Why Nihon Falcom are Masters of World-Building

[@isenlia]

I for one wish that Nihon Falcom would get the attention they deserve. Their games are incredible but they are almost unknown in the West. I really think they should be getting a lot more attention for their hard work and dedication. All of my favourite games are made by them and I'm really hoping they keep up making them and bringing them West.

[@TheKisekiNut]

They definitely deserve more attention. I think people are mostly put off by the graphics so they don't give it a chance. Intimidation might be another issue, considering there's so many games to play.

[@isenlia]

You could be right, but for anyone who likes jrpgs they'd be crazy not to play this series.

[@TheKisekiNut]

Totally agree, that's why it's our job to give it some overdue attention!

[@NTLuck]

Xseed did wonders in bringing Trails in the Sky to the west. It was a very difficult time for them and i heard one of their team members was contemplating suicide from the pressure. Thankfully they persevered and were the little pebble that started the avalanche for the localization

[@bluemooncinco]

Pumped to see Kiseki-related content like this turning up as of late!

[@TheKisekiNut]

Thank you mate! It's an amazing series, and it rightly should be getting some form of attention.

[@invaaalid5190]

What I love about the Trails series is that it's world is extremely organic in a way that things happen and/or will happen albeit differently even if the characters does not interact with the said things. Characters have their own set of problems and experiences which shapes the way they interact with the main characters even if you did not directly influence them. This is actually quite different from the Bethesda formula in which the world is extremely static

[@TheKisekiNut]

Amen to that! Everything feels fluid no matter what game you play.

[@lalalalisa41]

I'm a fairly new fan to Nihon Falcolm and the Trails series in general (a year now and recently finished the two Crossbell games) but I gotta say, for someone who was never really that huge on JRPGs before, Trails has gotta be my favorite one thus far (Persona is my second, which is a bit surprising since I started with that first). I can say with confidence that this series is truly the first that I've been invested in overall and since the beginning when I got into it. I haven't played that many JRPGs but Trails for me is the first that I've seen to do one big overarching story over several games and I love it for that! Love it because of how it all connects and the worldbuilding, and this is not even getting into the storytelling and cast of characters lol. It just hooked me and I've been hooked ever since! So thank you for helping to shed some light on this underrated series with this vid! It makes me happy to see it get lots of love.

[@TheKisekiNut]

Awesome to see other people who are invested in this series as I am, that's the thing, I'm certain if people give one of the games a try, then they'll be hooked just as I was when I first started.

[@timidalchemist8475]

Honestly I feel The series wouldn't be as good if it weren't for Hisayoshi Takeiri, who has been working at falcom since the gagharv trilogy remakes on Windows. He is the mastermind behind the world building and story events of the Trails series.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I actually had no idea who the mastermind behind it all was. Maybe I should have delved into that more as well, but thank you for mentioning a name!

[@OTioRean]

I disagree, he's one person alone and one person can't make the entirely game function,music,design,characters all of this is Trails too. The rpgs and games in general are certainly dead if this guy is the only person who know how to make a world like this....what will be really sad.

[@labmember0656]

I heard that all of their staff can help in world building...like sharing ideas and stuff

[@eliterun6214]

Hello from the future, where the Crossbell arc duology has been announced for release in the west in 2022 on PC/PS4/Switch

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

50 hours per game...? Do you burn through as fast as possible? Because it typically takes more than 100 hours for me.

[@Cman04092]

At least 70-80 if you do everything, and take the time to enjoy it, like reading the books, newspapers, ect.

[@Cman04092]

And thats just per playthough, ive beat each game at least twice. Ive probably sank a good 750hrs total into this series lol.

[@sothe0539]

I think hes just using the speed up feature. Its prevalent at least across all pc releases and it does cut down your time a lot. I mostly use it while traveling through areas Ive seen before or against random enemies, and that time saved does add up.

[@rex2758]

@@sothe0539 it still took me 40 something hours to complete zero using ppsspp speed up T-T

[@Miyakolover]

120+ Hours for me on each game...I guess mostly because I do all quests and leave no NPC without talking to them XD

[@petitfour2503]

I completely agree with all you have said. The World-Building is really incredible and I have a lot of love for the characters, the writing, the music... I'm waiting with impatience the upcoming episode of this franchise.

[@TheKisekiNut]

Nothing beats these games for world-building, and I don't think any series ever will!

[@Oliverph0enix]

the intro made me shivering

[@Makuro_XIII]

All hail Falcom 😍

[@suvikallio5715]

I've only played the Crossbell Arc, but I agree these games are fantastic, especially in terms of direction, script, some enemy designs, battle tactics, and music. I've wondered why, at least to my knowledge, there's no novel available to flesh out the story even more in prose. The world-building is so complex that a novel would be a welcome addition.

[@TheKisekiNut]

Well the games have some manga that expands on the lore, and they have the in-game novels that act as foreshadowing in many cases. It's another neat hidden treasure within each game, and worth looking for.

[@NTLuck]

FUN FACT!! The Gagharv Trilogy, which were released in the 90s, are set in the same world as the Kiseki series but on a different continent. You can easily get them on PC and are still playable to this day (Gameplay and graphically). While Falcom never officially stated so, you will still find some reference to Gagharv in the Kiseki games.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I don't think they're in the same universe, but there are a lot of Easter eggs to the Gagharv Trilogy in the Trails games. It's been speculated that they are in the same universe, but it's only stayed as speculation. In game novels like the Doll Knight make reference to the trilogy, but I think they're just there as nods to the series rather than an official canonical relation. :) I guess you could say it's a fictitious universe which is involved in the lore of Trails rather than an actual continent.

[@NTLuck]

@@TheKisekiNut Well officially Falcom has neither asserted nor denied it. But it would make sense that a planet would have more than one continent. Who know? maybe they already know it's existence considering how advanced Zemuria has become technologically but it's simply irrelevant to them

[@Kaebuki]

NTLuck Actually, people have theorized as to why there’s only one continent showcased in the Trails series. One theory I’ve heard is that there’s this dark devil world surrounding Zemuria, and that that’s where the Salt Pale and McBurn’s weird powers comes from.

[@Cman04092]

Hmmm this is some interesting food for thought. And mcburn... that is a story i cant wait to have explained. Reans is kind of explained but reans ogre power and mcburns insane fire/demon powers are on completely different levels.

[@TheGalard]

At last I find a Kiseki Series fan who highlights all their amazing lore and soundtrack.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I dare say you'll find a lot of Trails fans who will say the same things as me. Trails has the best world-building of any JRPG series, maybe even any game series, and that's what initially draws many people in, and keeps them invested.

[@SebSosa]

@@TheKisekiNut and music

[@C-ip2sq]

How do you produce your videos? I'm particularly interested in the process of incorporating gameplay footage, trailers, images, and screenshots. Do you source existing materials or capture all the footage yourself? I imagine this must be a time-consuming endeavor. I'm asking because I'm curious about the video production process.

[@nawee242]

Uhh...Zero and Azure are also available in PC although they are still not localized.

[@TheKisekiNut]

My bad, I think I saw that Ao No Kiseki was only released on PC for Chinese audiences, and I forgot that Zero was also released in Japan!

[@stickyweeb2163]

Just finished Trails of Cold Steel 3 last night and god damn what a game. Really cant wait to see how 4 finishes it. I honestly didnt expect to like the series much when I bought it, Got it on sale and wanted to see what the fuss was about. Glad I did, put most games Ive played to shame in story depth

[@TheKisekiNut]

It's uncanny how this series just 'clicks' with many people.

[@stickyweeb2163]

@@TheKisekiNut ha it really is, does look flashy at a glance, but graphics mean nothing if a game isnt engaging, and this really is. I keep trying to get friends to play it. Never played a game with a story as engaging as ToCS. Everything in its world works with the rest. Never that bothered about politics but like it in the game ha

[@Kaebuki]

Gothika 2020 Glad you like ToCS, and welcome to the Falcom fandom! I suggest you try out the other Trails games if you have the time (ToCS IV has characters from the Sky trilogy and Crossbell duology) since they are great too. Zero no Kiseki has just gotten an English fan made patch that is officially sponsored by Falcom (search up “The Geofront Team”) so it’s now playable in high quality English too. Thanks for giving the Trails series a try, and again, welcome to the fandom!

[@stickyweeb2163]

@@Kaebuki ha cheers, Sky is next for sure, bought but not played yet, but weekend is booked for it and using the social distencing excuse too

[@sharadaarun6222]

I dont even know why this video made me so happy 😊

[@axel88er19]

Love it to bits❤💖

[@LOREWITHBLAZER]

The legend of heroes lore is so deep

[@Thuxo]

As a huge Kiseki fan (it's my favorite video game franchise and tied for first in terms of my favorite media franchises), as someone who seems to love the series for the same reasons that you do, and as someone who loves Ys VIII to death, I advise you to not pass up Persona 5. It's a really good game. I like Ao and Ys VIII more than it, but I'd say it's up to par with all of the other Kiseki games. That aside, I appreciate you doing this sort of video to introduce people to the series!

[@TheKisekiNut]

Thank you again for the support mate! Persona is definitely on my radar of games to play, it's more a time thing than anything else, and I've got so many other games that I need to finish first. Believe it or not, I haven't actually finished the Crossbell Arc yet, so I want to enjoy that first before moving on to other stuff.

[@Thuxo]

@@TheKisekiNut Ah, well, I definitely recommend Zero and Ao. Collectively, they're a very incredible experience.

[@d3ly746]

I recommend persona 3. It has the best quality of story in all persona games and can be considered as Atlus' magnum opus

[@MinhLe19303]

It really made me wonder how they able to made this large consistence story that run for so long like Kiseki, like the story look like it was carefully planned every aspects since the early 2000s. Even long-running serialized franchise tend to add different stuffs that can be out of nowhere in each arcs in a basic outlined plot.

[@Retoih]

Man I need to know where can I find the image on your desktop at 1:57

[@TheKisekiNut]

You shall receive! If you have wallpaper engine, search Yamato (she's a character from Kancolle), and you should find it relatively easily.

[@Retoih]

@@TheKisekiNut thank you my friend ^^

[@aeradyr7907]

man i'm in the mid of SC and regret watching this

[@dariollanos]

are there spoilers here?

[@d3ly746]

@@dariollanos lots

[@fyachafe5825]

@@d3ly746 thank you for the warning I'll see myself out then

[@lloydb5571]

I know this is late , but you can play zero no kiseki and trails of azure in fan translate called geofront

[@KudaGeatsune3821]

Suffice to say you won't find a more alive video game world than zemuria its just so teeming with unique people that you'd be very surprised

[@kanagawa85]

Falcom never had any bad OST.

[@BSinNYC]

7:15 what is the name of this song?

[@TheKisekiNut]

That's Sunshine Coastline from YS VIII, one of my favourite songs from all Falcom works. :)

[@BSinNYC]

@@TheKisekiNut Thanks! Love your channel! Just discovered the Trails series this past year. Finished CS1-3 on PS4 and am in the middle of SkySC. Do you think we'll get the Kai Crossbell games in the west that are coming to Japan this Spring? Also, legit question: why doesn't NISA or Falcom announce that they are working on localizations? I understand why they don't reveal release dates or even release time-frames but why not confirm that there are plans for the games to be localized? It would assuage fears that fans in the west have about devoting hundreds of hours to a series that will end up being incomplete for them. Is there a legit business reason for keeping fans in the dark like this?

[@TheKisekiNut]

@@BSinNYC No worries! Glad to have another join the Falcom Family! I would like to think we will in the future, but I can't see it happening any time soon, since the games themselves, despite being remastered, are still older titles, and it might represent a bad investment for the localisation company. However, with PS4 versions, we have a much better foundation to eventually see an official localisation. The good thing is that we are very close to having a translation complete by the Geofront team, which is probably better quality than even official works. That at least gives players the chance to play Zero to the standard it should be at. As for why localisations aren't announced, I think it's due to either legal issues, or the relationship between the localisation company and Falcom themselves. I'd wager it's a mix of the two. Falcom don't finalise a script after it's release, so they may still change it for continuity purposes or the like, so maybe they don't want a localisation announced until they're absolutely sure on a concrete script. I'm just guessing though based on what I know, I might be miles off the mark!

[@BSinNYC]

@@TheKisekiNut thanks for the insight; much appreciated!

[@d3ly746]

Unisuga too good

[@labmember0656]

Ohhh we have the same live wallpaper from kancolle😅

[@the_devils_jester]

50 Hours? More like 120 Hours for my first runs of Cold Steel.

[@GamingTranceSeer]

I thought dragon quest was the jrpg pioneer? Also I started the trails series because of their music.

[@TheKisekiNut]

JRPG was dragon quest, action JRPG was Falcom. :)

[@ThatBeardedWhiteGuy]

Gotta give falcom even more love nowadays, as Square enix now panders to progressims and call shitty game that insults fans like The last of us 2 "an example", there's really not much room in the future for good AAA Jrpgs, I'm glad i've found the trails of cold steel series and regret I didn't start playing these earlier.

[@chichiriz]

Why is it a simple game have a much better story than final fantasy? Recently

[@Azure9577]

Because makoto shinkai worked with falcom lmao

[@SilverYPheonix]

Wow this made a year ago and still haven't gotten enough recognition? Wtf

[@kanagawa85]

I play every ys series except origin. First I gotta finish Ys9 before anything

[@biozelink6086]

I love Trails and Ys both, but they're not even close to the best story driven Jrpg's. They have a lot of heart, but Falcom lack technical understanding of story telling. Their stories are amazing, but told with a ton of contrivances, cliches and pacing problems. But they do have the amazing connected world and huge lore, so they're still amazing.

[@strongguy258]

What game would you say does story telling better? (Not saying I disagree with you I am just curious)

[@biozelink6086]

@@strongguy258 Most of the Xeno games for example. Trails is actually heavily inspired by gears, sometimes outright quoting it. The Zero escape games and the others by their team have great stories. The older bioware games and so on. I personally love the world of Zemuria now, but a few months ago I kinda hated it. You have to dig deep t get to the good stuff. There's an interesting world, deep lore, political intrigue and dark drama, but you have to play all the games, they're inadequate on their own, and on the surface are full with anime clinches, archetypes and sloppy story telling techniques. Like constant last second saves, extremely formulaic and contrived, someone always watching on the side, repeating parasite phrases in the dialogue, a few plot holes and much more. But... I still love it. It's a bit sloppy to be fair and technically a bit of a mess, but it really has heart. I'm a writer, so I usually get hung up on the technical stuff, but I love this one despite it's flaws. So it's still great, just not really the best.

[@Giablo1]

Lol the best budget, word heavy, janky ass JRPGs you can play

[@Cman04092]

Did you buy ffxiii just to throw it on the floor for this video? I really hipe so because that would be hilarious.

[@ninjakittie24]

No one dies though. Consequences of war doesn't hit.

[@Cman04092]

Thats not true. Plenty of people die, but i dont want to spoil things here, but people do die.

[@ninjakittie24]

@@Cman04092 almost done with CS3. I hope so. :) All this war and airships going down and everyone is ok.....

[@hrgaming4plebs570]

non main characters still dies. some terrorists were brutally murdered in ao no kiseki.

[@d3ly746]

@@ninjakittie24 Hey buddy, since you are done with CS3, mind if you tell us what happens in... the end? ;))))))))) dw i already finished all trails games ;)))))

[@d3ly746]

@@wouldyoureturntomonke2452 Loewe, Weissman

[@MinhLe19303]

6:23 Nah, there are hundred of better sound studio than Falcom Sound Team with wider variety.