The latest edition of Dengeki PlayStation magazine (Vol 682) included an interview with Falcom’s President Toshihiro Kondo. He talked about theYsseries andYs IX Monstrum Nox, theTrails/Kisekiseries, and what Falcom is planning to do with PS5.
Here are the most interesting tidbits from the interview:
Kondo talked about what Falcom will do withYs X. Or rather, how they don’t know what to do with it yet. Plans forYs Xare currently completely blank, but Kondo definitely wants to make it into a memorable game, seeing it’ll beYs Xafter all. He wants to evolve the series and its systems even more compared toYs IX, but maybe also make it closer to its roots, All while seeing what can be improved.
Kondo also mentioned thatYs Xwill be a PS5 game if there’s enough fan demand. But if many fans still wish to play on PS4, then it’ll be on PS4. I personally believe Falcom won’t be moving on to PS5 anytime soon. Not until late 2021, so one year after PS5 has launched. Falcom is a very small studio, so unless PS5 is really easy to develop on and that development costs aren’t much higher than for PS4, they won’t take the risk and just stay on PS4 for one or two years.
Kono also spoke about theKisekiseries. Most notably about a possible newYs Vs Kisekigame. He mentioned how non-Japanese journalists often ask him about it(I did during my interview with him),and he’d like to do a newYs Vs Kisekigame one day. He jokingly said that he could write a “Games Falcom need to make” list, and do all of it, but it won’t be over until he turns 60 years old. He’s currently 44.
He jokingly added that he also wishes to write “remake the first twoYsgames” on that list, but if they do that, Falcom will really never ever finish making all the games they want to do. This was definitely said as a joke, and you shouldn’t expect aYs I&IIremake.
Next, Kondo spoke aboutYs IX Monstrum Noxin detail. The game got a new update on November 29,which fixed the FPS problem,and it’s supposed to be the final update for the game. He also mentioned thatYs IXcould get an enhanced version releasing on PS5, which would add many new elements, such as making Aprilis playable.
Falcom thought that Doll would be the most popularYs IXcharacter in Japan, but Raging Bull’s DLC costume is selling more. Falcom also published the results of acharacter popularity poll on Twitter. The top five is: White Cat, Doll, Adol, Red King, Aprilis.
I’m personally surprised Hawk and Raging Bull aren’t among the top five.
The following parts contain small spoilers forYs IX: Monstrum Nox.Kondo also talked about story details including the ending, but I didn’t read nor translate these comments here as I didn’t finish the game myself yet. I’m mentioning it anyway if you know Japanese, already finished the game, and are interested. Here are some of these not too spoiler-ish details:
Cred was supposed to appear at the beginning of the game when Adol and Dogi enter Balduq. However, they realized it’ll be a plothole because, at that point in the story, the Monstrum can’t leave the city because of the curse.
Kondo mentioned he might link the alchemy elements appearing inYs IXwith the alchemy fromYs V.He previously teased aYs Vremake, so this will probably happen.
That’s all. Falcom previously teasedYs IX: Monstrum Noxis coming west.PS4 remakes forZero no KisekiandAo no Kisekishould get fully revealed soon too.
