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[Komatsu]

I know some people do not like the ship sections, but I'm finding them oddly relaxing. Handling the ship becomes much more pleasant later on.

I like the exploration but the ship handling is atrocious. Really wish Falcom had fine-tuned this

 

[adamsapple]

I know some people do not like the ship sections, but I'm finding them oddly relaxing. Handling the ship becomes much more pleasant later on.

It definitely became a lot better with more powers, but the ship sailing is slow as molasses at the start. Definitely took a while before it became less tedious and more manageable.

 

[Thief1987]

I know some people do not like the ship sections, but I'm finding them oddly relaxing. Handling the ship becomes much more pleasant later on.

My problem is that it's very slow, at least in the early parts of the game.

 

[Merkades]

I just finished this game and imo, a 6-7. I reasonably liked it and don't regret the purchase, but I definitely felt like this was made by a B or C team. Maybe it was the juniors Kondo mentioned... The shaders are trash, textures are bad, story is mid, character shading is pretty bad too. There is also some weird surround lighting on the characters (not rim lighting, which is just awful as well). The boat sections suck terribly until you get mana sails and some upgrades. Oh yeah, no weapon models outside the first and last, which with only two toons seems lazy.

FYI, I just replayed Ys VIII last year, and I prefer it easily despite its Vita roots. I am not sure where I would put this one, but below 8-9, Celceta and Origin...probably 6 too. Hmm, now that I think about it, I don't recall 3 and 7.. (or 5 for other reasons).

 

[Sentenza]

It's going absolutely nowhere.
Adol suffers terminal dick rot or something and canonically he never touches a single girl in his path.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I don’t know if it’s the controls or what, but the bosses in this game wreck me every time. I am still trying to unlearn that square is attack, so I spend a lot of time just standing next to an enemy and switching characters.

I have been focusing on perfect blocking everything. Maybe I should try dodging instead?

 

[Mister Wolf]

I don’t know if it’s the controls or what, but the bosses in this game wreck me every time. I am still trying to unlearn that square is attack, so I spend a lot of time just standing next to an enemy and switching characters.

I have been focusing on perfect blocking everything. Maybe I should try dodging instead?

Why not just configure the button settings how you want them to be?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

God damn, the start of this game is PAINFUL. I’m about 90 minutes in and it’s mostly been people just yapping on and on, interspersed with 3 battles that took about 10 seconds each.

After just finishing Metaphor I don’t know if I can handle another game with so much nonstop anime dialog. Might need to shelve this one and come back to it later.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Why not just configure the button settings how you want them to be?

I don’t think it’s possible. The configuration is as close to the old games as possible. There are just too many buttons now.

Prior games:
L1 dodge
R1 block
R1 hold for skills
Attack
Jump
Swap (rarely needed, used just to exploit weakness)

New game:
L1 dodge
X to counter on perfect dodge
Hold R1 skills
R2 block
R2 hold for duo skills
Swap (constantly due to stamina regen and bonus attacks)
Attack
Hold attack for mana power
Jump
L2 for grapple

Example of combat could be:
R2 to perfect block
L2 to grapple to enemy
Hold R1 push circle
Release R1, push square to swap
Press X a few times
Hold R1 push triangle
Hold R2 push square

All while having to R2 or R1 to block or dodge while also moving around.

Ys VIII was like:
Swap to character best against enemy
Perfect block or dodge
Hold block and press appropriate skill button
Attack a few times

 

[Klosshufvud]

10 hours in and I love it. Duo skills are great. Learning that you can just hold the block button and do normal attacks as a duo is a life saver in boss fights. And then you mix up with perfect parry blocks/dodges and unleash devastating skills.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

After just finishing Metaphor I don’t know if I can handle another game

I have a similar issue. After 100 hours of metaphor and characters I care about with meaningful interactions, this game feels so incredibly basic. I have to reorient my expectations back to standard JRPG fare.

Also how this pseudo open world game is blatantly carved up into these itty bitty sections to support PS4 is jarring after the way Metaphor managed their transitions.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I don’t think it’s possible. The configuration is as close to the old games as possible. There are just too many buttons now.

Prior games:
L1 dodge
R1 block
R1 hold for skills
Attack
Jump
Swap (rarely needed, used just to exploit weakness)

New game:
L1 dodge
X to counter on perfect dodge
Hold R1 skills
R2 block
R2 hold for duo skills
Swap (constantly due to stamina regen and bonus attacks)
Attack
Hold attack for mana power
Jump
L2 for grapple

Example of combat could be:
R2 to perfect block
L2 to grapple to enemy
Hold R1 push circle
Release R1, push square to swap
Press X a few times
Hold R1 push triangle
Hold R2 push square

All while having to R2 or R1 to block or dodge while also moving around.

Ys VIII was like:
Swap to character best against enemy
Perfect block or dodge
Hold block and press appropriate skill button
Attack a few times

These are my controls:

Dodge/Dash: R2
Duo Mode: L2
L1: Skill Mod
R1: Mana String
X: Attack
Y: Switch
A: Jump

 

[Shake Your Rump]

These are my controls:

Dodge/Dash: R2
Duo Mode: L2
L1: Skill Mod
R1: Mana String
X: Attack
Y: Switch
A: Jump

I try to stick to defaults but I think I will have to change something. I’m still not sure using a trigger to block is ideal. At least not on the PS5 dual sense. Maybe on an Xbox controller it would be more tolerable.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I try to stick to defaults but I think I will have to change something. I’m still not sure using a trigger to block is ideal. At least not on the PS5 dual sense. Maybe on an Xbox controller it would be more tolerable.

I have mapped block to R1 which feels way better. But in hindsight, maybe L1 is best for block, R1 for dodge and R2 for skills.

 

[Komatsu]

Let’s please stop comparing Ys, a game put out by Falcom, a small shop with 65 employees, with Metaphor, a flagship game by Atlus/SEGA with hundreds of millions of JPY in budget. SEGA’s marketing budget for the US alone is an order of magnitude greater than Falcom’s annual revenue.

 

[sigmaZ]

God damn, the start of this game is PAINFUL. I’m about 90 minutes in and it’s mostly been people just yapping on and on, interspersed with 3 battles that took about 10 seconds each.

After just finishing Metaphor I don’t know if I can handle another game with so much nonstop anime dialog. Might need to shelve this one and come back to it later.

I know what you mean. Dragon Quest 3 is gonna be the best chaser. No superfluous dialogue, just dungeon diving, customizable party, and good ole classic JRPG vibes.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Let’s please stop comparing Ys, a game put out by Falcom, a small shop with 65 employees, with Metaphor, a flagship game by Atlus/SEGA with hundreds of millions of JPY in budget. SEGA’s marketing budget for the US alone is an order of magnitude greater than Falcom’s annual revenue.

It has nothing to do with the budget. The people just talk too damn much and have nothing interesting to say. I thought IX was worse than VIII in that regard and from what I’ve seen, X is even worse.

 

[mèx]

It has nothing to do with the budget. The people just talk too damn much and have nothing interesting to say. I thought IX was worse than VIII in that regard and from what I’ve seen, X is even worse.

If you don't vibe with something that's fine, but if you think Atlus games don't have a lot of fluff/bloat in their dialogue... I don't know man.

 

[sigmaZ]

It has nothing to do with the budget. The people just talk too damn much and have nothing interesting to say. I thought IX was worse than VIII in that regard and from what I’ve seen, X is even worse.

Tell me about it. There was one particular dialogue in nine which I was like that's it... I'm skipping ALL the dialogue now lol
Falcom kind of just does fan service stories now. I used to like their games for their lack of story, now they've kind of gone in the opposite direction.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

If you don't vibe with something that's fine, but if you think Atlus games don't have a lot of fluff/bloat in their dialogue... I don't know man.

I think you took the opposite of what I was trying to say before. I wasn’t trying to hold Atlus up as an example of good concise dialog.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Tell me about it. There was one particular dialogue in nine which I was like that's it... I'm skipping ALL the dialogue now lol
Falcom kind of just does fan service stories now. I used to like their games for their lack of story, now they've kind of gone in the opposite direction.

And let me guess, in X there’s going to be a scene like “ohhh a hot spring, I would love to take a bath here but Adol is chained to me! Hey Adol, no peaking!!!”

 

[sigmaZ]

And let me guess, in X there’s going to be a scene like “ohhh a hot spring, I would love to take a bath here but Adol is chained to me! Hey Adol, no peaking!!!”

Yes. A scenes where a character is not confident in themselves over something really minor, showing lack even the basic social/mental capacity to deal with adversity and need everyone to cheer them up with the power of friendship.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Story's not that bad. It's very light weight and relaxed. It may seem a bit too relaxed maybe coming off Metaphor but on the plus side, the more you play, the less exposition there is. Some parts of the game, the music just decides to let loose and go wild.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I am probably not very far into the game. The writing and plot are extremely lightweight compared to anything we saw in Ys VIII or IX. Hell, Celceta felt more impactful, and I quit that game about 80% in because I felt like it was just busy work. Compared to Trails through Daybreak, this is light as a feather.

I'm also missing actual dungeons. So far, it's just sail to a spot, fight a few monsters, then a boss.

I didn't get around to finishing IX, but this game is really making me want to go back and finish that. This isn't a bad game, but it is (so far) the weakest Falcom game I have ever played.

 

[sigmaZ]

Story's not that bad. It's very light weight and relaxed. It may seem a bit too relaxed maybe coming off Metaphor but on the plus side, the more you play, the less exposition there is. Some parts of the game, the music just decides to let loose and go wild.

I have never played Ys for story. There's so much better writing out there. It's like trying to get a healthy meal at McDonalds.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I hate to say it, but I am likely dropping this game. Life is too short.

It's mainly the combat that is a turn off. There is no real reason to switch characters. The enemies don't seem to have any weaknesses, so there is no strategy other than "use Karja to break armor". There is the fire/ice thing, but does it really matter?

I can help but compare this to Ys VIII. There, I had a party of specialized characters that I would swap out as needed. One character with piercing poison, another to break enemies, another for area attacks, one for slashing, paralyze, etc.There were so many options.

The plot also feels so... forced? "Oh no, what do we do now??" SHING! Some new mana power randomly appears and now you can proceed. Every... single... time.

Maybe this is the Metaphor Effect, but I'd rather just play something else that requires some actual thought or tactics. I need to look into who actually made his game at Falcom, because Trails through Daybreak was just six months ago and it blows this game away.

 

[mèx]

Finished in around 50 hours.

Overall I had a great time, as usual Ys has a nice game feel that it's not easily replicated.

I quite liked the combat, it flows really well and all the elements work nicely together (aside from the Mana String ability, I haven't used it much). Reading online there seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the combat system: I have read about people staying almost exclusively in Duo mode, never switching characters, not being aware of the Skill Chain multiplier, not being aware the the hyper armor during a skill animation... The game should have done a better job at explaining all these systems. Once you get it, it's really fun, weaving skills, parries and duo mode never got boring for me.

The boss fights were great! Those small boss specific combat cutscenes were cool too.

The sense of adventure is still there as usual, and I personally liked the ship sections. It's true that the ship is quite slow at the beginning, but as long as you use wind lines it's not as bad as it sounds. I found sailing around relaxing.

I also warmed up to the story towards the end, but objectively it needs too much time to get interesting. The game spends too much time dealing with the immediate Grieger threat instead of focusing on the underlying mystery. I think I started to like it around Chapter 6/7, so well into the game. And while the cast of supporting characters start small, at one point you have around 25 people on your ship... That was a bit too much.

I did basically everything, explored all the islands (100% completion) and completed all side quests. I always had the materials for upgrades and whatnot, no farming needed.

It's well worth playing if you like modern Ys. I hope they re-use and improve on the Duo combat system because it's really fun.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I had a few days away from this game while I played some other stuff. I keep voice memos on my phone after most play sessions to quickly mention what I did and what I plan on doing next. These are just a minute or so memos, so if I happen to take an extended break from the game, I can get back into it more easily. I hadn't done this with Nordics, so I booted it up with the intent of quickly seeing where I was at and making a voice memo. I truly thought I may never play the game again, but I wanted a memo just in case.

I never did get around to making that voice memo. After booting up the game, I played the entire day, and almost non-stop since.

I think it was the after-effects of Metaphor plus my lack of full understanding for the game systems that turned me off (also that absolutely awful sand worm boss... dreadful... worst boss in any JRPG maybe). This time, I went through all the menus again, trying to figure out why the combat felt so bad. It turns out that the combat here is actually very simple. As someone else mentioned here (or somewhere), it's really just all about using your skills effectively. That is to say, rotating through your characters and never using the same skill two times in a row to build up a skill chain.

I was also still trying to perfect dodge and getting frustrated, when there is actually no perfect dodge in this game at all. There is the speed dodge (or whatever it's called), but you don't need any timing: you just run and it automatically happens. There is really no need to dodge in combat at all except during those special blue attacks.

I also have come to really enjoy the music! I wish NIS would provide more than just a few tracks to download. I don't need the hojillion tracks each of these games puts out, but at least give us the standard 10-12 tracks. I guess there is always Spotify.

Anyway, I am pretty far in... I think? I am 40% exploration complete, for what that's worth.

 

[mèx]

This time, I went through all the menus again, trying to figure out why the combat felt so bad. It turns out that the combat here is actually very simple. As someone else mentioned here (or somewhere), it's really just all about using your skills effectively. That is to say, rotating through your characters and never using the same skill two times in a row to build up a skill chain.

The combat loop works like this mostly:
- Use solo skills until you run out of SP.
- Remember to not use the same skill consecutively otherwise the skill chain multiplier will be interrupted. The skill chain multiplier gives you massive SP cost reduction. Try to keep it up at all times.
- Switch character, and rinse and repeat with the above.
- Blue attacks need to be dodged, that can be done by keeping the dodge button pressed. After the dodge phase is finished, you can perform counterattack with the attack button.
- Red attacks need to be parried, try to go for a perfect parry as that will increase the revenge multiplier by quite a lot. The timing of the parry is a few frames before you are hit, parry on hit does not work.
- Once the revenge multiplier is maxed out, unleash a duo skill. This is the only time you should use duo skills: duo skills without a decent revenge multipier are not that great.
- The other time you would like to stay in duo mode is when the situation is chaotic enough, so you can block the incoming attacks. Beware that the guard can be broken if you keep it up too long.


Tips:
- Perfect parries on red attacks can activate the QTE attack, at least once per fight, and those are cool as heck and do quite a bit of damage.
- While you are using a skill, you get MASSIVE damage reduction. So you really need to keep using skills. You are still susceptible to knockback though.
- You can charge a Mana Burst while performing skills with long animations. That is done by keeping the attack button pressed. Landing a Mana Burst gives you SP on hit.
- You can charge a Mana Burst while using Mana String.
- Smashing into enemies with the Mana Board does damage.
- Adol is the damage dealer, while Karja is the breaker. Maybe it's worth to keep one break skill on Adol and one damage skill on Karja, since you will be swapping them out constantly.
- Skills with short animation makes you more likely to perfect parry attacks, as you will not be stuck in the skill animation for too long. Mix and match short animation skills with long animation skills.
- You should basically never use the standard attacks... You can use them as a filler while the reserve character is getting some SP regen.
- Personally I wouldn't use potions if you are playing on Normal/Hard. You can retry bosses immediately anyway, so there is no point. I think it's more fun to learn the patterns and defeating bosses with a clean fight instead of face-tanking by using potions/food. Obviously your mileage may vary, do what is most fun for you in the end.
- If you are playing on PC, I would recommend using Steam Input to enable toggle on the run button. There is no reason to walk in this game. If you map run on the left stick, you can free one button for more important actions.

That's all I could find while playing. Maybe there are other techs/strategies I'm not aware of.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I'm nearing the end now. Played on Hard Difficulty. I have to say the game becomes sort of repetitive and easy later on. And the story is sort of just there, despite taking a lot of time doing exposition dumps. The initial impressions were way better. I think I would've liked the game more if it was 15 hours instead of 30. Cut out some of the repeating islands, make seafaring a bit more varied with changing weathers and better controls and combat a bit more intricate.

 

[Lorianus]

I like that Adol x Karja is a brother sister type relationship and not the usual romance bait with the onesided girl crushing on Adol from previous games, always felt a little sad when Adol goes his way on another adventure only to leave broken hearts behind.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I like that Adol x Karja is a brother sister type relationship and not the usual romance bait with the onesided girl crushing on Adol from previous games, always felt a little sad when Adol goes his way on another adventure only to leave broken hearts behind.

Have you finished the story?

 

[Lorianus]

Have you finished the story?

Yes i did, it was at most a little blushing when she get's teased by certain characters but i never got the feeling that there was more than buddies in crime.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Yes i did, it was at most a little blushing when she get's teased by certain characters but i never got the feeling that there was more than buddies in crime.

Spoiler

I felt like the whole chapter where her berserker mode is activated heavily implied that Karja was in love with Adol. But maybe I read too much into it. She never really rejects it her mother says Adol would make a good step son.

 

[Thief1987]

I'm playing it very slow, just started ch.5, and I feel like dual mode wasn't well thought out. Like there are no any downsides and no any reason to not use it. Basically you have increased damage active shield defense and skills ready to use, what's the point of individual fighting then.

 

[Seyken]

I'm playing it very slow, just started ch.5, and I feel like dual mode wasn't well thought out. Like there are no any downsides and no any reason to not use it. Basically you have increased damage active shield defense and skills ready to use, what's the point of individual fighting then.

Like other people in the thread have said, some of you are not engaging with the systems in the game correctly. Duo mode starts off very strong, but falls off quickly.

You're supposed to spend all your mana with one character without repeating the same skill twice in a row. Change characters and do the same with that one, go ham with it, try to combo monsters, etc. You'll see that your skill chain will be going up, that makes it so all of your skills cost less MP the higher the chain goes. You can get some insane MP cost reductions and basically combo with one character non-stop, even with higher tier skills.

The only time it's worth it to use your Duo Skills is when you've raised your Revenge gauge multiplier enough by blocking/parrying attacks.

I finished the game on Saturday, played it on Nightmare, did 100% and loved it from beginning to end. I seriously think most of the people not enjoying it are not engaging with its systems in the proper way. Nightmare will force you to learn.

 

[Doom_master1122]

I finished the game about a week ago. Played the whole series so I've seen it go through a lot of iterations and changes to the formula. This one was the first I was really questioning at the start. The combat has a very similar feel to the past handful of titles (Ys7, Celcata, 8 and 9). However trying to approach it like those games only ends in disaster. I was finding myself more frustrated with the game, until I decided to approach it another way. The Duo Mode threw me off as I found it difficult to understand why I wouldn't just use Duo Attacks the whole game and ignore solo. Finally realized during boss fights that countering/parrying, and building the revenge meter were the intended route. Fights were a lot more engaging and also less difficult once I approached it that way, and the game became much more enjoyable. Maybe not in my top 5 Ys games, but very very close. Wouldn't mind seeing this system appear in Ys11, or maybe an Ys5 remake (Please?)

The sea exploration was on the right track, but it was kind of stale. The ship combat was "ok", and boring at worst. It worked, but I feel there should have been more uses or expanded upon. What that answer would be? I'm not entirely sure. It just feels like a cool idea they wanted to do, but only touched upon it a little, leaving it in a "good enough" state. Again, not bad, but really isn't a highlight, which is a shame about a game revolving around sailing to different islands.
However once exploring dungeon and wandering the fields, the game shines wonderfully, bringing back that Ys feeling again. Even the OST was an improvement over Ys9 (Wasn't a fan of 9's music).
The combat as mentioned was the biggest surprise. Once I started to fully enjoy the game after the hurdle, It was satifying to flow between enemies using my skills and swapping back and forth between Adol and Karja. The Mana seed system has a lot of potential. However I found myself sticking to 1 color per level depth, probably not ideal, but it worked for me.

I very much enjoyed the story as an Ys game. I found the plot very interesting and feels like a fit for the universe its in. Even if it doesn't have a direct effect (At least yet) on anything else happening in the world.
I loved the chemistry between Adol and Karja, she started off cold and the game very much pushed a whole "Karja has a crush" on Adol. With me audibly chuckling at a couple specific points in the later portion of the game when the topic is brought up. The start of the game was a bit of a drag as it took its sweet time to really release control back to the player, but eventually it set us free. Not a complaint really, just an observation.

Spoiler: Ending spoilers

I also enjoyed the hidden sequence at the end of the game if you went to the lighthouse. It seemingly confirms old Lore they built way back in the day about Adol. It sounds like this won't be the last we hear from Karja in the story, and Adol's final journey will be amazing if Falcom ever decides to make that. For him "Disappearing" in the north pole it sounds like he was chasing an old threat that might become very relevant again in the future. Which makes you wonder who it could be. Also good to hear that Dogi is still Adol's right hand man still.

Over all it has gotten me in the mood to replay some old Ys games again since its been a bit for me. If I had to carelessly give it a number, I'd give it a nice old 7 or 8.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Trying to finish this. It's going a little longer than I would like.

 

[Komatsu]

Finally wrapped it up. Massive jump in difficulty towards the end of Chapter 9. A really good game, though it did not reach the heights of Lacrimosa or Oath in Felghana.