For those unaware of Ys, it's a series of action JRPGs developed by Falcom (also known for Legend of Heroes) featuring the adventures of Adol Christin. While there is a continuity, each entry is mostly standalone. Ys I was released in 1987, making it one of the oldest RPG franchises around. Ys VIII was released in English two weeks ago. While Adol is still the protagonist, the game also features a secondary protagonist in Dana.
The premise of Ys VIII is fairly generic but ends up being so much more. You start on a leisure ship that gets shipwrecked and you wash up on a deserted island. Shortly after landing on the island, you encounter another survivor and the game really begins.
As you explore more of the island, you will encounter more survivors. Eventually, you and the other survivors establish a village with the ultimate goal of escaping the island. Each survivor that you rescue will join your village and add something to it. There's a blacksmith, a tailor, a doctor, etc. You will inevitably encounter obstacles along your journey that block your path. These obstacles are gated behind the number of survivors in your village, providing further incentive to search every corner of the island. The game also tracks how much of the island you've explored and rewards you for every 10% completed. The map fully tracks how much you've uncovered, the total number of treasure chests found, and notable landmarks. Villagers will also give you quests. Completing their quests will get you rewards while raising your reputation. Each character also has an affection stat that can be maxed to uncover their full back story (no romance, Adol's true love is adventure).
The core of the game play is still an action RPG where you go around defeating the wildlife you encounter. Killing wildlife gives you drops. There are also gathering points in every area that give you materials. These points refresh over time. The drops and materials are things like wood, fur, ore, bones, etc. These materials are used for upgrading weapons, crafting accessories, mixing potions, and so on. They are also part of a tiered system so if you find yourself short of a material, it's possible to exchange them up or down. Generally if you defeat everything you encounter and gather from every point you see, you'll have enough materials to get what you want so it's not very grindy unless you want it to be.
To elaborate on the combat system, it's fairly basic hack and slash combat. You roam around with an active party of three. Each character has one of three attack types: slashing, piercing, and striking. Slashing is good against soft enemies, piercing against flying, and striking against armor. You switch your characters on the fly depending on the enemies you're fighting. Eventually you get a party of six, with two characters for each damage type.
The combat seems very shallow at first glance. For anyone looking up the combat on YouTube, I understand that it might look bland but I insist that it's something that's a lot more exhilarating when experienced first hand. You get a single ground and aerial attack string along with four skill slots. Each character learns 12 skills and each skill has three levels. Maxing each skill provides benefits but they're generally marginal enough that the system can be ignored. There is also an EXTRA meter that is used for supers.
What makes the combat actually fun is the parry and dodge system. Parrying at the last second creates a Flash Guard for a small period of time. During this time, you are invincible and all of your attacks become crits. A last second dodge creates a Flash Move. Under Flash Move, you are also invincible with increased movement speed. The enemy also moves in slow motion. Both Flash Guard and Flash Move can be active at the same time. Mastering the timings on these two techniques is critical on higher difficulties.
Once you've experienced the basics of the game play, they begin to throw interceptions at you. Interceptions are optional challenges where you must defend your village against swarms of wildlife. The materials mentioned before can also be used to upgrade structures to defend your village during interceptions. Interceptions eventually lead into suppressions where you go out and defeat wildlife before they become a threat at all.
Last note: the game has an amazing soundtrack (Comments on videos may contain spoilers. Don't look.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvBla5NUlvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wv-foBzZT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4_b-ZqmK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfWYlVQPY7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccoZh4wLtVE
TL;DR it's almost as satisfying as Persona 5 and it's 40 - 50 hours long. If you're at all interested in JRPGs, it's well worth a look. And even if you aren't, there's a demo available to see if you'd like the combat.
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