Arcturus: The Korean RPG that Inspired Trails in the Sky

[@lunaromancia]

Damn, watching this makes me wish that South Korean devs would be able to continue to make non-online games. Having more companies from more countries in the running would have been great.

[@DragoonEnRegalia]

Taiwan held out for a little while longer with single-player/non-online games, especially xRPGs, but it's sad to see how much Korean and other East Asian game makers outside Japan have come to rely on MMOs and internet cafe culture for their living. I'm not surprised that Falcom remains so relevant to the whole region since they still do full-fledged offline experiences in lieu of homegrown equivalents like Arcturus.

[@Manas-co8wl]

As a Korean, I've been telling myself that for 20+ years

[@RooftopSwordMaster]

These early 2000s 3d environment and 2d char sprites look so neat. So much soul

[@icebreaker913]

Well, I've always seen a resemblance between the sprite/polygon mix graphics of Ragnarok Online and the engine Falcom was using for the Kiseki and Ys games at that time. Good to know there was a reason for that and it wasn't all just in my head lol

[@Manas-co8wl]

Thank you so much for dealing with this game. I didn't even know you guys were even aware of this game. Korea has extremely few single player package games out there. This is honestly one of two I remember being really good and worth being shared everywhere around the world.

[@alexandrechoin]

As an RO fan I was fascinated that Gravity had made a Grandia-like game very simular to RO and even NPC sprites, glad there was a documentary explaining all of this. Korean RPGs have such an interesting history.

[@nopalhilmi]

As a trails fans, I just want to thanks for making this video. I'll definitely play this game in near future its look so fun and interesting

[@boitahaki]

Good luck, the game is really cool but also pretty hard. And expect a few bugs, I couldn't finish due to a crash that happens towards the end. MAnaged to play like 95% of it though, took me 60 hours.

[@CommodoreGroovy]

Super great video, Lentils. As someone who played Ragnarok Online back in its hey-day, this video highlighting Arcturus, a game I have never even heard of, and its connection to both RO and Trails in the Sky, blew my mind. It was really awesome to see the connections.

[@DanBedBy11]

Finding this channel is like striking gold

[@explodingrabbit51]

Tetracast had a segment on this game a couple weeks ago. Cool to see a more fleshed out overview of it.

[@Haganeren]

As someone who try to make a compelling, complete and interesting french article of the history of Falcom i knew there were a ( very difficult ) time where they had to edit other games instead of creating their own... But i never looked past those titles to see if those could have been an inspiration somehow ( Trails in the Sky and Ys VI did save them ). Thanks a LOT for this information ! You're incredible !

[@Ragefat]

13:26 was that... a french kiss with saliva trail!? That I did not expect.

[@boitahaki]

Yes, the character seduces her to get a key to a rich man's mansion...

[@yrkim3018]

this game gives me goosebumps. chapter 2 was insane.

[@APioneerInTheSeaOfStars]

This is a very informative video, good job. Arcturus does have a striking similarity as a prototype Ragnarok Online. Glad Gravity didn't give up after making Arcturus, RO influenced an entire generation of games. Good to see Falcom's team taking inspiration from this.

[@rulershiroutac2471]

If you played an offline Ragnarok in the past the main heroine is available as an npc. I think the male character too but the female is much more memorable.

[@Sarumaru]

Wow... I haven't heard about Arcturus in so long! There was an intention to release the game in English but it never happened. However, there was a demo completely in English and it's how I first played this some 20 years ago. The opening song was also one of my favorite tracks featured in Amuseworld's Ez2Dancer 2nd Move. A rhythm game that incorporated both hand and feet movements. It also featured the visuals of the intro but was more of a slideshow with transitions than the original fully animated FMV. This was a great video. Excellent work!

[@ULT_Ferrotarou]

Thanks for making this video! Trails in the Sky are my favorite RPGs, and arguably my favorite games, so this video was really cool to see. I had never heard of Arcturus before, so it was great to see where Falcom drew influence from!

[@Xpert74]

I'm a huge Trails fan, but had never even heard of Arcturus before seeing this video. I've gotta say, it looks pretty neat. (and as a fan of black metal, I'm curious to see how its influence is showcased in-game, haha) Thank you for making this video! I'll have to check the game out.

[@dekaidoku]

Falcom seem to have published a lot of Korean RPGs in the 90s and 2000s. Which is funny cause Falcom RPGs were usually the games that came to Korea. They even did Rhapsody of Zephyr, the Sequel to what is arguably the most impact Korean RPG of all time: War of Genesis 2

[@TomNook4200]

The similarities are pretty shocking, I need to play this someday

[@hikarieternal1003]

It's been a year and this video has had the most underrated amount of views.. You did a great job covering everything in this video!! I'm so happy you went out of your way to clarify the origin of where Trails got their inspiration- I would've never thought that would have been the case, and let alone from a different country as well! Thank you for your hard work! (And thank you for having been involved with Sakura Wars too~) I wanted to say- I work at a small business retro styled video game store/arcade, and every moment I meet a fan of someone who's either a customer who has played Falcom games or just about anyone who's been interested in either JRPG's or both Ys and Trails titles; I've gone out of my way recommending the right people to your videos. 'The History of Falcom' video has got to be the best documentary I've seen covered over any franchise: Period. And I'm really happy when these important games finally get shown the light of day of what they truly are, and how monumental of an impact they've had over the industry. I can tell from the tone on even the Visual Novel video you made that you intend to educate people over the confusion on what games may be, and that you want to show the proper light to clarify all of it. Despite any reception you may get in the future, I encourage you to keep on making whatever content you plan on in the future. I'll be watching every second of it, and recommend everyone I see to learn some history about Video Games! Thank you for what you do!! Cheers!! @Bowl of Lentils

[@aftermarkgaming]

Sent here by Basement Bros! I remember thinking the graphics of the early Trails games reminded me of Ragnarok Online, so it's really cool to see that there are some connections. Thank you for the video.

[@Xerxes126]

Seriously, thanks for making this video. I have never even heard of Arcturus before, and I likely would've never came across it unless for this. I love Trails; it's one of my favorite JRPG series of all time. So seeing a game that may've directly inspired FC (which was also the beginning of my favorite arc) makes me happy to know it exists so I can play it! =) Anyways, this was another quality watch like usual Lentils. I'll be patiently waiting for the next one! ❤

[@astrades2601]

Very intriguing topic and this Arcturus game is seriously looking really neat. I don't think that i ever heard about earlier non-mmo korean games. I want to try it someday now xD

[@m.di.c.]

Not only do I love the fascinating info and the great presentation but I adore you citing all the sources in detail in the description, kudos.

[@SeaHorseOfYoutube]

That Avatar Pilot connection at the end had me dying, excellent insight.

[@Rexcalibro]

He's back at it AGANE with the quality content!

[@who2785]

I'm so happy I found your channel. Great video and narration

[@ObjoGaming]

Thank you for making great videos covering industry history that no one else talks about! Really great stuff.

[@tetukabuto]

That just blows my mind. Bonus mindblow was that Ys had an MMO. Great video dude

[@yu_deok.]

I played this game 15 years ago and I still remember the content of it. Really great game!

[@kagoon0709]

Omg! Happy someon made a thorough review of this game. I have lots of fond memories of Arcturus from my early age. The sad things about these good ol' RPGs from Korea is that they often ran into bduget issues and never got properly marketed or release sequeals like they do in Japan. Anyways, cheers from Korea

[@yasdask]

Just wanted to say, your content is incredible and detailed! Keep up at it (at your own pace of course) and you'll hopefully gain the subscribers you deserve!

[@laur.33]

Wow! I had no idea there was any connection between RO and Trails... knowing that one of my favorite games from my childhood and now favorite series as an adult is connected in some way warms my heart :) Great video! Arcturus has been added to my backlog to be played soon™

[@LeonScottKennedySama]

This was such a fascinating video. Brought back kind memories of Ragnarok Online!

[@PorygonFTW]

This vid just hit me via the algorithm, I can't wait to give it a shot!!! I love me an RPG I can sink my teeth into!

[@ghettofridge]

I poured MANY hours into RO back in the day so as soon as I heard the name "Gravity" I did a bit of a double take. Interesting how based on the footage you can see how this game influenced both TitS and RO.

[@hivehum]

my first impression of trails in the sky was that it reminded me so much of ragnarok online. absolutely wild how literal my hunch was

[@MathieuPronovost]

I love the god tier soundtrack of Arcturus made by the legendary SoundTeMP. I've been regularly listening to it for over 10 years.

[@boitahaki]

The soundtrack is one of the best in gaming history. The same is true for RO

[@ottolehto]

Excellent content! Thank you and please keep making more.

[@wertville]

Great video as usual!

[@MTInsanity]

This video is truly a gem. I'm glad i found it. Now I'll go and play it. Cheers from brazil 😁

[@boitahaki]

Boa sorte. Esse jogo é bastante difícil. E deu crash pra mim perto do último dungeon do jogo. Não consegui zerar... tive que ver o final em coreano mesmo...

[@nomadicmonkey3186]

Such an interesting missing link in History of gaming. Your channel def deserves so much more subscribers 👍

[@CushionSapp]

With more games getting localized and released abroad on modern platforms, maybe Arcturus will get a remaster some day.

[@opticaller]

Some day! Hakkyu Kim (founder of Gravity, now with his own company IMC Games), Gravity and Sonnori are both shareholders of the game, and they should agree upon a remake.

[@TevorTheThird]

Always love your vids. Great work as always.

[@harry00boyon]

keep going bro I love your videos

[@shutter-chan]

Yo WTF! No wonder the Sky and Crosbell graphics felt so very familiar. So it was Ragnarok all along. Damn it took me this so long to realize that!

[@osonhodeleon]

Another great video.

[@opticaller]

I’m enjoying your long play of the game. FYI (you may already know though), today’s Korean gamers rely on Doogie's dosbox emulation for running old Windows games correctly. (Running either Win 98 or 95 on a specific version of DosBox and so on.) I’m certain that it will reduce the number of glitches. Because Doogie's reference version is the Package of Romance, it will be a straight-forward job to incorporate the English translation.

[@SoundTeMPCompendium]

Just finished the game as far as I could (I can't blame you for using cheats for the last three bosses) I mainly played to experience a package title that SoundTeMP worked on, but it became an extremely interesting experience as a game and story. It's a labor of love, that's for sure. Been enjoying playing through it a lot, despite the crashes and such. Not sure I understand that ending, though. Great video, by the way. It all makes me wonder how it would turn out if Arcturus was made today instead. KZbin refuses to let me post comments with my main account, so using this one instead.

[@Kagoliksis]

So, overall good video. I felt like the topic was a bit forced. But you did a fantastic job on setting up your information, and kept my attention through and through.

[@G00lden]

Man... that intro song was my favorite on Ez2Dancer... Sadly I haven't played the game yet, but it sure looks like a good time, at least on the graphics it reminds me of Ragnarok Online

[@bowloflentils]

Oh man, I had no idea that Open Your Eyes was on a DDR style arcade machine in the 2000s. That is a really fun piece of trivia.

[@G00lden]

@@bowloflentils they actually used the Intro video as well, it was one of the few songs with a "anime short" background instead of a simpler slideshow. Also, pal, what's your twitter? I really enjoy your content.

[@bowloflentils]

Thank you! I'm actually not on Twitter at the moment. I do have a Tumblr account under the same name though.

[@thitnsa7554]

arcturus company(sonnori) sold graphic system to japan. i saw in gamenew site, when i was kid

[@Spiffcool]

Very informative. Thank you.

[@screwthenet]

This is why not sharing games at the time they release outside of their sphere of influence is tragic...all the games that never got out into the world from Asia over the years... Cool vid. I can honestly say I never heard of Arcturus till now or the Trails games. Xenogears tho...yes. Classic. ^~^

[@screwthenet]

I totally notied how Arcturus looked almost exactly like Ragnarok Online. I LOVED THAt game since 2002/3. ^^

[@yasselb478]

You never heard of the Trails games? O_o

[@Taruby]

@@screwthenet Ragnarok Online used the same Engine as Arcturus, and its success was why no one in South Korea has ever bothered to make an equally epic single player RPG ever since. China and South Korea had a huge issue with software piracy, and MMORPGs turned out to be South Korea's solution to the problem. Haven't finished the video, but I hope there's at least a mention of the English demo that Gravity made for Arcturus (they were planning to localise it into English, but for whatever reason, things didn't pan out).

[@bowloflentils]

@@Taruby I did mention that Ragnarok uses the same graphics engine as Arcturus but I did not bring up the English demo. I did play the demo while working on this video though. The translation for the demo is kind of amusing since the translator seems to have added a bunch of jokes during the tutorial section (like comparing something to "trying to get a burger at the superbowl").

[@screwthenet]

@@bowloflentils YAh I jumped the gun before I saw that part lol. I loved Ragnarok Online. THis wasa good video! ^^

[@라면의화신]

Thanks!

[@Exalted5581]

Notifications betrayed me, but this vid is gonna be good :D

[@funicon3689]

ty so much for this

[@whm_w8833]

“Arcturus inspired by JRPG like Grandia, Evangelion and black metal music.” What?! Edit: my gosh this game is pure heart and inspiration.

[@Carlos20-99]

Very Interesting Video, also, does anyone know the name of the game that shows on 10:31 ?

[@bowloflentils]

That's an MMO called Tree of Savior.

[@Bjornybaby]

This video rules!

[@amurter19]

I was really hoping I was gonna find out it was released in English on steam and easily playable now, lol.

[@mixtok1333]

(06:40) What is the background music here?

[@bowloflentils]

@@mixtok1333 That is the song "A New Journey" from Ys II Special.

[@SuperOtakuKyo]

Maybe this video will convince someone to finish the patch.

[@d343-y]

Alright putting arcturus into my gaming list

[@Zero_Tester]

​@bowloflentils i liked Arcturus(i played it when it got translation back then)my old comment is gone because my older profile is gone,but wasnt Gaghrav Trilogy come first? And there alot of smaller reference from it in the Trail series despite not even connected

[@bowloflentils]

@@Zero_Tester Yeah, that's right. Not just Trails, but the Gaghrav trilogy also had a big impact on Arcturus as well (as I mention in the video).

[@Haloschien1]

Eh, i see more Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch as the actual main inspiration, especially considering its Toshihiro Kondo's all time favorite. Still interesting that some development members were influenced by arcturus and it all in all had an design impact on the games

[@DragoonEnRegalia]

It really all comes back to Gagharv, ultimately. Things like the Bracer Guild, for instance, have precedent in A Tear of Vermilion, which is probably why a similar side-quest system doesn't exist in Arcturus since that mainly drew from Moonlight Witch. Even Falcom might have took a few pointers from Game Arts' Lunar: The Silver Star while developing Moonlight Witch, hence how Gagharv would resemble Grandia in turn. These games and their developers all knew about or outright played each others' titles to some extent, meaning significant cultural osmosis.

[@rudidellama3718]

Wish some company would make a official localization with controller suport

[@thepowerisyetunknown7710]

I wish Arcturus had a console port so I could play it more easily. If this got a remaster for modern platforms with an English translation it'd sell well, or at least better than it did back then I guess.

[@bowloflentils]

I've read that Arcturus was suppose to get a Dreamcast port back in the day, along with another Sonnori title called White Day, but it never happened.

[@RedThunderSP]

Not sure if you read these comments on this video still, but I've been meaning to play this game for a while. My issue is that I am unable to select my graphics card in order to change the resolution. I am on Windows 10 and was on the OG forum post for the translation with no idea on how to proceed any further.

[@bowloflentils]

I'd like to help but Arcturus has so many issues running on modern PCs that I'm not sure where to start with troubleshooting your problem. I've heard other people recommend to just play the game in a virtual machine running an older OS but I never figured out how to set that up myself.

[@Thelostrune]

If you're using an NVIDIA graphics card, you might be able to either force it to use a resolution or force the launcher to detect the GPU. I've seen others launching the game directly, bypassing the launcher entirely, using some Direct3D program that I haven't looked into. That program might be able to do other things, but can't say I know.

[@Thelostrune]

You'll probably need to use D3DWindower. Posted a reply on the thread with some settings for it, as well another post with some more refined graphics edits I did over the ones provided in the last patch.

[@pichonCalavera]

Looks great! will try it later. Any other great Single Player Korean RPGs worth checking out?

[@bowloflentils]

Well, I may not be the best person to ask since I haven't played that many Korean RPGs. While doing research I thought that The War of Genesis III and Seal: Travelers of Destiny looked pretty cool but neither of them are translated (although someone was working on a patch for Seal that was never finished). The Astonishia Story remake was released on the PSP in English along with its sequel Crimson Gem Saga. I only played a bit of Gem Saga but it seemed alright. Magna Carta: Tears of Blood and Magna Carta 2 were also officially localized but I've heard mixed things about them. I know people also like Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders (which is an action-strategy game) but again I haven't played it myself.

[@pichonCalavera]

@@bowloflentils ok thanks!, will investigate those games too.

[@DragoonEnRegalia]

@@pichonCalavera At this point, basically any of the Korean titles localized in Japan by Falcom or Starfish are worth looking at, though only Arcturus has a fan patch. It's a major blind spot I suspect will disappear over time so long as interest grows.

[@Arton_White]

Wow, I'm a Korean who loves JRPGs and I've never heard of this! To think that the Trails series was inspired by my hometown country! I thought all we made were shitty mobile gacha games. God am I happy to be wrong

[@lennethomega6731]

Crimson gem saga needed a direct sequel.

[@catlover56873]

And this game was almost definitely inspired by gagharv because gagharv was extremely popular un Korea. Remember it was always just gagharv.

[@catlover56873]

The combat seems inspired by gagahrvs aswell

[@salsamonkey65]

I need to play this game at some point. The symbiosis of these two companies is really cool.

[@boitahaki]

Could you please upload the game's ending somewhere? I played through most of the game (90% with 60 hours) but the game crashes right after defeating the "mysterious old man"... I would love to know what the characters are saying. I tried playing the japanese version without translation and it crashes at the same part (it crashes when a movie plays) Have a good day. EDIT: Thank you for uploading the full playthrough, I appreciate it!

[@weeaboofish174]

Great video. Made me want to try the game out but from looking online it seems extremely difficult to buy. Any tips on how to get it?

[@bowloflentils]

Sorry, the game is no longer in print so you would have to find a copy through the second hand market. I actually tried to get a copy myself but was not able to.

[@alexmagno3516]

Google is your friend. First page even, comrade.

[@weeaboofish174]

@@alexmagno3516 I did a lot of googling dude. Shit is hard to find or I'm just bad apparently.

[@bowloflentils]

@@weeaboofish174 If you would like to just play the game, someone recently uploaded the Japanese DVD version of Arcturus to Archive Dot Org (which is the version needed to use the fan translation).

[@pichonCalavera]

@@bowloflentils 👍👍👍

[@SpecialSupportSection]

>The same Gravity that made Ragnarok Online Oh how the mighty have fallen, indeed.

[@ihavenoshameandmustscream421]

I really don't know how to feel about this. I'm at a loss right now.

[@kuraux56s59]

Considering how while I liked the Trails In The Sky Trilogy, I absolutely hated the direction the series took on its later games. (I look at the Cold Steel games with nothing but contempt.) ...I wonder if Arcturus's story might be something that I could enjoy, and remind me of the good days when I could look at the Trails series and not feel bitter.

[@mii9010]

Sorry to ask this, but how did you get Arcturus to run in it's proper aspect ratio of 4:3?

[@bowloflentils]

It's been a while but I think I just set the game to a 4:3 aspect ratio in the game's settings. I used 640x480 since that was the resolution of the game's opening movie and the default resolution setting. Then I changed a scaling setting in my NVIDIA Control Panel so 4:3 singles wouldn't be stretched to 16:9 automatically. The game also has a Windows border around the screen which blocks some of the image so I used a tool called "Borderless Gaming" to remove that.

[@liquideeriemusic4691]

how many hrs to finish? is it worth it?

[@bowloflentils]

I think it took me about 40 hours to finish Arcturus. I think it was worth it but you need to have a lot of patients. Later parts of the game feel very unfinished and there are many technical bugs you'll need to work around. For example, in the second half of the game, Arcturus would crash on me every time I saved.

[@liquideeriemusic4691]

thanks bro, very interesting game i say@@bowloflentils

[@Diorphe]

You removed all your the ovas from this channel, do you have them on another one?

[@bowloflentils]

No but I did re-upload some stuff to Archive Dot Org.

[@GameZard]

Looks like Ragnarok Online.

[@SimonPiano42]

makes sense as that was the following game by the same company, Gravity, using the same engine.

[@flagtheoffense]

Does this video have Trails spoilers? I just started.

[@bowloflentils]

Not really but I do show some visuals from Trails in the Sky SC and The 3rd. They might just go over your head if you haven't played those games but if you are trying to avoid any and all spoilers for those entries maybe skip the part where I compare Acturus and Trails side by side.

[@MeedaYean]

Damn, this video really wants me to track down and patch this game so I can play it, but it looks like making it run on a modern machine requires me to be some kind of hackerman. Shame I won't get to experience a game with so much history.

[@boitahaki]

I was playing the Korean version with a translation for the Japanese version... eventually the game started to glitch out so bad after 20 hours in... I couldn't finish it. What a bummer. I can't buy the japanese version anywhere... this game is basically an urban legend. How did you even played this translated version???

[@bowloflentils]

That is actually what I did as well. I applied the translation patch to the Korean DVD version of the game since I couldn't find the Japanese version online at the time. The game would crash during certain scenes but for a while I got through the game ok. Once I got to the 2nd act, however, the game would crash and erase my save index file everytime I saved my progress. I managed to still finish the game by swapping back and forth from the non-patched Korean version and the English translation. Thankfully someone recently uploaded the Japanese DVD version of Arcturus to Archive Dot Org which might have less issues.

[@boitahaki]

@@bowloflentils By the way, do you plan on posting the footage of the game here? Or maybe you didn't record the entire game. I would love to watch a full playthrough.

[@bowloflentils]

@@boitahaki Just go to archive.org and search "Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity ISO DVD" and you'll find it. I did record the entire game. I might post my playthrough either here or on archive dot org at some point.

[@boitahaki]

@@bowloflentils Sounds good, and this is a very well informed video, you gained a new subscriber.

[@boitahaki]

@@bowloflentils Well I installed the DVD JP version and got the exact same glitch at the exact same time... the game minimizing over and over non-stop with error messages. The translation is just bugged. I eventually managed to get through it after a billion error messages, though... but I will keep in mind that I might have to switch to the JP version to advance sometimes.

[@gyrenrockz]

it looks like a Ragnarok Online :)

[@에딧비]

우와 악튜러스다 ㅋㅋㅋ

[@ambientdiorama3133]

Small indie company, prease understand

[@yasselb478]

It looks fun as hell, but I don't think I'll ever play it. There's something in the Korean media that makes me uncomfortable, I watched their movies, read their novels and comics, and I'm always feeling uncomfortable. And I can't understand why... Maybe I don't have the brain prowess to understand why that is.

[@amurter19]

My guess is that korean culture and style isn't just the usual Japanese influence we see in anime/manga so it feels weird? I can never get into manhwas 'reccomended to me because of art style.

[@kloa4219]

You literally play as satan in this one

[@grimsvaultstreaming3956]

lol umm no

[@grimsvaultstreaming3956]

trails games where always moving this way if you bothered to play any before sky you would know this

[@luc7438]

don't fuck with kiseki fans we'll never actually watch the video

[@grimsvaultstreaming3956]

@@luc7438 y would i bother the heroes games have been like this for ever they did and he would know it if he played them

[@cjqcresent292]

@@grimsvaultstreaming3956 You lack knowledge and research about what you are talking about. Stop being so ignorant and watch a well made video you bothered to even click on.