Post by Nester the Lark on Aug 1, 2021 10:14:12 GMT -5
I think I'm maybe... halfway through Ys IX? I've enjoyed it more the further I've gotten into it, so here are some impressions so far...
The Setting
A city built around a gigantic labyrinthine prison is a stark contrast to the tropical island in Ys VIII, but one of the side effects of having a main character that's known for washing up on beaches is that it can lead to the same setting in multiple games, so I appreciate the change. That said, Bulduq is rather bland compared to the lush scenery of Seiren, so ultimately, it's not quite as appealing. Eventually, you are able to leave the city and explore some areas beyond it, but even those feel a little muted.
The Story
Since I'm only partway through the game, I can't really say much about the story, not only because of spoilers, but because I still need to see how everything plays out. So far, however, it's quite thick with mystery and intrigue, more so than Ys VIII. There are also quite a lot of references to Ys lore from previous games, so it feels like its building on what came before. (An influence from the Trails series, no doubt.) I'm looking forward to finding out what everything is about.
On the downside, there's a side story near the beginning of the game that was so poorly done, it was genuinely off-putting to me. I don't know if it's going to eventually work into some larger theme, but as it is, I was left pretty baffled as to what the point of it was. I've only seen two other people complain about it, but at least it's not just me.
The Gameplay
As previously mentioned, Ys IX often feels like a repurposed Ys VIII. Nearly every gameplay element from VIII has some equivalent here. Instead of exploring an island, you're exploring a city. Instead of finding castaways to build a village, you're hiring people to run a tavern/hideout. Instead of playing as Dana in the past, you're... well, something I won't spoil. But even the more minor aspects seem to be replicated here. (Instead of feeding fish to a bird, you're donating meals to a church, etc.) It almost feels obligatory, and maybe it's just because I played Ys VIII first, but it all seems a little less cohesive.
On the other hand, I appreciate that they tried to place the gameplay into as different a context as possible. Setting an Ys game mostly inside a bustling city is a clever idea, and it's a welcome change of pace. It still feels like doing mostly the same stuff, however.
The exploration deserves a special mention as Falcom seems to have tried a semi-open-world approach. The Isle of Seiren was mostly linear, but with Bulduq, sections of the city are opened up as you play through the game, and you can explore them freely. There's also a lot of verticality added to it (as well as to many of the dungeons), and traversing around is very speedy due to the Monstrum gifts. It seems to have taken some cues from Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it also feels somewhat janky. The areas outside of the city are wide open fields that have a little bit of a Xenoblade vibe. None of it is as well designed as those games, though, and it feels like Falcom is stretching outside their comfort zone.
I didn't mean for these impressions to sound so negative. There's a lot to like about the game, but overall, it has a bit of a rushed feeling to it. This is the final game to use Falcom's old game engine, and they're certainly trying to push it to its limits, but perhaps they were a little eager to shove it out the door so they could move on to Ys X...
On a different note, the Turbo Views series on YouTube, which started in 2008 and set out to review every single TurboGrafx game released in North America (plus occasional import titles and other miscellany), has just released its final episode: a review of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys.
I've been a fan of this series since about the time it started. I've even bought a few of the DVD releases. The creator, Chris "Spida1a" Bucci, has been a little sporadic with it over the years, but I guess the pandemic gave him a reason refocus on it in the past year. It terms of Falcom, his review of Ys Book I & II came out way back in 2010, and Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes was just last summer.
The Setting
A city built around a gigantic labyrinthine prison is a stark contrast to the tropical island in Ys VIII, but one of the side effects of having a main character that's known for washing up on beaches is that it can lead to the same setting in multiple games, so I appreciate the change. That said, Bulduq is rather bland compared to the lush scenery of Seiren, so ultimately, it's not quite as appealing. Eventually, you are able to leave the city and explore some areas beyond it, but even those feel a little muted.
The Story
Since I'm only partway through the game, I can't really say much about the story, not only because of spoilers, but because I still need to see how everything plays out. So far, however, it's quite thick with mystery and intrigue, more so than Ys VIII. There are also quite a lot of references to Ys lore from previous games, so it feels like its building on what came before. (An influence from the Trails series, no doubt.) I'm looking forward to finding out what everything is about.
On the downside, there's a side story near the beginning of the game that was so poorly done, it was genuinely off-putting to me. I don't know if it's going to eventually work into some larger theme, but as it is, I was left pretty baffled as to what the point of it was. I've only seen two other people complain about it, but at least it's not just me.
The Gameplay
As previously mentioned, Ys IX often feels like a repurposed Ys VIII. Nearly every gameplay element from VIII has some equivalent here. Instead of exploring an island, you're exploring a city. Instead of finding castaways to build a village, you're hiring people to run a tavern/hideout. Instead of playing as Dana in the past, you're... well, something I won't spoil. But even the more minor aspects seem to be replicated here. (Instead of feeding fish to a bird, you're donating meals to a church, etc.) It almost feels obligatory, and maybe it's just because I played Ys VIII first, but it all seems a little less cohesive.
On the other hand, I appreciate that they tried to place the gameplay into as different a context as possible. Setting an Ys game mostly inside a bustling city is a clever idea, and it's a welcome change of pace. It still feels like doing mostly the same stuff, however.
The exploration deserves a special mention as Falcom seems to have tried a semi-open-world approach. The Isle of Seiren was mostly linear, but with Bulduq, sections of the city are opened up as you play through the game, and you can explore them freely. There's also a lot of verticality added to it (as well as to many of the dungeons), and traversing around is very speedy due to the Monstrum gifts. It seems to have taken some cues from Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it also feels somewhat janky. The areas outside of the city are wide open fields that have a little bit of a Xenoblade vibe. None of it is as well designed as those games, though, and it feels like Falcom is stretching outside their comfort zone.
I didn't mean for these impressions to sound so negative. There's a lot to like about the game, but overall, it has a bit of a rushed feeling to it. This is the final game to use Falcom's old game engine, and they're certainly trying to push it to its limits, but perhaps they were a little eager to shove it out the door so they could move on to Ys X...
On a different note, the Turbo Views series on YouTube, which started in 2008 and set out to review every single TurboGrafx game released in North America (plus occasional import titles and other miscellany), has just released its final episode: a review of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys.
I've been a fan of this series since about the time it started. I've even bought a few of the DVD releases. The creator, Chris "Spida1a" Bucci, has been a little sporadic with it over the years, but I guess the pandemic gave him a reason refocus on it in the past year. It terms of Falcom, his review of Ys Book I & II came out way back in 2010, and Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes was just last summer.
