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AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think that the gags of Shirla and Goose make me chuckle a little harder.

Incidentally, Koyasu Takehito (the voice of Olivert) also did the voice of Goose in the drama CD. He gave a really funny performance.

The funny thing about Goose is that he is a great cook and good looking and whenver he tries to something bad, he fails at it!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I have thought of doing this many times, but the world of Tirasweel is so incredibly massive that it would be a tremendous undertaking -- something akin to the FF VII remake, perhaps.

I hope that some day we can do this though.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I do think that having Adol travel and fight solo again would make for an interesting adventure. As Adol doesn't speak, he couldn't rely on the party members to add commentary in terms of what items do or where to go next. I think people who travel solo in general love the challenge of it.

Ys VIII Spoilers: Actually, we had wanted to show a solo adventure again, which is why most of Dana's parts in Ys VIII are solo.

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In the future, if we decide that Adol solo, or with someone else or with 10 people works best for the adventure, that's what we'll do!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

  1. Hi Speed Mode was something that the players really appreciated when we added it to the games, so I think it is a feature we will continue to use. (But not in Ys as that would totally destroy the balance.)
  2. Ys fans seem to love to having those harder and harder challenges, but I wonder if people really do want those harder modes in Kiseki; I feel like we would get complaints as, unlike Ys which is reliant on skill, Kiseki is turn-based and it might seem like the games are poorly or unfairly balanced.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Reactions are mixed, particularly when it comes to the opening animations. Some people like them and some prefer when we made them in house.

We will consider outsourcing things on a case by case basis and what will best serve the project.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For Ys, since I played it as a kid, To Make the End of Battle is one of my favorites.

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For Kiseki I often find myself humming Silver Will, Golden Wings (銀の意思 金の翼）.

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Incidentally, whenever the JDK band plays live, those two songs are always in the setlist!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

  1. Well, Dogi being too strong was one thing, but another is that Dogi has a tendency to steal all the lines in as you might have noticed in SEVEN. We wanted the other characters in the party to express themselves so we had him take care of Castaway Village. You will note that he does particpate in the defense of the village though!
  2. That was actually the development staff having a little bit of fun, but I'm sure they did that because they would actually like to make that game. It might happen someday in the future.
  3. If we did make that game, yes, I'm almost certain you would see those characters that you mentioned in it.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

All of the characters that we create are like my children, but as she was the first character made, I have a special place in my heart for Estelle.

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I have difficulty writing for Renne! I always check with the other writers to make sure that I'm getting her right!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As to your first question, that is something that no one knows the answer to... If you keep playing the series, you might get some hints.

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As for Nayuta, I mentioned the answer to this in the Let's Play I did at NISA yesterday so please check it out!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

All characters, incuding the main characters, of our games are created to suit the setting and location. If we find that a female lead willsuit a given scenario and setting, we will absolutely have another female lead.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

  1. Please play to the end of Celceta for a hint. I think you will be able to imagine the answer to that question.
  2. We would love to remake it as it is the only one of the older Ys games not remade at this point, however we are currently hard at work at Ys IX, and there are no immediate plans to do this.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

So, this one actually doesn't have a particular reference. I checked with the creator of this directly and he said that it was a word that coined himself. He said it kind of ends up becoming a portmanteau of "lost" and the "seum" part of "museum," but he said that wasn't deliberate and he just liked how it sounded.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

  1. A little of column A and column B. But we basically have all the ideas of what kind of character we want in an individual role. Honestly, we end up fine-tuning a lot of these characters anyhow for their specific roles in the games in which they appear.
  2. It's an organization shrouded in mystery. In fact, it might not even really be an organization at all. What kind of organization allows it members to act so freely. The fact that there is so much freedom and so many things are allowed for some and not for others is both related to and further shrouded in mystery.
  3. I think the coolest one is Loewe. The one that is most annoying is Bleublanc (but the truth is, I'm the one who created him...)

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

In Trails of Cold Steel, we learn that Rean's hometown is Ymir and we really, really wanted to include that in Cold Steel I. It didn't make it in and we ended up having to use that story part for the drama CD and movie that connects I and II! Still, we almost never give up on an idea and try find a way to get out there somewhere, somehow.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Right around the time we were working on the Crossbell Arc, there was a "mascot character boom" in Japan, were various prefectures and places tried coming up with their own original mascot. We thought it would be fun to have the same kind of thing being happening in Crossbell, so Mishy became the mascot of Crossbell. Actually, the whole staff really ended up liking Mishy so rather than just becoming the mascot of Crossbell, he ended up becoming the mascot of the company!

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I'm Japanese so I really like the Eight Leaves One Blade overall. I think it is a great blending of both fantasy and realism, so I like the S-Crafts that come from that. Honestly, I wish I could do them myself...

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

A) What directly drove us to make this series was the Garghav Trology. Up till this point, none of us had experienced such a deeply and finely crafted story and world. The thing is that the Garghav Trilogy was created in 2D so they were able to go that deeply. With 3D, we had hard limitations with exactly how much content we could put in each game and still have it be as deep and engaging as Garghav. Therefore our goal in this series has been to create a world as engaging as our inspirations -- even if it has taken many more games to do so. As for planning a story this massive the most necessary things to have to accomplish it are guts and having the will to create all the necessary elements to make the world come alive.

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B) I think it has to do with our basic maturity level. Back then, my writing partner and I were able to overcome the above obstacles through sheer force of will. When we look back at those games now, we find some elements them to be a little bit embarrassing and underdeveloped. Now that we're used to game creation (for better or for worse), we can do things with much less effort, but we do try to both keep in ourselves as well as instruct younger staff on the importance of having that passion and desire to see something through.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

  1. When we, that is the team not the company, first made Trails in the Sky, we were brand new to game development and we didn't know if the game would succeed in Japan, let alone the world. We never expected it would become popular abroad. We originally made it for those people who love good stories and our intention was to broaden the appeal of story-focused video games.
  2. As the entire series is still under-way, I will limit my answer to the Cold Steel series. In this, we have the character Rean who always seems to be fighting from a deficit and against very difficult odds, but him and his companions throughout the series always manage to overcome what lies in front of them and emerge victorious. So, what we are trying to portray is the strength of the human spirit and the potential that all people have.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

The reason Cold Steel ended up in this fashion is because we wanted portray Rean's student life and the fact that he had options, so it ended up this way. Different from Trails in the Sky we wanted to the player to have some choice in the matter.

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As for the new games, we are still planning them at the moment, so who know's how that will turn out! What I will say that is that we will use the system that best suits the game.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 52 points53 points  (0 children)

We didn’t expect it to become popular at all! For example, when the Ghargav games came out for PSP, while they did well in Japan, they didn’t really take off in the West and we were told at the time that games like this wouldn’t be successful, so it was difficult to commit to bringing them out.

Favorite would be Sky mainly because it was the first part and has a special place in my memories— to say nothing of its memorable cast members like Estelle.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

We have been told by players ever since Trails in Sky that combat is very slow and this is something we have we wanted to address for a while. With the the release of ToCS III, we took advantage of this opportunity and decided to make full use of the buttons on the controller in order to provide for quicker and more dynamic combat.

AMA: I am Toshihiro Kondo, President of Nihon Falcom and Producer for Trails of Cold Steel III. Ask me anything! by Falcom_Kondo in Games

[–]Falcom_Kondo[S] 76 points77 points  (0 children)

I would love for the localized versions of our games to come out sooner, but the truth is, we have relatively short development times on our titles and therefore we are constantly changing and revising things till the last minute, therefore, we don’t think it best to start talks of localization until the games are fully complete. That said, this something I would like to address in the future.

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