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[PixyJunket]

This... and as neat as the news is, visually this is something that's not very Vita worthy. Was this a PSP up port?

I know it's first gen, but this is practically PSP level here.

Falcom has NEVER been cutting edge in graphics. Anybody familiar with them should know that. Anybody that's played their PSP games should know that, most of them looks terrible. Their best looking games (Gurumin and Zwei II) look good because of style and art design, not because of the tech behind the visuals. So it's just a bizarre move to see them gamble on a Vita title (a system whose main hook is "Portable HDs") with a game that would barely look good on the previous system; which not only has an awesome install base, it has an awesome Falcom-centric install base thanks to the success of Kiseki.

Anyway, no doom and gloom. Because I love Ys and I will buy hardware for Ys.

 

[krYlon]

Falcom has NEVER been cutting edge in graphics. Anybody familiar with them should know that. Anybody that's played their PSP games should know that, most of them looks terrible. Their best looking games (Gurumin and Zwei II) look good because of style and art design, not because of the tech behind the visuals. So it's just a bizarre move to see them gamble on a Vita title (a system whose main hook is "Portable HDs") with a game that would barely look good on the previous system; which not only has an awesome install base, it has an awesome Falcom-centric install base thanks to the success of Kiseki.

Anyway, no doom and gloom. Because I love Ys and I will buy hardware for Ys.

I think only the first Zwei was released on PSP.
Personally I think most of their PSP games look really nice.
But yeah, Ys is definitely more about the gameplay and music rather than the graphics.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

I hope it plays like 7, that game was fucking awesome. It just needed more locations and towns.

and a jump button. I loved 7 too, but i want my jumping downward slash back.

 

[Princess Skittles]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

 

[matmanx1]

Very nice! If it plays like Y's 7 I will enjoy it. Fun little game.

 

[kiryogi]

Falcom has NEVER been cutting edge in graphics. Anybody familiar with them should know that. Anybody that's played their PSP games should know that, most of them looks terrible. Their best looking games (Gurumin and Zwei II) look good because of style and art design, not because of the tech behind the visuals. So it's just a bizarre move to see them gamble on a Vita title (a system whose main hook is "Portable HDs") with a game that would barely look good on the previous system; which not only has an awesome install base, it has an awesome Falcom-centric install base thanks to the success of Kiseki.

Anyway, no doom and gloom. Because I love Ys and I will buy hardware for Ys.

And that's the thing. I know they're not cutting edge, but there has to be something better than this on the Vita by default. It's sort of sad that first gen Vita is of no major leap for the most part.

 

[sixteen-bit]

So this is the Falcom support they were talking about, right?

 

[djtiesto]

This is so awesome... I prefer Dawn of Ys to Mask of the Sun (thought it felt much more fleshed out with more interesting locales), but I'm still dying to see Falcom's take on Ys IV. This is gonna sell me on a Vita....

 

[darkjedi187]

Hell Ya. Cannot wait for some more Ys!!

 

[discoalucard]

And that's the thing. I know they're not cutting edge, but there has to be something better than this on the Vita by default. It's sort of sad that first gen Vita is of no major leap for the most part.

It being on the Vita actually gives it a shot at being localized instead of languishing on the PSP, which is good enough for me.

Besides, Ys VII looked quite good, I thought. Bump up the texture quality and resolution with the Vita and this one should look nice, too.

 

[Mr_Brit]

Wow, this would look bad for 3DS nevermind the Vita.

Edit: Just took another look, this is more like bad for PSP nevermind 3DS. Even the HUD is PSP quality.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Yeah, the screenshots aren't doing the game any favors.

Maybe it'll be a dual PSP/Vita release?

 

[chaosblade]

Screenshots are compressed to hell and back, will wait for more before judging too much. I don't really care what it looks like anyway, it's more Ys and I haven't played either version of 4.

Anyway, wish granted it seems. Was really hoping Falcom's Vita game would be Ys, either 4, 5, or a new game.

Ys 7 style isn't my preference, but I'm not going to complain a bit. Day one once XSEED picks it up.

 

[dark10x]

Wow, this would look bad for 3DS nevermind the Vita.

Edit: Just took another look, this is more like bad for PSP nevermind 3DS. Even the HUD is PSP quality.

It's not amazing, but come on...

{Native resolution shots}

The size and complexity of the town is much higher than any similar 3DS title and far beyond PSP. Some of the other shots are much less impressive, though. Of course, this is Falcom. They've released PC titles that looked at least 10 years out of date yet they are still awesome.

 

[Data West]

Don't care how high quality it looks.

It's Ys
All memory will be dedicated to the soundtrack

 

[Ravage]

So happy to see Vita getting lots of JRPGs this early in its lifetime. Hopefully, all western JRPG fans will flock towards Vita to create a dedicated base sizeable enough to justify localisation efforts.

 

[Salaadin]

Don't care how high quality it looks.

It's Ys
All memory will be dedicated to the soundtrack

This.

So hyped. I want more details

 

[Dice]

So happy to see Vita getting lots of JRPGs this early in its lifetime. Hopefully, all western JRPG fans will flock towards Vita to create a dedicated base sizeable enough to justify localisation efforts.

JRPGs are honestly the only thing that could pull me into buying a handheld. Steam is starting to almost get a base for them but it will still be nothing in comparison and I am starting to miss them since it has been over a year. Also there is something magical about JRPGs on handhelds. It's just so right.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Dear Japanese developer,

thank you for developing a Playstation Vita game. You may not be aware of it, but for over a decade now a rendering method called MSAA has existed that can improve your game's image quality. It does so by taking multiple samples for each pixel with slightly different offsets and averaging them for edge pixels. This reduces the aliasing artifacts introduced by the fixed resolution sampling required to render an image.

Playstation Vita features a PowerVR SGX graphics architecture, which uses tile-based deferred rendering. On such an architecture the whole scene is divided into tiles and rendered in an on-chip buffer, greatly reducing external memory bandwidth needs. All this happens automatically and in hardware. What does this mean for you? It means that the performance impact of enabling MSAA is minimal and well worth the massive image quality improvements.

Please, think of the pixels, use MSAA.
Best Regards,
Durante

PS: Anisotropic texture filtering is also a great thing. I can send you more information if you like.

And whatever you do, PLEASE do not use any sort of anti-aliasing, especially full-screen anti-aliasing, as we want sharp pictures showing the full detail the screen is capable of, whereas the whole point of anti-aliasing is to blur the edges of things, removing detail.

 

[dark10x]

And whatever you do, PLEASE do not use any sort of anti-aliasing, especially full-screen anti-aliasing, as we want sharp pictures showing the full detail the screen is capable of, whereas the whole point of anti-aliasing is to blur the edges of things, removing detail.

Craziest thing I've read all day.

 

[Princess Skittles]

JRPGs are honestly the only thing that could pull me into buying a handheld. Steam is starting to almost get a base for them but it will still be nothing in comparison and I am starting to miss them since it has been over a year. Also there is something magical about JRPGs on handhelds. It's just so right.

Huh? Steam has ONE "real" JRPG on it (The Last Remnant) and two "homage" JRPGs (Breath of Death VII/Cthulhu Saves the World).

 

[wrowa]

Huh? Steam has ONE "real" JRPG on it (The Last Remnant) and two "homage" JRPGs (Breath of Death VII/Cthulhu Saves the World).

SpaceDrake is crying now thanks to you.

 

[Princess Skittles]

SpaceDrake is crying now thanks to you.

Okay. When Carpe Fulgur releases an actual JRPG on Steam, I'll gladly include them.

I mean, sure, Recettear SORT OF counts, but that would be like calling Bayonetta a racing game because it has one race level. But to be fair, I'll include it in the list. So we now have two actual JRPGs and Zeboyd's two homages. So four games. I think Vita has more than that out at and around launch.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see more JRPGs on Steam (somebody has to work voodoo magic on Falcom, for the love of all things holy), but having four games where three of them need qualifiers to count certainly isn't a precedent to say that they've started an install base yet.

 

[chaosblade]

SpaceDrake is crying now thanks to you.

Add in Recettear and Chantelise, I'm not sure of any others though.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see more JRPGs on Steam (somebody has to work voodoo magic on Falcom, for the love of all things holy), but having four games where three of them need qualifiers to count certainly isn't a precedent to say that they've started an install base yet.

Tom from XSEED has said they are interested if Falcom has the time and manpower available to prep their PC games for Steam. They already have a partnership, so if something was going to work out it would probably be through them. Hoping it does happen.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

FUCK YES. All over my face. Vita is sold for me.

More Ys goodness. This is way better news than I expected to see this morning.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Add in Recettear and Chantelise, I'm not sure of any others though.

Chantelise is not an RPG.

 

[Dice]

Don't get so hung up on the literal genre and try to pay attention to what I was saying. I said it is starting to get a base for them, as in you see stuff like these games you mentioned, plus various Japanese shooters, Japanese-ish stuff like Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, a bunch of Genesis ports, etc. As Steam users show love to these things, it is displaying acceptance of the whole realm because all this Japanese-style stuff is clearly aimed at the same market. Obviously if I said "it has been over a year" that means I'm in withdrawal for something there is only a budding hope for.

 

[krYlon]

Screenshots look a lot nicer here:
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=157466|2

Not sure if it's just because they are smaller, but I'm definitely waiting to see this on the Vita screen in motion before getting my knickers in a twist.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Not sure if it's just because they are smaller, but I'm definitely waiting to see this on the Vita screen in motion before getting my knickers in a twist.

It's going to look like Ys Seven upscaled, which is fine (maybe just a little disappointing given the system's beef).

 

[andymcc]

I don't think I've ever played Mask of the Sun (I've played Dawn of Ys), so this will be awesome. Hopefully this comes to Americaland.

 

[Chiave]

No idea of what Ys is, but those screens make it look like a very fun game.

 

[ctrayne]

Looks great, this puts Vita on the map for me. Still super bummed Falcom has abandoned the PC for quick cash and cute characters, though.

No idea of what Ys is, but those screens make it look like a very fun game.

Welcome to 1987, jeez. (I kid.)

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

The textures need some smoothing. As they veer of into the distance, they have a really horrible graininess to them that reminds me of the early PS2 era.

 

[Aeana]

Ys 7 had some nice-looking parts. I do hope that this actually has a stable framerate, though, unlike 7.

 

[Princess Skittles]

No idea of what Ys is, but those screens make it look like a very fun game.

If you have a PSP get Ys: Oath in Felghana NOW. Not later. NOW. Do it.

 

[Alexios]

Preemptive PSP up port? Oh well, 7 was fun, but I hope this is a lot better.

Lol @ screen comparisons with enhanced N64 port >_>

 

[Princess Skittles]

Looks great, this puts Vita on the map for me. Still super bummed Falcom has abandoned the PC for quick cash and cute characters, though.

Falcom didn't abandon PC, the people playing their games did.

Cute characters? What is that even supposed to mean? What was the last Falcom game you played?

 

[Aeana]

Current Falcom must have gone back in time and made this.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Current Falcom must have gone back in time and made this.

Ah, I really need to play through those two games at some point!

What is your opinion of them?

Secondary.. I wonder if my Duo-R still works.

 

[dark10x]

The textures need some smoothing. As they veer of into the distance, they have a really horrible graininess to them that reminds me of the early PS2 era.

They aren't using mipmapping. That's the issue.

 

[Dice]

They aren't using mipmapping. That's the issue.

Would you even be able to see that at 5"?

 

[ctrayne]

Falcom didn't abandon PC, the people playing their games did.

Cute characters? What is that even supposed to mean? What was the last Falcom game you played?

I've gotten into this discussion before and don't want to derail the thread, but what I mean is they don't make stuff like Brandish/Dinosaur/Xanadu Next/Star Trader anymore. They used to make a lot of darker, moodier games to offset to Popful Mail stuff. Ys and the pre SnK Legend of Heroes were kind of in the middle of the two styles.

Now they are focused on pounding out _____ no Kiseki sequels like mad and doing stuff like drama discs and animes and repackaged music collections. That's great and I know people love SnK but I don't, and they don't make the darker stuff anymore for the rest of their fans.

Also, Ys 6 and Ys 7 have awful, contrived plots with tons of dialogue that you have to skip to get to the good stuff. (I love a good plot, but Ys 6 and 7 do not have this.) Xanadu, Brandish and Dinosaur do the opposite, dropping you in the game and letting you figure out WTF is going on. They're brutal, dark, attractive games and nothing out there really scratches that itch, though I hope Diablo III will.

If they would make a new Xanadu in the art style of Next, I will eat my words.

As for the PC, you're right, I know the story behind why they stopped, but it still sucks, and I certainly did my part by buying every PC release I could afford. It's not like it's the same Falcom anyway, as the guys who made the classics have long, LONG since left.

 

[krYlon]

I too would like to see darker Falcom stuff.

Though at this point I just would love to play translated versions of Dinosaur Resurrection and Xanadu Next.

 

[Aeana]

I would like to see Falcom go back to making non-Ys and non-Kiseki stuff. I don't care about "darker" or whatever.

Ah, I really need to play through those two games at some point!

What is your opinion of them?

Secondary.. I wonder if my Duo-R still works.

They're really fun games. The sidescrolling parts in the first one are a bit rough but I'd say that they're still among the best RPGs on the system.

 

[ctrayne]

I would like to see Falcom go back to making non-Ys and non-Kiseki stuff. I don't care about "darker" or whatever.

Hah, quotation marks. I'm talking about the aesthetics. Stuff like the color palettes used are a lot mellower and moodier. Character designs a bit more grounded. Those kinds of things.

They're really fun games. The sidescrolling parts in the first one are a bit rough but I'd say that they're still among the best RPGs on the system.

Yeah, Legend of Xanadu II is a fantastic game and one of the prettiest on the system.

 

[Bad_Boy]

that is some horrible image quality.

 

[Callibretto]

Ys 7 had some nice-looking parts. I do hope that this actually has a stable framerate, though, unlike 7.

I'll lose some respect to Falcom if they can't make stable framerate for psp-level graphics on a much stronger system like Vita

 

[fart town usa]

Nice!

Love Ys.

 

[Yuterald]

Anyone who is overly concerned about how the game looks is playing Falcom games for the wrong reasons. Ys games, in particular, are about flipping out, mowing down enemies, and rocking out to amazing music. Gameplay and mechanics come first.

I knew we were going to get an Ys game for this system, but all the more reason to be excited! Whenever XSEED localizes this is when I'll pick up my Vita.

 

[dark10x]

Would you even be able to see that at 5"?

You'll be able to tell, but the effect won't be as severe on a 5" screen. Still, some nice filtering would do wonders and, really, this is the first Vita game I've seen lacking it.