The First Version of The Legend of Heroes 2 - Dragonslayer: The Legend of Heroes II (PC-88 Paradise)

[@matthewconley7568]

This might be the only video on KZbin to cover the plot of the game I have found. Who cares about spoilers? I have been wanting to know about the plot to this game for over a year now! A big thank you to you, sir!

[@AkasagiPhan]

I was revisiting the Ys series recently and came across your channel. Your retrospective for these ancient Falcom games are the only videos that did each of these games justice. These games deserve more exposure

[@BasementBrothers]

Agreed. I like to make long-form videos about each game. There's more than enough to discuss about each game to fill an entire 20 minute video!

[@thefivespokewheels]

That is such a cool plot twist especially for when the game was released!

[@Conan_the_Based]

Rando might be my favorite character concept ever. Swinging huge swords and casting Nuke all day long. The ultimate 80s jRPG Chad.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Rando reminded me a lot to Link from The Legend of Zelda due to how iconic the character truly is.

[@charlie_nax]

muscle wizard cast fist!

[@DustinBarlow8P]

I love how ya'll preserved the advertisements! Ads back then actually had style. Not the redundant ads we see today.

[@Chris-yj2di]

Oh hell yes. Glad this 'series' is continuing.

[@RyuHayabusa06]

Great video, very informative. It's a shame that there isn't an English patch for this one. I love the art and music. Ryo Yonemitsu always made great arrangements for the PCE versions of these games.

[@jasonmills525]

I would kill for an english patch.

[@Dark.Shingo]

Thanks for the review, I'm loving your channel, such a way to learn about games I never had the chance to play. Love the idea of a character like Rando, that just says "well, I'm not gonna be a flimsy mage" and bulks up!

[@jasonblalock4429]

Funny how the initial setup to this one (go around the world to gain experience) ended up being the setup to Trails in the Sky 1 as well.

[@ddaodao9332]

Thanks for the awesome video. It really good to see all those old jrpgs games.

[@misuvittupaa8068]

Probably the best channel I've found in years.

[@RegalPixelKing]

I like games like this that seamlessly combine sci-fi with fantasy. Those stories always interest me.

[@eneshadziric9961]

Agreed,steel swords and lightsabers,bows and guns,ruined advanced civilizations,tech scraps in the desert,etc.Truly an universe on its own

[@KeyleeTamirian]

I wonder if you might like Might and Magic games, which also seamlessly combine those.

[@jitensha5231]

Just announced for release on Switch via EGGCONSOLE on Dec. 12, 2024!

[@nathanpitones]

I think D4 knows that people want more of those games from Falcom.

[@yabuki2923]

Wow, these videos are really nice! I recently started playing the turbografx version of LoH1, and it's very charming. The english voice acting is hilarious. It's sad that much of the series is untranslated, but getting a detailed explanation like this makes it hurt a little less :,)

[@IkeSan]

And I thought the Orbal Revolution was a big deal. I see where Falcom got the idea of mixing 21st Century Technology and Medieval Stuff. Great video, more about this obscure game which looks neat for PC88. Also I have listened to the music of this game and I agree it is better than the 1st game.

[@demilembias2527]

there's nothing really medieval about the trails series. at earliest, I would say the liberl arc is kind of a mix of the 1880s and the 1980s. now in the calvard arc it's like, a mix of the 1920s and 2010s.

[@bowloflentils]

Awesome, thank you for making a video on the second game as well! I knew very little about this sequel since it isn't available in English so this overview was very enlightening. The obtuse progression you mentioned reminded me a lot of what little I played of The Legend of Xanadu on the PCE-CD. That game also had a lot of moments where you had to talk to seemingly random NPCs in order to progress the story and I wouldn't have made it far without a walkthrough.

[@BasementBrothers]

OMG, yes! I was reminded of Legend of Xanadu 1 a lot too. That game is almost all going back and forth between different characters in different towns in order to progress the game. I personally really prefer the Legend of Xanadu II since it has much more interesting progression and nicer graphics in the overworld view. Only part where the first game is superior is the sideview parts. Thanks for watching.

[@bowloflentils]

@@BasementBrothers Haha, I guess it makes sense for the two games to be similar since The Legend of Xanadu was the next game directed by Yoshio Kiya right after The Legend of Heroes II. Also I agree that Legend of Xanadu II seemed like the better game from what I played.

[@AdamSommer70]

Super great video!!! Love this series

[@DustinBarlow8P]

Ok will the previous owner please stand up and be recognized! Really gotta respect somebody who took such good care of their

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

It's neat hearing the story explained! I have the original on Turbo CD and Super Famicom, but I went only Super Famicom on II, as I don't speak/read Japanese aside from a few common words you see in menus all the time, so the only determining factor was that Legend of Heroes II is Barcode Battler II/Super Famicom interface compatible, and I have all but one of the compatible games for it (missing Spider-Man Lethal Foes). I figured I could explore the game that way and check out what the Barcode Battler does in the game, but I never completely figured it out. My little brother always helped me out with some of the translations, as he could at least read katakana and hiragana, but as grown old men with kids, it got harder to find the time to sink into such glorious frivolities. One day, I'll get it figured out!

[@marklastes312]

NLeseul has released an english patch for the first game on PC-98 and this game is currently in progress. So now we'll get to enjoy it. :)

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

This needs a fan translation, so we can FINALLY play the entire Legend of Heroes series in English.

[@anonamatron]

I didn't think I cared about these older ones but I just realized that they're all in English except one.. The next three on PSP look very worth playing. Seems like a great candidate for a translation. Wish I still knew how to do it. I've translated several GB/NES/SNES games, long ago.... I'm in the last chapter of Trails in the Sky FC right now, and this game is almost perfect for me. Love the style. Only complaint is that I think levelling is a bit hard since the XP you get goes down really fast. So, my complaint is that I want more grinding, actually. Not too much, but some...

[@IdentityCrisis1581]

I agree. When I was buying Pc-engine stuff fr TurboZoneDirect they didn't even have part 2. I had part 1 but didn't even know a sequel existed until at least a decade after my turboduo quit working and I had to rely on emulators. In fact I had to wait over 20 years before I could play a translated version of ys4. I didn't know the english version even existed until last year. And I got my American turboduo with ys1&2 packed in somewhere between 93&95. Can't remember the exact year. So do the math. That's a long time. It was well worth the wait. And I fully agree with you. Someone needs to translate the pc-engine scd version of dragon slayer 2 so I can finally play it in a language I can read. But then there are a ton of Pc-engine scd games that were never translated for the west that should have been. The system died before they could. But titles like this, ys4 and 5, Dracula x, and many others we never got could have potentially saved the system in the west.

[@IdentityCrisis1581]

As far as the translated version of ys4. I have been curious but can't find an answer. Maybe you know. All the voice acting was also in English not just the text. with that same cheesy quality the other English pc-engine games had. So I wonder. Was it fan translated, and the English voice over was hidden in the original because they planned on a western port that never happened. So only the txt was done by fans. Or was a full English version already made by falcon but never got released and it just took the internet this long to find the files. Because that has been puzzling me. Most fan translated games with voice acting. Only the text is translated and the voice acting is still in Japanese. So how did ys4 have English voice acting if it was fan translated. my best guess is that they recorded the voice acting in both languages from development intending on a western port but it never happened. So it was still in the game but never used. Otherwise the fans would have had to record their own voice overs. If that is the case they nailed it spot on. It sounds exactly like what you would expect from a western release of a pc-engine scd game.

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

@@IdentityCrisis1581 Not sure. I haven't played Ys. On another note, I played Legend of Heroes 2 a little while ago, and used a real-time machine-translation feature in Retroarch. The videos are on my channel.

[@IdentityCrisis1581]

@@guruthosamarthruin4459 I will check that out. I didn't know RetroArch could do that. That might be useful knowledge for me.

[@PyakuKem]

Thank you so much for going through the game like this! I'm sad I can't play it. I hope somebody makes a translation one day!

[@Tr3vor42532]

It's always interesting when medieval and futuristic themes are mixed. It seems like there are a lot of games like that on japanese computers. Have you ever played 46 okunen monogatari on pc-98? I love it, it's the game that got me to import a pc-98.

[@BasementBrothers]

Isn't that the game that became "E.V.O.: Search for Eden" on the SNES? No, I have not played the PC-98 version. Just looking at some videos now, it looks pretty different. Turn-based battles instead of action. Maybe that's one I should check out someday. Thanks.

[@Tr3vor42532]

@@BasementBrothers Yeah, the SNES game was kind of a remake. The PC-98 game's battle system was very simple, but I think the story was definitely more fascinating than the SNES one.

[@jzblue345]

I've been wanting to play this one forever story looks good.

[@riggel8804]

The vertical scanlines look cool.

[@rchassereau2]

May you never change the intro - a sign of a solid youtube channel (to me) is when I do it along with you :D

[@Vmac1394]

That mana system is cool, it's like the D&D system but with incremental recharge since a computer facilitates that.

[@bassistwithadeathwish7277]

Falcom sure love their post apocalypses huh

[@matthewgrabowski2482]

Great video...thanks for the thorough review. Didn't someone begin work on an English translation for the Super Famicon version years ago but abandoned it?

[@user-a5Bw9de]

Is Iselhasa where Niino took inspiration from for Etrian Odyssey 1? It might not be a solo inspiration, but it surely has some vibe to it.

[@KeyleeTamirian]

I think Etrian Odyssey is more like inspired by Nausicaa, which is also post-apo Fantasy. Also there's a Manga Bastard!!, which looks like medieval dark fantasy, which turns out to be a sci fi.

[@msvgameschannel5429]

I play the ps1 version, i love the town bgm

[@nathanpitones]

With this release on the Switch, America technecly has somewhat and almost the entire Legend of Heroes series.

[@shutter-chan]

I remember myself being really disappointed when I learned there was no english localization nor fan translation after finishing the first game years ago.

[@ForkFace2112]

The whole going underground and erasing the surface world sounds like Spartacus and the sun beneath the sea

[@absolutelypitiful3837]

Phantasy Star 3 had this concept of the world really being high tech instead of medieval two years prior. It surely originates from sci-fi novels that are 50+ years old, but I wonder where the precise inspiration for it comes from in so many old school Japanese games. Maybe ultimately it comes from the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan losing WW2. That is probably why every elaborate Japanese game has a story about an extinct, advanced civilization that was destroyed due to the misuse of powerful technology.

[@BasementBrothers]

Yeah, Sturat at Basement Brothers thought we should maybe mention PS3 in the video, but we were worried it would be kind of a spoiler for PS3.

[@Phediuk]

Ultima III Exodus (1983) has basically the same twist, evil god turns out to be a supercomputer in a world that has forgotten all about high technology.

[@RiderWithTheScarf]

According to the "official english", their names are [Atlas], [Rando], [Flora] and [Cindy] according to their old databooks. This is the second "Rando" I encounter in a japanese game, the other being Guardian Heroes and they translated it into "Rand" when it came over. Maybe Rando here is meant to be that?

[@FP_95]

Nice concept! Has a lot to do with late-game sora no kiseki 2 and 3

[@backloggamereviews]

Just bought this for PC Engine didn't realize it was the same game until I took a look at the manual 😅

[@DaisakoKunandra]

This makes me definitely believe that at some point they are going to pull Nayuta into the mainline Trails series

[@BasementBrothers]

Eh erm, why does this make you think that? This game isn't part of the Trails series at all. Well, thanks for watching, anyway.

[@DaisakoKunandra]

@@BasementBrothers the other world type thing from the underground in this game, that they have in an earlier game had a separated world that has a different level of technology. I know the Gagharv games did the separate worlds too between the games but I didn't know that even this early in the games they developed they had touched on the concept of like an outer world and having things like that Joshua satellite. Trails has the outer world out of the bounds of Zemuria and they slightly have hinted a bit more about it very rarely in the lore

[@BasementBrothers]

Yeah. That is an interesting theory. I also thought a lot about that while playing Nayuta, since I had actually played the later Cold Steel games by that time. Thanks.

[@DesMondesBlut]

Really love the character art. So sad that there's just one waifu to take advantage of it. XD Great video btw. I don't think there's any other English speaking youtube channel who has ever talked about the game.

[@BasementBrothers]

LOL. There's also Lacia（レイシア）who is one of the resistance leaders in the underworld, but I didn't have time to talk about her in the video. You can have dibs on her if you want. :)

[@doctafill77]

What is with the hole-punched advertisements? I've seen them now in at least one or two other Falcom PC88 games on this channel. What was the point of the hole-punching? Did Japanese gamers collect binders full of advertisements?

[@BasementBrothers]

Good question. Honestly, I don't know. My best guess is that those same advertisements were probably distributed in other ways other than the inclusion with these games. Likely they appeared in other places where the hole punches would have made more sense.

[@doctafill77]

@@BasementBrothers thank you for the response, but I’m a little disappointed. 😆 I was genuinely hoping there had been an entire subculture of Japanese gamers in the 80s collecting and trading advertising sheets in binders as if they were pokemon cards.

[@BasementBrothers]

I don't know. Could be? There are quite a few people selling old game flyers on Yahoo Japan Auctions for whatever reason.

[@roguerifter9724]

Hopefully someone at NIS decides to re-release this and its prequel. A childhood friend had the US TG-16 version of the first game, and it was among the handful of RPGs I beat multiple times during sleepovers at his house. If no one else had beaten me to doing so (He had rich relatives who flooded him with games and systems) I would have probably bought this for him just to be able to play it except they decided to be jerks and not release it in the US.

[@Neatqt]

Did you pick this up recently from BEEP in Akihabara? I swear I saw this the other day and wanted to pick it up but didnt...

[@BasementBrothers]

No, I've had this one in my collection for years. I probably got it on Yahoo! Auctions. Cool that they have it at BEEP. I should stop by there again sometime soon. Actually, the later Falcom games for PC-88 are not really very rare (at least not for PC-88 games anyway). Thanks for watching.

[@Neatqt]

@@BasementBrothers Yeah I'm thinking of trying to build out a collection myself. Grabbed the original Sora no kiseki 1, 2 and 3 from there for like 1500yen last month and now I think i've fallen down the rabbit hole of collecting old falcom stuff lol.

[@Jordan3DS]

Anyone know where you can find a good guide for this game? I'd love to play it despite not knowing Japanese

[@BasementBrothers]

There's a walkthrough of the Super Famicom version on gamefaqs.

[@Jordan3DS]

@@BasementBrothers Thanks! Hopefully it works for the PC Engine version too

[@BasementBrothers]

The events and progression are the same in every version I believe, so should be fine.

[@texben123]

That means, those astronauts are probably from earth, and somehow they left their world and went into the the legends of heroes world. But were killed and they could be ancient humans have been in a stasis pod for thousands of years???? And the more recent games , mostly the Trail series It is hinted that each of the worlds and are in a pocket dimension, it is a Multiverse, just a smaller one in each planet, being separated. Meaning, this could be a hint or where they’re going in the future games Because I know in the trilogy it mentions multiple worlds , or one World split into three. They probably use that story in the further games down the line.

[@BasementBrothers]

Haha, I doubt they're supposed to be from earth... but still, if you take the map of the world from Legend of Heroes 1&2 and turn it upside down, the shape of the continents doesn't look too dissimilar to earth's. Maybe those astronauts really are just us in the future? Still, the choice of "2 billion" years was a total misstep. All their buildings and technology would be nothing but dust after that amount of time.

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

Do you know of anywhere where there's at least a basic walkthrough and basic plot point translations for this game? I found one that someone started, but it looks like it was quickly abandoned.

[@BasementBrothers]

There's a walkthrough on gamefaqs for the "Super Nintendo" version. It should work fine for any version of the game. As for plot translations, I don't know of any. Sorry.

[@purwantiallan5089]

The Legend of Heroes II should've been remastered into PS4 or 5. Its an underrated RPG masterpiece.

[@symphony137]

Not sure if it's just me but I hear some kind of unnatural enunciation when you speak, almost like you're pissed or sarcastic all the time. 😅

[@lafasu7436]

Finally a video covering the full plot. Thank you!!!! 🫡🫡🫡