Youtube: PC-88 Paradise (new video on the shmup "Final Crisis" is up!)

[Gypsy]

Well I watched the whole thing and didn't mind at all that it was as long as it was. But I can understand that some people would lose interest and want shorter videos.

[kazekirifx]

Well, no new PC-88 video yet, but I wanted to mention some general channel updates in case anyone's interested.

We did a podcast on E3 recently.

My brother has been trying to review every Neo Geo game in order of NGH number.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_W1EM66_BruhDsODY4WcYolFMxqQn8ng

We also did a review of the Wonder Boy 3 remake a while back, for all you TG16 "Dragon's Curse" fans.

I have some more videos on the way, so stay tuned.

[Michirin9801]

I've been watching your bro's Neo Geo reviews and they're pretty good!

[Dicer]

Love the narration, keep these up...

[elmer]

My brother has been trying to review every Neo Geo game in order of NGH number.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_W1EM66_BruhDsODY4WcYolFMxqQn8ng

As I said on your brother's thread on AtariAge ... I'm really looking forward to him getting to NGH-007 (ASO II).

And I look forward to your next PC-88 review, too. 

[kazekirifx]

As I said on your brother's thread on AtariAge ... I'm really looking forward to him getting to NGH-007 (ASO II).

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of the Neo Geo reviews too, but he's really struggling to get many views now. Quite a shame. Lots of people would probably enjoy watching those reviews, even if they don't have a Neo Geo or aren't planning on buying one. It's probably not going to be worth his time in the long run if he continues to get views only in the low 100's.

[elmer]

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of the Neo Geo reviews too, but he's really struggling to get many views now. Quite a shame. Lots of people would probably enjoy watching those reviews, even if they don't have a Neo Geo or aren't planning on buying one. It's probably not going to be worth his time in the long run if he continues to get views only in the low 100's.

Ahhh ... it would be sad if he stopped, it sounds like a interesting idea.

I have absolutely no idea how you go about "marketing" videos on social media so that people can become aware of them, and get engaged.

[kazekirifx]

Today I added a short review of the Falcom PS4 game Tokyo Xanadu eX+ if anyone's interested.




I am planning another short PC-88 video soon. Sorry for the wait.

[elmer]

Yeah ... apparently, you're not doing a great job of getting the word out when you post these videos, if I'm the first person to respond! 


I've been watching this thread, so I watch the Tokyo Xanadu video as soon as you posted it.

Thanks, I really enjoyed it! 

Especially since I hadn't seen a good review of the game, and was wondering if there was anything left of the old Falcom "Legend of Xanadu" style in the modern games.

It really doesn't look like there is ... which makes me rather sad.

But thank you for taking the time to make the video, I enjoyed it! 

[kazekirifx]

was wondering if there was anything left of the old Falcom "Legend of Xanadu" style in the modern games.

It really doesn't look like there is ... which makes me rather sad.

LOL. Yeah. There really isn't a lot of "Legend of Xanadu" in Falcom's modern games. You might want to try "Xanadu Next" if you want a game that is supposed to be kind of a tribute to the original "Xanadu" game (for PC-88 and other 80's PC's), but still doesn't have anything to do with Legend of Xanadu.

I would say that modern day Falcom retains its traditional style mostly in the way of story, world-building, and music (to some extent). The main reason I still love them is because they are one of the only (if not the only) small Japanese game developers from the 80's/90's that still exists in its original small company form. Falcom was never bought out like so many other small developers from the time, and never grew to the point of unrecognition like Capcom, Konami, Sega, etc.did. Falcom is still a small company, still in its original HQ location, and many of the original developers are still there (like Mieko Ishikawa). Almost to their detriment, they refuse to collaborate with other developers or use other companies' 3D game engines and things like that.

In recent years, their "Trails" subseries of Legend of Heroes has developed quite a huge following in Japan, and I think they have expanded the company a bit. I hope this will not dramatically change the company philosophy, but so far it looks like we have nothing to fear.

[Michirin9801]

You know, I haven't really played almost any of the "modern" Falcom stuff, just their 8 and 16 bit stuff, and that's what I've learned to love them for, but I would totally play some of their more modern games if I owned any of the (non-PC) systems that they were made for, but I just don't...

The one post 2000s Falcom game I did play was the DS port of Legacy of Ys Books 1 and 2, which I didn't like very much, it just feels off in a way, you know what I mean? And the graphics are kind of horrible... I'll give it this much though, it has my favourite version of the Ys 1 and 2 soundtracks, yeah I like that one even better than the FM synth PC-88 soundtracks and the CD quality TurboGrafx soundtracks! Those are just the kind of music that appeal to me, you know, lo-fi sampled music and all, it's just great~

And I just played that one because I got it for my 3DS, all I have to play on right now is my 3DS, so I also bought Gurumin 3D, but I haven't played it yet, I'm just waiting to play it after I finish Dragon Quest VIII, which I probably won't any time soon because I'm not playing it a whole lot so I probably should just go and play it already...

All that said though, I've gotten into PSP emulation recently because I wanted to play the Hatsune Miku Project Diva games as well as the K-on rhythm game on the system, and I'm surprised at how well my PC handles PSP, so I'll be taking that as an opportunity to play Ys Seven and whatever else they made for the system when I find the time (whenever I'm not playing the rhythm or fighting games on the system)

[kazekirifx]

The one post 2000s Falcom game I did play was the DS port of Legacy of Ys Books 1 and 2, which I didn't like very much, it just feels off in a way, you know what I mean? And the graphics are kind of horrible...

That's probably because the DS port wasn't done by Falcom themselves. I haven't played it, but I heard it used Ys Eternal as a basis. Back in the day, I played Ys Eternal and Complete on PC, and it felt like a pretty "pure" Falcom experience.

Gurumin was.... all right. It feels really dated now.

Ys seven I thought was OK. The music is pretty good.

For PSP games, you should probably try the first Trails in the Sky game. People either love it and call it a modern day "Lunar The Silver Star" or hate it for being too long-winded with the dialog (a Falcom trademark nowadays).

The "modern" (though very dated now) Ys game everyone loves is Oath in Felghana (the Ys 3 remake). The action, music, everything is quite excellent. There's a PSP version, but the PC version available on Steam is better.

The most recent game I can't recommend enough is Ys VIII. I loved it. You'll need either a Vita or PS4 to play it, but I highly recommend you do so. Story, action, characters... everything was great. The music was decent enough, as you would expect from any Ys game. And it is by far the longest Ys game ever made. Just play it.

[Gypsy]

My body is definitely ready for Ys VIII. I have it pre-ordered. Modern Falcom games are mostly pretty good. I liked Cold Steel, so maybe I should give the other trilogy a go again. I stalled out on the PSP version of the first game. I believe they are all on GOG now, so whenever there is a solid sale...

[Michirin9801]

As far as I'm aware, most of the Nintendo versions of Falcom games are kinda bad, I hope that's not the case for Gurumin, I've been wanting to play that game for a while, and when it released on the 3DS I thought it was my perfect opportunity!

I might get a PS4 or a Vita someday, probably a Vita because I prefer playing my games on handhelds, then I'll see about playing Ys 8...
I'm planning on playing Trails in the Sky, I think I've already downloaded it, but I can tell you this much: It's gonna be sitting there unplayed for a while...
When it comes to RPGs, Dragon Quest is my priority, and I'm still going through DQ8 (which honestly, I think it might be my least favourite main-line DQ game, probably only above DQ2) and when DQ11 is released I'm gonna be glued to my 3DS for a while... Yeah I know most people are gonna get it on PS4 or Switch, but seriously, the 3DS version is gonna have a 16 bit mode! How cool is that? It's gonna be DQ6 all over again! Well, minus the animated monsters, they didn't go that far this time around... For shame Square Enix...

[kazekirifx]

If you want to play Vita games on the cheap, and don't mind not being able to play portable, I think you can still get a Playstation TV for not very much. I played through all of Ys VIII on Playstation TV since I'm not a very big fan of playing portable.

The thing about the Trails games is that they are all a huge time sink. The constant story to read makes it take a long time, even if you don't want to do all the optional quests and everything. I like to play through each one once on Normal mode, doing all the quests I happen to find. There are crazy people I've seen lately on the Falcom subreddit and Falcom Fangroup on Facebook who like to play through the game multiple times and clear Nightmare mode and get 100% completion. I can only shake my head and wish that I too was supported by my parents and lived in their basement without a job, and somehow also was able to purchase video games.