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[Volcynika]

Didn't like the demo. Don't care for the premise at all. Too bad.

I bought it myself, but I didn't find it to be all that great. It was ok, and I don't regret playing through Hero 30. But I was done after that.

 

[duckroll]

Don't worry; we're already at that stage.

OMG! Take about a kick in the balls. I feel bad for you guys.

 

[Sqorgar]

Don't worry; we're already at that stage.

Ouch.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

 

[MechaX]

Don't worry; we're already at that stage.

I was seriously about to make a post defending XSEED in part due to their attempt to at least get it localized (and it's not a situation like Ace Attorney where the predecessor title still moved a shitload of units for a text adventure) until I saw this feed. Oh man, we're getting to Namco/Capcom levels of trolling the fanbase at this point.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Didn't like the demo. Don't care for the premise at all. Too bad.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yim51f0Bbs

That didn't sell you immediately?

 

[cj_iwakura]

God, you all are being some jerks to XSeed. They take chances on bringing amazing games to the US that no one would touch, at least they're being real with us. They've long since dethroned Atlus USA on catering to the niche.

 

[shintoki]

Don't worry; we're already at that stage.

I never really understood why companies are idiotic enough to do this. Its always just throwing salt in the wound.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I'm being within reason. I accept things but wonder if there is alternate methods to make these localization's a reality.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I never really understood why companies are idiotic enough to do this. Its always just throwing salt in the wound.

They love the games, and clearly want to bring them to the US, but they also have to be realistic. At least they aren't dancing around the subject. If they do, great, but if not, it's hard to criticize. I think the best bet is a PSN release. It'll lose profit for sure, but maybe word of mouth can help it pay off.


Their localization of Wizardry has made me theirs for life. I still can't believe someone localized that. I thought it was doomed.

 

[MechaX]

They love the games, and clearly want to bring them to the US, but they also have to be realistic. At least they aren't dancing around the subject. If they do, great, but if not, it's hard to criticize. I think the best bet is a PSN release. It'll lose profit for sure, but maybe word of mouth can help it pay off.

By immediately saying "well we didn't promise to localize the titles!" rather than simply re-voicing their sentiment for trying to find a way to release SC is essentially a preemptive backdoor route (and expectation that things will not pan out the best for the fanbase).

 

[cj_iwakura]

Personally, I'll be happy if we get the Wizardry PSN sequel, but that's a long shot.

 

[chaosblade]

By immediately saying "well we didn't promise to localize the titles!" rather than simply re-voicing their sentiment for trying to find a way to release SC is essentially a preemptive backdoor route (and expectation that things will not pan out the best for the fanbase).

Haven't they re-voiced that opinion multiple times already? Including in this very thread?

 

[MechaX]

Haven't they re-voiced that opinion multiple times already? Including in this very thread?

Then wouldn't that make the feed entirely pointless outside of trying to backpedal?

 

[Aeana]

Hahaha, "we never promised to localize either sequel."
Yo, XSEED, dudes. You announced all three games at the same time. Or are you now going to claim you never did that either?

 

[Grimmy]

Might as well give up on it, at this point. There's no point in finishing the game on a cliffhanger that you'll never get resolution to.

I really despise this attitude. What the heck is your problem? Trails in the Sky is a fantastic game - regardless of whether the sequel is localized or not. Personally I'm very happy XSEED took the time to bring this game over, no matter what happens.

On the other hand, I was always skeptical that SC would ever come out in the first place. The situation with the 2-disc swapping still remains unresolved. Since even before FC came out I was wondering if XSEED should have even started to localize the series. But after playing FC I don't regret the decision at all to get to know this series.

Really too bad to hear re: sales. I hope once the VITA comes out the game could have a bit of a 2nd life.

 

[Man God]

Strategic Deal Reflects Bringing the Popular Ys and The Legend of Heroes series to North America

XSEED Games today announced a wide-ranging partnership with developer and publisher Nihon Falcom, one of Japan’s most well-respected development studios, to bring the three latest installments in the long-running Ys franchise: Ys SEVEN, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, and Ys I & II Chronicles, to the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system in North America. In addition, the deal will allow XSEED Games to release the next three chapters in Falcom’s popular The Legend of Heroes series, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy (known as the Sora no Kiseki trilogy in Japan), to the North American market on the PSP system. All six titles were developed by one of Japan’s most well-admired and longest-running independent-minded studios, Falcom, which has been a pioneer of the RPG genre since their first release in 1983.

“We are ecstatic to partner with XSEED Games on multiple new releases,” said Toshihiro Kondo, President of Falcom. “Their passion and reputation for working on outstanding RPGs is in line with our own development philosophy and assures me that our fans in North America will be getting the best English versions of our games possible.”

Under the terms of the partnership, XSEED Games retains exclusive North American publishing and distribution rights to multiple upcoming iterations of the Ys and The Legend of Heroes series, starting with Ys SEVEN, exclusively for the PSP system.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce a partnership with a development studio as renown by gamers for consistently putting out quality titles as Falcom,” said Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED Games. “Their titles have always been some of the most requested titles so it is going to be our pleasure to oblige the North American fans by delivering an amazing line up of in-depth and gripping RPGs.”

Ys SEVEN is the latest installment in the long-running Ys series which first debuted on PC in 1987. This is the first iteration to be built specifically for the PSP system, taking full advantage of the widescreen format and hardware for beautiful graphics and virtually no loadtimes. The battle system consists of a three-member battle party with enemies engaged on the field map in real-time for fast-paced combat. Old fans of the series and new players alike will be immersed into the rich vibrant world containing over 30 hours of gameplay.

Currently in production, Ys SEVEN will be the first Falcom project from the announced line up released in North America by XSEED Games for the PSP system in late summer 2010. XSEED Games will release more product information and plans on each title in the coming months.

That was quite a bit to announce for the PSP back then.

 

[Sqorgar]

They love the games, and clearly want to bring them to the US, but they also have to be realistic. At least they aren't dancing around the subject. If they do, great, but if not, it's hard to criticize.

This things always happen the same way. The "we didn't promise anything" is usually the last line before outright cancellation. Starts off with "hell or high water, we will bring these games that we are so passionate about to you, our deserving fans". Then goes through various phases of expectation cooling, trying to incite fans to action before finally blaming the fans for not being good enough and denial that they ever promised anything. Once we get to this point, it's a lost cause. XSEED basically just announced that SC won't happen. It'll be six months before we get actual confirmation though.

I appreciate XSEED. I really do. But I'm feeling a little jerked around on this SC thing. I don't like being manipulated into promoting their games and then blamed when it isn't enough. The worst thing a niche company can do is have their players lose faith in them.

 

[chaosblade]

Then wouldn't that make the feed entirely pointless outside of trying to backpedal?

Is that even in response to the Trails game though? Look what the Tweet was replying to:

"Plus, no offense, but your track record with RGC and HMH doesn't give me cause for hope. (Yes, poor sales, I know. Still sucks.)"

And then XSEED goes on to say they didn't announce sequels for either game, which is true, the RGC and HMH sequels were never announced (edit: AFAIK, at least?).

 

[cj_iwakura]

That was quite a bit to announce for the PSP back then.

They have the rights to localize them, but it doesn't really guarantee it. I don't know if they were prepared for the PSP to nose-dive in the US like it has. It's a shame, because it's still kicking in Japan.

Is that even in response to the Trails game though? Look what the Tweet was replying to:

"Plus, no offense, but your track record with RGC and HMH doesn't give me cause for hope. (Yes, poor sales, I know. Still sucks.)"

And then XSEED goes on to say they didn't announce sequels for either game, which is true, the RGC and HMH sequels were never announced (edit: AFAIK, at least?).

Very good point, and no, they weren't.

 

[duckroll]

Look, guys, I'm sure the guy operating their twitter is sorry that he didn't check the facts before posting that tweet. It was just his personal opinion I'm sure. Nothing to do with XSEED! Yeah!

 

[Man God]

They have the rights to localize them, but it doesn't really guarantee it. I don't know if they were prepared for the PSP to nose-dive in the US like it has. It's a shame, because it's still kicking in Japan.

The PSP was already more or less dead when this announcement happened!

 

[Famassu]

Hahaha, "we never promised to localize either sequel."
Yo, XSEED, dudes. You announced all three games at the same time. Or are you now going to claim you never did that either?

Meh, they've mostly said that they'd do everything they can to localize every game, but not if it's going to bankrupt them. They were too ambitious and perhaps overly enthusiastic when they first announced the plans to bring the TitS trilogy over. Sucks to be a fan, but it's completely understandable and I'm pretty sure they aren't liking the situation either.

Not quite sure why you're trying to make them the bad guys. They've already brought four Falcom games outside Japan. They didn't do super-well, so of course they need to re-evaluate whether it's worth it to do more of them. It seems like they are still actively working on SC's localization so it's not like they've abandoned it completely, meaning they are still trying to bring it over like they "promised".

 

[MechaX]

Is that even in response to the Trails game though? Look what the Tweet was replying to:

"Plus, no offense, but your track record with RGC and HMH doesn't give me cause for hope. (Yes, poor sales, I know. Still sucks.)"

And then XSEED goes on to say they didn't announce sequels for either game, which is true, the RGC and HMH sequels were never announced (edit: AFAIK, at least?).

It doesn't really matter if XSEED meant it to apply to RGC/Half-Minute Hero, actually meant to apply it to Trails, or even both in the grand scheme of things; the fact that they're willing to use the excuse at all is especially troublesome (especially since the PR announcement for the Trails trilogy is not an affirmative promise of localization, but merely that Falcom has allowed them to do so, which makes such a backdoor easily applicable if things go south for XSEED).

 

[chaosblade]

Meh, they've mostly said that they'd do everything they can to localize every game, but not if it's going to bankrupt them. They were too ambitious and perhaps overly enthusiastic when they first announced the plans to bring the TitS trilogy over. Sucks to be a fan, but it's completely understandable and I'm pretty sure they aren't liking the situation either.

Not quite sure why you're trying to make them the bad guys. They've already brought four Falcom games outside Japan. They didn't do super-well, so of course they need to re-evaluate whether it's worth it to do more of them. It seems like they are still actively working on SC's localization so it's not like they've abandoned it completely, meaning they are still trying to bring it over.

Pretty sure Trails is the only one that didn't meet expectations. We'll almost definitely get the Ys IV remake.

 

[Aeana]

Meh, they've mostly said that they'd do everything they can to localize every game, but not if it's going to bankrupt them. They were too ambitious and perhaps overly enthusiastic when they first announced the plans to bring the TitS trilogy over. Sucks to be a fan, but it's completely understandable and I'm pretty sure they aren't liking the situation either.

Not quite sure why you're trying to make them the bad guys. They've already brought four Falcom games outside Japan. They didn't do super-well, so of course they need to re-evaluate whether it's worth it to do more of them. It seems like they are still actively working on SC's localization so it's not like they've abandoned it completely, meaning they are still trying to bring it over.

I'm not trying to make them out to be bad guys for not being able to get SC out. That is completely understandable considering the situation.

They are, however, absolutely bad guys for the PR disaster they've had with the game. I really cannot believe it. Empty promises, and now they are blaming the fans for not being big enough fans. And when they eventually cancel the game, they will most likely still not take any responsibility for their poor business decision, and still blame their fans for not promoting their game for them for free or something else retarded like that.

 

[cj_iwakura]

It doesn't really matter if XSEED meant it to apply to RGC/Half-Minute Hero, actually meant to apply it to Trails, or even both in the grand scheme of things; the fact that they're willing to use the excuse at all is especially troublesome (especially since the PR announcement for the Trails trilogy is not an affirmative promise of localization, but merely that Falcom has allowed them to do so, which makes such a backdoor easily applicable if things go south for XSEED).

I think I prefer that to Atlus USA's 'no plans at this time' response to everything.



And, uh, when did they blame the fans? This isn't Capcom.

They just said the games have not sold up to expectations.

 

[Sqorgar]

And when they eventually cancel the game, they will most likely still not take any responsibility for their poor business decision, and still blame their fans for not promoting their game for them for free or something else retarded like that.

From the Siliconera interview:
"If series fans want to hurry us along, they’ll need to convince more people to buy the first game so we can have more funding to hire more people to work on the second, and have bigger numbers to convince our investors that Trails 2 is worthy of being prioritized."

 

[Takao]

I have doubt about Half Minute Hero but as a DD only game, that should be expected.

Half Minute Hero was not a PSN-only title. It received a UMD release.

 

[chaosblade]

It doesn't really matter if XSEED meant it to apply to RGC/Half-Minute Hero, actually meant to apply it to Trails, or even both in the grand scheme of things; the fact that they're willing to use the excuse at all is especially troublesome (especially since the PR announcement for the Trails trilogy is not an affirmative promise of localization, but merely that Falcom has allowed them to do so, which makes such a backdoor easily applicable if things go south for XSEED).

I see where you're coming from, but I guess that just doesn't concern me. I'm still confident we'll see PC versions of the already-released Falcom games (except maybe Seven) and I have no doubt Trails will be successful enough on PC for them to at least finish out the trilogy. Unless XSEED totally drops the ball on that, I guess.

And, uh, when did they blame the fans? This isn't Capcom.

They just said the games have not sold up to expectations.

It's kind of an exaggeration, but telling people to advertise the game for them and get their friends to buy it to help the game meet expectations and justify the sequel is kind of blaming fans.

I think it's expecting too much out of fans, they shouldn't HAVE to do that, but I wouldn't say it's "blaming" them.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I'm sure XSEED fully intended to bring over the entire Trails in the Sky trilogy when they made their initial announcement. However, they didn't have any feasible long-term plan for how to release it after FC, and are just now realizing their mistake. I'm certainly happy they brought over at least one game and did a good job with it; it alone has become one of my favorite games ever. But there's no way I can be happy with the situation as it stands, given how XSEED has been steadily backpedaling from their initial confident statements about the whole trilogy. If they didn't have a clue what to do with future entries in the franchise (and apparently still don't), they should have tempered expectations from the start.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yim51f0Bbs

That didn't sell you immediately?

Yuusha 30 Second has even more amazing music, which is one reason why it not making it over here is disappointing.

 

[Aeana]

From the Siliconera interview:
"If series fans want to hurry us along, they’ll need to convince more people to buy the first game so we can have more funding to hire more people to work on the second, and have bigger numbers to convince our investors that Trails 2 is worthy of being prioritized."

Yep. It's pathetic.
The big fans of the game have already done a great job of getting word of mouth for the game out. XSEED not only does not recognize this, but essentially tells them they haven't done a good enough job when, being consumers, they were not obligated to do any such thing in the first place.

 

[Coxy]

It doesn't really matter if XSEED meant it to apply to RGC/Half-Minute Hero, actually meant to apply it to Trails, or even both in the grand scheme of things; the fact that they're willing to use the excuse at all is especially troublesome (especially since the PR announcement for the Trails trilogy is not an affirmative promise of localization, but merely that Falcom has allowed them to do so, which makes such a backdoor easily applicable if things go south for XSEED).

that's a completely false equivalence, there's an ocean of difference between not releasing standalone sequels to standalone game and promising the concluding chapters of a contiguous series

 

[LiquidMetal14]

From the Siliconera interview:
"If series fans want to hurry us along, they’ll need to convince more people to buy the first game so we can have more funding to hire more people to work on the second, and have bigger numbers to convince our investors that Trails 2 is worthy of being prioritized."

Just send it to one guy for 6 six months and let it cook. I mean, at the very least I hope some fans take the translation of both games and release them at some point because I can't see these games coming out. If SC gets re-announced somehow I will be very happy but this does certainly sting a little. The back and forth between PR and twitter confusion is not helping.

I've tried to do my part by telling several friends and colleagues about this. How consoles are kind of lacking these kinds of RPG's with good old school like visuals (with polish of course). It may be a handheld game but it's of a quality appropriate for any console. I know they won't fly as mainstream console games but they are certainly as engaging and have depth.

But XSEED or whoever decides on how to put this game out needs to look at how the message was put forth on this game. The fans can only do so much. And we're schilling the game for free.

 

[PixyJunket]

Don't worry, guys, Corpse Party is the best game ever will sell better than Retro Game Challenge, Half-Minute Hero and Trails in the Sky COMBINED and all its sequels will be localized!

Same with Grand Knights History.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Yep. It's pathetic.
The big fans of the game have already done a great job of getting word of mouth for the game out. XSEED not only does not recognize this, but essentially tells them they haven't done a good enough job when, being consumers, they were not obligated to do any such thing in the first place.

Word of mouth is a powerful thing. It sure worked for Demon's Souls.

Except when it comes to the PSP, the resounding answer is always 'wow, I'd get that if...'.

 

[Man God]

Don't worry, guys, Corpse Party is the best game ever will sell better than Retro Game Challenge, Half-Minute Hero and Trails in the Sky COMBINED and all its sequels will be localized!

Same with Grand Knights History.

Let's look back at what Man God was thinking only a few years ago...

Rune Factory Frontier will issue in a whole new era of localizations from Marvelous!

Muramasa and ARF will be amazing! X Seed is the best!

The one I feel bad about is RGC though; it might have had a chance if the DVDs had come out around then.

I can never fault XSEED for trying though.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I really want Corpse Party to do well. 999 sure did, and visual novels have a real chance in the US if this keeps up.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I see where you're coming from, but I guess that just doesn't concern me. I'm still confident we'll see PC versions of the already-released Falcom games (except maybe Seven) and I have no doubt Trails will be successful enough on PC for them to at least finish out the trilogy. Unless XSEED totally drops the ball on that, I guess.

That would be great, but Falcom doesn't seem to have free programmers to handle the PC localization at the moment and XSEED sure isn't going to hire them. I wouldn't be so sanguine, especially since XSEED hasn't done any releases for the PC before.

 

[PixyJunket]

Has XSEED followed up on ANYTHING they've released? Besides Ys?

 

[MechaX]

that's a completely false equivalence, there's an ocean of difference between not releasing standalone sequels to standalone game and promising the concluding chapters of a contiguous series

That still doesn't really make a bit of difference when considering that XSEED made no explicit promises on either, the excuse perfectly can work on either, and the biggest problem in this immediate case is a matter of hype that XSEED built for the series in the face of market realities (a niche JRPG on the PSP in the west with behemoth scripts with direct, successive sequels with a sequel that has a double UMD problem that has not been easily fixed, if fixed at all, to present date when the successor the PSP is on the horizon).

It is still quite easy for XSEED to say "we didn't promise to localize the other titles" when the biggest problem here is that XSEED widely touted a deal for this franchise and confidently plunged in (seemingly without any long-term goals or plans on how to make it work) despite how simple forum goers could define a laundry list of potential hurdles day one.

 

[PixyJunket]

The one I feel bad about is RGC though; it might have had a chance if the DVDs had come out around then.

RGC2 being passed on is my biggest disappointment from this generation.

The DVDs and the sequel could possibly have helped it become one of those "evergreen" DS titles. Marketing never hurt either, heh.

I can never fault XSEED for trying though.

In the end, I suppose that's true.

 

[Takao]

I really want Corpse Party to do well. 999 sure did, and visual novels have a real chance in the US if this keeps up.

I wonder how many copies of Blaze Souls Accelate, and Jikandia sold for Aksys, 12?

 

[Wilsongt]

I haven't gotten around to playing the game yet, but I own it...

This smells vaguely like what happened with Shining Force III...

 

[chaosblade]

That would be great, but Falcom doesn't seem to have free programmers to handle the PC localization at the moment and XSEED sure isn't going to hire them. I wouldn't be so sanguine, especially since XSEED hasn't done any releases for the PC before.

Well yeah, Falcom is a small company and they had at minimum 3 games in progress at the same time for a while. Possibly a forth that is getting brought up after Ao no Kiseki.

I don't necessarily think that PC release will come in the next few months or anything, but I think it's bound to happen eventually. Neither company will just want to leave the money sitting there. Of course the quicker it's done the better, the earlier they hit the market the more likely they are to gain mindshare since there are probably quite a few groups following in CF's footsteps.

Has XSEED followed up on ANYTHING they've released? Besides Ys?

Pretty sure Trails+Ys was the only time they announced multiple games. None of the other games came with announcements of sequels at the same time.

 

[Sqorgar]

Word of mouth is a powerful thing. It sure worked for Demon's Souls.

Trails in the Sky already has some of the best word of mouth I've ever seen. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about it and I've seen people praise it frequently when talking about other games. The problem with Trails not selling isn't word of mouth. It's that word of mouth doesn't work if you can't sell people on the idea of the game.

Demon's Souls had lots of high profile reviews. It has like two dozen videos on GameTrailers and ten times more on YouTube. If people are curious about the game, it takes all of ten seconds for the idea of the game to be sold. It is a difficult, rewarding game that look beautiful.

How do you sell Trails in the Sky to someone who is somewhat interested? A quick glance shows just another JRPG, like a thousand others. GameTrailers has two trailers for the game, both of which are largely just still hand drawn images with text placed over them intercut with brief scenes from the battle system. If the selling point of Trails isn't how it looks or how it plays, then how do you get a non-JRPG fan to recognize it from everything else?

I hate to say this, but I think the solution might be spoilers. I know that I've watched tv series, like Fringe, only after a major spoiler was let out that made me curious. That's when I realized that Fringe wasn't just an X Files rip off and had something new to contribute. Maybe the same thing could work for Trails. Maybe if we let loose some major plot points, we can sell the game better. Maybe the problem is that the fans are too respectful of the experience such that they can't ever properly describe it.

 

[PumpkinPie]

LOL. I guess to some people, it is a charity after all! Lololol.

ducktroll strikes again.

 

[MechaX]

Pretty sure Trails+Ys was the only time they announced multiple games. None of the other games came with announcements of sequels at the same time.

This actually makes me pretty curious on how the Ys series performed. Especially Ys I/II Chronicles.

 

[Syril]

Word of mouth is a powerful thing. It sure worked for Demon's Souls.

The gigantic amounts of critical acclaim and coverage helped too.

 

[Takao]

This actually makes me pretty curious on how the Ys series performed. Especially Ys I/II Chronicles.

I believe Tom said they weren't disappointed with the numbers from the Ys games, but they weren't spectacular or anything. This was after the Trails admission of not so hotness.