Gematsu: Falcom interview with president Toshihiro Kondo – Trails series, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox coming west,

[koutoru]

—Falcom games are notorious for their delayed releases in the west. Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki, for example, never made it out in English. With the PlayStation 4 versions on the way, are there any plans to release those titles in the west? How about Ys IX: Monstrum Nox?

Kondo: "I very much regret that we were unable to release Zero and Ao [in the west]. I think that releasing on PlayStation 4 will lead to an opportunity to release these games in North America and Europe. As for Ys IX, preparations are currently underway for release [in the west]."

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—With the release of Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki for PlayStation 4, the Trails in the Sky series will be the only games in the mainline Trails series not playable on PlayStation 4. Given that they were re-released for PlayStation 3, do you plan on making these titles available for PlayStation 4 as well? Is there any hope of playing the PSP-only Nayuta no Kiseki on a modern console?

Kondo: "Both users who own modern consoles and platform holders often request Trails in the Sky, so I have some homework to do. Personally, I'd like to recreate everything in 3D. Nayuta's gameplay is also extremely well received, so I think it would be a waste to bury it as a PSP-only title."

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—During the shareholder meeting in December, you brought up working on an in-house game engine. What was behind the decision to make a new engine entirely instead of using something like Unreal Engine 4?

Kondo: "We considered Unreal Engine as an option at first. For the Trails of Cold Steel series, we used an external engine, and it was good enough when we just started working on the series, but as development and the series advanced, there were some incompatibilities with our game plan. For example, in the Trails of Cold Steel series, a large number of unique models are displayed during events, but the engine isn't suitable for that sort of thing. The staff proposed that, if we move forward on that condition in the future, we would be better off with our own engine. Each [engine route] comes with its own benefits and inconveniences, I don't think it's a discussion of which one is superior."

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much, much, more: Here

lock if old.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Would be cool if they ever ported Nayuta. I think it was always clear Monstrum Nox would get a western release, but nice to see confirmation. Probably next year if NISA is handling the game.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

HE MENTIONED NAYUTA.

IT LIIIIIIIIIVES.

 

[Zhao_Yun]

Sounds like Zero and Ao localizations are just going to be a matter of time now. Too bad it will probably take too long for me to wait.
Currently playing the excellent Geofront fan translation for Zero and I don't think I will be able to wait years for an official Ao release. It's already hard enough to dodge all the spoilers since I refuse to play CSIII before I haven't finished the Crossbell games. Will probably just play the unpolished translation for Ao that is already available even though it's not optimal.

 

[sibarraz]

So Itake it as YS IX is closer for a western release than AO and Zero?

 

[Garrod Ran]

SonI take it as YS IX is closer for a western release than AO and Zero?

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Ys games are a much lesser undertaking to localize than Trails, it's a given

 

[Faiyaz]

YES! Ao and Zero will come, eventually. I can wait for as long as it takes.

 

[Kalor]

They've sort of talked about it for a while so I hope that Nayuta port happens.

 

[Zhao_Yun]

So Itake it as YS IX is closer for a western release than AO and Zero?

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The PS4 versions of Ao and Zero aren't even out in Japan yet.

 

[Philippo]

They talk about having taken UE4 into consideration, hope whatever they are building is an engine close to that level of fidelity.

 

[Wandu]

That was a good interview to read as a fan. Definitely looking forward to Zero and Ao as I started the series with Cold Steel. Hopefully his homework can produce a 3D version of Sky series at some point in the future. I will have to stick to the Vita (PSP version) for now in that regard.

 

[Ekid]

So they want to release two games a year (I think they said this at some point) and create their own engine at the same time? Sound hard too me, especially considering most of the bigger Japanese developers went the UE4 route.

 

[Rotobit]

dunno how I'd feel about 3D Sky remakes. They'd be neat to see but I feel like they aren't exactly necessary, and if anything might strip them of their charm (the updated Vita character portraits already kinda did that IMO). Would be a lot of effort to expend on something that could just as easily backfire.

Could be a good way to test out their new engine, though.

 

[fiendcode]

So Itake it as YS IX is closer for a western release than AO and Zero?

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It's almost certain NISA will do Ys IX after CS4 wraps.

 

[BasilZero]

Its crazy how much of a gap there is for western and eastern releases.

 

[varkuriru]

Ooh enjoyed the bit about which in game books to re-read! Looking forward to whatever comes out of that!

 

[Apollo]

My initial thought is that I want them to stay far away from a 3D Sky trilogy because the look of those games is so important to their comfy feel imo. But on second thought, it might be a good way to make the series more accessible for new players, so I'd like that?

 

[JB2448]

Telling me what I'd like to hear. Trails to Zero, Azure, Ys IX, and Nayuta in English officially is the dream as far as Falcom is concerned. After that, an Ys V remake alongside a Hajimari localization would be absolutely perfect.

 

[Carmelozi]

Good itw. I don't know about YSIX but I hope they improve animations, ToCSIII is very weak in that area. And I like the idea to remake the Sky arc, I would play again in glorious HD.

 

[Merc_]

I hope they follow through on porting or remaking Trails for current consoles.

Ys IX was always a given though.

 

[Orion]

"Both users who own modern consoles and platform holders often request Trails in the Sky, so I have some homework to do. Personally, I'd like to recreate everything in 3D."

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Yes please thx. It's what Estelle deserves.

 

[crimilde]

Good to have confirmation on Ys IX.
Bookmarking the interview for later. Thanks op!

 

[Clive]

Nayuta is legit my favorite Falcom game. Less filler and awesome action stages. Really hope it becomes playable on a platform with a future and gets an official localization. Beach of Nothingness is a killer track too.

 

[Blade24070]

Really disappointed if we don't get Ys IX this year. I mean, I'll take CS4 first, but I thought we'd get both. Oh well.

 

[asd202]

Yes please thx. It's what Estelle deserves.

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Not sure if I want it. Just do the next games please it's not like Falcom has a lot of resources.

 

[Palette Swap]

I don't think I've ever seen Kondo commit this much to localizing Zero/Ao in an interview. Then again, he's following up on his previous "if we have the opportunity stance".
Great news.

 

[asd202]

I don't think I've ever seen Kondo commit this much to localizing Zero/Ao in an interview. Then again, he's following up on his previous "if we have the opportunity stance".
Great news.

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Yeah Zero and Ao has to happen at this point. NISA will add Switch and PC ports and they will be good to go.

 

[Deleted member 30681]

Ys games are a much lesser undertaking to localize than Trails, it's a given

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I mean not really? The newer games are certainly less of an undertaking than the latest Kiseki games, but Ys scripts are getting larger and larger with every new entry. Evident, by NISA's Ys VIII dumpster fire, I don't think that's really a fair assessment, given that all things seemed to point to NISA trying to localize Ys VIII in roughly a year and we know how that ended up at launch.

Hopefully Ys IX gets more time to bake in the oven, but I also think the days when Ys games had short scripts and could be localized relatively quickly are over.

 

[Chaosblade]

It's going to be weird we when get an official release for Zero but the fan translation is still the definitive way to play it. We need it for Azure though.

Sky trilogy remade in 3D... I can't imagine that being an improvement. I've appreciated going back to the sprites and top down camera in the Crossbell games after playing Cold Steel 1 and 2. If anything I wish they would remake the Cold Steel games in the old style. I might like them more that way.

The engine thing still seems really weird to me. It's hard to imagine whatever a company of 60 people is able to put together while also releasing a new game each year is going to do more than UE4 could for them.

Ys IX is being localized? I'm shocked. I don't really enjoy Ys games as much as I used to so I'm actually not terribly excited about it though. I never finished VIII because I got bored maybe 2/3 through the game or so.

A Nayuta port would be highly unsurprising at this point, which is hilarious since it wasn't that long ago Falcom said they weren't going to do ports anymore. Ports seem to be how they filling out a release schedule and putting out more than a one game per year.

 

[Orion]

Not sure if I want it. Just do the next games please it's not like Falcom has a lot of resources.

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True, I know it's probably something they don't have time for. But I like to dream~

 

[Brazil]

I was not expecting Nayuta to be mentioned like that.

 

[Palette Swap]

The engine thing still seems really weird to me. It's hard to imagine whatever a company of 60 people is able to put together while also releasing a new game each year is going to do more than UE4 could for them.

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Yeah, I still don't get it, honestly. This seems like such a big liability for a company that size.

 

[Quinton]

Bring me Zero and Ao and I shall do whatever ya ask.

 

[skLaFarebear]

I don't think I've ever seen Kondo commit this much to localizing Zero/Ao in an interview. Then again, he's following up on his previous "if we have the opportunity stance".
Great news.

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The interview wasn't long ago when the man was literally licking his lips when talking about releasing crossbell on PS4 and bringing it to the west.

I was not expecting Nayuta to be mentioned like that.

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Kondo mentions Nayuta at least once a year. He's a big fan.

 

[Palette Swap]

The interview wasn't long ago when the man was literally licking his lips when talking about releasing crossbell on PS4 and bringing it to the west.

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Yeah, that was the "if we have the opportunity" phase, so it's nice to see it solidify even more.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Yeah, that was the "if we have the opportunity" phase, so it's nice to see it solidify even more.

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Outside of the obvious ties hajimari has to Zero/Ao, a big reason they even did the ps4 versions was to release it in the west. It was always gonna happen eventually, but it's always nice to see him actually double down on it since Kondo likes to say he wants a lot of stuff to happen in his interviews that don't always turn out that way.

 

[civet]

Sky in 3D seems to be a perilous idea at first. Unless their new in house engine proves to be a large improvement over the one they are currently using for Cold Steel. The series has been significatly weaker since they've shifted to 3D as it overall slows the pace of the games way to much.

In any case, I'm looking forward to enjoy more Falcom games in the future.

 

[Killah]

Please let Ys IX be a 2020 title.

 

[SmokedSalmon]

YES!!! Can't wait for Ys IX.

 

[WellbornWarrior]

I feel conflicted about a Sky remake. There is so much that can go wrong with this, especially since there were already many things in the past that have gone wrong.
They should rather try to bring their games to PC first and work from there. After all it's the only possible way these days to play all games on the same platform already.

 

[Yuntu]

Hoping their new engine works out well, nice to see him saying again that he very much wants Zero/Ao officially out in the west.

 

[Deleted member 5621]

Nayuta needs a big second editing pass and not just a port. Terrible pacing/bloat and slow progression for no good reason.

 

[SaberVS7]

Zero and Ao feel like really awkward situations honestly. I don't think NISA has the bandwidth to do them while also keeping on top of Ys IX and Hajimari no Kiseki - Unless Hajimari ends up the next Zero and Ao, in limbo until a PS5 Remaster comes along, where it then displaces another game, like Cold Steel and the need to get it out while the PS3 was still alive displaced Zero and Ao.

 

[Chaosblade]

Zero and Ao feel like really awkward situations honestly. I don't think NISA has the bandwidth to do them while also keeping on top of Ys IX and Hajimari no Kiseki - Unless Hajimari ends up the next Zero and Ao, in limbo until a PS5 Remaster comes along, where it then displaces another game, like Cold Steel and the need to get it out while the PS3 was still alive displaced Zero and Ao.

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That's part of the reason I think they are going to end up being pretty rushed projects with lower quality scripts and no English voices. It's going to be hard for NISA to juggle all these games, AND the Crossbell aren't exactly likely to be great sellers (even though they should, the games are fantastic). It would make sense for them to get them out in the fastest and cheapest manner possible.

 

[LordGorchnik]

Sounds like Zero and Ao localizations are just going to be a matter of time now. Too bad it will probably take too long for me to wait.
Currently playing the excellent Geofront fan translation for Zero and I don't think I will be able to wait years for an official Ao release. It's already hard enough to dodge all the spoilers since I refuse to play CSIII before I haven't finished the Crossbell games. Will probably just play the unpolished translation for Ao that is already available even though it's not optimal.

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As someone who used the "unpolished" Ao translation for my games, it works just fine and honestly really isn't bad at all.

 

[Apollo]

I'll echo that if you're feeling the urge to play Ao sooner rather than later, you can play the current translation. It's tolerable in the way a lot of PSX JRPGs had tolerable scripts

 

[Chaosblade]

As someone who used the "unpolished" Ao translation for my games, it works just fine and honestly really isn't bad at all.

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It's (mostly) comprehensible English, that's about the most credit I'll give it. Coming directly off of Geofront's Zero, the current Azure translation was a jarring transition. Took until chapter 2 for me to really get used to it.

The game is good enough I'd recommend dealing with it though. The quality of the text and missing QOL features are probably going to keep Azure from surpassing Zero for me, but it might end up as my second favorite Trails game even with this translation.

 

[LordGorchnik]

It's (mostly) comprehensible English, that's about the most credit I'll give it. Coming directly off of Geofront's Zero, the current Azure translation was a jarring transition. Took until chapter 2 for me to really get used to it.

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I'll take your word for it. I just played Zero and Ao for the first time about a year ago with the initial translations and honestly it all was quite fine for me. I imagine the up to date Geofront one is loads better. Ao to me actually was a lot more serviceable than the initial Geofront patch. It's been a while though and I'm no English major haha.

 

[Xita]

Good to hear about Ys IX, really hope the Crossbell games come over too someday.

 

[Imitatio]

Expected a Ys IX localization anyways, but good to have it confirmed. Ys VIII was a great game and I also loved Origins and liked the parts I played of Celceta. The whole premise of the series is to my liking. I'm looking forward to IX then.

Let's see how well it performs on the respective platforms in the end, though. I'd want NISA to do a Switch version as well, as I enjoyed VIII more on there than on PS4, but with IX seemingly not being a 100% smooth on PS4 already ... Eh.