Okay First off, you'd be asking what's Falcom, Its a Game company of course in Japan. Strongly dedicated in making RPGs. Legend of Heroes and Ys are their Known titles.
They have also created various RPGs other than those two. Like Zwei or Gurumin although both are quite unheard of in the english community unless you are a Falcom Fan.
Most of their Titles are now ported to PSP as they are a Niche company dedicated to RPGs, they may not be big as Square Enix but in MY sole opinion they KNOW what they are doing in their games. It's been a long time since I thoroughly enjoyed RPGs not from the Visual Novel category.
Most of the games they did were specifically for PCs but since PSP is quite still a hit in japan and some eastern countries such as mine. Although recently they DID port Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki to PC by a chinese publisher
Either way Back to their Flagship Titles Ys and Legend Of heroes (Eiyuu Densetsu)
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Ys features the adventures of Adol Christin, a red-haired young man with a zest for adventure and an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. Gameplay usually revolves around Adol; though his comrade, Dogi, is a frequent companion in his travels. Thus far, Adol has visited the regions of Esteria, Celceta, Felghana, Xandria, the Canaan Islands, and Altago.
It is also one of the few early jRPGs to be Action oriented not turn-based and All of the games are canonical to each other, even some characters from a previous game may reoccur.
Now that I think about it Adol may be the inspiration for Rance
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Legend of Heroes on the other hand are more Story oriented and contains lots of text to point it resembles Visual Novels. Depending on which Saga its part of, the games are canonical.
Legend of Heroes used to be known as Dragon Slayer. The First two were Dragon slayer: Legend of Heroes and Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II. LoH III onwards dropped their association with the Dragon Slayer Saga.
So far the Legend of Heroes contains 2 important Saga(Although both are not Connected). First to take note of is.
The Gagharv Trilogy saga.
LoH III : Prophecy of The Moonlight Witch.
LoH IV: Tears of Vermillion (A prequel, 56 Years before LoH III)
LoH V: Song of the Ocean. (Another prequel, 49 Years before LoH III. 7 Years After LoH IV)
Take note the Localization (and A VERY BAD ONE AT THAT) by Namco Bandai games has numbered them incorrectly as LoH II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch. Kinda the same as Final Fantasy IV being named as FF I in NA.
Note also the the game was poorly translated by Namco Bandai. They also took the Japanese Songed OPs as the PSP port of LoH III was a remastering I think.
In My Opinion do not touch the Gagharv Trilogy Done by Namco Bandai. The Strength of LoH is its Interconnected Storylines within Each Saga. You may be disappointed in Playing it, not to mention the gameplay for the games isn't really defining as it IS an old Game only reported. Think of Visual Novels were the text was done by google translator...
Take note also I forgot the site but I remember a Fansite solely dedicated to Legend of heroes decided on Translating the Gagharv Trilogy on PC I forgot the site and I haven't found it yet. Cross your fingers on me finding it and them not Dropping or Stalled it.
The 2nd Saga is the Trails saga.
LoH IV:Sora no Kiseki: First Chapter
Sora no Kiseki: Second Chapter
Sora no Kiseki: Third Chapter
LoH : Zero no Kiseki
LoH : Ao no Kiseki
While Legend of Heroes VI was splitted up into 3 chapters. Second Chapter Being the Longest (2 UMDs).
LoH Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki ARE Direct Sequels from LoH VI. Both games are unnumbered. As the game has been recently new and has no Localization. Reliable Information is hard to comeby about the game.
All that is known is that the Sequels Takes place sometime after Sora no Kiseki and takes place in a neighboring country the Calvard Republic where as in Sora no Kiseki took place in Liberl Kingdom both countries and on the same continent and are beside each other. (Based on the First Chapter Calvard and Liberl are Allies). Also I've Heard that some of the Characters from Sora no kiseki DO appear here so it means its some Years After the Original Series as the Futuristic setting of the game from the trailers may fool you that its way off into the future.
The First Chapter was Localized by Xseed games, and of course with SUPERB quality. As Xseed has entered partnership with Falcom for their games :3.
However, Although Sora no Kiseki: Second Chapter IS being translated, there are doubts on it being released sooner beccause of the NGP problem. As NGP uses NO UMDs this has created problems for some stuff since SC has 2 UMDs and would require you to switch between the two back and fort has been problematic converting it to data. Still We can expect it to released and hope for the best as Xseed has so far has no disappointments yet. Source: Xseed Forums
--- IMPORTANT ---
Please use spoiler tags in this thread when discussing specific storylines from a game
(Game title) (Use a reference to indicate where you are)
Sample:
Dont' worry Im not posting anything Spoiler wise here.
(Sora no Kiseki) (Chapter 0 : Prologue)
Sora no Kiseki Means "Trails in the Sky"
Videos
LoH III: Prophecy Of the Moonlight Witch OP (remaster Version)
LoH VI: Sora no Kiseki First Chapter OP
LoH VI: Sora no Kiseki Second Chapter OP
LoH: Zero No Kiseki OP
Ys Seven OP