American fans of the company Nihon Falcom were pleased when Bandai (now Bandai Namco) announced the US release of The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion. Fourth in the overall series, second in the "Gagharv Trilogy", and first chronologically in said trilogy, it only made sense that Bandai would start with this title in the US.

Nerdy veterans like myself expected that if Bandai were to continue releasing the trilogy in the US (as sales on the first were less than impressive), we would next get the second in the chronology, The Legend of Heroes V: Cagesong of the Ocean. However, when the announcement of a sequel came, the subtitle confused many a gamer: The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch (a.k.a. The Legend of Heroes III: The White Witch in Japan). First in the printed Gagharv Trilogy, and last in the chronological ordering of the series, the game now falls second in the American version of the trilogy. Confused? So are we.

When asked about the reordering, and as to whether or not Cagesong of the Ocean would make a US release in the form of LoH III, Bandai Namco staff had the following to say:

While the series does have a coherent world and story, each game does do well as a stand-alone and we felt it best to release this title next in the series. As to whether or not the the final PSP incarnation of The Legend of Heroes will come to America, we cannot say at this point.

For those of you wondering, that's the answer.

The game itself was available to play on the show floor. I took some time with it and found that the gameplay is roughly the same as the previous title (this is to be expected considering this title was ported in Japan before any of the others).

Taking place in the small country town of Tiraswheel, the young heroes Chris and Jurio are sent on a pilgrimage to five shrines. They are told that in these shrines they will find mirrors, and these mirrors will show them beautiful things. However, when Chris and Jurio head out to these shrines, the mirrors depict terrible events; events that the Moonlight Witch (who, decades ago, had disappeared) had foretold. The foreboding story continues from there.

As we had previously announced, The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch will be available to US gamers this July. Falcom fans, be ready.