Nihon Falcom

So after finishing Trails of Cold Steel 2 and playing a good chunk of Ys VIII, I'm now utterly hooked on this developer. And I'm genuinely surprised at the lack of talk about them despite their brilliant JRPGs. I mean you hear them mentioned here and there, especially Ys and nowadays Cold Steel as well but damn they seem to fly way under the radar overall.

Who else has a great fondness for this developer? Let's discuss Falcom! What are your experiences and favorite games of theirs? How did you get into their games? What are you hoping to see from them in future projects?

It was during a Steam sale a few years back and Ys Origin was on it. I heard good things, decided to give it a whirl and was hooked. It was funny because there was a bunch of easter eggs and stuff that went over my head the first time I played it. And then when I played I+II, I was like OH! I got my easter eggs in reverse. I went and played all the games they had. I even got the special edition of Memories of Celceta with a cloth map. It's really nice. I still haven't played VIII though. Hope they rerelease V at some point.

I love the music. Feena and Termination being two of my favorites.

Their first game I played was Ys 6 on PS2, but that's not what really got them on my radar. Their music did that, hearing the Trails in the Sky OST back in 2004 or 2005, I decided to try out Legend of Heroes, and at the time the most convenient choice was the Gagharv trilogy (Legend of Heroes 3, 4 and 5). They were pretty rough to be honest. :p

Only years later did Trails in the Sky finally get a western release, and when I played that I was immediately hooked. Continuing that series had to wait though, since the other games didn't make it over until, again, years later. In that time I also actually got into the Ys games thanks to Ys Origin.

Now Falcom's pretty much my favorite developer, with Trails being my favorite turn-based RPG series and Ys being one of my favorite action RPG series.

Finally finished Ys VIII, god this game is such a bundle of joy I never tired of playing it. The island of Seiren was beautiful, the music is astounding, the gameplay and exploration is so much fun, and the story is heartrending. Easily now among my top games as well.

Also been watching Cold Steel III being played and it's looking so damn hype ^^

Damn shame not a single Falcom RPG made it into the contest, but alas, I suppose they're even less known around here than I thought >_<

I remember playing Y3 on the SNES ages ago and loving it, though that game is generally considered one of the worst in the series. I also played another Ys game where I was in a tower, top downish, and not Adol -- it was . . . okay. Might have purchased Ys8 for my Switch too, but I haven't gotten past the opening yet, what with work picking up and my attention diverted elsewhere. I have high hopes for it, though!