Romancia / Ys / Legacy of the Wizard / Faxanadu retrospective: Falcom Works | Metroidvania Works #12
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Metroidvania games and action-RPGs are closely intertwined, and perhaps no developer had more influence on the shape and direction of action-RPGs like Nihon Falcom. This episode is devoted to their follow-ups to the original Dragon Slayer and Xanadu... as well as an all-new property that would become one of the company's best-loved works. Though not all the games here fall into the metroidvania category, it's hard to deny that style of game would look quiet different without all the essential work Falcom did here.
Video Works is funded via Patreon ( / gamespite ) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its UA-cam debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.
![Metroidvania Works #06: Montezuma's Revenge [Utopia/Parker Bros., 1983] That funky funky flow](/img/n.gif)
"[Faxanadu's] the first that doesn't seem to actively hate the player"
A ringing endorsement if there ever was one
I dunno, Ys was pretty approachable too. For the most part, it's straightforward aside from a couple kinda tricky puzzles towards the end. (Although locking the door at the top of the tower and forcing the player to trek halfway down again was a dick move.)
I think Ys I and II aren't against the player in any way. Sure, the dungeons can be mazelike (especially in Ys II), but it's still manageable even without a guide, and the gameplay is pretty easy and forgiving.
@@jasonblalock4429 Ys isn't a Metroidvania though
Can I just tell you how much I freaking love this series? Metroidvaniaworks brightens my week with each episode.
Faxanadu would’ve been a much bigger game had a man from Porlock not interrupted the development staff whilst they were writing the code.
Wait, I need more details on this story
By the time the visitor finally left, the Hudson team's drug-induced vision had ended, and they had to ship the game as it was.
Was there actually a proverbial man from Porlock during the development of Faxanadu? I would love to hear more about it if so.
Where can I learn more about this?
@@christopherdemichiei It's just a Samuel Taylor Coleridge reference.
This year i started to play The ys Series and I love in it. It has this sence of a old tale or legend that makes the series like a series of old books
I have a very fond and vivid memory of watching my brother play through Faxanadu on a rental 30 years ago. I never really played it myself but i could tell then that it was a really well made game that i was surprised to see didn't become a classic. A cult classic maybe though.
A fact that wasn't brought up in this video, but the NES versions of Legacy Of The Wizard and Dragon Slayer Jr. Romancia was done by Compile.
That makes sense! Some of those sound effects in Dragon Slayer Jr. are also found in other Compile games like The Guardian Legend.
I was under that impression for a long time, but in researching for this episode I discovered that's not 100% certain. A lot of internal Falcom staff are credited on this version, so it seems whatever contribution Compile made was probably supplemental.
@@JeremyParish I think it was done as contract work but I could be wrong. But from what I have read Falcom didn't do its own console work and mostly stuck to non-Nintendo system work. I think with Faxanadu it was Falcom just giving Hudson the license and Hudson going wild.
Which ended up being a baller NES game. A shame Faxanadu never appeared on WiiU eShop, fingers crossed for a Switch Online release.
I've never seen another game quite like Legacy of the Wizard. It feels really unique. Wish someone would try to take the base ideas behind it and make a new game.
I remember renting Legacy of the Wizard as a kid, thinking it was amazing and never seeing a copy in a store or anywhere until I grew up. Wish I had a copy of that at eight years old, would have become an obsession.
Ah, that's too bad. It was on perpetual clearance in every KayBee Toys I ever visited back around 1991 or so-I guess you just had to stumble into the right retailer to find the treasure trove.
Romancias 30 minute approach got me thinking of another important kinda proto metroidvania that seems important but forgotten- Impossible mission. That game feels like a weird bridge between an early metroidvania and a cinematic playformer
Faxanadu was a childhood game for me, and is still one of my favorites. Legacy of the Wizard was one I rented once as a kid, but the music and exploration always remained in my mind, so when I replayed it as an adult, it quickly secured a place in my favorites as well. Learning years ago that the two games were related only made them more charming for me. Very fun watch.
Oh, I can think of a few points where Faxanadu hates the player, haha. Still, great episode. Highly enjoy these MetroidVania Works in particular!
Those weird guys with the drum who hit you with their magic regardless of where you are on the screen. What the hell, Hudson.
Like how getting the pendant actually makes you weaker? That's not hate, it's just a bug.
The first time I've ever heard Faxanadu being described as "forgiving." :D Still, Romancia sounds like a horror in comparison.
am i crazy or am i hearing similar sound FX in the dragon slayer Famicon game to what we hear in Guardian's Legend?
That would make sense, as TGL developer Compile seems to have ported Legacy of the Wizard from MSX to NES.
I love Faxanadu. It serves as the basis for an RPG I am working on right now and it is just a fantastic game overall^^
I feel like the modern Ys games are what the Crystalis series would look like had it been allowed to grow
4 games in a single video? You spoil us, Jeremy.
Anyway, I don't have much to say about these games, as I haven't played them (gonna try Ys on steam soon!) but I am looking forward to Castlevania 2's video. Even in this year 2020 of the lord, discussion about the game tends to get... heated.
There's a five-banger episode due up next week. The pandemic has increased my workload a fair bit and here I am making it worse with a non-stop cavalcade of the most elaborate, time-consuming videos I've ever produced...
Glad to see that Faxanadu is getting more appreciation these after decades of trash talk. It’s my favourite action RPG for the NES, always found the music and atmosphere astonishing...
Who the hell is trash talking Faxanadu? I will fight them.
Agreed! It really needs a re-release on Switch!
@@LeoStaley Don't have negative thoughts. Remember your mantra.
That password system tho
@@OB-um3ql Oh yes, I got used to save states.
I just played (and beat) Faxanadu for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was pretty great. Somewhat clunky by today's standards, and the text is painfully slow, but the atmosphere is top notch. Very few games of its time captured the feeling of a sick, decaying world so well, and it feels awesome to slowly make progress to heal the land. For me, Faxanadu's legacy in terms of visuals, including the grotesque enemy designs, is even more remarkable than its gameplay.
Wow, thank you for this comment. I’m glad to see someone agree with me on the primary reason Faxanadu is so awesome. The game has that kind of unsettling but engrossing “weirdness” that you might expect to find in something like an early-era Dungeons and Dragons module. The atmosphere, visuals, and music really make you ask “Good Lord, what is going on here?” in the best possible way.
And you didn't even mention that it has perhaps the most unique and haunting soundtrack of all time.
Yeah, it feels a little like Dark Souls in that way.
@@LeoStaley Most unique of all time might be a stretch, but it does have a strong soundtrack, the song "Land of Mist" especially is fantastic.
@@19Szabolcs91 OK, that's an exaggeration, but for the size of the game, I still might put it in top 20 of all rime.
Metroidvania Works has been an excellent showcase of these games. I have either played them or had some familiarity from Nintendo Power, or like in a few cases, I never had the console that played it. Love this series. Action RPGs are still my favorite genre so your explanation and time line is great for the evolution. Big thanks!
He's always been the only media personality who legit gets it. "ven diagram" indeed.
Faxanadu and Journey To Silius are two of my favorite games I’ve gone through this year.
Good choices! I loved both of these as a kid, and I still play through Faxanadu every few years or so.
A few years ago, I got hooked on Faxanadu again and played through it about four times in the span of a week. Journey to Silius, on the other hand, is one that I suck at, but I love every second of it. It's crazy how it was originally meant to be a licensed Terminator game.
Loren Helgeson I agree. I think for Silius (for me) the amazing soundtrack drrove me to complete it. It’s super hard though!
@@joshdoughty1789 Yeah, I'm all about games with a great soundtrack. If a game has weak controls, is boring or just downright terrible, I'm still willing to give it a chance if it has at least one song in its soundtrack that stands out. Take Fester's Quest, for example. Boring, boring, boring. But, that overworld theme is fantastic.
Of course, it helps that Journey to Silius controls like a dream and is actually fun to play, even if it's just brutally hard. Been playing it on and off for about a decade, and I still can't get to stage 5. But, on the NES, it's hard to beat Sunsoft's sound capabilities.
Loren Helgeson playing Battle Of Olympus was tough to follow Faxanadu for soundtrack reasons. Made the overall game feeing like a chore more than anything else .
Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard are some of my favorite NES games.
Both have amazing music, must say I love LOTW music more though
Legacy of the wizard is criminally underrated.
I have both lol
Funny story: I loved Faxanadu so much as a kid (still do) that I sent $40 cash to the address listed in the manual to pre-pay for a sequel. No matter how much money I accrue in my lifetime, I'll always be $40 poorer.
But more importantly, we are all one Faxanadu sequel poorer. 😢
@@joshb.9380 Absolutely right! I know there are other games in the Dragon Slayer series but I want a direct sequel to Faxanadu. I believe Konami now owns the IP so yeah, don't hold your breath.
@@SlyBeast Well, we can dream. I hadn't heard that about Konami though, but I guess it would make sense if it was a Hudson IP. Anyway, yeah, I know we've had plenty of similar games, maybe even some inspired by Faxanadu, but I just haven't seen a game yet that captures its unique weirdness and atmosphere.
I mean, Faxanadu has you fighting through dungeons housed inside a giant World Tree while fighting mushroom-men, Giger-esque abominations, blue humanoids that hurt you by slapping a drum(tambourine?), and whatever the heck the final boss is supposed to be.
I love that old-school, no-holds-barred gonzo weirdness, and the game managed to convey it all convincingly with the technology of the time.
@@joshb.9380 Well, it's just an educated guess based on knowing exactly what you mentioned already - Konami acquired Hudson Soft. Agreed, everything you mentioned makes this game unique. I miss that design approach in general. A fellow fan that clearly loves the game as much as we do made a Faxanadu Remastered from scratch (well, using sprites from this game and others) - may want to Google that and check it out if you haven't already. It's pretty good and about as close to a sequel as we'll likely ever get.
@@SlyBeast I appreciate the recommendation and will check it out if I can find it hosted somewhere. Thank you!
Faxanadu doesn't actively hate the player, but the font they used for the password sure did! So many similar characters that I've often heard that the game can give out invalid passwords towards the end of the game, but don't know if that's true or if so many people have just experienced writing down the wrong thing. It also happened to me as a kid.
I never encountered an invalid password but I sure learned to pay close attention to exactly how the characters looked for the passwords early on after losing my progress a few times.
that pink dino pet reminds me of Asmik-kun
Why, I'll have you know I like Castlevania II!
You are a gentleman of culture. Castlevania 2 is a great game. In fairness, I understand a lot of the complaints folks have with it, but, for my tastes, it is still a very fun and unique Castlevania title.
And I say, go right on liking it. I played Castlevania 2 when it first came out. Back then, cryptic NES games were just a thing that happened. Milon's Secret Castle, Renegade, Deadly Towers, Metal Gear, there were so many "how was I supposed to know that?" kinds of games. Nothing quite like Castlevania 2, which required Nintendo Power to decipher some of its more cryptic secrets, but that doesn't mean it was a bad game.
Personally, I like it just slightly better than Castlevania 1.
That's fine but you should know that the feeling isn't mutual.
What a horrible night to have a curse.
Hey, I remember that Romancia fan patch!
It made the guy and girl on the title screen smile, lol. 😄
As a developer, falcom always been an inspiration for me, they don't have a crazy budget but their games are always well polished and huge.
I know what you mean. Seeing the footage for Romancia in this video seriously makes me want to code my own 80s-era retro action RPG.
Falcom and Atlus are the kings of low-to-mid level game development lol
It's why I love programming flexible systems. Makes content creation cheap and quickly
ah Faxanadu was my favorite nes game. I can't believe I was three years late in noticing that someone did a complete remake of the game
what now? a remake?
@@tylerd4884 Well its called a Remaster, but more accurately its a remake. Some guy rebuilt the game in a new engine. The graphics and sound are the same, but the music is new, and all the maps are completely redesigned from what I can tell. Also no more passwords,
The dude that did the remaster of it changed a bunch of things that negatively impacted play. Particularly the scrolling, and visibility of more things at once than in the original. It messes with the exploration, pacing, and tension the original game perfected. Though he did fix and improve other things, so it's a toss up for me.
@@LeoStaley I haven't really gotten far enough in the game to judge, but so far the scrolling and larger view area hasn't bothered me
Try Xanadu: Next, it reminds me a lot of Faxanadu, though it plays like Legend of Zelda meets Blizzard's Diablo.
Jeremy hates Castlevania so much the music just shuts off
I was surprised when the cadence didn't finish! I didn't think I would miss 2 notes so much, hehe.
Faxanadu has some of the most unique and enchanting music of any game ever. I would play it through as a teenager, (after I got good at it as a kid) just to have the various levels and dungeons music on in the background.
2:30 - I recognize these sound effects. What is it? ... I know, it's The Guardian Legend! Also developed by Compile. Makes sense!
I remember renting Legacy of the Wizard like 2 times and playing it for hours getting nowhere. It was definitely a game you had to own in order to complete. It also didn't help that 9 year old me had no clue what the heck to do in the game. Now I see that cryptic-ness was intentional, bastards.
I've been trying to figure out a game I played as a kid on the NES for years with no luck. It was Legacy of the Wizard!
I bought Faxanadu a few years ago at a local video game store solely due to its name. I knew little of the background outside of what was shown in a then-recent Game Sack episode, "Games with DUMB Names," which included co-host Dave White feigning uncertainty over pronunciation ("so, is it Fa-xanadu or Fax-anadu?") before correctly acknowledging the former. Learning from you that it's a portmanteau of Famicom Xanadu was enlightening, not to mention everything else in the episode.
The best videogame based youtuber out there!
Faxanadu and Astyanax my picks for underated games
I've played Faxanadu at least once a year for the last 30 years. It's one of the best games of the era and it's almost never brought up.
My only major critiques are the jumping and password system with its horrifying font (which doesn't mean much with save states these days).
The NES board on Gamefaqs was always getting "what was this game" threads about Legacy of the Wizard. And people would always describe the family you could play as, including the dog. That was always the main, or even only, detail people remembered.
"Meet the Drasles", everyone's favorite TGIF sitcom
I adore Falcom.
Ys introduced me to fantasy game genre as a kid.
Ys 1 is still one of my top 10 favorite games.
I always wished there had been a sequel to Faxanadu on the SNES, that expanded on the swords, magic, enemies and world. The game was so amazing to explore, and the atmospheres were so compelling.
You know, now that you mention it it's the kind of game where I'm somewhat surprised it never got a sequel or remake or anything...
The block pushing puzzles in Legacy of the Wizard are some next-level horseshit. The amount of permastuck situations you can get into with those is insane.
Not at all actually, while they may be frustrating, all of Xemn’s puzzle rooms have ladders to reset the room in case the player makes a mistake.
That was apt game design on the part of Falcom.
@@osurpless that could screw you over its own right.
Eek! Chocolate! How so? The ladders spoken of don’t actually lead anywhere, just to a row of walled in cubes, so you can’t end up taking the wrong path.
@@osurpless like I'd find myself not being able reach a jump or push a block in a particular direction because it was meant to be moved out of the way from the other side.
Eek! Chocolate! Ah, do you mean “the other side” as in the way you’re meant to move the block in a particular direction?
If so, that’s what the ladders are for again, as it’s not like you have to reset the game, which is how permastuck is usually defined.
Any thoughts on the UK home computer scene of the early to mid 80s? The BBC Micro in particular is quite well known for it's "side-scrolling action-adventure" games set in large interconnected worlds, usually requiring a combination of keys and tools to progress. Games like Citadel, Castle Quest, Palace of Magic, Codename: Droid, Exile, etc.
Legacy of the Wizard always fascinated me for its cryptic nature and how different characters were when in the select screen to in game.
Y's is one of my favorites. I really enjoyed that game when it came out and I still do.
hey man, I love your videos. Im not sure if a game like Ghost House (sega master system) could enter as a proto-metroidvania game...
Nah, that strikes me more as an offshoot of the single-screen arcade action genre, a la Mappy. I will be covering it in some capacity, though.
@@JeremyParish yeah you are right, when you compare it to mappy it strikes more to that direction, thanks!
0:11 Back in the day, those games had the term "Action Adventure" when the gameplay was "Action" with RPG elements. "Action RPG" is a term coined when Square started to not want to make pure RPGs anymore.
Allegedly, original Romancia was too cryptic even for hardcore PC gamers at the time who scoffed at Famicom games as a "childplay."
Falcom never returned to the original formula, even on a reiteration of Romancia itself.
Sorcerian Scenario Romancia is half as cryptic as original (although it is still too cryptic for casual playthrough.)
Is Nikon/Falcom related to Compile? I hear some similar sound effects found in the latter. (Romancia)
I know what you mean. I kept thinking of Guardian Legend with those sound effects going off.
@@LorenHelgeson Exactly!
Legacy of The Wizard was really neat for splitting the game up into campaigns built around the abilities of each playable character. It was also awesome that it presented a tutorial campaign through Pochi. These were advanced game design concepts for the time.
Have you done a video on UFORIA on the nes? Great fucking game
That last song in the Romancia overview is fire! What’s the name of that hot track? (Don’t say sandstorm)
Thank you so much for your amazing library of videos!
Ys is prolly the only metroidvania for the Apple IIgs.
"*sigh* okay Roas you don't have a whole lot of experience, but you're the only one who can use this sword, so just try your best to defeat the dragon"
"uhhhhh am I supposed to throw it??"
"ROAS THIS ISN'T AMATEUR HOUR"
He's trying
Always wanted a sequel to this game before years later realizing it was part of a series. Shame this is the only game in the series that interested me. Ah well.
Faxanadu is a wonderful game. Thank you for covering it.
Finding out this very week that I've been mispronouncing the name of one of my favorite childhood games for my entire life was a super weird feeling. I don't even think that sort of thing happening nowadays is even possible.
Sure it is. All the gen-alpha kids in my family pronounce the "Bros." in Super Marios Bros. as "bros" rather than "brothers".
After your description of Romancia I really want to play it
not.
I've never played Metroid! I tried it on my nes mini.... couldn't get into it!
I seriously love your work keep em coming!
Question do you consider Dark Souls/Bloodborne Series as a Metroidvania or at least has elements of a Metroidvania game? thank you :)
Sure, why not?
Faxanadu is one of my favorite all time nes games
I always thought the dichotomy in the ARPG genre between US and Japan to be super interesting. In JRPG terms, it's exactly what the name implies, action games with RPG mechanics/structure as you describe in this. But in Western games, it's almost exclusively used to describe loot games ala Diablo, Borderlands, Path of Exile, etc.
Yeah. The first time someone called Diablo an ARPG in front of me, I was baffled.
I did not know Faxanadu is that easy for a NES game, that's actually something that might get me to try it.
I mean, relatively. I would describe it as "reasonably balanced", which is a rarity in action-RPGs of that vintage.
As a teen I finished faxanadu, but I didn't get anywhere with legacy of the wizard. Difficulty is world's apart.
@@JeremyParish Honestly, I would say Legacy of the Wizard is a bit easier. Like MSX Castlevania, it has a reputation for being ludicrously hard, but I feel it's unearned -- both MSX Castlevania and Legacy of the Wizard are games that require you to "take notes," so to speak, but once you've learned the lay of the land and gotten a handle on where things are and what the best routes are to get to them, you'll have little trouble doing so.
In other words, they're not games that actually require twitch reflexes or perfect timing or anything like that. Just... time. Time to explore and plan.
Take that time, and you'll beat both games no problem.
Faxanadu doesn't require any such planning, but it DOES require more twitch reflexes and timing. It has more difficult platforming and more threatening enemies than either MSX Castlevania or Legacy of the Wizard.
Faxanadu is a great game and I highly recommend people play it!
@@ajpiskel Ah, yes, me too! I would recommend all four games from this video, honestly. They're all superb in their own way. Old-school Falcom is incredible -- and so is old-school Hudson working with Falcom properties!
Hey - is Maze of Galious for the MSX going to be coming to this series? It’s one of the most highly regarded proto-Metroidvania games, and it was made around this time.
The coverage list up to about 2017 is at www.metroidvania.com!
Faxanadu is one of my favorite nes games.
Faxanadu is one of my fav NES games! One of the best ways you can spend $10 lol
Personally, my favorite Falcom game will always be Ys IV: Dawn of Ys on the PC Engine. I know it was developed by Hudson, but it's still a part of Falcom's premier series, so I count it.
We love your work, Jeremy. I was wondering if Sacred Armour of Antiriad will get a mention at some point along the way? Unless I missed it already.
To be completely honest, that name never came up in all the prep and research I did for this series, so it's not on the list. But it does look pretty neat.
Jeremy Parish no matter how much research you do there’ll always be some bastard come out of the woodwork with another obscure game 😂
Yeah, I gave trying to be comprehensive long ago. There always turns out to be some Spectrum game a dude in Ipswich made in his garage and sold to 8 people in ziploc baggies back in 1983 that only 8 people have ever played.
heck ya! Ys!
The Romancia/Dragon Slayer Jr hero REALLY looks like some of the Dragon Quest protagonists, especially Dragon Quest V. It's that stupid haircut, it seems to be a bit of a thing for RPGs in Japan.
Ah, Brøderbund.
From the ambitious family adventure Legacy... to the tastefully pleasing Guardian Legend and back around to the PC Print Shop, they fulfilled our needs of shootemups to stark black n white clip art banners.
Ys for the turbogarfx-16 is a good rpg game and I should play faxanadu for the Nintendo. 😀👍🎮
Never drew a line between Crystalis and Y’s but that makes sense.
I’m surprised that there aren’t too many more open-ish world action RPGs like that on the NES with two directions of scrolling. It seems like a good idea other studios would copy.
(Then again the game only has one enemy per screen, so it’s probably a tall order for the NES hardware.)
Re: people playing legacy - you need an instruction manual, don’t go in blind
Had no idea how to progress in Faxanadu as a kid, but I spent so many hours certainly trying!
Falcom is favorite developer and Ys and legend of heroes will always be my favorite series. I’m glad I was able to grow up with these series. YS 9 hype!!!
I loved Faxanadu as a kid and ALMOST beat it. I’ve tried it a few times since then and can’t get into it. I think the difference was that, as a kid, I had NIntendo Power next to me. I need to try that again.
Romania sounds a bit like it has an influence on Dead Cells, run based roguelike where completing a section within a given play session leads to more areas opening up even though you’re bumped back to the beginning.
I feel like all my video game knowledge is built on encountering Faxanadu at a young age.
Damn I love Faxanadu; of course back in my day we just called it a Zelda II rip-off but in the nicest way possible
I love your work, thank you. The world needs more Faxanadu. I would pay large sums of money for a remaster or sequel to the NES game.
I love your metroidvania series. Nobody else will talk about the genre at depth and I just can't get enough.
2:07 Final Fantasy Legend III battle music
12:07 sounds like it is from a different game too. SMB2?
Holy shit Jeremy just discovered this, been listening to you since the 1up days man, love retronauts!
Faxanadu was fantastic. I picked it up on a whim from a flea market when I was a kid and loved it. I played it again last year and it was still fantastic.
Great video
Yay Faxanadu! Loved this game, despite its quirks and issues.
Funny how all the games Nintendo liesence to release here all flopped (well not sure about ff I'm guessing it dident sell good in the USA to right?)
On the contrary, Faxanadu was once named #6 on the Top 30 NES Games by Nintendo Power and locally I knew several kids who loved the game. Also, Final Fantasy (the NES version, not the re-releases) sold decently well in NA, selling 700,000 copies.
@@Dhalin okay I thought ff flopped just like dw did
@@Mikey-zj8bn I think Dragon Warrior mostly flopped because of the absolutely insane grinding, simplistic battle system, and the frankly unfair difficulty. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy... while it was challenging, you could still levelup, and at level 50 most people were able to get at least most of the way through the game until maybe the last dungeon. Hopefully you saved those heal staves and heal helmets and realized that they were your ticket to success. But that was better than getting pulverized near the 3rd town because you didn't grind for the best equipment at the 2nd town because you needed 1,000 gold per piece and fights there only gave you 10 gold a battle or some ridiculous nonsense like that.
THANKFULLY they fixed that in later games of the DW franchise, #4 is reasonably balanced for example.
I bet Romancia was an inspiration for the indie game Reversion.
Gg
Faxanadu has aged better than many NES action RPG's, but I'm going to disagree with Jeremy and say that the best game to play from this series so far is Ys I and II. It's held up remarkably well for being as old as it is and its breezy pace and awesome music keep you motivated despite the clunky combat and occasional rough spot. If you managed to get a Turbografix Mini this year and haven't tried it yet then you owe it to yourself to give it a go!
Nihon Falcom, Squaresoft and Enix were the holy trinity for success and development of the JRPG back in the day. When 2 of the 3 merged it was a merger that blew most fans minds at the time. NF though has mostly kept to their roots, their games still hold a certain charm and aesthetic that leaves jrpg fans with the same warm and fuzzies as their older titles, SE on the other hand has only managed this with the DQ series, and that is mostly because the people behind those titles are the original creators, and rather than trying to break free and ignore the jrpg history and traditions they absorb it all knowing thats exactly how players want their traditional titles to be. Some things need an revolution to stay fresh, but indeed, somethings need to stay the same with minor evolutions to respect existing fans who have been around for decades in support.
A very surprisingly upbeat review of all four (five) games! I was really glad at all the positivity towards these great games. Romanica is great if you manage to find a way to play it. I'd say that and Faxanadu are both still highly playable today while Ys is probably best relegated to historical interest. Legacy of the Wizard is somewhere in between. It's a long, long game that necessitates a lot of note taking.
It took me a long time to come around on Nihon Falcom, but eventually I grew the hell up and stopped being a snotty punk about them.
I've never played a Dragon Slayer game (these videos have really made me want to, Xanadu and Faxanadu especially), but Ys is a timeless classic.
Maaan, I always got my rear end handed to me by faxanadu when I was a kid. Here I am, remembering being super interested in the game, but it being way too difficult for me at 9 yo. Now I hear that it wasn't a very difficult game? Dang. Almost thinking I should replay it, but also realising that the intervening 30 years have not been kind to my reflexes and thumb dexterity.
I mean, it's tough compared to later games like this, so don't feel bad. I was holding it against contemporary releases (especially Falcom's own)... it's a baby's cakewalk by comparison.
It requires certain tricks and abusing terrain. For example, that first tower where you get the mattock? Nearly everybody rushed the winged demon and got absolutely destroyed by its fire breath. Most noticed that if you stood on the ledge where you enter the room from, the winged demon can't hit you with its fire breath, but you _appear_ to not be able to hit it, either and you will likely run out of MP if you try to kill it with Deluge. What many people I would assume never figured out is that you *CAN* hit the demon with your dagger, but only on specific frames when it flies in, and then flies back out trying to hit you. So you can kill it without taking a single hit. There's also the one fountain at the bottom where you enter and there's a boss. Use the Winged Boots to fly over him without even fighting him, lol. A lot of bosses are like this. Also, the dragon that has the dragon slayer sword, and the last boss? Use the Hour Glass on them. You won't freeze them in place, BUT, they can't shoot projectiles while the Hour Glass active.
@@JeremyParish That makes sense. And thanks for putting out all of your videos so far. I've been loving every one I've watched so far. You have been teaching me an aweful lot about one of the biggest aspects of my childhood. (Nintendo games of the late 80's and early 90's in general) Cheers!
@@Dhalin wow, those are a lot of tricks I had no idea about. Doubly so for the time long ago when I spent allowance to rent a faxanadu cart for the weekend.
No comment about the design of the Legacy of the Wizard pet bearing a striking resemblance to Bub/Bob?
Great episode! Faxanadu has always been an NES favorite of mine and a game I still play to this day. I really like the sprites and backgrounds in the game, and its overall atmosphere remains a creative inspiration for me. I also think the subtle box/sticker art is very cool, and it makes me wonder if the designer was trying to evoke the Legend of Zelda’s counterpart.
Ahh Faxanadu. Memories of the winter of 89-90! I got Faxanadu & the soundtrack to the Batman movie as Christmas presents back then. I played completely through Faxanadu on winter break from school while listening to Prince. Good times!
I was lucky I played faxanadu when I was a 9 in 1997, english was not my first language and the game was challenging enough, I got to finish it and played it a few more times, it was the perfect game at the perfect moment for me, that's why I hold it so dear.
Faxanadu is still one of my all time favourite NES games. It had such great music and so much music too. I love the whole trope of a wanderer comes to town that it has too.
We need a sorcerian and drakkhen video
There’s already a Drakkhen video.
4:58 While in a sense this statement where after Ys III they kinda abandoned the choice of going sidescroller is true, on the other hand, they stuck with the sidescrolling thing longer than you've given them credit. For example Popful Mail and The Legend of Xanadu games.
If this is referring to both Ys IVs, well, yeah, but actually no. Both were not made by Falcom themselves. The true Ys IV, Ys Memories of Celceta, weirdly enough was made 16 years after... Ys V, the next Falcom-made Ys game after Ys III. Personally, both Ys IVs are downgrades to Ys III's sidescrolling gameplay. Ys V proceeded to be more Zelda-like by having actual sword-swinging again instead of the Hydlide bumping combat.
It's pretty obvious from context that I was talking about Ys and didn't said they stopped making all sidescrollers, especially since Popful Mail will show up in this series down the road.