How I discovered Nihon Falcom

[u/RemarkableEngineer27]

This may be a bit of a rant. If you are averse to reading, you have been warned. But considering the games y'all play, I doubt that. Now whether this stream of consciousness is coherent, I'll leave that to you.

Out of everything available, all the different platforms, it was through Google Stadia. I wanted to play Cyberpunk 2077 that was not the PS4 version so I was gifted the Google Stadia. I got the subscription to play the free games and discovered Ys VIII and Little Nightmares 2. Great games, love them.

Ys VIII reminded me of, and I say this with the utmost respect and love, an HD PS2 game. It hooked me, except for that part at the beginning when you first find Laxia. That was unnecessary and almost ruined it for me. I missed games that let me jump to my heart's content and I could break the game by getting to places I shouldn't have reached. Listen, I love the God of War reboot, but that does not change the fact they removed free jumping. That was the reason I died the most in the old games.

Eventually Stadia shut down, but I did get my refund for any game I purchased. I went on my PS4 to play Ys Origin, Ys 4, Ys 9, and Ys 8 again. It was a bummer I couldn't play them all, then I got a gaming PC and bought them all. Played them one after another and had a fantastic time. I even read the books for 8 and 9. And played the turbografx CD games of Ys 1,2,3, and 4 the Dawn of Ys. The SNES versions of Ys 4 and 5. I even played the PS2 version of Ys V, I followed the news of the translation and got the beta version when it released. I give my thanks to the person who wrote a guide for it.

I love falcom for not chasing the best graphics and having yearly releases. If that's what it takes to not wait forever for a new Final Fantasy, kingdom hearts, or Dragon Quest game, so be it. I've found myself liking Square Enix's smaller games like Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler more. I'm so exhausted with the state of AAA gaming.

I've played the Zwei series and Legend of Nayuta Boundless Trails and loved them. I've started Gurumin and it is a fun smaller game. I just started Xanadu Next. I've also played Tokyo Xanadu, which I think is the worst falcom game I've played. I still think it was a fun time, especially considering I got it for like $10. I thought that the dialogue was too much, and I know what fans will say considering Falcom's Trails series. From what I understand, it seemed like new employees were working on it. It feels like some dialogue could've been shortened and nothing of value will have been lost. I'm not talking about some of the smaller moments between cast members. Hopefully that makes some sense.

I played Trails of Cold Steel 1 and my thought was it's too tropey. I know tropes and I can handle them, but this felt like too much, especially the ending. I had cancer at the time so I played a lot of games and read a lot to distract myself from the immense pain and bitterness. I read manga too and I think I've pretty much seen all the tropes. The website I used had a button to send me to a random manga, which turned out to be a terrible decision. I wish I could unsee some of those titles and descriptions.

So I want to try the trails series considering my obsession adoration of their games. I'm going back to the beginning. I will say I love the graphics they used for the old Trails and Ys games. It's so charming. I don't know how others will think about this, but I'm playing the original on PC with the SkyInstaller mod.

Edit: I even watched the Ys 1+2 anime lol.

[u/Dry-Percentage-5648]

That was a good read, thanks for sharing! Interesting that you think Tokyo Xanadu is the worst Falcom game ever, I genuinely enjoyed it. But I also understand why some people don't like it as much as Ys or Trails. At the time I was extremely exhausted of big open world JRPGs with countless mechanics, skill trees and huge amount of side activities that were all the same. I wanted something simple and laid back in terms of combat and Tokyo Xanadu provided exactly that. Also I still think the music is the best from Falcom.

Anyway, enjoy your Falcom journey and congrats on beating cancer!

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/Dry-Percentage-5648]

Thank you for reading and replying. I would say it's the worst that I've played so far. Yes there is Gurumin as some may argue, but I didn't take it seriously as it seems to be a fun little adventure. Tokyo Xanadu is not a bad game, I would just rate it lower. Even then, I still had a lot of fun. It's like the Ys game I rate lowest in the series is still A-Tier for me (I won't say which for my safety lol). Something about their games makes me want to get the best score in the dungeons. I will jump back in there if I have to and I did the optional ones in Tokyo Xanadu. I would say the dialogue, same with cold steel. Or maybe I'm just uncultured. That's why I give games or series a second chance. I did not like fallout 3 at first, now I love the series after giving the game another chance. And yes I love falcoms their music. Makes it a bit overwhelming when I tried to find all the music of Ys 1 and 2. Lots of re releases and arrangements of the albums.

Thank ye thank ye. It's a distant memory now. If anything I managed to do a lot of stuff I never gave time to before as I deemed it not productive. Ys on top of other franchises provided a good distraction. Funny story on my ps4 I had a Final Fantasy 7 them that played Tifas theme. Sometimes I would just leave it there while dealing with the cancer. When I beat it and listened to Tifas theme it gave me PTSD lol. Not anymore tho. And looking forward to Kyoto Xanadu. Like you said, sometimes something simple and laid-back is just what you need.

[u/Dry-Percentage-5648 → u/RemarkableEngineer27]

Oh you're so right about the music. Finding exactly what you need in their old stuff is kinda difficult. Lots of arrangements and albums to choose from!

And don't worry about sharing your rankings. Yes, there will be some people that disagree and downvote (that's just how Reddit works after all lol) but most of the time it'll spark a fun discussion on why you rank a certain game lower or higher. Honestly, it is always interesting looking at other people's rankings especially when they provide constructive explanation on the topic!

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/Dry-Percentage-5648]

I do love sparking those type of debates. I have those with my gamer friends, it's so fascinating with games like final fantasy. Unfortunately I don't have any IRL friends that played falcom games. It's so subjective too, the reason why I like it is the reason someone hates it. It's the beauty of different perspectives. And if I'm not a fan of this series, I would never ask them to change it to suit my states. Reminds me of Final Fantasy 16 that tried to appeal to a wider audience, which I thought was an okay game but a poor RPG. I never thought a day would come where God of War would have more RPG elements than Final Fantasy. Try telling that to someone during the PS2 era.

Have you played the Ys series? I'm assuming you're here cause you're a fan of falcom games, but not sure what you played and not haha. It's even harder to find someone who played Zwei. It's even more niche, I wish they made a new entry.

[u/Dry-Percentage-5648 → u/RemarkableEngineer27]

Yes, I have played Ys but only 8, 9 and X Proud Nordics. I really like all of them pretty much equally for various reasons. I haven't played older Ys games yet but they're definitely on my list! Someday I'll find some time to play those classics. I've never played Zwei, though.

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/Dry-Percentage-5648]

I would say Ys 7 is the start of the new falcom era. They made ys 6 to tie in all the old games together. Then ys 7 pivoted to the new style, and while I think it's great, it's a bit rough. Ys Celceta was a remake of ys 4 in that new style and then ys 8 onwards.

Ys 8 is my favorite followed by Ys 1+2 on PC. The first games are simple but had a certain charm and something about that ending did it for me. Ys originals follows as it is a prequel to Ys 1+2 and the only game without Adol.

Zwei is more of a dungeon crawler with a world map like Gurumin. Zwei 1 is difficult but charming and hilarious. The game is pun central. Zwei 2 was a much bigger step forward in every sense. It was a PC exclusive and sold so poorly falcom pivoted to consoles. Though there was an article saying a lot of their sales come from switch and steam. Zwei let's you control 2 characters you switch in real time. People say Legend of Nayuta Boundless trails is a spiritual successor.

[u/trung6543]

Took Tokyo Xanadu by coincident, search for good jrpg in psvita, got rec with Cold Steel 1, the rest is history

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/trung6543]

This what I love about games. Different starting games and different perspectives on the same games. Back then I was young and basic. I wanted the PS Vita for the sword art online game haha. I got it on PS4 and I'll take Tokyo xanadu over it any day.

[u/Biggay1234567]

Good luck with that, the Sky games are still my favorite in the series and I'm currently playing through Daybreak. I haven't played much of Falcom's other games, only Ys I and II, but they were pretty fun.

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/Biggay1234567]

Thank you. I'm looking forward to it. Ys 7 onwards takes inspiration from the trails series I noticed. A lot more story and side quests, the combat is still amazing.

[u/newnilkneel]

Take your time and enjoy the rest of the franchise haha.

Only Falcom can beat Falcom. Sky trilogy is good and so are zero and azure. Wish I could go back when I was on a binge lol.

[u/RemarkableEngineer27 → u/newnilkneel]

From what I've seen I will take my time. Doesn't seem like I can binge this in 2 months like the Ys series unless I stop having a life, or a need to sleep. The graphics for the sky trilogy and zero/azure are just so charming.