When did Xseed become so awesome?

[Adrian-kun]

I have known about Xseed for quite a while thanks to such games as the Wild Arms series, but back in the day they didn't seem all that different from the rest of the pack. What made them reach this incredible popular status?
Could it be the rise of Japanese video game fans? Or is it because nowadays we mostly see Call of Duty titles on the market and whenever someone breaks the norm we all go fan crazy?
My question is: what made you take notice of Xseed?

[Peytral]

Half-Minute Hero, which my friend let me borrow once.

[Chaosblade]

I had seen mentions of them here and there for a few years at least before I ever got any of their games. Arc Rise Fantasia was going to be the first game I got from them, but I think we all know what happened there (unfortunately).

Got Lunar but didn't really pay much mind to the fact XSEED published it. Then the Falcom games, and that's what has pretty much cemented me as a fan and has me looking forward to their announcements/output.

[Cloud]

I bought Wild ARMs 5 and had a friend who used to go on and on about how great XSEED was back in the day. That's generally what brought my attention to them and their products.

...Though in all honesty, it's the shiny boxes that hooked me in for sure. I can't get enough shiny boxes.

[Ivy]

The sideways artwork on Brave Story is what got my attention. Sad, maybe, but it worked.

[AweOfShe]

I was already impressed with them when they picked up Shadow Hearts: FtNW (and did a fantastic job with it), when no one else (seemingly) would. Then with the Wild Arms 5 release with the art-book, I felt like they were going to be a company I was going to love. But, I didn't go truly fan-boyish for them until the Falcom partnership. Though even before then, I still made it a habit to check out anything they released. I rank them pretty high, beside Atlus USA now.

[JeremyR]

It was pretty early on for me. I was a big Shadow Hearts fan, which was one of their first games.

And I've been a big PSP person since 2006, and they had 3 pretty decent titles in 2007 that I bought and one in 2008.

That said, they seem to have gather critical notice once they started doing the Ys series.

Between Xseed, Atlus and Nisa, that's pretty much all my gaming budget

[Peekachu]

It was pretty early on for me. I was a big Shadow Hearts fan, which was one of their first games.

And I've been a big PSP person since 2006, and they had 3 pretty decent titles in 2007 that I bought and one in 2008.

That said, they seem to have gather critical notice once they started doing the Ys series.

Between Xseed, Atlus and Nisa, that's pretty much all my gaming budget

Yeah, Shadow Hearts and Wild Arms (I've loved that series since I started my affair with consoles). The one-two punch settled it.

[Ryos]

I was already impressed with them when they picked up Shadow Hearts: FtNW (and did a fantastic job with it), when no one else (seemingly) would.

Ditto. They had me at Shadow Hearts. Shame that's the last game we'll ever see from that series, but at least they chose to localize it. And they've been doing all sorts of great releases since.

[dunno001]

I know they have been for a while, I'm more kicking myself for not realizing it earlier than I did. Once I caught on, it didn't take long for XSeed to jump up to my #2 gaming company, and gaining ground on #1... I assume there's no connection between XSeed and XS Games, though?