Recent Ys Popularity

[amalthea]

My first thought to the quote which follows this, was to immediately disregard what this person has written on the netmarble forum. However, and informed reply is far better than a blasé answer.

Therefore since you guys have all the answers (at least those that count). I was wondering is there any information at all about Ys Popularity in the US at all?

I find what is written hard to believe, take a look yourself:

Actually, not to break your thoughts or anything, but Ys has really fallen low on popularity charts in the U.S.


I mean, we've gotten Ys III, IV, V and VI, and then recently we got the Ys 1&2 DS game, and that sold poorly, we still haven't gotten VII as far as I know, and I doubt that would sell well.


plus people wouldn't know what to think of it, since Ys is pretty much known as "that one game where you run into monsters to kill them" and the MMO doesn't really play like that.

[Varion]

We got 4 and 5? Since when?

The series doesn't have a huge amount of popularity in the West though, no. No one seems to have heard about it, and a lot of US publishers seem determined to ram Falcom's image into the floor by releasing stuff like Ys 6 PS2 with its cheap polygon models, Ys 6 PSP with its... everything, the cheaply thrown together Ys I&II DS ports and the babelfished Legend of Heroes 3-5 PSP versions. It's hard to blame US gamers for not buying any of the above really - I wouldn't want to either. The only exception is Gurumin, which is a great game with a great localisation, which if I remember actually did quite well in terms of sales.

I don't necessarily think 7 would sell badly, though. If anything in the right hands it's a chance to get the series going, as the PSP has definitely been gaining in popularity in the West for a while, and Ys 7 is a fantastic game, and not a sloppy port or anything. Just stick 'From the makers of Gurumin' on the box

[tancients]

Popularity of games generally requires one of three things:

Something very novel and new, either in presentation or gameplay, or both.

Something popular with the right crowd (Think Super Jump Stars on the DS, no english release but a large amount of imports due to it being marketed towards those who like anime/manga. Thus language barrier wasn't much of a hinderance to them.)

Advertisements. Flashy, catchy, showy. It'll generate sales no matter the quality of the game.

I believe some of the older Ys titles had advertisements outside of Japan, though I could be wrong. However given that Ys in and of itself isn't very 'novel and new' nor is it really catered towards the kinds of people who would be comfortable with that style. After all, if Demon Souls hadn't had an English release from the Asian version, it likely would've gone under the radar instead of being a sleeper hit.

The biggest problem is what Varion pointed out however. Most of the time Ys in the US has just meant some shoddy throw-away title, or a fragment of the actual gem. Gurumin however, was a straight port, nothing more nothing less. And yes, it did sell admirably.

To sum it up, the popularity has raised since releases like the DS version of Ys 1 and 2, not really lowered. It's generally just been low overall.

[schlagwerk]

Among classic gamers, Ys is at least a recognizable name but it's like nobody has really bothered to play it, let alone any of the newer versions. I remember when Napishtim PS2 came out and I kept asking around irl if anyone knew how it was and the common response was that it was supposed to be decent, but nobody ever had experience with playing it.

As for that "From the makers of Gurumin" comment, if I mention Ys, most gamers I talk with know what series talking about. If I mention Gurumin I get blank stares.

I think Ys SEVEN would do well in the US, but sales would probably be small and slow with word of mouth being the real seller. I'd be most worried about it just being written off as another animu JRPG and targeted towards people who bought Valkyria Chronicles, Yggdra Union, Ar Tonelico, Growlancer, etc etc

[schlagwerk]

To go with my comment earlier about how gamers (especially ones playing during the 16bit era) seem to know about Ys and innately know it is supposed to be "good" but haven't actually tried it, a story from this weekend:

I was at a friend's place with my Wii, going over some of the VC titles I have. I pass over Ys I&II TCD, and I mean I barely passed it such that the title popped up for a split second, and my friend says "oh, Ys. I've heard of that. I should really play that"

I managed to curb my inner fanboy and just respond with a "I'll talk to ya' later about that". So now I need to follow up and get him to play Ys I&II Complete.

[sushi]

You managed to curb your inner fanboy? Some willpower bro! xD

[Este]

I was in the same situation, but instead of barely passing over it, I went directly to it and then lectured my buddy on how good of a game it is. >