The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermilion -- A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, B, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

According to the history feature within the game I'm roughly 80% of the way through The Legend of Heroes. The history feature is rather cool. As you progress through the game the events and information are recorded in the history. When you read books or get information from NPCs regarding the world's past, that history is added to the history feature. When you access it, you'll get a timeline of everything relevant in the game. I have collected 80% in about thirty-five hours of play. The game is massive. The story of The Legend of Heroes is its strongest aspect. It's a great story. It remains a great story through one of the worst translations in the history of gaming. I'm not talking about the kind of stuff where people bitch about this character's name being changed. I'm talking pure grammar. I guess Bandai aren't used to translating anything but Dragon Ball titles. It's a testament to how strong Falcom's original story is that not even Bandai's poor translation can damage it. It's hard to convey why Falcom's titles always stand apart from the rest of the Japanese developers. It's how western they are in spirit, while still remaining Japanese. They tell grand stories with an old-fashioned style. It's like they're telling the radio serial adventure dramas of 1930s and 1940s America married to Japanese conventions. Part of it comes from them also telling tales of the old-fashioned hero. When men were clearly men and women were clearly women. Unlike the majority of today's what the hell is it Japanese characters. Falcom doesn't avoid cliches. Their characters still have to kill the dragon and save the girl. The villagers still need help. The king is still controlled by the puppetmaster.  All the role-playing game conventions are present. The difference is though their characters actually have character. And you care about them as a result. The hero of The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermilion is Avin. The story begins the same way they always do, with some gods who create the world and then get bored and end up fighting. One of them wants to destroy the world and the other wants to save it. They battle and the god of light ends up sealing away the god of darkness. Of course since light can't exist without darkness (you know, the whole Japanese yin and yang obsession) they both end up sealed away. The wrinkle in this one is that there is a third god who takes a neutral position and says whatever. Jump ahead a thousand years or so and you'll find Avin in a world where there are opposing religions. Of course there is a chosen one. Of course events lead to our hero being swept up into an epic struggle between the powers of light and dark. Along the way Falcom takes their characters with character through a very winding path that will ultimately lead to the big shocking truth of it all. Whereas other Falcom games such as Ys and Popful Mail use a very straight path, The Legend of Heroes really likes to run you around. It's the kind of thing where you'll need to obtain an artifact from a ruin. You set out towards said ruin. At the first town along the way you'll find a problem that needs your immediate attention. To solve said problem you'll have to find this guy. To find this guy you're off to another town. In that town the guy will help you but he needs this item to be able to help. So you're off to that cave where the item is. Find the item. Back to the guy. Back to the other town. Help the town. Now you can go find the that original artifact. You reach the next town on the way there and a frantic messenger from the capital city catches up with you. This other town is being attacked by monsters. We've got to do something about that right now. Off you go. It most games you could consider that sort of thing busy work. Not so much in The Legend of Heroes. The story is constantly unfolding. Characters are popping in and out of your party like mad. It's building a real sense of the futile attempt of you trying to stop the dam from bursting by plugging all the holes. The story is very much the snowball building up momentum. The snowball starts atop the hill in this game for the most part and it's downhill from the go. The pacing is fast, the story is deep, and the characters are worth knowing. It's a classy, old-fashioned adventure with a shoddy translation.  I'm digging it. Next up should be the final opinion on The Legend of Heroes: A Tear if Vermilion.