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[krYlon]

It would be exactly the same. Konami doesn't own Ys VI, nor does Bandai own the Gagharv Trilogy -- those are Falcom titles, so there's no reason we *couldn't* release the PC versions here.

They'd be an awfully hard sell, though (as they do look and sound fairly dated compared to other Falcom titles), and they'd be hell for Sara to work with (seeing as all three of them are older than the oldest PC release she's handled for us to date -- all three were programmed with Windows 98 compatibility first and foremost, I believe!). Add to that the fact that they'd all be fairly lengthy titles to localize (and we would most certainly re-localize them from scratch), and... yeah, I wouldn't expect to be seeing any of those games anytime soon.

Both Brittany and I are big advocates of working on them eventually, though, so hopefully one day we can convince the powers that be to let us give them a shot.

-Tom

Well, at least there's a chance!

 

[SpaceDrake]

It would be exactly the same. Konami doesn't own Ys VI, nor does Bandai own the Gagharv Trilogy -- those are Falcom titles, so there's no reason we *couldn't* release the PC versions here.

They'd be an awfully hard sell, though (as they do look and sound fairly dated compared to other Falcom titles), and they'd be hell for Sara to work with (seeing as all three of them are older than the oldest PC release she's handled for us to date -- all three were programmed with Windows 98 compatibility first and foremost, I believe!). Add to that the fact that they'd all be fairly lengthy titles to localize (and we would most certainly re-localize them from scratch), and... yeah, I wouldn't expect to be seeing any of those games anytime soon.

Both Brittany and I are big advocates of working on them eventually, though, so hopefully one day we can convince the powers that be to let us give them a shot.

-Tom

Honestly, on some level I too want to see Gagharv re-localized despite the million hurdles standing in the way, just because the Namco versions were so poorly handled. Those games, Vermillion Tear in particular, deserved better than they got.

Hoo boy, though. You want to talk about hard sells... the only way I could see them selling at all would be as a three-pack of some sort of all the games together. Anything else would just result in head-scratching.

 

[BassForever]

It would be exactly the same. Konami doesn't own Ys VI, nor does Bandai own the Gagharv Trilogy -- those are Falcom titles, so there's no reason we *couldn't* release the PC versions here.

They'd be an awfully hard sell, though (as they do look and sound fairly dated compared to other Falcom titles), and they'd be hell for Sara to work with (seeing as all three of them are older than the oldest PC release she's handled for us to date -- all three were programmed with Windows 98 compatibility first and foremost, I believe!). Add to that the fact that they'd all be fairly lengthy titles to localize (and we would most certainly re-localize them from scratch), and... yeah, I wouldn't expect to be seeing any of those games anytime soon.

Both Brittany and I are big advocates of working on them eventually, though, so hopefully one day we can convince the powers that be to let us give them a shot.

-Tom

Makes sense, if you're gonna convince the powers that be to localize more LoH games probably best to finish the trails series before going backwards to not trails entries

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Hopefully we get an update that does them justice sometime. That might be the wedge needed to be able to take those games on, as much as I'd like the nostalgic appeal for the Gagharv games.

Falcom president Kondo wants to remake White Witch, but it remains to be seen if he'll do the same for Tear of Vermillion and Cagesong of the Sea. Remakes would, of course, seem like whole new games in this climate, and so would be apt for XSEED to localize.

The Gagharv trilogy absolutely deserves its chance to shine. I think Trails games need to sell well before XSEED and Falcom can make the call on bringing the Windows versions to Steam, however, and that lands us back in the quagmire SC might be facing. Meanwhile I think Legend of Heroes, as a brand name, has regained its reputation because the Bamco US versions of the Gagharv installments on PSP are being forgotten to history, or at least repressed in memory because of their defects. Don't forget Legend of Heroes I and II, guys! And I don't think Legend of Heroes, when paired with Trails, causes any confusion, since you can Google this stuff and quickly read up on the franchise's history and how Trails/Kiseki is largely its own thing but with a lot of stylistic debt owed to Gagharv.

XSEED would be the first to say us fans need to stick together and get the word out so that games like SC can thrive in a very crowded digital marketplace. Obviously both consumer and provider need to reciprocate, and I think XSEED needs to reevaluate how they approach their PC releases since throwing any of their games onto Steam/GOG isn't guaranteed money (definitely not after this, Ys VI, and Akiba's Trip). Reaching out even more to enthusiast outlets with ideas for coverage (that make sense and avoid negative controversy) would help. Maybe they need to put out releases of smaller games like Tatakae Butasan! to aid the bottom line while Trails becomes an evergreen prestige series due to pay off.

 

[Arthea]

At this point I already believe Kiseki curse is a real thing, even without that article, I mean.
I would want properly released PC Gagharv trilogy very much, but I already see, that most likely never will happen.

 

[kswiston]

This is another facet to the "exposure" problem the game is having: at this point, there's always going to be some kind of other big-profile release happening at the same time you release. Maybe a couple. All throughout the year.

I think part of the reason Recettear did so well back in the day was that there weren't quite so many releases - not just hitting Steam, but coming out in general. Our only real competition was the original Amnesia, and Recettear and Amnesia are so damned different that they didn't exactly compete with one another. And beyond that, it was pretty quiet that week and even beyond, so we didn't have a ton of competition stealing the spotlight.

Trails SC? Neptunia V3 PC launched the next day, and let's be honest, there probably is some competition for dollars there, Galak-Z launched the same day, two major free to play games dropped updates the same day, another one launched and Binding of Isaac launched its expansion the day after (and that's another one where I do think there's a bit of user overlap and competition for dollars) and then a couple more games launched yesterday. Yokai Watch drops this Saturday, and next week, for example, comes Fallout 4 and a huge update to Final Fantasy XIV - on the same day! - and all three of those are also after a lot of the same dollars we are.

The market is goddamn flooded, is what I'm saying. Visibility for any product is getting to be a problem. At some point you just need to get your product out there, and have enough faith that the people who want to find it, will find it, and you're only going to get so much media attention no matter what you do unless your name is Activision, EA, Nintendo, Bethesda or maybe Square-Enix. The Halloween sale made things slightly rougher, but to be honest, the market is so flooded that announcing the release a bit further away from the game going on sale wasn't going to help, and pushing the release date back or forward wouldn't have helped, either.

Steam gamers are also cheap. People will buy Fallout 4 for $60, but I think anything that looks indie or dated is a hard sell over $20 unless it gets a ton of word of mouth from streamers and forum members. We have a ton of examples of sequels to 500k+ sellers on Steam doing mediocre/disappointing numbers at full price.

 

[BassForever]

Falcom president Kondo wants to remake White Witch, but it remains to be seen if he'll do the same for Tear of Vermillion and Cagesong of the Sea. Remakes would, of course, seem like whole new games in this climate, and so would be apt for XSEED to localize.

The Gagharv trilogy absolutely deserves its chance to shine. I think Trails games need to sell well before XSEED and Falcom can make the call on bringing the Windows versions to Steam, however, and that lands us back in the quagmire SC might be facing. Meanwhile I think Legend of Heroes, as a brand name, has regained its reputation because the Bamco US versions of the Gagharv installments on PSP are being forgotten to history, or at least repressed in memory because of their defects. Don't forget Legend of Heroes I and II, guys! And I don't think Legend of Heroes, when paired with Trails, causes any confusion, since you can Google this stuff and quickly read up on the franchise's history and how Trails/Kiseki is largely its own thing but with a lot of stylistic debt owed to Gagharv.

XSEED would be the first to say us fans need to stick together and get the word out so that games like SC can thrive in a very crowded digital marketplace. Obviously both consumer and provider need to reciprocate, and I think XSEED needs to reevaluate how they approach their PC releases since throwing any of their games onto Steam/GOG isn't guaranteed money (definitely not after this, Ys VI, and Akiba's Trip). Reaching out even more to enthusiast outlets with ideas for coverage (that make sense and avoid negative controversy) would help. Maybe they need to put out releases of smaller games like Tatakae Butasan! to aid the bottom line while Trails becomes an evergreen prestige series due to pay off.

Did Ys 6 and Akiba's Trip not do well on steam either is that confirmed?

 

[Basileus777]

Did Ys 6 and Akiba's Trip not do well on steam either is that confirmed?

~28k for Akiba's Trip
~16k for Ys 6

I don't think either of them have been discounted much. A lot of the sales from earlier Falcom games on Steam were through harsh discounts and bundles, so it's tough to make a direct comparison.

 

[family_guy]

Never heard of the games until now. So I guess skipping the first game would be a big mistake. Which is better the Steam or PSP version?

 

[Shizuka]

~28k for Akiba's Trip
~16k for Ys 6

I don't think either of them have been discounted much.

I got Ys VI half off during the summer sale.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

~28k for Akiba's Trip
~16k for Ys 6

Akiba's Trip outsold Ys 6, and almost double the amount? This makes me legitimately sad.

 

[Basileus777]

Akiba's Trip outsold Ys 6, and almost double the amount? This makes me legitimately sad.

I imagine there are a lot of people who bought the other Ys games, didn't finish them, and aren't interesting in buying more. Ys 6 was also released into the void with no promotion.

 

[wrowa]

I don't know how reliable Steam's achievements stats are, but looking at them I really don't get the impression that pricing is the issue here. According to Steamspy FC sold a great 130k to 140k units on Steam, but based on global achievement stats, only 9.8% of all players achieved the achievement for completing the final chapter of the game. So, reasonably speaking, I don't see why SC would sell out of the gate to much more than to the audience who's already finished FC.

Reaching 5k people after less than a week when only 14k people actually finished the predecessor on the same platform... That's not that bad in terms of reaching its audience. Even if you argue that there are an additional 10k people who finished FC on PSP (which is probably an unreasonably high number), you only look at 25k people who completed the first game...

And that is if Steam achievements are calculated based on ownership and not based on whether or not an owner has actually started the game at least once.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

And it has the worst word of mouth of the PC Ys titles so far, which hurt its chances for reaching Akiba's Trip's sales.

Meanwhile FC didn't have severe discounts for months and still reached 100K+, which is no doubt a boon for XSEED in terms of profit in their coffers. The Catch-22 I see with SC's release is that Steam users need incentive to finish the prequel so they can feel good about buying the sequel, yet that means SC has to release in a rough launch period and so we're doing pity appeals to generate interest for the release and FC as well. If XSEED had waited, fans' patience and trust in the company would have plummeted big-time, which only would have lead to more bickering and division flying in the face of good word of mouth. And the latter would have damaged XSEED's brand overall, not just how they're perceived when localizing Falcom games (I'd argue the same isn't true for how SC's localization process represents them vs. quicker, better-produced releases that came out recently from them).

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Never heard of the games until now. So I guess skipping the first game would be a big mistake. Which is better the Steam or PSP version?

If portability isn't a factor, I'd probably say PC.

 

[mobilesworking]

I wasn't planning on buying this till I finished FC but holy cow after reading that article I bought it just now to support all that effort you guys did.

Same. Haven't started FC, but I'm buying SC now to express my thanks and appreciation for the dedication and hard work. XSEED, indeed.

 

[wrowa]

I imagine there are a lot of people who bought the other Ys games, didn't finish them, and aren't interesting in buying more. Ys 6 was also released into the void with no promotion.

Yeah, I'd think that fatigue played a role there. The Ys games are great fun even if you don't finish them, but after playing two games that played/looked very similar (and likely not finishing either of them), a lot of people might be thinking that they should rather finish the Ys games they already own instead of a third one that again looks and plays pretty much the same.

 

[Eusis]

Never heard of the games until now. So I guess skipping the first game would be a big mistake. Which is better the Steam or PSP version?

Steam is better if you have a reasonably capable computer and portability isn't absolutely essential. Even then consistency updates to stay in line with later games and typo fixes may be enough reason to go Stram anyway.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I don't know how reliable Steam's achievements stats are, but looking at them I really don't get the impression that pricing is the issue here. According to Steamspy FC sold a great 130k to 140k units on Steam, but based on global achievement stats, only 9.8% of all players achieved the achievement for completing the final chapter of the game. So, reasonably speaking, I don't see why SC would sell out of the gate to much more than to the audience who's already finished FC.

Reaching 5k people after less than a week when only 14k people actually finished the predecessor on the same platform... That's not that bad in terms of reaching its audience. Even if you argue that there are an additional 10k people who finished FC on PSP (which is probably an unreasonably high number), you only look at 25k people who completed the first game...

And that is if Steam achievements are calculated based on ownership and not based on whether or not an owner has actually started the game at least once.

Hm? According to the stats, 38% finished the prologue, and and 23% finished the first chapter; pretty good compared to most games out there, actually, and especially considering how long it takes to complete Chapter 1.

I will admit the inability of Ys 6 to take off has me fumbled, as if you enjoyed Origin and Oath, there's no way you won't enjoy this game. Maybe the releases of Ys are blending together in people's minds?

Then again we have no idea what's considered a success to XSEED, so I don't really feel like there's any point speculating. We'll see how far the chips are down after winter passes.

 

[Dunan]

1.5 million Japanese characters!?

I have no idea what these translators got paid, but as a professional Japanese-English translator myself, it is not unheard of to get 10¢ per source character, meaning that one person doing a project this large would gross $150,000.

And that's for easy-to-handle text in applications like Word. More complex formatting -- something games have in spades -- demand extra.

As someone who has also endured the rigors of huge numbers of characters to handle on a tight, sleep-depriving deadline, my hat is off to the translators of this game.

In fact, you just made a sale. $39.99 on Amazon. My Vita is waiting!

 

[Basileus777]

1.5 million Japanese characters!?

I have no idea what these translators got paid, but as a professional Japanese-English translator myself, it is not unheard of to get 10¢ per source character, meaning that one person doing a project this large would gross $150,000.

And that's for easy-to-handle text in applications like Word. More complex formatting -- something games have in spades -- demand extra.

As someone who has also endured the rigors of huge numbers of characters to handle on a tight, sleep-depriving deadline, my hat is off to the translators of this game.

In fact, you just made a sale. $39.99 on Amazon. My Vita is waiting!

I don't think video game translators get a 10¢ per character rate, especially for niche products.

 

[wrowa]

Hm? According to the stats, 38% finished the prologue, and and 23% finished the first chapter; pretty good compared to most games.

Why would the prologue and the first chapter matter? I was talking about the final chapter, since that is where SC starts. It straight up doesn't make sense to play SC when you haven't finished FC before.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Then again we have no idea what's considered a success to XSEED, so I don't really feel like there's any point speculating. We'll see how far the chips are down after winter passes.

For a long time a game half the size of FC doing 10K was enough for XSEED to call it a success, which is why FC doing those numbers on PSP was a failure. I've no doubt they're satisfied with Ys VI and Akiba's Trip on PC, but the recent popularity of other Falcom releases on Steam/GOG shows that XSEED could do even better, especially since Ys VI is underperforming.

 

[PillarEN]

I mean I have both games in my wishlist but perhaps unlike most Steam users I don't buy everything interesting when there are still plenty of other games I already do own.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Why would the prologue and the first chapter matter? I was talking about the final chapter, since that is where SC starts. It straight up doesn't make sense to play SC when you haven't finished FC before.

Oops, read too fast.

For a long time a game half the size of FC doing 10K was enough for XSEED to call it a success, which is why FC doing those numbers on PSP was a failure. I've no doubt they're satisfied with Ys VI and Akiba's Trip on PC, but the recent popularity of other Falcom releases on Steam/GOG shows that XSEED could do even better, especially since Ys VI is underperforming.

Oh we have FC PSP numbers?

I can only hope that digital pull through is having a positive effect with all of these games like Ken spoke about in the Destructoid interview. I also believe games like Ys VI can do better, for sure. XSEED is throwing a lot of support behind PC, I don't want to see them fail.

I mean I have both games in my wishlist but perhaps unlike most Steam users I don't buy everything interesting when there are still plenty of other games I already do own.

I mean, you can take my example, I am a very picky gamer. I don't buy a game on Steam unless I'm absolutely sure I can play it within a reasonable time frame and if it's worth the cost and my time.

So let me tell you right now from a very picky gamer like myself if you're a fan of JRPGs that these games are worth the immediate purchase.

 

[Basileus777]

Hm? According to the stats, 38% finished the prologue, and and 23% finished the first chapter; pretty good compared to most games out there, actually, and especially considering how long it takes to complete Chapter 1.

It's good compared to many games, but most of those aren't trying to sell direct sequels that require you to finish the previous game.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Oh we have FC PSP numbers?

Don't have a source, but it did around that ballpark IIRC.

Even in the best case scenario it's gonna take years for 3rd + Crossbell to reach us because, assuming games like SC need time before they can be called huge successes worthy of follow-through, XSEED's going to wait and see for maybe a year or two before deciding to announce they're either continuing or giving up. I can see this happening for Kiseki titles Falcom hasn't even made yet if they keep starting new series in the saga with low-key build-up games that aren't too easy to get into, yet are essential to appreciating the sequel.

 

[BassForever]

Don't have a source, but it did around that ballpark IIRC.

Even in the best case scenario it's gonna take years for 3rd + Crossbell to reach us because, assuming games like SC need time before they can be called huge successes worthy of follow-through, XSEED's going to wait and see for maybe a year or two before deciding to announce they're either continuing or giving up. I can see this happening for Kiseki titles Falcom hasn't even made yet if they keep starting new series in the saga with low-key build-up games that aren't too easy to get into, yet are essential to appreciating the sequel.

I would assume how well cold steel 1 and 2 do will have a bigger impact on if we continue to get newer games in the series and tc/ao/zero are dependent upon how well fc and sc continue to do. It's clear both falcom and xseed want these games to all happen in English it's just gonna be fuzzy for awhile I imagine to make it happen.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

I would assume how well cold steel 1 and 2 do will have a bigger impact on if we continue to get newer games in the series and tc/ao/zero are dependent upon how well fc and sc continue to do. It's clear both falcom and xseed want these games to all happen in English it's just gonna be fuzzy for awhile I imagine to make it happen.

Point is, even ToCS II will face the same problem SC's facing because of the need to complete prequels for each of the Kiseki saga's duo/trilogies. That isn't for certain, but it's likely going to be a trend, and the Japanese fanbase has done far better in slaving to play through each game in order to understand continuity and spoilers (explaining the popularity of Chara-Ani/Pyramid's Evo releases).

 

[PillarEN]

I mean, you can take my example, I am a very picky gamer. I don't buy a game on Steam unless I'm absolutely sure I can play it within a reasonable time frame and if it's worth the cost and my time.

So let me tell you right now from a very picky gamer like myself if you're a fan of JRPGs that these games are worth the immediate purchase.

Yeah that's the problem. For JRPGs I have Persona 4, FF10,10-2, and Valkyria Chronicles to play through before I would start this series. That could easily be this time next year for me.

 

[BassForever]

Point is, even ToCS II will face the same problem SC's facing because of the need to complete prequels for each of the Kiseki saga's duo/trilogies. That isn't for certain, but it's likely going to be a trend, and the Japanese fanbase has done far better in slaving to play through each game in order to understand continuity and spoilers (explaining the popularity of Chara-Ani/Pyramid's Evo releases).

Fair enough

Though I realized it's kind of sad this thread was derailed instantly by sales talk when it should be about discussing the difficulty of the localization and the trails xseed/cf went through to bring this game to the US and PAL territories.

 

[Brazil]

I'm still waiting for the Steam price in Brazil to match the PSN price here.

Same here

I'm not at all interested in the PSP version, and I've already waited this long, so...

 

[wyrdwad]

Don't forget Legend of Heroes I and II, guys!

Hear hear on that! I literally just received a complete-in-box copy of LoH1 for the MSX2 computer system last night and popped it in when I got home, and while it may not seem like much today, it's pretty amazing to think that this game comes from the same era as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest 1, as it's SO FAR AHEAD of either of those titles. Really good stuff, and shows just how consistent Falcom has been all these years.

I think XSEED needs to reevaluate how they approach their PC releases since throwing any of their games onto Steam/GOG isn't guaranteed money (definitely not after this, Ys VI, and Akiba's Trip)

Hey, now! It remains to be seen how SC is doing (SteamSpy isn't always accurate this early on, and SC is the kind of game that's going to have long legs anyway), Akiba's Trip has performed quite well, and Ys VI... well, Ys VI could be doing better, granted. But still!

Akiba's Trip outsold Ys 6, and almost double the amount? This makes me legitimately sad.

And hey, now, again! Akiba's Trip is a damned good game. It deserves every sale it gets, and then some. Definitely an underrated title, and one of my favorites I've worked on in my 5+ years here.

-Tom

 

[Shizuka]

The only problem is that XSEED doesn't build hype or does enough marketing for the PC games, so we feel like they're being sent to die. Ys VI specially, I've seen XSEED mention it once in all year and that's it.

 

[wrowa]

Point is, even ToCS II will face the same problem SC's facing because of the need to complete prequels for each of the Kiseki saga's duo/trilogies. That isn't for certain, but it's likely going to be a trend, and the Japanese fanbase has done far better in slaving to play through each game in order to understand continuity and spoilers (explaining the popularity of Chara-Ani/Pyramid's Evo releases).

I don't think ToCSII will face quite the same problem due to the differences of the Steam and the Vita ecosystems. On Steam, buying games has become sort of a meta-game on its own. You have high sales numbers, but a huge amount of people either never play a game they bought or only play it for a couple of hours before moving on to something new.

I think the handheld/console space is still a bit more conservative in that regard. So I don't think the decline from ToCS to ToCSII will be quite as sharp as the (initial) decline from FC to SC, but at the same time ToCS will never reach anywhere near the heights that FC reached on Steam either.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Tom, I guess I just want reassurance that XSEED is doing fine on PC, so it's good to hear about Akiba's Trip. I sincerely hope that SC works out well for you guys, it just reminds me how much fun it is to play an RPG with true KB+M support.... a JRPG with KB+M support, that is.

One of the sad things about playing CS is that I have to go back to a sluggish PS3 controller to play the game and go through menus and such.

 

[zero shift]

I shake my head of all the shit fans gave Xseed over this game. Xseed threads got brutal at times.

~28k for Akiba's Trip
~16k for Ys 6

I don't think either of them have been discounted much. A lot of the sales from earlier Falcom games on Steam were through harsh discounts and bundles, so it's tough to make a direct comparison.

Ys VI underperformed because it is the worst modern entry in the series. The consensus of the game BEFORE it came out was that it was by far the worst of the Ys games but still worth playing. That isn't going to motivate people to buy a game.

 

[Eila]

Same here

I'm not at all interested in the PSP version, and I've already waited this long, so...

I'm also hoping for this.
Mexican and Brazilian prices are just not in line with the rest. SC is cheaper in Norway.

 

[Se7enSword]

~28k for Akiba's Trip
~16k for Ys 6

I don't think either of them have been discounted much. A lot of the sales from earlier Falcom games on Steam were through harsh discounts and bundles, so it's tough to make a direct comparison.

I remember that people were complaining that it was $20 and they wanted it to be $15 :/

Meh, I bought 3 copies of it at launch ($17 for each), and a further 2 more later at some 50% discount later on. I enjoyed the game, it's in one of my top 5 goty contenders too.

 

[Eusis]

Ys VI was a victim of timing for me. Perhaps I should just jump on that anyway, just feels somewhat irresponsible to do that right now, especially before a Steam sale.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Never heard of the games until now. So I guess skipping the first game would be a big mistake. Which is better the Steam or PSP version?

Steam, since XSEED can actually patch it and it also has more options for resolution/etc.

Vita is purely for portability or if you just prefer playing RPGs like this on handhelds like myself. And also if you have a save file of FC on your vita to import into SC for the bonus stuff.

 

[family_guy]

Steam, since XSEED can actually patch it and it also has more options for resolution/etc.

Vita is purely for portability or if you just prefer playing RPGs like this on handhelds like myself. And also if you have a save file of FC on your vita to import into SC for the bonus stuff.

Does it have 360 controller support?

 

[Nyoro SF]

Does it have 360 controller support?

Yep!

 

[wyrdwad]

The only problem is that XSEED doesn't build hype or does enough marketing for the PC games, so we feel like they're being sent to die. Ys VI specially, I've seen XSEED mention it once in all year and that's it.

Then you haven't been looking very hard, because we've been talking about it every chance we get! Especially on Twitter.

-Tom

 

[Soulflarz]

Unsure how they could've mentioned it more to relevant audience besides maybe giving it like a bigger heads up, but releasing it a little bit later would have been a bad idea too :<

 

[Ampsicora]

Guys, remember, the PC market is more like a marathon. The game could doing better on long term.

Also, Tom, I'd like to thank your team for have brought the game to us after so many troubles. I'm really enjoying it so far.

 

[Shizuka]

Then you haven't been looking very hard, because we've been talking about it every chance we get! Especially on Twitter.

-Tom

That's the thing, it can be inconsistent. You have Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, NeoGAF, your own forums. I just don't see it, I made a Twitter only recently. YouTube is a huge asset, yet we get only a few trailers that range from awesome to boring. Trailers usually grab the most attention since several websites share them everywhere when they're up. I'll never forget that great, great trailer for Corpse Party. I don't think we've gotten anywhere close to the quality of that trailer since then.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

Just poked in here to say I did my part. I was always going to buy it at full price, but I wanted to finish my second FC run (currently at the final chapter) before I picked it up. I wanted to grab it now to show my appreciation.

I hope the game sales pick up. I adore this series.

 

[wyrdwad]

That's the thing, it can be inconsistent. You have Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, NeoGAF, your own forums. I just don't see it, I made a Twitter only recently. YouTube is a huge asset, yet we get only a few trailers that range from awesome to boring. Trailers usually grab the most attention since several websites share them everywhere when they're up. I'll never forget that great, great trailer for Corpse Party. I don't think we've gotten anywhere close to the quality of that trailer since then.

Well, as the guy who made that trailer, I appreciate the compliment. But I also disagree with it -- we've had some pretty spectacular trailers these last few years, including countless awesome ones from Brittany (her Last Story trailer was incredible), countless awesome ones from Kelly (I really liked her most recent Blood Drive trailer, and am really pleased with what she was able to put together for our E3 Return to PopoloCrois trailer considering the game was still 90% in Japanese), and we even had Ryan step in to deliver a seriously kick-ass trailer for Earth Defense Force 4.1 recently (the EDF games are his babies, and he really brought it all to the table with that one!).

Trailer-making is a time-consuming process, though, so we usually stick with two per game, soooooometimes going with 3 (though very rarely), and even sometimes just one (much less rarely). So Ys VI really didn't get any less trailer time than any other titles, and the trailer it did get was a pretty good one.

The most effective advertising for our games is and has always been word of mouth -- if a game is good, people will talk about it, and if people talk about it, people will buy it. We've tried other methods of advertising our games in the past, but ultimately, that's what ends up scoring us the most sales. (As it should be, IMHO. No sense "tricking" people into buying a game with a good trailer if the game itself doesn't stand on its own as something totally desirable to play!)

So I'm pretty confident that SC will do well for us -- the game's just so long, it'll take a while for word of mouth to spread. But when it does, boy howdy!

-Tom

 

[BassForever]

Well, as the guy who made that trailer, I appreciate the compliment. But I also disagree with it -- we've had some pretty spectacular trailers these last few years, including countless awesome ones from Brittany (her Last Story trailer was incredible), countless awesome ones from Kelly (I really liked her most recent Blood Drive trailer, and am really pleased with what she was able to put together for our E3 Return to PopoloCrois trailer considering the game was still 90% in Japanese), and we even had Ryan step in to deliver a seriously kick-ass trailer for Earth Defense Force 4.1 recently (the EDF games are his babies, and he really brought it all to the table with that one!).

Trailer-making is a time-consuming process, though, so we usually stick with two per game, soooooometimes going with 3 (though very rarely), and even sometimes just one (much less rarely). So Ys VI really didn't get any less trailer time than any other titles, and the trailer it did get was a pretty good one.

The most effective advertising for our games is and has always been word of mouth -- if a game is good, people will talk about it, and if people talk about it, people will buy it. We've tried other methods of advertising our games in the past, but ultimately, that's what ends up scoring us the most sales. (As it should be, IMHO. No sense "tricking" people into buying a game with a good trailer if the game itself doesn't stand on its own as something totally desirable to play!)

So I'm pretty confident that SC will do well for us -- the game's just so long, it'll take a while for word of mouth to spread. But when it does, boy howdy!

-Tom

I sing its praises to everyone I know who's ever liked anime or jrpgs, and I'm only on chapter 2 of sc, game is just amazing props again to all involved for making it happen.