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Post by cxt217 on Aug 14, 2009 20:38:47 GMT -5
I should have made the connection sooner, but...
Taking a look at the CD that was handed out at the Otakon 2009 panel, I noticed one of the artwork used by Falcom looked familar. So naturally, I waited about a month before opening up one one of the boxes I store my Japanese language artbooks and pulled out (About 1 inch above the Sora no Kiseki FC official guide.) the two volumes of art collection released by Toshihiro Kawamoto. Flipping through Volume 2, I confirmed that he had done some of the promotional artwork for Legend of Heroes V and the Falcom 97 music collection, among others.
This was about a year before he started working on Cowboy Bebop, and well before he co-founded BONES, but even then, he had already gain a certain amount of repute (Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory, Golden Boy.). It is well known that Makato Shinkai actually worked for Falcom, but even through Kawamoto's artworks were definitely commission pieces from a contractor, it is still a nice touch. And he certainly regarded them enough to include in his published art collection.
Kawamoto's work certainly seems less out of place than some of the other artwork used by Falcom, which seem run the gamut from "Late '70s/Early '80s AD&D" right up to Boris Vallejo style covers.
Regards,
C.T.
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Post by cxt217 on Aug 15, 2009 14:37:31 GMT -5
That artwork is also in Kawamoto's Volume 2. He also has a rather amusing chibi version of the ED5 cast on the same page. And yes, Volume 1 has some of his work for Golden Boy. That includes the two page spread with Kintaro and Company. C.T. |
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Post by AllenSmithee on Aug 16, 2009 16:33:54 GMT -5
That art is totally cool!
Although, I dislike the gradients, but whatchyagonnadu?
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Post by cxt217 on Aug 21, 2009 22:25:09 GMT -5
Hmmm...So inspired by Wyrdwad's Xanadu Next translation thread (Specifically his link to his Youtube clip translating a truly impressive scene.), I ventured over to the Falcom website to take a look at the Xanadu Next section...
...And right on the first page, is artwork credited to Shunya Yamashita. Yamashita has worked on quite a few games (Starting from his Square-Enix days.), but is probably best known in the West for his work on Makai Kingdom (Phantom Kingdom in Japan, developed by Nippon Ichi Software.) and especially his art designs for most of the characters in tri-Ace's Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.
And, yes, his name does appear in the credits, and it is possible to see it in the artwork as well. Though after watching the ending of Xanadu Next (Which cause me a 'What just happened?' moment, not made any clearer my the FAQ at GameFAQs.), I do have wonder if somebody had put very potent acid in my soft drink. Reminds me of the ending for Legend of Crystania, except making even less sense.
C.T.
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Post by acropolis500 on Aug 22, 2009 2:55:10 GMT -5
SPOILER WARNINGwww.youtube.com/watch?v=D8meZA5KsuYProbably because the ending(didn"t play the game, don"t know the details) features a character transforming into a bird after death(kind of like a phoenix being reborn after it bursts into flames). Judging by the color and shape of the bird and its head at 2:29, it could be Simurgh(it has seen the end of the world 3 times over, has the lifespan of 1700 years, which probably means it is a type of phoenix, has the ability to purify the land). Not sure about the ring part. And said character could be named after Lorelei, who committed suicide because she was betrayed by her lover. Afterwards she became a siren and her song lures shipmen to their death. If anyone knows at least part of the script, could you tell me if she actually has a few traits based off of the Lorelei from German folklore? If anyone wants to find out more about this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simurghen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei_______________________________________ And apparently, Yamashita also worked on PVC figurines and trading cards.
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Post by cxt217 on Aug 22, 2009 19:41:31 GMT -5
Wow...Looks like I guessed Lorelai's back story pretty closely. Therefore, I guess that makes (Assuming I got the spoilers right.):
And spoiler warning naturally:
Lisa/Liese the other twin, and the one who killed the dragon king the first time around? I do find it odd she became part of the Simurgh.
I do have to admit Xanadu Next's graphic style reminded me of the Drakengard series. I was half expecting a voice with a British accent to start coming out of the speakers.
C.T.
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Post by cxt217 on Aug 22, 2009 20:06:39 GMT -5
Lorelei isn't one of the two twins, actually. She's one of the seven monks - an evil monk, who betrayed the others.  The two twins are Liese and Florette. Oops, so I was only half correct on my guess. That is what happens when I both did not play the game or understand Japanese. On the other hand, that explains the mention of Liese and Florette in the FAQ on GameFAQs. Am I correct in assuming latter had been impersonating the former as the priestess in Harlech? (Still does not explain why which one was at the end essentially disappear. I hope it was not the same kind of logic that saw Jon Bon Jovi's character disappear in U-571...) Better time than never. Perusing through the scans that SkyeWelse posted the links to in the translation thread, the artwork of the princess in Xanadu Next was also published by Yamashita in his Sweet Dreams art collection, which also has a lot of his original works as well. C.T. |
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Post by cxt217 on Aug 23, 2009 19:23:55 GMT -5
Given the flow of conversation here, I think I'm going to start a new topic for Xanadu Next story discussion within the next few days. That's where I'll be posting translations of each of the stone tablets and memorandums as I finish them, and once those are all done, I'm going to translate all of the dialogue from the game's ending, starting from right before fighting the final boss, then subtitle it and upload it to YouTube like I did with the surfacing of Strangerock Castle video. Ah, thank you! That does satisfy my obsession du jour nicely. Maybe it will survive the month at this rate. : ) Now I can go back to chuckling over the amusing connection between the American voice actors for Feena and Leah in the first Ys OVA series. C.T. |
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Post by cxt217 on Apr 18, 2010 15:06:00 GMT -5
Okay, this thread has been stale for a while, but...
I was doing some casual searches on the web this past week, when I came upon the works of Jun Futaba. Futaba was the primary artist for a lot of the Atelier games by GUST, including Atelier Judie, Atelier Viorate, and the Atelier Iris series, and is one of 4 lead artists who provided artwork for the Atelier franchise at various periods - the difference is style between the games is rather noticeable. It also looks like he did at least one piece for Ys, since there is an artwork for Ancient Ys Vanished Omen that is attributed to him - but I do not have confirmation either way.
The other artist whose works I ran into on the net is Minako Iwasaki, who provided a lot of the (Rather good) art for Gagharv PSP release. What really blew my mind looking over the collection was the work Iwasaki did for the Shin Megami Tensei series. There are a lot of Digital Devil Saga pieces is his artbook collection, though my favorite of the ones I seen is the piece he did for Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers.
I really should not have been surprised by the different works the artists have produced, but it was still a bit odd trying to wrap my head around Iwasaki's works.
C.T.
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Post by Yakra on Apr 22, 2010 8:49:41 GMT -5
The other artist whose works I ran into on the net is Minako Iwasaki, who provided a lot of the (Rather good) art for Gagharv PSP release. What really blew my mind looking over the collection was the work Iwasaki did for the Shin Megami Tensei series. There are a lot of Digital Devil Saga pieces is his artbook collection, though my favorite of the ones I seen is the piece he did for Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. I really should not have been surprised by the different works the artists have produced, but it was still a bit odd trying to wrap my head around Iwasaki's works. C.T. Late noticings of this post, but it just reminded me, Minako Iwasaki (is she not a she?) had a hand in Ys I and II's art too ne? I remember seeing her name when scrutinizing one of the staffroll lists once, way back when I was having fits over who all were the Ys artists over time. And after going on wild googling searches, actually came across a tiny two pic gallery of her's which even had a very nice (and never seen before, by me atleast) sketch of Adol. :'D |
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Post by cxt217 on Apr 22, 2010 20:32:58 GMT -5
Late noticings of this post, but it just reminded me, Minako Iwasaki (is she not a she?) Eh...Yeah, quite possibly. I actually do not know whether to use 'she' or 'he' so I originally intended to write the post as gender-neutral as possible. Looks like failed too easily. C.T. |
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The two twins are Liese and Florette.
