Review: Ys Seven for PSP – 2010

 

 

Prior to Ys (pronounced ‘ease’, or is it ‘ess’? I don’t know. I just call it Wise) Seven, I, like most North American gamers had never heard of Ys, despite it being one of the most popular game franchises, with a loyal fanbase that has sustained its legacy for several decades.

The Ys franchise’s main hero is Adol Christin; a red haired swordsman who traverses the lands and seas in search of adventure. The series typically consists of real time action oriented gameplay, and it falls under the action rpg spectrum. It’s more Zeldaesque than it is Final Fantasy. I guess you can consider it a mix of the two. There are no random encounters or boring turn based fights here. Though you will sometimes find yourself grinding, almost tirelessly, to attain higher levels. Earlier games in the franchise featured a truly awkward combat system that required the player to bump into enemies, rather than punching or sword swiping

Ys Seven was my first foray into Nihon Falcom’s fantasy world of kings, princesses, giant monsters and destined heroes. This game, in particular, was an entirely new entry designed specifically to run on the PSP’s hardware. It’s also the newest game in the series, story-wise, while the Oath In Felghana, which was released later is a remake of an earlier Ys game. Since its release in 2010, Ys Seven has been the object of many PSP owner’s adoration. Does Ys Seven rise up and live up to the hype?

Ys Seven begins with Adol, and his longtime pal, Dogi aboard a sea faring ship. Together they gaze at a distant Island. Little do they do know what significance this Island will hold for them in their coming adventure. Eventually, Adol and Dogi arrive in Altago City and it isn’t long before trouble begins to brew. Citizens of Altago begin to fall ill to a mysterious illness termed Iskan Fever. It’s up to Adol and his pals to unravel this new threat and save the world.

Gameplay:

Proceeding the game’s long-winded prologue, we’re finally able to set out on our quest . Initially, you start out with a 2 member party, but as the game progresses, the party grows exponentially. Combat is rather simplistic. In battles, you will usually have 3 characters on sight. The one you control, and two allies. Your allies will follow your every step. When you attack, they will attack as well. Ys Seven also discourages maining a single character. So if you expect to get through some enemies speedily, you’ll have to switch between characters of differing strengths. There are 3 character types. Adol is strong and his sword is great for close-range fights but won’t be of much use against more durable enemies. Dogi is big and extremely powerful but he’s slow and his punches won’t be very useful against smaller foes. Aisha is fast and her bow is great for attacking while staying out of the enemy’s range, but she isn’t very strong. As you and your team traverse Altago’s Plains and the various dungeons in Ys Seven, you’ll come across a variety of enemies. Some small, some big and some extremely large. To get past them, you will have to make use of your weapons. You attack using the X button and dash with []. The O button allows you to switch between your 2 or 3 on-screen characters, while the triangle button lets you access your inventory of health regenerative items + other important belongings.. If you hold the R button while pressing one of the face buttons, you will pull off a Skill. You can collect many of these skills or so I’ve heard, but I’ve only attained a few for each of my characters. You can only pull off special maneuvers when your Extra gauge is full. The extra gauge is the big yellow one at the bottom right of the screen. Use it sparingly because it takes quite a while to refill. The gameplay is fun, no doubt about it. There really isn’t anything for me to complain about in this category.

Ys Seven’s boss fights are truly a test of endurance. Now that may be a good or bad thing depending on your gaming preferences, but in my opinion they were either extremely fun, or extremely tedious, as was the case against the Wind Dragon. The Earth Dragon, on the other hand, was a blast. Some can take upwards of 20 minutes to complete, but how long a boss takes to defeat will depend on how strong you characters are. Players who do not level their characters enough will have a hard time, but those who level them too much might complain that the bosses are too easy. Most of these pattern-based bosses aren’t too difficult. With quick fingers, all attacks can be avoided with a well timed press of the dash button (except of course a certain arena wide blast during the first stage of the fight against Rul-Ende; that freaking bastard). The final boss, which is a series of 4 boss fights may prove to be a little heavy handed, and unless you’ve spent enough time training your characters, you will have one hell of a time getting through it. In fact, you might not get through it at all unless you go back and spend some time training your characters and upgrading their weapons and armor.

Presentation:

The game’s story is presented through lazy text-only cut-scenes typical of the RPG genre. The only time you actually hear your characters speak is when you switch between them mid-battle. Thankfully, the story was engaging enough to keep me entertained, and even perplexed at times. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and that isn’t something I can say of too many games. The final twist near the end of Ys Seven that revealed the true instigator of all that had happened to Altago caught me off guard, so kudos to Falcom.

Ys Seven’s graphics aren’t eye catching but I suppose they aren’t horrible. The character models themselves look great, but could use a bit more detail. However, the landscapes are very bland. It just seems like not much effort went into them. It makes me anxious to see a Ys game developed for the Playstation 3 or even the PS Vita, which is a new Sony handheld capable of producing graphics of similar quality. Just take a look at the PS Vita: Gravity Rush screenshots in my previous blog. Such a beaut. It’s disappointing to see such a fantastic story with great gameplay be bogged down by such boring graphics.

Ys Seven’s soundtrack is simply awesome. Then again, fans often rave about the series’ music, so I guess I can attest to that now. The song Crossing Rage will play at the end of the first half of the game during a boss battle, and if you’re like me, it’ll get your blood boiling. You won’t want the fight to stop.

Pros:

Gameplay is fun
Story is great
Bosses can be challenging

Cons:

Graphics are pretty dull
Bosses can be extremely long

In Conclusion: I wasn’t a Ys fan before, but I definitely am now. Ys Seven is one of those games that just sucks you in. It isn’t a perfect game, and grinding for higher levels can get pretty tiresome, but the overall experience was pleasurable. Now its on to Ys: The Oath in Felghana. There is even a new Ys game in development for the Playstation Vita. Not much is known about it now, but be sure to keep an eye out for it.

Final Score – 4: Great but with a few short comings.