RPGCast – Episode 513: “Cream Cheese Crisis”

1. I feel like Alex got the short end of the stick. Not only did he have to edit my saucy writing, he’s not getting a cat, a ring, OR a vacation!

2. Re: Kondo’s comments at Anime Expo on porting earlier Trails games

   I don’t know why his comments got interpreted as some sort of change, but I don’t see the two comments as being incompatible. After putting out the expanded version of Tokyo Xanadu on PS4 — to meh sales in Japan — they had decided to internally focus on new games and partner with other companies to bring ports to other platforms. As I recall, the Trails in the Sky games didn’t sell that great on PS3, though the investment, in that case, seems like it would have been pretty small as Sony helped a lot with those PSP to PS3 titles.

   Falcom saying they want the games to come out on modern platforms doesn’t mean that Falcom is the one doing them. They have partnered with other companies on ports, like Kadokawa who did the Evolution remake/ports of the Trails in the Sky and Crossbell games on Vita. Hopefully they partner with NIS (or some other company with a western arm) to do updated ports, because having two different Japanese companies involved was an impediment to getting the Evolution games released in the west.

   It also occurs to me that even if there is a port done of the Trails in the Sky games to PS4 or Switch, the west might not get it anyway. I imagine that XSEED still owns the rights to TitS in the west and other companies may not have the ability to release it on other platforms depending on how the contracts are written.

3. QotW: The rest of September will be exactly what I was doing as I was listening to you guys: Monster Hunter World Iceborne. I don’t think there’s anything else on my radar for September (or the rest of the year for that matter).

4. QOTW: Some of the bigger choices were taken from me, so my decision is a little easier. I’d love to be playing Iceborne, but I play MHW on PC, so I can’t until January. I’d love to be playing Borderlands 3, also on PC, but I won’t be until April 2020 when it comes to Steam for my own personal reasons that I won’t get into so as to keep a debate about Epic Games Store 3rd party exclusives out of the podcast. And I’d love to play Final Fantasy XIV, but- Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll be playing the hell out of FFXIV and level grinding one job of each role to Level 80 any and every free chance I get! 🤣

   As for other games that are actually coming out in September, I’ll definitely be spending tons of time with Zelda: Links Awakening, because it’s still to this date my favorite Zelda game, Ni No Kuni on Switch, and getting Dragon Quest XI S, but that won’t arrive in the mail until October, so I don’t know if that counts for the QOTW.

5. QoTW: No new September RPGs; There are too many games in my backlog. Currently I’m using my Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection to play Phantasy Star IV.

   Originally I planned to play the Phantasy Star RPGs in order. The first Phantasy Star was grindy and old-school, but fun. Then Phantasy Star II had so many questionable design choices that I couldn’t motivate myself to keep playing, and PS II, PS3 III, and PS IV sat in my backlog for years.

   There is a certain liberation in choosing to play games out of order. PS IV is a classic gem of a game and I’m glad to finally experience it. There’s also the hope Phantasy Star II will one day get a Sega Ages remake that makes playing it less painful.

   I’d ask if y’all playing a strategy RPG for September, but I’m sure the answer is Fire Emblem Three Playthroughs, I mean Houses.

6. I’m stalled in Three Houses but I’ll take time out to play Link’s Awakening and the DQXI demo when I have a chance to pick up the Switch Lite.

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