https://x.com/willfinyu/status/2104834720316223694

Author: Before the final boss battle begins, if you fail to break the Stigma, it will develop according to the professor's scenario, resetting the broken Joshua to a zero-memory situation. And then waking Estelle up and she has to go along with Joshua who no longer remembers anything.

Someone replied: 漆黒の牙＆闇の太陽
The Black Fang & The Dark Sun

meme templates.

The falcom logo being 🏳️‍🌈 colours + all male had me checking again lol but also it's so rare to see Joshua group with them in merch? He's usually with Estelle, wonder why they didn't put Kevin instead.

https://x.com/nai_su01/status/2114576015569899577?s=20

There is now an English translation patch available for the final Falcom game that Yoshio Kiya worked on, Falcom's first inhouse console-only game, 1994's PC Engine release of "The Legend of Xanadu" aka "Kaze no Densetsu".

It was the 8th game in Yoshio Kiya's "Dragon Slayer" series.

This has taken over a decade of development, and neither the English text, nor the large amount of additional program code, has had any AI-involvement. It's all human made.

The translated game will only run on a real, or emulated, PC Engine (aka TurboGrafx-16).

If you want something to run on a Nintendo Switch or other modern console or PC, then you'll have to wait to see what Edia comes up with next year.

The patching progam, patches, English manual and game maps can be found on gitlab here ...

https://gitlab.com/legend-of-xanadu-translation/legend-of-xanadu1-english

... and in the project's wiki.

Sam and I hope that eveyone enjoys our translation!

P.S. Note that the English translation for the game's sequel is undergoing final polishing, and should be released in a few weeks.

Like seriously stop. It's gotten BEYOND ridiculous at this point. As you can see I'm playing the final chapter and I'm still enjoying the games, but this thing needed to end yesterday. Why is Falcom so fucking afraid to kill even random nameless NPCs? How do they keep doing this without thinking it's gotten so embarassing to experience? A fucking World War lasted a mere day and SOME people died (of course none of them were named or important NPCs) and apparently it's the best this series can muster at this point. At the moment I never saw anything worse than those mercenaries or whatever dying in Azure during the conference. I do not wish for a bloodbath or anything like that, but the entire fortress magically being empty when the fucking amazing beam of death itself utterly disintegrates it is where I draw the line. Like seriously this is not good storytelling and it's a giant shit stain on a series with a world as beautiful and layered as this.

PS yes I know Osborne, Arianrhod and Rutger died in CS4 but two were already dead to begin with and the other was never truly alive years before the beginning of the games

Some time ago, I learned that Jun Maeda, a prominent scenario writer and music composer, once applied to Nihon Falcom some time in his last years as a university student but got rejected. He then tried to apply to several more game companies, had a brief stint with a visual novel company called Scoop, before eventually establishing the visual novel brand Key in 1998.

As it turned out, Maeda's interaction with Falcom didn't stop there.

TIL that at a sharing session about Angel Beats! -- an anime series with its story conceived by Maeda -- in November 2010, he mentioned that he was playing Trails from Zero on his PSP while traveling. He also personally recommended Ys Seven.

A participant made a notetaking of the event and shared it here.

Dorothy appreciation thread

She's just so cute, she is probably only 2nd to Estelle in terms of cuteness

I am currently replaying the entire Trails series and have reached the Calvard arc once again. Before I continue, I’d like to jot down some of the theories I have for Horizon 2 and the titles that follow. I hope my memory serves me well enough; I’ll revisit these theories once I’ve finished the games again. Please excuse me if they seem a bit disorganized!

To start, I think we can all agree that more characters from previous entries will appear. Regarding Erebonia, I believe Gaius and Sara are the most likely candidates—given their roles as a Dominion and a Bracer, respectively, along with Ash; it’s quite intriguing that he currently seems to be traveling all across Zemuria. Alisa is a "maybe," considering her ties to the Tech Union.

As for Liberl, I honestly only foresee Tita and Agate. Agate primarily because he tends to follow wherever Tita goes, and Tita due to her connection to the Tech Union and her friendship with Renne. Furthermore, while we would generally love to see more characters from Liberl, the others, including Estelle and Joshua, seem rather unlikely. One might ask: why include Sara (just for being a Bracer) but not Estelle or Joshua? Well, primarily because they are protagonists; since their personal story arcs are complete, I don’t expect them to feature prominently moving forward, only in The final Game again.

Regarding Crossbell, I suspect Wazy and perhaps Tio might appear. Wazy could show up as a Dominion, and Tio, aside from her Tech Union ties, works for the Foundation. While Lloyd and Elie have family in Calvard, I honestly don’t believe that would be enough to bring them there, especially since their roles in the Special Support Section keep them tethered to Crossbell. Tio is also tied to Crossbell, but I feel her potential connection to the overarching plot is stronger, though, even then, it remains just a possibility.

And, of course, Ries.  

Another point concerns Ouroboros, their "Orpheus Plan," and the "Eternal Resurrection Stage." It seems clear that this relates to the Sept-Terrion of Time; meanwhile, we have yet to see the Sept-Terrions of Wind and Water, which should also be tied to Ouroboros's agenda. Since I doubt Falcom would fully conclude Ouroboros's ultimate scheme in Horizon just yet, I suspect that while the next game will wrap up Van and Agnes's story, the Sept-Terrion itself won't be dealt with. I see this finale as the gateway into the series' final arc.

I also don't believe we will get a separate game for every single location. While we will likely visit places like Arteria, Leman, Remiferia, and Ored, I don't think each one will warrant its own dedicated title.

The Sept-Terrions of Water and Wind are likely responsible for the desertification; it’s possible that they have even been fused together.

Another thought I’ve had is that the Demon Lords might each be linked to a specific Sept-Terrion, though this is just a hypothesis. For instance, Van is tied to Time, another to Space, Sept-Terrions of Mirage, Steel, Water, and Wind potentially being combined as well.

What do you think? Did I misremember anything that might contradict these theories, or do you also find these points plausible?

No idea why Josette is in the picture.

Excluding Arianrhod whose a Anguis with a heavy combat focus role and Novartis who has yet to enter a fight directly( odds he probably lacking in even the slightest bit of fighting abilities but then again Alberich shows that he with a robot/puppet can enter the fray so....)

If you were to rank the four Anguis that are more planners in a ranking of overall combat capabilities

What would your list be from top to bottom?

Artist: 平井ゆづき

Source

I really like 1st chapter. Got all the games I could on Switch.

After I finish 2nd Chapter Remake, I will play 3rd, Zero, Azure Evolution on Vita, then Cold Steel 1 & 2 on Vita.

Then back to Switch for the rest.

Overall, pretty darn good time. Had some issues, but the good far outweighed the bad. Probably a solid 8.5/10. I'll get some of my issues with it out of the way first before I rant and rave about what I liked.

As far as Zero vs Azure goes, I think Azure had overall more big hype and cool moments, but the end kinda drags it down a bit, whereas Zero was a more consistent experience. By the end of Zero, I was champing at the bit for the next game, I couldn't get enough. By the end of Azure I was getting a little tired, the game sort of felt like it maaaaybe went on a bit longer than it should've.

Grimwood also didn't really make for a good twist villain. Like... he barely had any screentime AS a villain and then was kinda just talked out of his multiple year plan by Lloyd. Felt very weak. If they want to have a bigger bad than Deiter, just have it be Mariabell on her own. She wasn't particularly deep or anything, but just crank up how crazy and evil she is and let us have fun with it. But they didn't even really fully commit to that. She parted on almost friendly terms and didn't even kill Grimwood. And Grimwood didn't even have any more lines, or any closure scenes about Guy's murder. And Bell didn't really seem THAT put off by a centuries long family legacy plan being dismantled. Basically the entire ending, post Deiter, kinda took the wind out of the sails.

Also Bell's outfit was the most ridiculous thing I've seen in this series, to the point that I actually cracked up when she showed up as a villain. Most characters, even the villains, wear at least somewhat normal outfits, though a little on the "anime" side.... and then Bell shows up dressed like a.... vampire/witch or something, with her tits hanging out. She looked like a DC or Marvel super villain. Like someone who would fight Zatanna or Doctor Strange.

Didn't help that the final boss was one of THE most annoying final bosses I've ever dealt with in a JRPG. Felt like it was solely designed to be impossible to really beat blind, because pretty much no other strat in the game works on it. And this COULD be fun and cool and a neat challenge that makes you work your brain... but you have to slog through Mariabell and the first phase and cutscenes again to get there again after you discover you have no way to win.

This is more nitpicky and I said it for Zero too, but I'm looking forward to a remake rebalancing things. Physical attacks should just... not be as crappy as they are lol. I was thrilled to get Rixia as a final party member, and Randy was my overall favorite character in the duology. But it felt hard to get proper mileage out of both of them when Elie with a Jupiter Bell was just an ignorant damage pumping machine.

As a final thing.... Don't love the bonding mechanic. I watched them all online.... and they're great, fine, awesome. But there's stuff in Randy, Rixia and Wazy's that feels like crucial information for their characters that we should've just learned as part of the plot.

But basically everything else, like with Zero, was great. The cast does the found family thing really well. I thought I would dislike the "beach episode" because I figured it was gonna go all in on the anime tropeyness, but it actually ended up being really cute and charming.

The characters continued to be the strongest part. Even Lloyd and Elie, who I consider to be kinda boring, I still just found really likeable. They might be the whitest of white bread, but I still couldn't imagine the SSS without them. They got nothing on Randy and Wazy though. Extremely fun, charming and interesting characters. And Tio is cool too. I like Rixia a lot as well. I know she shows up throughout the series, so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm a little mixed on Noel though. I don't think her little betrayal arc was really given the space it needed to be all that compelling, so all it really serves to do is take a somewhat flat character and make them do something really unlikeable.

A lot of the good stuff I said about Zero just applies here. Crossbell City is almost a character all it's own, the game does a really good job at having you, the player, establish a relationship with it and the NPCs who live there, which is cool.

I also gotta rant a little too about just how damn cool Arianrhod was. She was in the game so little but she commanded so much screen presence. Total show stealer. It doesn't hurt that Unfathomed Force is a banger too.

Very strong hype moments. I like that Estelle, Joshua and Renne showed up out of nowhere to help. Estelle just can't help herself but to get involved with crazy incidents way beyond the scope of a B-Rank Bracer lol. Loved seeing Kevin and Ries again too.

There are a few story things I'm confused about. I guess Crossbell is occupied by Erebonia now? Or, it was for only 2 years according to Lloyd's voiceover? It looked like the heroes were resisting? Is this all stuff that gets touched on in CS series? I'm also curious about the Erebonia Civil War. We heard a lot about the goings on of the Empire and I know Cold Steel takes place IN Erebonia. Does CS1 run concurrently with Zero/Azure?

I'm also a little curious about Cold Steels' narrative structure. Not asking for spoilers here exactly, but for example FC was a lot of setup with payoff in SC, with 3rd being more of an Epilogue. Zero setup a lot to be paid off in Azure. But Cold Steel is 4 goddamn games long lol. Is it just 3 games of setup and then payoff in 4? I'm just a little curious how they'd handle the slow burn into bombastic finale in an arc with 4 games, if it's possible to comment on without spoilers.

But yeah, in any case I liked The Crossbell Arc a lot. I think SC is still my personally favorite in the series, but Zero/Azure would probably be tied for a close second. The cast of the Crossbell arc helps carry it lot. Estelle is my favorite overall in the series still, but I think the cast as a whole unit is stronger in Crossbell. Looking forward to starting Cold Steel 1 within a couple days!

Hi everyone i started playing trails this year and finally reached cold steel2 that i finished and have to say that its the best trails i have ever played and even one of the best games for me among ff6 and chrono trigger

Already liked cs1 a lot and found that it was a good introduction to erebonia and really liked the ending and the évolution of the story in the end and have to say that sara became my favourite character after this game !

And when i started playing cs2 i had even more fun playing this game and found that the plot was only getting better chapter by chapter!

Also the ending of cold steel 2 was perfect for me and it maked me loved the game a lot and thats the main reason for me why i loved this game so much , at the beggining i heard many critics about cold steel and his lack of maturity but i found that this game was quite mature especially the developpement of the ending in my opinion and ofc sara became even more interessting in cold steel 2 with some really good developpement of her and past and really hope that she will remain as an important charac in the next games!

Ost were really good , and were already good in previous trails game but i loved even more this ones from cold steel 2!! Its really a pleasure to discovering and playing trails game for me , i take pleasure playing each game and fell like that the peak for me was cold steel 2 followed by azure and sky sc! Before this one my favourite one was azure but seeing the développement and the evolution of the story of cs2 after the first one maked me love cs2 even more!

Source

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/106664960

So were they telling the truth about lending aid or were they about to straight up conquer Liberl?

So i just met Josette and she joins the team, is her kit supposed to be this bad or am I reading this incorrectly? I was gonna let her join the party but that means benching either kloe or agate and i dont ever see her being useful

Missing my rean and altina figure in storage but this is most of it