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Anime Ys series

Tse Tse Fly

Savant
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
Messages
622
Finally completed Ys IX, after roughly 73 hours. Surprised it took me longer than Lacrimosa of Dana, considering the game world appeared smaller in IX.

Overall, it's a decent game, even though it decidedly concedes to Ys VIII in certain aspects, most notably the design of levels and exploration. Personally I would not mind the introduction of an open world with free exploration with activities outside of fighting, IF there actually was some challenge in exploring it. If it isn't the monsters that are opposing the player while he is mapping out the area, there still must be something for the player to overcome, but thanks to how the locations of new and unknown points of interest (quests, landmarks, graffitis, treasure chests, etc) get marked on your map right away, while you're still a good way off, there was little in the way of actually *exploring* the game world on your own. There rarely was a moment I could spend without another icon appearing on the map, the game immediately spoils everything without letting you properly look around for yourself, which defeats the purpose of exploration. I searched for a way to disable map icons for some types of points of interest or decrease the distance at which they get revealed to you by the game, but couldn't find any. That said, traversing the game world was fun (especially when I did get presented with a challenge of finding my way across the terrain to get to the point of the current destination), though some of the monstrums' gifts are underused.

Another thing with which I am not exactly pleased is that two of my least favourite gameplay elements from Ys VIII, namely side quests and tower defense nonsense, not only made it into the new game but became effectively mandatory in Ys IX. Side quests are still optional technically, but completing them is one of the two possible ways of obtaining "Nox points" (the other way is through farming lemures ad nauseum, which is even worse), accumulating which is necessary for getting access to new locations and progressing through the game. Still, I wouldn't say these two things ruined the game for me, because 1) side quests required little effort to complete and allowed you to acquire new characters and reveal more details of the game's story 2) Nox holes are better integrated with the narrative and you only have to do them from time to time.

Despite the points above, I cannot call Ys IX a bad game while staying honest to myself, because the button-mashing combat is as fun as it ever was (even though they managed to fuck up with Adol to some degree) and there is one specific thing Ys IX does better than the previous games, and that being the writing. This time the characters are actually interesting and you haven't to force yourself to pay attention to their stories. Besides, almost all of the major characters are related to the main story in some way, and I was really surprised how it all connected together in the end. The plot still goes places sometimes (the deal with Chatelard, for instance -- what was it even about???), some twists appear out of nowhere, but the writing is much more sensible and coherent than it was in Ys VIII. I think it wouldn't be much of an overstatement to say that Ys IX has the best story and characters of all Ys games (at least those currently available on Steam), for what it's worth. I'm really impressed, I wish the writing in the other Ys games was on this level or better.

So this concludes my initial introduction to the Ys series.

My final ranking of the Ys games I played:

Ys VIII > Oath in Felghana > Ys IX > Ys Seven > Celceta > Ys II > Ys VI > Ys I > Ys Origin.

I wouldn't call any of these games bad, all of them are pretty close to one another for me, but as they say, I have my preferences.

To be honest I haven't exactly *completed* some of those games (Ys II, Ys I, Oath in Felghana, Ys VI - stuck at the final bosses, Ys Origin - only completed Hugo's story IIRC), but I'm going to come back when I feel like it.

Now, has there been any news regarding the next Ys game?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2022
Messages
944
Now, has there been any news regarding the next Ys game?

Falcom releases one game per year. Hajimari came out in 2020 and Kuro no Kiseki 1 came out in 2021. 2022 is going to be Kuro 2. Four years of Trails games in a row seems unlikely, so if a Kuro 3 happens I doubt it would happen in 2023. So Ys X could come out in 2023.
 
Last edited:

Ysaye

Arbiter
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
771
Location
Australia
Now, has there been any news regarding the next Ys game?

Falcom releases one game per year. Hajimari came out in 2020 and Kuro no Kiseki 1 came out in 2021. 2022 is going to be Kuro 2. Four years of Trails games in a row seems unlikely, so if a Kuro 3 happens I doubt it would happen in 2023. So Ys X could come out in 2023.

Or we could get a remake of a Ys or maybe touch a different series entirely; I think Kondo is on record as saying he is keen on doing another Tokyo Xanadu or a remake.

I agree though that they will probably take a break from Trails in 2023. Also Ys is generally a better seller for them than Trails I believe; it has a broader audience (which has the nasty side effect of being the area they look to put in casual gaming things like tower defence), so going back to it maybe a requirement anyway.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,321
Some info and concept art for Ys X: https://www.gematsu.com/2022/06/first-concept-artwork-of-the-next-ys-game-interview-tidbits

KBzUgtM.jpg
 

Grampy_Bone

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2016
Messages
3,640
Location
Wandering the world randomly in search of maps
Finally finished Memories of Celceta. Can't say it was a bad game but Ys has definitely lost something since the older titles. After this, Ys 7, and Ys 8, I'm more convinced than ever that Ark of Napishtim* was the peak of the series.
The combat is just so sloppy and messy, enemies are health sponges (on Hard) without much reward or interesting mechanics. Just pick the right damage type, spam attack, dodge roll when needed. Even the special moves feel dull since you just pick the best one and spam it, there's not much point to combos or special effects. Even when I got Freida and she had Ice magic I was super let down; because it was all just generic 'slash' damage in the end.

Now on to Ys 5, immediately disappointed by the music. Was this one done by another composer or something? SNES should be able to crank out some decent tunes. I installed Ys9 too and started it, immediately felt better and more precise than Celceta. But then I get a second party member and we're back to damage types and dodgeroll spam and ugh, Idk if I can continue. The characters are also over designed and look like gay castlevania heroes, and the main heroine is a loli. Barf. Missing you already, Dana.

I am actually looking forward to this though:



Only two party members, damage type system gone, lots of new mechanics. Plus boat combat, which I will always enjoy but I can guess some people here will have opinions.

*I've always been confused that Felghana is considered top tier, considering it's a rather humdrum game in terms of design, with stat-stick items and annoying platforming. It's a quality remake of the horrid original Ys3, but I found Ark's three elemental swords delightfully tactical and the platforming not quite so cancerous, not to mention grinding felt fun rather than a tedious chore.
 

Momock

Augur
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
644
*I've always been confused that Felghana is considered top tier, considering it's a rather humdrum game in terms of design, with stat-stick items and annoying platforming. It's a quality remake of the horrid original Ys3, but I found Ark's three elemental swords delightfully tactical and the platforming not quite so cancerous, not to mention grinding felt fun rather than a tedious chore.
I remember an impossible optional boss unless you grind for hours in Napishtim + boring field and lame level design. And WTH is wrong with platforming?

About Ys X, it's cool that they're moving away from the crapy party formula, but it will be all for nothing if they keep pushing the retarded perfect dodge/block mechanic that makes you invincible for ages.
What do we know about that thing in X?
 

Dadd

Learned
Joined
Aug 20, 2022
Messages
2,723
Napishtim was boring af, both the combat and the story
Oh Adol fuck me fuck me~ no Adolf don't leave me I'm gonna cry :(((
 

Grampy_Bone

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2016
Messages
3,640
Location
Wandering the world randomly in search of maps
What do we know about that thing in X?
According to that vid it's focused on blocking now. Which is odd since Adol lost his shield after Ys7 and hasn't gotten it back.

Also slightly funny that they are sandwiching the game all the way back after Ys2, where they already pushed Ys4. Adol having quite a lot of fun before Ys3 now. I'm guessing its because that's the period of the timeline where he is in the North Atlantic; they couldn't justify Adol sailing all the way from Greece to Sweden without getting into 47 more shipwrecks.

Playing Lost Kefin some more, it may be the worst combat in the series. It's just so slow. The game is begging for a Ark/Oath/Origin remake.
 

Spike

Educated
Joined
Apr 6, 2023
Messages
531
This guy reviews every Ys game and goes into the differences with the remakes and the originals. It's really good.

 

Grampy_Bone

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2016
Messages
3,640
Location
Wandering the world randomly in search of maps
Finished Ys 5. I expected nothing, and was still disappointed. At least it was short. 8 hours.

The final dungeon was a bit of a surprise, turned out to be another flying city, with multiple dungeons and connecting areas.

The game had a few different swing styles for the swords available; unfortunately the best sword had the worst swing type. Just kind of annoying. The game also had an interesting spell system where you collect different elemental crystals and combine them into spells. Too bad the spell list was pretty trash. All the projectile spells locked you in place for the casting animation while the enemies can still move around, so aiming is impossible. Then there were screen clearing nukes but these burned so much mp as to be nearly useless too.

Not sure what was worse, this or OG Ys 3.

Still playing Ys 9 too. Got to a boss that was actually hard; I should have leveled up some more but instead I spammed potions like a degenerate. The enemy damage is getting quite high so mistakes are punishing, keeps me on my toes. I find the city more interesting the explore than 8's island or Celceta's forest. Ys 7 seems to have completely blanked out of my mind so I can't even compare it anymore.
 

Grampy_Bone

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2016
Messages
3,640
Location
Wandering the world randomly in search of maps
Finished Monstrum Nox at around 40 hours on hard, which wasn't really hard at all. I even beat the bonus boss. The problem with the game's difficulty is the abundance of healing items, something older Ys titles didn't have. They limit the number of potions you can have but they also let you carry like 99 food and use as much as you want while pausing. So the challenge feels a bit pointless. I made it through okay just using stuff I found, and I still rarely needed to heal. This is something Tales series figured out long ago, limiting item spam and inventory space.

I still liked it more than Ys 8 or Celceta. The town was fun to explore with all the traversal skills, pretty much Assassin's creed + JRPG. Nice. The game got worse once the city was done and you're exploring outside. The prison sections were a drag too and the story payoff for it all was pretty lame. I think too much Kiseki is seeping into this series and it's not a benefit.

Still, really excited for Ys X if and when it releases in the west; there's not even a date yet. They went and copied Black Flag so someone at Falcom really when on an AssCreed kick.
 

Tse Tse Fly

Savant
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
Messages
622
Btw I have a question - how are Clouded Leopard ports of Falcom games for Asia different from NISA/Durante ports for the West? Are those really 2 separate ports or they differ only in translation?
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2022
Messages
944
how are Clouded Leopard ports of Falcom games for Asia different from NISA/Durante ports for the West? Are those really 2 separate ports

Yes they are two different PC ports. Durante's PC ports come with a lot of extra graphical features and QoL features (such as instantly resuming from your last save, turbo mode, etc) and optimized performance compared to CLE's ports.
 

SilentMRG

Literate
Joined
Nov 27, 2023
Messages
12
Location
Somewhere in South America...
I don't know if anyone has already said this in this thread. Anyway, it's good to remember this detail: Ys I & II Chronicles+, as well as The Oath in Felghana, Origin, and if I remember correctly The Ark of Napishtim support Mouse movement! This means that you can move the character with the Mouse, just like you do in Diablo, just as an example. This didn't exist before, it was just a keyboard, but Nihon Falcom's programmer, Sara, did this at the request of the fans, in addition to other cool things she did, among them, the addition of dubbing in Oath in Felghana, ported from the version of PSP. Anyway, Sara has worked hard on the series, polishing it in the best way possible and that deserves our recognition. In fact, I bought the games on GOG just for that reason. And let's stop and think for a second, it's rare adventure games, like Ys, to support Mouse movement. In general, you only have Keyboard or Gamepad.
 

Tse Tse Fly

Savant
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
Messages
622
Chinese/Asian version of Ys X is out, and it's not too promising...
Screenshot-20240314-155720-1.png



It's Ys 8 port all over again?
 

Rean

Head Codexian Weeb
Patron
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Messages
1,910
Strap Yourselves In
Is this pre-Durante treatment?
 

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