Game Informer Magazine spoke with a bunch of developers to get them to name their favorite games of 2016. (As a note, since people are aware that SC did come out in 2015, GI has stated that it’s ‘game they played in 2016’ instead of games that came out in this year.)
Rex Dickson is the creative director of the Madden game series with Electronic Arts, and was one of the developers that Game Informer spoke with for the article. While games such as Farcry and Adrift made the list, various people were surprised (and delighted) to see Trails in the Sky SC join his list of favorite games of 2016.
Rex had this to say about the game:
I am a JRPG fan boy and have been for a long time. The trails series on the PSVita really blew me away with story and character development. The relationship between the two lead characters (Joshua and Estelle) was as powerful and memorable to me as Cloud and Aeris back in FF7. I think I sunk well over 100 hours into this franchise and loved every second.
To see other comments and games from Rex and other developers, you can read the Game Informer article here.
You can also find Rex Dickson on twitter here.
Also, thanks to the many people who pointed this article out to me!
It kinda sucks XSEED is so rock headed by not publishing the PSVita version for the 3rd entry. I hope this can somehow change XSEED’s decision.
Unless you’re talking about the Evolution version, which is a subpar version to what XSEED will be releasing to Steam, there is no Vita version. Falcom released the game to the PSP a year after it was released for the PC originally.
There are a ton of interesting issues here, in terms of red tape and game content, but I’ll tackle this bit by bit.
1) Sony has basically shut down any and all PSP support by this point. The store is not accessible from PSP units. Before you say ‘but it can be played on the Vita,’ you should take a look at point #2.
2) Releasing the PSP version is going to require Falcom’s involvement. This will likely slow down the development and release, as Falcom also has a spring release- that being Ys VIII for the PlayStation 4 in May and I’m not entirely sure they’re going to delay their own release for this. Especially as anticipated of a title as Ys VIII PS4 is, and after it has been delayed twice already. Finally, the most important thing here is this: does Falcom even still have their PSP devkits anymore? Especially since it’s been well over a year that SC was released and XSEED said that it would be their final PSP title.
3) There is an HD remaster for PS3, using the PSP version of the game. However, this release has no trophies and Sony’s been very unwilling to release titles that are a) without trophies, b) straight 1:1 ports, like this one.
4) The PSP version is censored. Falcom cut about 2/3rds of a plot event from the game to keep it within the CERO B rating. There has never been an instance of the content ever being readded since the original version of the game launched to PC in 2007. (The PSP version came out in 2008.)
5) There is a PS Vita version. This, however, was not developed by Falcom. This was by Chara-Ani, which is a subsidiary of Kadokawa Games. This would require a complete renegotiation with Kadokawa to release it. On top of this, it is a sad attempt to remake what was otherwise a great title. The soundtrack has been completely changed (and if you want the original in the game, it’s like… $15 DLC), new artwork, and a combat system that not only destroyed the balance of the original system, but decided that ‘HP sponge’ is the only definition of ‘difficulty.’ The only advantage for the Evolution version would be the voice acting. Which XSEED couldn’t afford to wrangle anyway.
As a result, unfortunately, the PC version is really the only viable version for XSEED to release. We already know that it’s a struggle to even get Sony to recognize and support the Vita, so I imagine that it would be an act of Aidios to get them to even look at the Vita’s predecessor.
How many times they have to repeat it to make you guys understand that’s not feasible? I think it’s a pain in the ass Cold Steel is not on PC in my case, but XSEED can not do anything about it, and Falcom isn’t willing to deal with PC anymore, so the only hope is that some company like Aksys ports CS, like they are doing with Tokyo Xanadu.
Evolution versions are not made by Falcom, meaning they need permission for another company to access the game, and the license for the Japanese voice acting is beyond XSEED’s incomes. They could record some lines, but they have a personal rule: no full dub, no voices at all. Besides, dealing with another company could be longer time for the game’s release, so… nope nope.