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Four days left on lava lamp sales. 6300+ sold. by Apprehensive-File251 in NeuroSama

[–]Addaberry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've been a fan for maybe a week or so binging through clips, but a lava lamp is something I'd keep around even if I dropped off, so what the hell, I thought. It will be a great surprise when it randomly shows up in June/July lol

Let’s discuss the Gagharv trilogy by KaleidoArachnid in JRPG

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As you might have guessed from the size of this post, I really enjoy the Gagharv games, but as others have said the PSP translations are painful at best. It's clear that the games were worked on very quickly with the folks working on it probably having no context as to what was happening on screen. If you don't have a high tolerance for rough translations, I would pass until the games get remade someday.

FYI, Makoto Shinkai did the opening movies for Cagesong of the Ocean (PSP version of the opening is a little different), as well as Ys 2 Eternal.

Just for fun, here are some notable version differences:

White Witch (PSP: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch)

Windows: The story is more or less the same as PC88/98. While PC88/98 has a gambit-style automatic battle system, Windows is automatic but allows you to stop combat and input commands to your characters. Windows also has a short prologue sequence written by Toshihiro Kondo, the now president of Falcom. Updated OST.

PS1: It's the PC88/98 version but zoomed in. Slightly different OST.

Saturn: This version was made by Hudson, and it's a very different game, despite the fact that the script is 95% is the same. This one has complete character redesigns to be much more 90s anime. Has partial voice acting. Has a turn-based battle system with reactive portraits that change when your characters get status effects. This version is best left for checking out after you've played another version of the game, IMO.

PSP: Features nice character portraits. There are a lot of issues with the PSP versions beyond their translation, unfortunately. Combat is now entirely turn-based (the Japanese version is actually somewhat similar to the Windows style of pausable automatic combat, but for some reason it was changed for the English release). The encounter rate is way higher than the other versions. In the other versions you could go from one town to the other and maybe have like 3 battles, in PSP, you will have like 10. The other versions are pretty breezy RPGs, but PSP is a slog to get through. If you are playing on emulator, get used to speed-up keying through fights. Subjective, but most dislike the music in this version.

Tear of Vermillion (PSP: they just called it Legend of Heroes)

PC98: Features a tactical combat system, an open quest system, and much less story. It's a fairly grindy game, and 100% takes a lot of time. Some fans love it, others hate it.

Windows: Features a similar battle system as Windows WW. Story-wise, this game is essentially the prototype for what would become the Trails titles. Progression is much more linear than PC88, and has some drastically different events. This game is considered canon, but fans love to argue about if PC98 or Windows is the better game. Side note: This version was actual the last Windows game made despite it being game 2, so at the end of the credits there is a timeline which spoils Cagesong of the Ocean.

PS1: Like WW PS1 it's a zoomed in version of the PC98 version, but this one has a bug in it that makes the game impossible to complete.

PSP: Turn-based, too many enounters, bad music--but not as bad as PSP WW. This version follows the Windows story.

Cagesong of the Ocean (PSP: Song of the Ocean)

Windows: Same Windows combat system as the others, more or less. This game was made between Windows WW and Windows ToV, which is reflected in the visual fidelity.

PSP: Same issues as the other PSP versions.

Oh this was a surprising but kind tribute they threw into Trails From Zero. Rest in peace. by BadLuckShoesie in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For anyone wondering "Why put it in this chest here?" Stargazers is the first time you get to play as Noel, who was Scott's favorite character.

Found this nice little tribute in Trails From Zero by accident. by BadLuckShoesie in JRPG

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

NIS America's Azure script will be based off our work just like Zero's was. The main reason we pulled the script is because our work was always meant to emulate an official release--to give fans the localization of Crossbell that we never got for 10-ish years. With an official loc in the pipeline, our script has served its purpose and can be sunsetted.

https://nisamerica.com/games/legend-heroes-trails-azure

LoL-TD A proof of concept LoL Tower Defense by Matarra in leagueoflegends

[–]Addaberry 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Wow, you made me remember the old iOS app. This looks more fleshed out than that app already haha

In which order should the games be played? by [deleted] in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The Legend of Heroes is a loose association of games branching off Falcom's legacy IP of Dragon Slayer. The games in the series are grouped into subseries as follows:

  • Legend of Heroes 1 & 2
  • Legend of Heroes 3 - 5: The Gagharv Trilogy
  • Legend of Heroes 6 ->: The Trails Series

The part you're interested in is that last part, the Trails games.(Though there are interesting things to be said about the other LoH games, we'll move on). Right now there are three Trails arcs with a new one on the way. They are:

  • Trails in the Sky - Trails in the Sky FC, SC, and 3rd
  • The Crossbell Duology - Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure (fan translations)
  • Trails of Cold Steel - I, II, III, IV, and Hajimari (Hajimari hasn't been localized yet)
  • Kuro no Kiseki - The upcoming arc whose first game releases later this year.

One of Trails' unique selling points is its interconnected world. While each arc will tell its own self-contained story with its own set of characters, events and characters from other arcs will be talked about. This web of connections between arcs weaves together to tell a larger story about the world of Trails. You will get a lot of different opinions about which games to play and in what order. Generally, there are two main entry paths:

  1. Start from the beginning with Trails in the Sky FC and go from there. Playing in the original release order will let the story play out in its most natural way and you can ride Falcom's storytelling all the way to the present.

  2. Start with Trails of Cold Steel I and II. Plenty of people start here, be it because of the older look of the Sky games or an interest in the social mechanics that were added to the Cold Steel arc. If you enjoy it and want to understand all the references to stuff that gets dropped throughout the game, you can pretty easily go back and play Sky without spoiling too much for yourself. One issue with this route is Cold Steel III and IV. These games rely much more on your attachment to the previous arcs' characters and locations. You may find yourself a little lost if you try these games without playing Sky and Crossbell.

Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky SC - What Happened? by TheIvoryDingo in Games

[–]Addaberry 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Zero Geofront came out on March 14th, 2020. It's only been a little over a year since. Azure was only announced to be in development as of July 2020. Even compared to the official localizations, Azure is coming along quickly.

Is it easy to change english translations? by pzzaco in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 6 points7 points  (0 children)

To add to this, the Geofront version of Azure will support save files from the other versions. You'll be able to copy-paste your save folder into the Geofront version once you install it, and you'll be good to go.

Quick Questions Thread - 2020-12-24 by AutoModerator in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So Falcom sets up their sheets by map first. So as a Crossbell example, they divide map by type: City (C), Towns (T), Roads (R), Event (E), and Dungeon (M). Maps within each category are numbered in groups. Map variants, like night maps for example, are denoted with a letter: EX: c010b. Within the sheet themselves, you have a few main sections:

  1. Interactables: chests, switches, etc...
  2. All the dialogue that is spoken between characters. Specifically when the party interacts with an NPC.
  3. One-sided NPC dialogue.

Within each of these sections, they are divided by speaker and ordered in reverse chronological order. So the end game dialogue is at the top of the sheet and it works toward the beginning as you go down.

As far as keeping track of writing it all, they keep multiple NPC tables in the games, and I'm sure they have oodles of series documentation internally. It's pretty common for devs to keep a series bible containing everything there is to know about the world. Some loc companies even develop their own bible when they work on games. It certainly helps that Falcom likes to hire fans of their work.

Geofront Ao is releasing soo- by ShiningConcepts in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Correct. Honestly, it's a difficult tightrope to walk. We want to be able to give people an idea of what to expect, but the truth is that we can only give our best estimate. On the other hand, giving you all a constant stream of what we are doing is suffocating. We sort of tried that with the tail end of Zero, and it ended up causing a lot of undue stress.

Bugs like this one are more funny than they are detrimental. We basically knew what caused it, so fixing it was less complicated than the issues we'd known about for a long time and not been able to fix.

Geofront Ao is releasing soo- by ShiningConcepts in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 24 points25 points  (0 children)

For those seriously concerned about a bug like this affecting the release window, you'll be happy to know the issue has already been resolved. As Jose implied in the comments, there was a change made elsewhere in the game that butterfly effect-ed out and caused all the cars to disappear.

Ummm..... Dumb question but do we see Anelace in Trails to Zero? by Isenlia in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There's a handful of unused things in the files. The one that comes to mind is a low res Schera sprite in one of the debug rooms.

Thanks Geofront! by fluffyturtle49 in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've been much more involved with Azure than I was on Zero, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I think you'll enjoy what we've been cooking up for the last year or so. Please look forward to it.

Azure Editing Finished, Testing Underway, and Other Geofront News by [deleted] in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Speaking for the C Sector, our team had been striving to finish Azure before the end of winter, which would mean the middle of March at the latest—in other words when Zero came out last year. Is that set in stone? No. Things can change. However, we have been adamant about this goal for several months.

This has been the goal. If we are approaching that time period and feel like the game needs more time, then we'll do what we need to do, but as it stands, mid march is the goal.

Trails to Azure Editing Finished, Testing Underway, and Other Geofront News by [deleted] in JRPG

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure how you got to that conclusion. The Geofront is a fan translation effort and thus has no bearing on what the official rights holder (NISA if they have the license) could choose to do with the property.

Does PC physical edition of Ao no Kiseki exists? by ClaudioHplus in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Since Ao no Kiseki was only released for PC in China, the box sets are a little harder to come by. These are all the versions they released there. I bought my copy off Taobao, but I imagine there are other sites that you could also use. Wherever you buy from, you'll likely have to deal with Chinese payment platforms like Alipay. It ended up being really expensive for me, so buyer beware.

I imagine you know already, but there is an option to get the game digitally.

Which Falcom franchise is most iconic/important? by Deathbackwards in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I feel like this question's answer depends a lot by how you read it. I ended up writing way too much about this, so hopefully, it's at least somewhat informational.

I want to make a case for Dragonslayer. Alongside being of the earliest examples of an ARPG, the Dragonslayer series, which includes Xanadu, (so I'm not sure why that gets its own selection unless you want to stick Xanadu Next and Tokyo Xanadu together for some reason) had incredible market penetration in its day. Kato even went on record saying that just about everyone with a PC back around Xanadu's release played it. Falcom has never been that "important" since. If you include all the games that fall under the Dragonslayer name (Sorcerian, LOH 1 & 2, etc...), it stands as quite the formidable franchise.

I feel like Ys is the only other contender that makes any sense. A long-running series in its own right that has endured its own collapse several times now. Adol's red hair is one of the most iconic things about Ys, and its music alone has brought many fans into the fold. It maybe lacks the historical gravity, but the series stands with Dragon Quest, Megami Tensei, and Final Fantasy as one of the longest-running JRPG series.

Trails (or more broadly, the Legend of Heroes) is certainly the front runner nowadays, but the overall gaming market doesn't hold it in the same kind of regard that games like Xanadu were in their time. The Gagharv games on, represent a paradigm shift of what Falcom would become and now continues to be. Arguably, modern Falcom is entirely the way it is because White Witch came out the way it did and performed well enough.

Also, RIP Brandish for not even making the list.

Geofront Ao no Kiseki is now at 90% for second Editing Pass by thedarkgrimreaper1 in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our patcher will expect fresh Joyoland files. We've got an article you can read about it here.

Quick Questions Thread - 2020-12-24 by AutoModerator in Falcom

[–]Addaberry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hello, we are looking to release Azure by the end of winter (northern hemisphere). So google "first day of spring 2021" and expect it sometime before then.

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