Tokyo Xanadu eX+ |OT| A Fantasy Based On Reality

SolVanderlyn · Dec 20, 2017

I'm enjoying this game, but not loving it. Like a decent bagel sandwich from a mid-tier cafe.

I can really only play about half a chapter at a time. The tropes are played super straight, and without the strong fantasy world building and writing that carries them through the Trails games. The music outside of dungeons is bland at best, slightly annoying at worst. The environments are super sterile. The battle system is fun but very, very easy (on normal) and repetitive (on any difficulty).

I think talking to NPCs and filling out the notebook (or whatever it's called in this game) is the best part of the game. I like watching their lives unfold more than I do the main story, which is serviceable, but a bit boring. Especially if you have ever watched an anime in your life, even if it was 15 years ago when you were in middle school.

shimon · Dec 20, 2017

Question about The After Story:

Does it matter which party members I take during the first 5 quests? I don't want to possibly miss something by choosing wrong people.

Ascheroth · Dec 20, 2017

shimon said:
Question about The After Story:

Does it matter which party members I take during the first 5 quests? I don't want to possibly miss something by choosing wrong people.

Not terribly much, but once the festival starts you can go around with one of the 5 you chose and the dialogue changes accordingly. Just choose the 5 characters you like the most.

Einherjer · Dec 20, 2017

Tizoc said:
I can't inject DSR on my rig :/
I mainly want to try SSGSS Anti aliasing.

That's too bad the game works very well with DSR since it's so light on the hardware i use 4x and my gpu doesn't even break a sweat. Maybe try asking over at https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/nvidia-anti-aliasing-guide-updated.357956/ for aa compatibility bits, they posted some for other Falcom games there before.

Tizoc · Dec 20, 2017

Thanks I'll ask around in there.

Lavenza · Dec 20, 2017

Have tried to play this on and off (mid chapter 2 now) and still not feeling it much. I can stomach my share of anime tropes and cliches but the plot so far is just generic anime 101. Almost like its been ripped directly from every visual novel out there.

Gameplay is ...OK. Serviceable in spite of the clunky-ness. Would have been better if they just went full persona clone and just ripped the battle system instead of making it an action rpg.

Something I feel that looks really off are Kou's animations, they just look extremely...stiff? An example is his jumping animation which just looks awkward.

Lusankya · Dec 20, 2017

Really like the game so far, the battle system is more fun than I thought. Usually I vastly prefer turn based combat to action oriented combat.

Best part are all the references to Trails of Cold Steel, e.g. in the arcade you can play a fishing minigame as Demon Lord Rean, lol. Including the OST from ToCS.

Akselziys · Dec 20, 2017

TeenageFBI said:
UPDATE: Still not available on humblebundle.com

It just launched on Humble Bundle now along with a 1 week launch discount of 10% off :)

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/tokyo-xanadu-ex

Hope everyone on Humble Bundle enjoys! :D

Andres · Dec 20, 2017

Akselziys said:
It just launched on Humble Bundle now along with a 1 week launch discount of 10% off :)

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/tokyo-xanadu-ex

Hope everyone on Humble Bundle enjoys! :D

Any chance of the DLC being put on Humble Bundle?

Akselziys · Dec 20, 2017

Andres said:
Any chance of the DLC being put on Humble Bundle?

I'll follow up with them and see :)

TeenageFBI · Dec 20, 2017

Akselziys said:
It just launched on Humble Bundle now along with a 1 week launch discount of 10% off :)

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/tokyo-xanadu-ex

Hope everyone on Humble Bundle enjoys! :D

Hooray!

Chacranajxy · Dec 20, 2017

Now just waiting on that DRM-free release.

Syril · Dec 20, 2017

So this has a calendar and social stuff? Are you limited in how much you can do before the story advances? Is it like Persona with life sim/time management stuff?

Tohsaka · Dec 20, 2017

Syril said:
So this has a calendar and social stuff? Are you limited in how much you can do before the story advances? Is it like Persona with life sim/time management stuff?

You get a certain amount of bonding points that you use to spend time with other characters each chapter. Doing other stuff like rerunning dungeons, quests, etc. doesn't use up time and can usually be done as much as you want before advancing the main story.

Syril · Dec 20, 2017

Tohsaka said:
You get a certain amount of bonding points that you use to spend time with other characters each chapter. Doing other stuff like rerunning dungeons, quests, etc. doesn't use up time and can usually be done as much as you want before advancing the main story.

Is that how Trails of Cold Steel works too?

Dandy Crocodile · Dec 20, 2017

Syril said:
Is that how Trails of Cold Steel works too?

Pretty much. It's VERY similar to Cold Steel.

TeenageFBI · Dec 20, 2017

I'm not really sure how much money I'll have to spare in this game, so is it a good idea to buy all of the lottery tickets each week?

Reluctant-Hero · Dec 20, 2017

TeenageFBI said:
I'm not really sure how much money I'll have to spare in this game, so is it a good idea to buy all of the lottery tickets each week?

I haven't ever lost money on them, only broken even in the worst case. So yeah, buy those tickets in each chapter.

Zafir · Dec 20, 2017

TeenageFBI said:
I'm not really sure how much money I'll have to spare in this game, so is it a good idea to buy all of the lottery tickets each week?

I'm getting close to the end of the game and I've always had plenty of money, so go ahead.

TeenageFBI · Dec 20, 2017

Man, that song when you're first wandering around the school is straight out of Persona 4.

Reluctant-Hero said:
I haven't ever lost money on them, only broken even in the worst case. So yeah, buy those tickets in each chapter.

Zafir said:
I'm getting close to the end of the game and I've always had plenty of money, so go ahead.

Sounds good, thanks!

ara · Dec 21, 2017

TeenageFBI said:
Man, that song when you're first wandering around the school is straight out of Persona 4.

I know, right?! I'm so glad somebody else hears it too lmao

petran79 · Dec 21, 2017

Fortunately game is not that grind heavy and dungeons can be finished in a breeze. All characters level up automatically, even if you are using just some of them. Till the final dungeon of after story I had reached level 59-60 for all characters, which was enough for the final boss.

Persona dungeons could take a long time to finish, even the ones without bosses. Grinding there was mandatory.

I also liked that story and sidestories make you play as various character combinations, even without the protagonist, for character development.

One boss fight requires you to use all characters individually. When you deplete part of its lifebar, boss traps the character and the next one appears.While the final boss does the same but in 4 teams of 2-3 people. The final dungeon separates characters into 4 teams of your choice and throws them into 4 separate levels.

Does Trails of Cold Steel do the same?

Lusankya · Dec 21, 2017

petran79 said:
I also liked that story and sidestories make you play as various character combinations, even without the protagonist, for character development.

One boss fight requires you to use all characters individually. When you deplete part of its lifebar, boss traps the character and the next one appears.While the final boss does the same but in 4 teams of 2-3 people. The final dungeon separates characters into 4 teams of your choice and throws them into 4 separate levels.

Does Trails of Cold Steel do the same?

In Cold Steel I your class will be sent to field trips and for that they are divided into two groups which travel to two different locations. Each time the group compositions are different and you're forced to play the group with Rean in it. In general the group composition is based on the location of the field trip (usually it's the home place for one of the class members) and on the current group dynamics (e.g. one time two class members were constantly fighting, so the teacher put them together in one group).

So yeah, you will be forced to use all party members.

petran79 · Dec 21, 2017

I see. In turn-based systems it would be harder to fight a boss with just 1-2 characters.

Had no idea about this either

danowat · Dec 21, 2017

For someone who is going to finish P5 over Christmas, would this be a good game to drop onto?, I get it's not "like" P5 (is anything?) but does it have the same structure?

Failing that, is there anything else, on PS4 or XBO, that anyone would recommend playing if they wanted to scratch that Persona itch without playing Persona?

Open Wound · Dec 21, 2017

danowat said:
For someone who is going to finish P5 over Christmas, would this be a good game to drop onto?, I get it's not "like" P5 (is anything?) but does it have the same structure?

Failing that, is there anything else, on PS4 or XBO, that anyone would recommend playing if they wanted to scratch that Persona itch without playing Persona?

It doesn't share the same structure, but it has similarities, the setting and premise being the major ones, so if what you want is more high school supernatural RPGs it could fit the bill. The major difference is that Tokyo Xanadu doesn't have a calendar system, so it's structured much more like a traditional RPG (specifically, it's almost exactly like Trails of Cold Steel) where quests move the plot along, but it has the same dichotomy Persona has of high school life mixed with dungeon crawling, where the social stuff happens in the city (side quests, optional minigames, friendship epidodes, and talking to NPCs) and then you have your supernatural dungeons for combat purposes.

It's also an action RPG, so if you want more turn based goodness it's not going to scratch that itch.

DeejayDoom · Dec 21, 2017

I think they released the new patch for PS4, fixing several things, like the duplicate master core name or the NG+ screen.

Knurek · Dec 21, 2017

petran79 said:
Had no idea about this either

They don't look to be very happy to be on stage, tbh.

Akselziys · Dec 21, 2017

DeejayDoom said:
I think they released the new patch for PS4, fixing several things, like the duplicate master core name or the NG+ screen.

Yup! The 2nd patch was released on PS4 yesterday :)

Also, PS Blog has put up all the publisher 2017 Holiday cards~

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/12/21/happy-holidays-from-playstation-blog-and-friends-2/

Here's ours, which is Tokyo Xanadu eX+ themed ;)

Those "snowflakes" look oddly familiar...

Astrael · Dec 21, 2017

I see you, Morimaru. Cute card :D

Yunyo · Dec 21, 2017

Someone on the Steam forums went all out on Aksys's localization of TX.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/587260/discussions/0/2906376154321517235/

Basically it needs another brushup.
It surprises me because I don't remember seeing such issues for games like Blazblue or Zero Escape in the past. Maybe it's because Falcom games have so much text in them that they overwhelmed the localization team in this instance.

I was holding off the game at the moment because of the price/presentation aspect, but these sorts of errors are really bothersome to someone like me and I figured if I didn't bring it to someone's attention nothing will change, and I'd like to see an update prior to me purchasing the game down the line. It is possible most people don't care about these issues but for someone picky like me they're eye cancer.

Jolkien · Dec 21, 2017

Yeah I did notice lots of spelling errors and inconsistencies, thankfully they don't take me out of the experience too much. But in recent years I started to realise how well Xseed took care of us, which makes me love them even more than I already did.

Cqef · Dec 21, 2017

Yunyo said:
Someone on the Steam forums went all out on Aksys's localization of TX.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/587260/discussions/0/2906376154321517235/

Basically it needs another brushup.
It surprises me because I don't remember seeing such issues for games like Blazblue or Zero Escape in the past. Maybe it's because Falcom games have so much text in them that they overwhelmed the localization team in this instance.

I was holding off the game at the moment because of the price/presentation aspect, but these sorts of errors are really bothersome to someone like me and I figured if I didn't bring it to someone's attention nothing will change, and I'd like to see an update prior to me purchasing the game down the line. It is possible most people don't care about these issues but for someone picky like me they're eye cancer.

Yeah I was originally waiting for the game to be released on GoG to finally buy it when I bumped into this post a few days ago. So I'll just spare my wallet for now and wait for these problems to be addressed. I watched very little footage of the localisation so far, yet I spotted a good amount of the listed complaints from the post, but at the time I just assumed these only were in the few select scenes I stumbled upon. It saddens me to know that I assumed wrong, because I certainly can't stand what I saw for the duration of a whole game. I feel like Aksys tried too hard. I don't even want to bother with it anymore if only for the "held back curse words" like "effing" or "trucking" alone, so add up all the other problematic stuff, and here you go. I'm very disappointed. Maybe not as much as I am about the whole Ys VIII ordeal (from which I had way more expectations), but close. And the Vita version was in an even more sorry state a few months back when it was released? Get it together, Aksys...

I wish I could overlook all this shit and enjoy my games.

Jolkien · Dec 21, 2017

It's not anything too bad (at least for me) Ys 8 was a lot worse but I don't know if these translations issues are somewhat new in recent years and I was just oblivious to them or it's the price to pay for cutting cost and releasing games faster ? At least technically I'm at the beginning of chapter 7 and did not have a single issue.

I'm having a great time regardless but still, there's room for improvement.

Open Wound · Dec 21, 2017

Right now the final boss just said to me "and fyi".

I'm not too bothered by mispellings and lack of puntuation as I know how difficult it is to translate so much text, and can be fixed later with patches without much issue (keyword being can, as not many bother fixing it), but this translation feels a lot of times like I'm reading a forum post with the jargon they've decided to use. I was a lot warmer to it when I started than I am now. It really needed another thorough editing pass, because it just reads badly most of time.

Luckily for Aksys, NISA fucked up harder with a higher profile game.

Cqef · Dec 21, 2017

Aksys is less bad than Nisa, what an achievement, eh?

Open Wound · Dec 21, 2017

Finished the final chapter. Anybody knows how long is the after story?

Anyway, pretty solid game. Letting it rest for more than one day when I was starting to feel burned out helped me make the final push enjoyable again. All in all, I enjoyed my time with quite a bit, without it being anything special. In a scale where whatever Trails is your favorite is a 10, Tokyo Xanadu is a solid 7. Ultimately, the mechanics and dungeon design are a bit too simplistic for such a long game (they're still good, though), and the story and characters rely too much on tropes without doing much to flesh them out in a meaningful or interesting manner (something that the Trails series excels at in my opinion), but the characters are still likeable and the story is entertaining enough despite being a bit too generic, and I liked the whole episodic feel of the game that gave it a quicker pace to every chapter's storyline.

I think if this wasn't a side project, it could have been much better. Maybe if Falcom makes a sequel (didn't sell really well in Japan?) they can be more ambitious with it.

shimon · Dec 21, 2017

Open Wound said:
Finished the final chapter. Anybody knows how long is the after story?

5-6h.

Kvik · Dec 21, 2017

The biggest offender of these localisation issues was probably the memefied dialogue. There's obviously some argument to be made whether meme-speak is "in-character" or not, but in terms of preservation of the game it feels like a bad decision, since it could be what people would remember about the game years from now, and it's not a good look.

ara · Dec 22, 2017

FWIW, while meme-licious dialogue can get pretty goddamn bad at times, it's definitely a better fit for random high schoolers like this than something like the weirdly formal, overly apologetic and pretty clunky way many kids in Cold Steel talked.

Localization has been fine so far, though I'm still on chapter 2. Or 3. No doubt it gets worse later on.

Basileus777 · Dec 22, 2017

I have no idea what people are even complaining about when they say meme dialogue. Is this just code word for a translation that isn't literal enough?

Andres · Dec 22, 2017

I'm not too bothered by the meme speak since it's pretty minimal and I'm also fine with the way they curse by saying stuff like effing instead since they're teens. I will say the constant use of *chortle* does bug the hell out of me. It does need more polish overall.

Thoraxes · Dec 22, 2017

Basileus777 said:
I have no idea what people are even complaining about when they say meme dialogue. Is this just code word for a translation that isn't literal enough?

They're mixing up the words slang and meme.

ara · Dec 22, 2017

Thoraxes said:
They're mixing up the words slang and meme.

Nah, I'm not talking about something like "effing" or "fyi" or anything like that but actual meme phrases like, I dunno, "right in the feels" or something. Maybe not the best example, but you get what I mean.

I don't like "effing" in itself, but I'm perfectly fine with video game teenagers using it. And "fyi".

CielTynave · Dec 22, 2017

ara said:
"right in the feels"

Yeah that one gets used in a scene that's supposed to be slightly serious.

Ascheroth · Dec 22, 2017

Andres said:
I'm not too bothered by the meme speak since it's pretty minimal and I'm also fine with the way they curse by saying stuff like effing instead since they're teens. I will say the constant use of *chortle* does bug the hell out of me. It does need more polish overall.

While playing I was always jokingly saying that if I got a cent every time I read *chortle* I could give the game away a few times. That is my one main issue with it too. Though I suppose that this might be an issue in the japanese text itself already and while translating such a huge amount of text it's probably not as apparent.

Honestly I feel like the big problem with those localizations is that I believe the localizers don't have access to the tools to insert the localized text and textures themselves (on consoles), so they translate the text outside of the game to the best of their abilities (which is why you have those context errors, since japanese is such a context-reliant language), then they send the stuff to Falcom to insert it, get it back and only then can look through it in-game, sending every adaption to Falcom and having to wait until they get the updated version back.
This is such a useless overhead in my opinion, especially if you already have a tight schedule.

Thoraxes · Dec 22, 2017

ara said:
Nah, I'm not talking about something like "effing" or "fyi" or anything like that but actual meme phrases like, I dunno, "right in the feels" or something. Maybe not the best example, but you get what I mean.

I don't like "effing" in itself, but I'm perfectly fine with video game teenagers using it. And "fyi".

Yeah. I was more referring to the other posters than you. Like, I do recognize there was much more slang/vernacular than something more literal and that it was a little too far sometimes depending on the situation, but idk what calling something memespeak is unless I was exposed to it as a meme, and most of the stuff I'm still generally clueless about, outside of the same 3 examples that get parroted around. You're right in that they're highschoolers in your other post, so they'd be more informal anyway, but I think some calling the script meme-speak, meme-ridden, meme meme meme, etc. is a bit of an over-exaggeration considering how few those instances are in terms of reading hundreds of NPC lines/story lines per world update/story session.

Some people just can't take the L on that...

Ascheroth said:
While playing I was always jokingly saying that if I got a cent every time I read *chortle* I could give the game away a few times. That is my one main issue with it too. Though I suppose that this might be an issue in the japanese text itself already and while translating such a huge amount of text it's probably not as apparent.

Honestly I feel like the big problem with those localizations is that I believe the localizers don't have access to the tools to insert the localized text and textures themselves (on consoles), so they translate the text outside of the game to the best of their abilities (which is why you have those context errors, since japanese is such a context-reliant language), then they send the stuff to Falcom to insert it, get it back and only then can look through it in-game, sending every adaption to Falcom and having to wait until they get the updated version back.
This is such a useless overhead in my opinion, especially if you already have a tight schedule.

So Sen III was the first Falcom game I played in JP, and their script is riddled with lots of laughter onomatopoeia (and I assume TX is probably similar). Between the chortle, hehe, haha, giggle, fufu, etc. it's just something that's dependent on who's doing the localization and those editors. IIRC, Brittany mentioned either on Twitter or one of those neat XSEED localization blogs about editing a lot of those out of CS2.

IDK whether anyone can call it right or wrong, but it's just a style choice that either bothers someone or doesn't. Personally, I would've used less of them and tried to fit in the intonation into the writing, but everyone works differently.

Jolkien · Dec 22, 2017

I guessed it but It's funny that the Seal Knight which work for the Church ends up having green hair. Kevin 2.0 :p

petran79 · Dec 22, 2017

Yunyo said:
Someone on the Steam forums went all out on Aksys's localization of TX.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/587260/discussions/0/2906376154321517235/

Basically it needs another brushup.
It surprises me because I don't remember seeing such issues for games like Blazblue or Zero Escape in the past. Maybe it's because Falcom games have so much text in them that they overwhelmed the localization team in this instance.

Blazblue's text flow was much more straightforward. Here you have countless variations of the same dialogs, changing event after event. Such games are really a nightmare for any translator. At least it seems better than P5

Jolkien · Dec 24, 2017

Just finished, disappointed in myself I had to drop the difficulty for the final boss of the after story, I did the whole game on Calamity but I wiped twice on the boss third phase and it took me about 40 minutes to reach it both time. Took it down to easy, wiped the floor with him in like 4 minutes.

I might get back to it eventually, still have my Calamity save file just before it.

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