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Post by Kimimi on Jul 16, 2008 19:13:45 GMT -5
Thought I'd better make a proper introduction if I' going to stop lurking  I've only become a Falcom fan in the past few years - I'm in the UK so until Gurumin came out our most recent Falcom game Ys on the Master System (or did we get Ys 3 too?). In any case I started properly with Gensou Sangokushi 2, mainly because I though the artwork was beautiful (and I wanted to play a Chinese RPG, but I didn't know Chinese). Since then I got a laptop that'd do the new Ys engine justice and I now currently have - Gensou Sangokushi 2 Ys 4 (PCE) Ys OiF LE Ys Origin (Chinese LE) ED3 Jp (PSP) ED 3 (Saturn) ED6 FC (Chinese LE) ED6 SC (Chinese LE) ED6 FC (PSP) ED6 SC (PSP) ED6 Material Collection (PSP) Vantage Master Portable (PSP) I think that's it for now. So not a great deal, but I do love playing them! The Chinese versions started with Origin - I really wanted to play it but it was going to come to around £50 or so for the standard edition, so I was really happy to see that not only was the Chinese version cheaper (about 30) but it also included the full 2 disc OST as well! Chinese was the next language I wanted to pick up too (the rest being Korean and Sanskrit) and it's been a help with that, I find I'm much better learning if it's doing something fun. As for gaming in general, I started on the Atari 400 and haven't stopped since! These days I mainly play on my PSP and DS, as I have a 5 month old son who doesn't give me much free gaming time. I still buy Jp Saturn and PS1 games though for that magical day when I'll have some proper free time again! Console wise, I've owned pretty much everything from the 8 bit era to the present day, the only real exceptions being the Amiga CD32, 3D0 and the CDi. Hope that gives people a better insight into what I like to play, I'm looking forward to joining in  |
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 16, 2008 22:07:21 GMT -5
"Thoroughbred" - I like it! The best description I've had so far was "You're a geek, but you hide it quite well" off a work mate a while ago - that is a compliment right? Right?
I take your point about games being special; back then you'd get a coverdisc full of PD games or something like Worms turning up - games made by one person with a bit of spare time and a copy of Deluxe Paint. Still, now you get games like Okami and Final Fantasy XII (a real surprise hit for me) coming out that remind me that there are still people out there with artistic vision and the desire to create something they love and share it with everyone, so there's still plenty to love now too!
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Post by Nalacakes on Jul 17, 2008 8:40:37 GMT -5
The best description I've had so far was "You're a geek, but you hide it quite well" off a work mate a while ago - that is a compliment right? Right? *laughs* If nothing else, it's a credit to your talents as a social chameleon. I just get plain old 'you're a geek'. Evidently I'm not quite as subtle about it as you. ^_~ Anyway, it's nice to meet you. And it's nice to see more UK Falcom fans about~! I hope you have fun here. Oh, and I don't think we got Ys III. My cousin loved Ys on the Master System, and he always complained that he couldn't find the sequels to it. But I think we got Ys: Napishtim on the PS2 here? Or was that after Gurumin? I'm not so good at keeping up on PAL release dates. ^^; |
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 17, 2008 8:56:55 GMT -5
Oh yeah I forgot about that >.< It must have come out first, as there was an advert for it in the manual for Suikoden 4 IIRC. Thinking about it though, wouldn't that make Gurumin our first "proper" Falcom game? As in one that was created by them directly, rather than licensed out to other developers?
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Post by Nalacakes on Jul 17, 2008 10:07:43 GMT -5
Oh yeah I forgot about that >.< It must have come out first, as there was an advert for it in the manual for Suikoden 4 IIRC. Thinking about it though, wouldn't that make Gurumin our first "proper" Falcom game? As in one that was created by them directly, rather than licensed out to other developers? Oh, umm...I never bought Suikoden IV. ^^; I played a pirate of the NTSC one, and didn't really like it enough to buy it in PAL. It's pretty bad of me, really... I mean...I didn't exactly like it so much, but it's Suikoden. If I support any series, it should really be that one. ^^ I think you might be right, though. It's kind of strange, now that I think about it. That it should be a quirky stand-alone game like Gurumin, and not an entry into a bigger series like Ys or Eiyuu Densetsu. ^^; Oh well. Hopefully Adol will be allowed to sail into Britain under a Falcom flag sooner or later~ |
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 17, 2008 10:24:40 GMT -5
Ys III never got released in Europe. Ys VI did, though. On PS2. And PSP. And let's not forget Xanadu Next for N-Gage. It came out (in Europe) in 2004. It never hit stores though, so it is extremely hard to get ahold of it.  For some reason, they forgot to actually release the game. Or canned it, in the last minute. It IS possible to find, but again, it's super rare. The North American version is readily available (only on Ebay), though. One of the most disastrous releases of all time, I bet.  |
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 17, 2008 10:25:25 GMT -5
Oh yeah, and welcome. I got so caught up in Xanadu Next and its mysterious release that I forgot what the topic was all about.  |
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 17, 2008 10:27:38 GMT -5
Not a chance - I work in a game store and there was a brief period where they actually expected us to sell the Gizmondo o.O
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 17, 2008 10:28:14 GMT -5
Yeah, but it actually reached the store. |
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Post by Gamemusicfreak on Jul 17, 2008 10:50:36 GMT -5
Welcome! Great to meet you!
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 17, 2008 11:30:43 GMT -5
If we're going by that - Gurumin is the first Falcom game in Europe AND North America. None of the Falcom games released in NA (with the exception of Gurumin, of course) has been developed by Falcom.
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 18, 2008 6:38:04 GMT -5
It was developed one of the NEC owned companies, or Hudson. I don't really remember, but at least it wasn't Falcom. They only made The Legend of Xanadu I-II for PCE, all the other ports and remakes came from other companies.
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Post by Yakra on Jul 18, 2008 8:04:04 GMT -5
I figured I might as well join in all the hellos and welcomes! :'D Actually I was reading your introduction post, kimimi, and I got incredibly excited and curious seeing that you've played Gensou Sangokushi? I been wondering what is it even about? And is it nice? (It certainly looks nice!) What is it like? (I remember first reading about it in a Three Kingdoms forum quite some time back and... is it true its based off the same story as Suikoden?  ) As for Xanadu Next, I remember it actually arrived here for N-Gage! Unfortunately I was quite poor back then soooo... I basically just got myself a regular cheap phone and so never ended up getting it. ...I kind of really regret it now (even though the only other N-Gage game that made it here was Tomb Raider - not exactly incredibly appealing D: ) Perhaps all the European versions got thrown over here? |
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Post by Incog Neato on Jul 18, 2008 8:33:49 GMT -5
Heyyo~~~!!!
Lots of new friends appearing on the board lately! Welcome! ^-^
And just curious -- are you buying the Chinese games locally or importing them (like from YesAsia) or something? :O I'm always tempted to get them but silly me always orders direct from Falcom so unless there's a simulataneous release in both languages, I'll end up having the JP one first and not really want a second copy regardless of the goodies they come with. :P
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 18, 2008 11:14:31 GMT -5
Thank you for the kind posts, they've really made me feel welcome Sangokushi and Suikoden are different stories - the Sangokushi novels translated title is usually either "Three Kingdoms" or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Suikoden is "Outlaws of the Marsh" (there are other titles for it, but I cam't recall them quite now. Sangokushi is all that business with Wu, Shu and Wei kingdoms, and Suikoden is about 108 bandits protecting a village from unsavory government types IIRC. Gensou Sangokushi 2 is great - gorgeous to look at and it has an interesting battle system that reminded me a bit of Suikoden 1 & 2; there's even occasional large-scale battles as well! The characters are fun and the story moves along at a pace fast enough to keep it all fresh. It does borrow elements from the general Sangokushi plot, but it's mainly just place names and characters. There's actually four main games in the series and at least two expansions, I would like to catch up on all of them but I don't have the time! nunuu, I'm importing my Chinese games - some come from yesasia and some from playasia. I have tried to find a native store that would ship Chinese/Japanese games internationally but no luck so far! The only other Chinese game I have is Xian Jian 4 (AKA Chinese Paladin, AKA Legend of Sword and Fairy - no idea why), an RPG by Softstar. Not got too far into it but it has yet more gorgeous Chinese fantasy artwork and manages to look pretty without needing a Crysis level PC! Lastly, a confession - I had an original N-Gage and Tomb Raider. I thought the Tomb Raider port was really good. *runs* |
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 18, 2008 12:33:58 GMT -5
My favourite Suikoden is Suikoden 3 - I love the Trinity Sight system and the strong tribal feel it had as you spent so much of the game inside other small, established communities rather than dragging everyone over to you. I have to say, I really didn't like the fifth game (sorry!) that much. 3 and 4 were different and got stuff wrong but at least they tried something new. I alaways felt 5 was trying too hard to be like fan favourite, number 2. It's certainly not without some merit, but I didn't find myself enjoying it.
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Post by Kimimi on Jul 18, 2008 13:06:25 GMT -5
Glad to hear 4 pulled you back - it had plenty of real problems, but I liked the Island Nations setting. It's a shame more RPGs don't have that sunshine-and-sea feel to them, it made a nice change IMO.
One thing I really did like about Suikoden 5 -
SPOILERS
The way they handled the Queen of Falena slowly being eroded away by the Sun Rune. Just the little bits like her being upset when she couldn't say what she wanted to say when her son came back from his trip, and her husband organising with Georg what to do when the time finally comes.
END SPOILERS
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Post by Yakra on Jul 18, 2008 14:34:27 GMT -5
Sangokushi and Suikoden are different stories - the Sangokushi novels translated title is usually either "Three Kingdoms" or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Suikoden is "Outlaws of the Marsh" (there are other titles for it, but I cam't recall them quite now. Sangokushi is all that business with Wu, Shu and Wei kingdoms, and Suikoden is about 108 bandits protecting a village from unsavory government types IIRC. Oh... that makes sense! Aside from the fact it was being discussed in a Three Kingdoms forum, the name just sounded a lot closer to San Guo Zhi or even San Guo Yan Ji! I guess I must have just mixed it up as always! But it sounds so nice from the way you're describing it. It sounds kind of like a Suikoden-ified version of Three Kingdoms? And from whatever screenshots and artworks I've seen it looks lovely too. I wish it (or actually, all of them!) was available in English!!!  To join in you guys' Suikoden discussion, I actually loved them all. :'D The Trinity System in III was amazing but I loved V just as much (if not a bit more even!) because of the story. I loved how the Prince was one of the most emotion-filled characters even if he was a silent hero! The story in III just seemed to poof out a bit and begin to rush once the Trinity gathered in one place (and the poor fourth hero just seemed to be ignored!). (As for Tomb Raider - I have nothing against it really... It's just that I was just SO BAD at it! D: So there wasn't much use in torturing myself any further! :'D) |
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Post by Incog Neato on Jul 18, 2008 15:35:25 GMT -5
Also, SUIKODEN! :) Play Suiko V, it's one of my all time favorite games, period. Question: Did you or any of you that have played Suiko5 have an issue with the USELESS radar map in the game? You see, I have a HORRIBLE sense of direction in games so I bought the BradyGames guidebook in hopes that it'll have a world map. Unfortunately, it didn't have one. I ended up selling the game and guidebook in the end (but it wasn't due to the lack of a good overlay world map). Eh, I was obsessed with Suikoden and Suikoden II before but I haven't really kept up with the games after II. In fact, V was the last one I touched and I didn't even get a quarter of the way through. |
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Post by FM-77AV on Jul 18, 2008 17:41:37 GMT -5
They only made The Legend of Xanadu I-II for PCE, all the other ports and remakes came from other companies. Objection! Falcom produced console games to my knowledge: - Legend of Xanadu II (PCE, LoX 1 was NEC) - Ys V (SFC) - Ys V Expert (SFC - though in conjunction with Koei) - Legend of Heroes VI FC, SC, 3rd (PSP) - Gurumin (PSP) All I can say is when I see that Falcom logo without "this is a licensed product" underneath it, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Yes, I know. But I meant they only made The Legend of Xanadu I-II for PCE. No other PCE games. As for your list, they also made Popful Mail for SFC, and maybe something else, that I can't remember right now. |
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For some reason, they forgot to actually release the game. Or canned it, in the last minute. It IS possible to find, but again, it's super rare.
)
