Nihon Falcom
| Public kabushiki kaisha | |
| Traded as | : |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | March 1981 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
|
Key people
|
Masayuki Kato, Founder Toshihiro Kondo, President |
| Products |
Panorama Island Dragon Slayer The Legend of Heroes Ys Brandish Vantage Master Zwei!! |
| Website | www.falcom.com |
Nihon Falcom Corporation (日本ファルコム株式会社 Nihon Farukomu Kabushiki-kaisha?) is a Japanese video game company. The company was founded in March 1981 by Masayuki Kato. Falcom has played a definite role in the growth and development of the Japanese personal computer software industry. The company released one of the first Japanese role-playing video games in 1983 and followed with real-time action and adventure games as well as games with fully developed soundtracks. They are credited with pioneering the action role-playing game genre and the Japanese role-playing game industry, and remain one of the oldest role-playing game developers still in existence today.
Falcom was one of the three most important Japanese role-playing video game developers in the 1980s, alongside Enix and Square, both of which were influenced by Falcom. They are credited with laying the foundations for the Japanese role-playing game industry.
Falcom's first role-playing game was Panorama Toh (Panorama Island), released for the NEC PC-88 in 1983 and created by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the Dragon Slayer and Brandish franchises. While its RPG elements were limited, lacking traditional statistical or leveling systems, the game featured real-time combat with a gun, bringing it close to the action RPG formula that Falcom would later be known for. Set on a desert island, the game's overworld is presented as a hex grid and featured a day-night cycle. There were also indigenous non-player characters (NPCs) who the player could choose to attack, have a conversation with, or give money for items, though NPCs could choose to run away with the money. In order to survive on the island, the player needs to find and consume rations, as every normal action consumes hit points. The island also has traps, which require calling for help and waiting for NPCs to help. The player could also be bit by snakes that poison and paralyze the player, requiring medicine to heal or calling for help from NPCs.
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