The underrated JRPG from Nihon Falcom, no doubt.
This game mixes gameplay and structural elements from other game series from Falcom like the Ys series of games (taking some of their combat, but a bit more simplified), or the Kiseki series, in particular the Sen No Kiseki ones (Trails of Cold Steel) series, when it comes to the typical Nihon Falcom JRPG mechanics and interaction amongThe underrated JRPG from Nihon Falcom, no doubt.
This game mixes gameplay and structural elements from other game series from Falcom like the Ys series of games (taking some of their combat, but a bit more simplified), or the Kiseki series, in particular the Sen No Kiseki ones (Trails of Cold Steel) series, when it comes to the typical Nihon Falcom JRPG mechanics and interaction among all the characters in the game and, yeah, this game has lots of characters to interact with, some are a lot more important than others but, just like in the Trails series of games, there's a lot of people to interact with, read their stories and just learn about their lives.
As it happens in the Trails games, every time something happens in the game, or we finish a task, or anything that minimally changes the "world state", every single NPC in the game can be interacted with again, and they will have new dialogue lines. This is a staple for most Falcom games, and it's not absent here in Tokyo Xanadu.
Being a fan of the Kiseki series, this game hits most of the good points I was expecting. It feels maybe a little less "epic" compared to all the adventures we can live in Liberl or Erebonia from the Kiseki series, but still, for a game set in a modern era (year 2015) it does the job just fine.
Still, this is obviously not a game for everyone, as it requires in my opinion a lot of patience reading all the info the NPCs have to offer, because that's how you enjoy Falcom's JRPGs, honestly, that...and listening to the amazing soundtrack, that is; Tokyo Xanadu does not disappoint here either, and the music is quite good, with some memorable pieces, maybe not on par with some of the most epic and iconic pieces found in some Ys or Kiseki games, but certainly we can find some decent tunes here, for sure.
Overall, I like that there seems to be a chance that this IP continues further in future games, it'd be lovely, and as most Falcom JRPGs...you can never have enough of them, honestly, they are quite unique, especially here on the PC where proper JRPGs ported from consoles, whose IPs are not that popular, are a bit more rare.
All in all, those who know of the Trails games from Falcom, especially Cold Steel, should take a look at Tokyo Xanadu. The game doesn't have turn based combat, which I reckon the Trails in the Sky series did amazingly well, and so did Cold Steel, but instead we have a real time action combat like a modern Ys series game, only a lot more simplified, just a couple type of attacks and dodge / perfect dodges, and of course the special "arts" or super attacks for each character and other combination attacks. It's simpler, but it works, it's fun to mash monster heads on the dungeons, which can get a bit repetitive, but it is what it is.
I still like the dungeon design of the Kiseki games a lot more, here in TX is more linear and they feel a lot smaller, partly because the combat is a lot faster without any pauses, so yeah, overall, it feels like a shorter game, but it has some good 50-60 hours for a complete run at least, and then it also has NG+, of course, as expected.
Regarding the port quality in general, not much to say, it works well enough, it has very low system requirements, since well, it is what it is, the original is from the PS Vita generation. No bells and whistles here, if you can just play it at 4K, it looks decent for what it is, no issues with the gamepad or anything (tested on Dualshock 4, vibration seems a bit on the low side though). Can remap keyboard controls, but the game plays best with a gamepad, since the combat is not complex and it’s just quite button mashy, but yeah, at least the bare options are there.
So that’s it, those who enjoyed any other games from Falcom will probably feel at home here, playing Tokyo Xanadu, there’s no doubt about that. Falcom have this skill as developers of making games where you end up caring a lot about most of the NPCs in the game, since they all have a part to play in the story, be it small or big, they’re just not random NPCs, almost all of them matter to some extent. Considering the scope of the game, and that it was originally a Vita / PS3 game, it’s not bad at all. If they ever decide to continue this series on modern generations of hardware, it could be interesting and perhaps then, the Xanadu series won’t be Eclipsed by the other Falcom games ; )
A solid 8/10 simply because overall if you enjoy the type of gameplay that is a mix of the Cold Steel series and the Ys series, but not being really better than any of those, just decent, this game will satisfy you, for sure.… Expand
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