolutions, it just doesn't support widescreen. The PS3 versions have the PC sprites and textures plus a new HD font and widescreen aspect.

I definitely don't recall SC supporting high resolutions unless it was patched in. I'll have to install it again tonight and check.

 

[luka]

I'm still torn on whether I prefer having the PC versions' 60fps and nice lighting or the ps3 versions' widescreen and nice font.

There's no definitive version.

 

[jj984jj]

I'm still torn on whether I prefer having the PC versions' 60fps and nice lighting or the ps3 versions' widescreen and nice font.

There's no definitive version.

I have no doubt Sara will give us one.

 

[Shouta]

Ao Evo is out in Japan today. My copy should be shipping from Amiami soon. =o

 

[RyougaSaotome]

Ao Evo is out in Japan today. My copy should be shipping from Amiami soon. =o

Ffffffffuuuuckkkkk

Definitely post impressions of stuff post-demo. I wanna grab it, but I gots no monies.

 

[keisuke999]

So, I just finished FC and SC. (As in, I beat SC like an hour before posting this)

I gotta say... not too impressed.

Maybe I'm just too jaded/bored of stories about teenagers "finding themselves" or "discovering the power of friendship".

I understand that these games are much more focused on story and characters, but I didn't really find any of it interesting.

Like, when the characters are discussing something important to the plot, but then they spend half the conversation discussing things that really have no importance... at all.

"Yeah, the bad guy is trying to blow up the world and kill everyone, but let's spend an hour talking about our favorite foods."

I think this is why I like Tales of Vesperia's story so much. The main character was closer to my age and I found him much more relatable. I guess my angsty teenage days are long gone...

The battle system is cool, though. I like how it combines regular JRPG turn-based combat with SRPG strategy.

SC was more interesting storywise, I guess, but ultimately it felt like maybe a good Anime Story (Like, think Cowboy Bebop or Trigun-level, but with 1000x more exposition) but not anything mind-blowing.

Also the final dungeon in SC... that place can go eat a bag if dicks. Took me 12 hours to finish it...

I read that The 3rd is more of a gaiden story/fan service rather than an actual sequel. Should I still play it?

I'm moving onto Brandish now, but I might come back to it later.

 

[Shouta]

Ffffffffuuuuckkkkk

Definitely post impressions of stuff post-demo. I wanna grab it, but I gots no monies.

There was a demo?

keisuke, not sure how much you'd like 3rd if you didn't enjoy the characters all that much from FC/SC. It does do a lot less of the exposition thing that was in FC/SC though. It's also pretty gameplay centered which might be to your liking if you're looking for more combat.

 

[keisuke999]

There was a demo?

Yup, about halfway down the page.

http://search.jp.playstation.com/se...svitagame&psvDownload=1&genre=1#search-result

 

[jdkluv]

I'm moving onto Brandish now

Good man. It is the superior Falcom series.

 

[perorist]

So, any game breaking freezing/bugs with ao evo?

 

[Shouta]

I haven't been following. I don't have my copy of it yet either, lol

 

[redhairedking]

I haven't seen any of my Kiseki people on twitter complaining so if there are any they haven't been found yet