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[Ultimadrago]

Please don't force me to take out my PS3 just to play Cold Steel.

 

[RangerBAD]

NO. FUCK NO. Crafting in modern Ys has been timewasting garbage and Falcom clearly doesn't know how to make the system fun. I don't want more. STOP THE PAIN.

I want Adol only games again.

 

[iavi]

I want Adol only games again.

Adol only is all I ask for. I just don't enjoy Party YS.

 

[SarusGray]

Please don't force me to take out my PS3 just to play Cold Steel.

vita tv is $20, its tiny and cheaper

 

[chaosblade]

So it sounds like what we can gather from this is

- Falcom probably isn't going to port anything themselves, or do any PC releases of their own. But are they are willing to partner with someone to release ports of their games.

- Sounds like Tokyo Xanadu is getting localized, not surprising.

- Wants to revisit Sorcerian and "dark" titles like Xanadu Next.

- The fact he already has some relatively specific thoughts about Ys 5 probably means they plan to remake it, even if it's not in progress yet. Unlike LoH3-5.

Almost everything else related to games was non answers or didn't really pertain to potential future endeavors.

I'm sure it would be a different thing if the Evo games got a port by some company and talks could actually amount to something that could lead to money being made. But with how it is right now, wanting to do a localization for any of the Evo titles would amount to "hey Vita is barely kicking over here, let's get a single title out in 2017 and drop future Evo localizations like a rock because they wouldn't be out till 2018 and Vita will be too far dead by then". Because let's face it, we'd only see a single Vita Evo title over here within a meaningful timeframe where money could potentially be made, which would then lead to people getting salty over the fact that we aren't getting anymore on a system that is no longer making the company money.

Even with that said, it's not like anyone is going to come forward with those potential PC ports, when the games would likely bomb harder on PC in Japan than what SC is currently pulling over here.

It sounds like the problem is the parties involved (remember, they aren't Falcom ports), and the fact they very likely wouldn't be able to license the voice acting or be able to do English for budget reasons. Even if they were able to license the game they would essentially be forced to cut (or reduce) a defining feature, which would inevitably lead to negative press about the releases.

 

[FallenGrace]

Adol only is all I ask for. I just don't enjoy Party YS.

Where as I want party Ys, not loner Adol

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

I just wonder if, to placate fans of both Napishtim-engine Ys and party-system Ys, Falcom will just give in and start making Ys games that play like Zwei!! (II) or Nayuta/Tokyo Xanadu, all of which already form the middle-ground between letting you play red mage and having battle specialties divided between characters (plus enemy weaknesses).

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

The second chapter of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky took nine years to be localised. Will Trails in the Sky: The 3rd and the aforementioned Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki (The Legend of Heroes VII) receive the same treatment, and if so do you think we can look forward to a faster localisation time?

TK: Each title in the Trails series contains a very large volume of text, so it's very common that the release takes time to localise. Every time we tell our partners how much text is in the game, they are surprised. I'm sorry to have to keep you all waiting due to these reasons. We'll do our best to make sure the titles get to you in a timely manner.

You were once a fan, now you're the president. Would you still call yourself a gamer today? Do you still play RPGs, and are there any other games or genres you have been dabbling with recently?

TK: Recently, I generally find it hard to reach the end of RPGs, but naturally, my favourite genre is still RPGs. Also, it's not really in the same vein as what Falcom does, but I really like Uncharted. A lot of care and thought went into its creation and I think that it's a series that is easy for Japanese fans to get into.

Game respects game.

Xanadu Next was a more 'western' game than much of your output, and was darker in tone. In recent years, the Souls series has taken many elements from this game, and has seen quite some success. Has this made you consider making more games with a darker, less anime feel, or do you think you will stick to your staple lighthearted aesthetic?

TK: "Xanadu Next" was a title that I personally worked on and I still like it to this day. There are still staff members here who would like to make a sequel. Falcom has a history of making both bright as well as dark titles. There are a lot of things on our plate, so there won't be anything soon, but I'm definitely thinking of resurrecting the dark side of things as well.

Oh hells fucking yeah. It's not a monolithic anime world, guys, don't be frightened off by conventional wisdom!

That interview was really awkward to read, knowing that it's coming from the president of the company. Lots on non-answers, which makes interviews mostly useless, and "someone wants to help me?" requests that which makes things weird, since this is the president of a 35-years old japanese developer.

He's not going to go Molyneux and keep to non-commital answers. Look at Falcom's history, especially Trails: it's fraught with crazy bullshit and plan-altering serendipity.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Those Eurogamer reader comments are hilarious, complaining that they need to learn more about Falcom because, gee, they sure don't conduct enough English interviews! Bull, the company's done more with English-speaking enthusiast press in recent years than ever before, and these guys can't bother to Google "falcom kondo interview". I definitely get the need for a centralized knowledge base outsiders and initiate fans can use to learn more, but in the context of them discussing the article's slant towards wanting Falcom to primarily develop for PCs again (which is a waste of time for Eurogamer), this comes off as pathetic. Meanwhile the article itself gives some things for me to speculate about but ultimately is a straightforward Kondo interview, where he mugs for the camera (like Kato before him) and says both non-answers and more candid ones.

 

[Dragon1893]

You might be the only hardcore gamer who started with a fan website and then became president of the company you were championing! Can you tell us how that came to be, how you met Falcom founder Masayuki Kato, and how you managed to take over his position?
TK: I had a school assignment to create an introductory website for something, which became the fansite for "Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch" (Known as "White Witch" in the west - EG). There was an offline gathering and I was able to meet many passionate Falcom fans. Within the group, there were some people who worked in the game industry and by talking to them, after graduation, I thought about applying at Falcom. However, I was an economics student, so I applied for a position in the finance department. Once I entered the company, because I had some experience with the internet, I was placed in a position that dealt with the web. In order to create things like game introductions and manuals, I started test playing the games. This lead me to be closer to the development team and I was able to offer my input. Afterwards, I actually was able to take a position within the development team and after some time doing project and product management I found myself as the president - the position I occupy today. Apparently, the founder of Falcom, Mr. Kato, took a look at my fansite after I joined the company and wanted to teach me many things about the company philosophy and game development.

This is amazing.

But yeah, mostly non-answers. Still a good read though.

 

[Eusis]

It sounds like the problem is the parties involved (remember, they aren't Falcom ports), and the fact they very likely wouldn't be able to license the voice acting or be able to do English for budget reasons. Even if they were able to license the game they would essentially be forced to cut (or reduce) a defining feature, which would inevitably lead to negative press about the releases.

I feel like that's a cut worth making for myself, but those versions also don't have the original soundtrack selectable or accessible at all, right? Yet they are there for the Sora games as DLC.

I think the best solution is to reduce English VA to a normal level and focus on key scenes, and work with Falcom to get the original soundtracks included in the games. Perhaps Marvelous can find someone to program that in if Kadokawa/Pyramid are lame there, and even if they aren't it'd probably be good to have an external house port those to PC/PS4(/XB1!?) for more exposure and sales. I worried about the looks in prior generations, but this time maybe they won't care.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Whaddaya know, someone working on the interview also happens to post on the Shmups forum regularly. It seems he fielded questions from regulars of this Falcom thread. That explains the larger variety of questions in this interview.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

I feel like that's a cut worth making for myself, but those versions also don't have the original soundtrack selectable or accessible at all, right? Yet they are there for the Sora games as DLC.

I think the best solution is to reduce English VA to a normal level and focus on key scenes, and work with Falcom to get the original soundtracks included in the games. Perhaps Marvelous can find someone to program that in if Kadokawa/Pyramid are lame there, and even if they aren't it'd probably be good to have an external house port those to PC/PS4(/XB1!?) for more exposure and sales. I worried about the looks in prior generations, but this time maybe they won't care.

The voice acting is the main appeal to the Evo games though. Start cutting down on that and you may as well just release the originals with updated assets (something Xseed did with FC/SC). Unless you just really like the new OSTs for each game (and I mean "really" like them, considering how awful the FC and SC rearrangements were), there is little more to the Evo versions (besides VA/OST) that Xseed couldn't just do themselves by working with the originals.

 

[Nuu]

Voice acting sounds like a terrible idea for Trails in the Sky. The game is much better without it. Honestly Trails in the Sky has aged very well presentation wise. Wouldn't want anything changed. It would be like adding voice acting and new sprites for Chrono Trigger.

That interview was really awkward to read, knowing that it's coming from the president of the company. Lots on non-answers, which makes interviews mostly useless, and "someone wants to help me?" requests that which makes things weird, since this is the president of a 35-years old japanese developer.

The interview says enough if you read inbetween the lines.

In a nutshell they will keep focusing on being a smaller and very focused company intended on making quality products. They will also do their best to cater to the needs to their growing Western fanbase, especially on PCs.

 

[flowsnake]

The voice acting is the main appeal to the Evo games though. Start cutting down on that and you may as well just release the originals with updated assets (something Xseed did with FC/SC). Unless you just really like the new OSTs for each game (and I mean "really" like them, considering how awful the FC and SC rearrangements were), there is little more to the Evo versions (besides VA/OST) that Xseed couldn't just do themselves by working with the originals.

Not being a PSP game is also a reason now that XSEED is stopping with PSP releases.

 

[Eusis]

Not being a PSP game is also a reason now that XSEED is stopping with PSP releases.

Yeah this. And as I recall Evo went with FULL VA, though maybe the town NPCs aren't voiced afterall in which case it's just do about what Cold Steel sees (except reliably voice the main character) and it'd probably be fine.

I'm also thinking about the fact they have other updates and may just be the most pragmatic to work with. But I could be wrong there, or Kadokawa truly is a monster to work with, but they and Xseed DID get Killer is Dead out so...?

EDIT: I admittedly am also partially talking in pipe dreams, buuut the climate today makes those pipe dreams a lot more plausible than, say, in the PS2 or especially middle PS3 days where it was more like "ah ha ha ha" rather than just "probably not."

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Not being a PSP game is also a reason now that XSEED is stopping with PSP releases.

4/5 of the originals still have a usable PC port though, something that the Evo games don't and likely will never have. Them being done with PSP has no impact on whether or not they can use the versions that have been on PC for years.

 

[Eusis]

4/5 of the originals still have a usable PC port though, something that the Evo games don't and likely will never have. Them being done with PSP has no impact on whether or not they can use the versions that have been on PC for years.

I should probably clarify that I'm mainly thinking of Zero and Ao. Third has a great PC version and I'd absolutely want Xseed to work with that, but Zero and Ao... the PC version is seemingly just an OK PSP port, and Ao's in Chinese only. It seems like getting Pyramid or someone else to re-port Zero and Ao to PC from the Evo versions may make more sense than going with those versions, nevermind that they have the original art (or close enough ala Soul Hackers 3DS vs SS/PS1) and my additional pipe dream of throwing in the original OSTs for free to make up for less VA would make them definitive or close to it.

EDIT: I'm also cautiously optimistic that the interview implies that they'll work future games in a way that can make it relatively easy for an external party to port the games to PC, possibly even like Valkyria Chronicles getting ported by just 3 people.

 

[chaosblade]

Yeah this. And as I recall Evo went with FULL VA, though maybe the town NPCs aren't voiced afterall in which case it's just do about what Cold Steel sees (except reliably voice the main character) and it'd probably be fine.

I'm also thinking about the fact they have other updates and may just be the most pragmatic to work with. But I could be wrong there, or Kadokawa truly is a monster to work with, but they and Xseed DID get Killer is Dead out so...?

EDIT: I admittedly am also partially talking in pipe dreams, buuut the climate today makes those pipe dreams a lot more plausible than, say, in the PS2 or especially middle PS3 days where it was more like "ah ha ha ha" rather than just "probably not."

I'm not sure what "Full" voice acting covers, since I haven't paid any attention to the Evo releases due to the complete irrelevance to me. I'd assume at the very least the entire main story and probably the side quests are voiced though, maybe not random NPC conversations though. People have played them though, so I'm sure someone will confirm that.

Either way, apparently it's a lot more than Cold Steel. I don't know how much of Cold Steel is actually voiced though outside the "11000 lines" thing.

4/5 of the originals still have a usable PC port though, something that the Evo games don't and likely will never have. Them being done with PSP has no impact on whether or not they can use the versions that have been on PC for years.

3/5 for sure. 2/5 maybe.

It's been bothering me that people seem so sure that all it takes for XSEED to pick up Zero/Ao on PC is for Falcom to release a Japanese version of the port, completely disregarding any potential licensing hurdles with Joyoland.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Voice acting sounds like a terrible idea for Trails in the Sky. The game is much better without it. Honestly Trails in the Sky has aged very well presentation wise. Wouldn't want anything changed. It would be like adding voice acting and new sprites for Chrono Trigger.



The interview says enough if you read inbetween the lines.

In a nutshell they will keep focusing on being a smaller and very focused company intended on making quality products. They will also do their best to cater to the needs to their growing Western fanbase, especially on PCs.

Eh, lotta people everywhere are googoo for seiyuu; it's a fact of life for anime games now. I certainly see its worth rated by its quality (Persona 4/VLR/Valkyria Chronicles yes!) and tend to mute "phone book reading" VA, but given the above and VA staying employed, eh, ya know?

I should probably clarify that I'm mainly thinking of Zero and Ao. Third has a great PC version and I'd absolutely want Xseed to work with that, but Zero and Ao... the PC version is seemingly just an OK PSP port, and Ao's in Chinese only. It seems like getting Pyramid or someone else to re-port Zero and Ao to PC from the Evo versions may make more sense than going with those versions, nevermind that they have the original art (or close enough ala Soul Hackers 3DS vs SS/PS1) and my additional pipe dream of throwing in the original OSTs for free to make up for less VA would make them definitive or close to it.

EDIT: I'm also cautiously optimistic that the interview implies that they'll work future games in a way that can make it relatively easy for an external party to port the games to PC, possibly even like Valkyria Chronicles getting ported by just 3 people.

Yeah, this is my biggest get here. The Evos are iffy, but these 3 are NEW to us. Guess I gotta keep shillin'.

 

[Nuu]

Eh, lotta people everywhere are googoo for seiyuu; it's a fact of life for anime games now. I certainly see its worth rated by its quality (Persona 4/VLR/Valkyria Chronicles yes!) and tend to mute "phone book reading" VA, but given the above and VA staying employed, eh, ya know?

It just isn't how "good" the voice acting is. It is a matter of whether or not it fits the game they are creating. I've played a few games that I felt had their experience hurt by the inclusion of voice acting. TiTs seems like it could be one of them. It seems much more fit of being an adventure that is meant for your head to fill in the gaps rather than your eyes and ears.