Ys SEVEN – PC Review

Genre: Action, RPG
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Publisher: XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.
Release Date: Aug 31, 2017
Edited by KnightAvenger

The Ys franchise has been around for some time, creating a name for itself over a span of years, and, while much of the series’ key features remain unchanged from the original-just improved upon-the newest addition to PC may be the most similar but different to date: Ys SEVEN. Ys SEVEN is an action RPG, developed by Nihon Falcom, which was later released on PSP in 2009 and recently on PC by XSEED Games and Marvelous USA, Inc. This variant on the Ys franchise added many new features with a solid story and an amazing soundtrack to follow but at the cost of rinse and repeating some things too often.

Sailing in with the story, Ys SEVEN holds no bars back from the player from start to finish but with some moments that hold back a solid story. We, the player, start out on a boat in the ocean sailing to Altago, a port city that is not too fond of foreigners due to a recently ended war with a group known as the Romun Empire. Enter our main character, Adol Christin, alongside his partner and companion Dogi, who, after arriving in Altago, find themselves entering harm’s way to protect a flower seller in the middle of the city and landing in jail. This jail visit is short lived, though, as word spreads to the king of Altago, and you are released, only to be summoned by the king straight away and informed of a task he would like you to perform for him but not before giving you new weapons that are infused with the energy of dragons to survive the land’s hardships. Upon going to where the king asks of you, though, an ancient shrine that recently was discovered, a titano, an ancient being of strength and destruction, falls into the cave and forces the two into the fight of their life. The two fight, only for the beast to go into a defensive stance that is unbreakable, where the shrine grants you the power through the moon seal to end it and return to explain your tale. I will end the synopsis here to avoid massive spoilers later in the game, but this story was refreshing in the sense that you are saving the world, like any other RPG, but with a twist that you would not expect.

With such a solid story and writing to back it up, Ys SEVEN just had a few issues that held it back from being a story I could recommend for playing the game alone. The first issue I ran into was some of the boss fights; while easy (once you figured out the patterns), they felt insanely difficult at some points. These boss fights were heavily tied into the story and some of their patterns were much harder to lock onto, so dying once or twice, though not what I wanted, had to occur just so I could master one portion of the fight. The second issue I found was a major lack of backstory for some vital characters, something I wanted more of. As my previous experience before Ys SEVEN was the PS2 version of Ys Ark Of Naphistim, I felt way out of the loop with some characters and even some event they mentioned from prior games, so just a backlog or a historium would have been nice.

Drawing your sword into combat, Ys SEVEN tries to spice up the series’ combat with some new abilities as well as a few old ones altered to reflect new styles, with a few that just missed the mark. Let’s first start with the jump mechanic, which has been replaced with the new dodge mechanic. In previous iterations of the series, the game had a jump mechanic but, to add some new depth to the combat, it was replaced with a new dodge mechanic that could be used in combat to avoid damage and certain attacks from bosses. This mechanic change, while I felt it was a good change and worked really well, left a large gap in its place, so here is to hoping future installments are able to use both for different situations. The second mechanic I found worth talking about was the weapon type mechanic. The weapon type mechanic is broken down into three types of weapons used by characters in combat: slash, pierce, and thrust, which worked only on certain types of creatures on the battlefield. This mechanic was a nice addition, as it made you think in combat what person you wanted to have act as your fighter based on the enemy type you were fighting. The last big mechanic I found interesting to speak about was the three person team system. Because of the weapon type mechanic designed for Ys SEVEN, they added a new feature where you could have three people on your team at once, able to switch on the fly in combat because of the weapon type you needed. This was nice but also a negative for me, as prior Ys installments I have played had only one person you could fight with, so focusing on their patterns became more vital.

The presentation of Ys SEVEN is fresh and welcoming, as it was the first game in the series to take the jump to full 3-D, offering this bright and vibrant rustic anime-themed design with some of the best music the series has to offer to date. Visually, Ys SEVEN, with the full 3-D jump, was exciting, as we got to see these characters and all areas around them fully expanded, whereas before, the characters had a 3-D appearance but many of the backgrounds and objects surrounding it were kept in the 2-D style of the previous games. The backgrounds have never looked better for a Ys game, offering this more vibrant and detailed world to the player that, while it was possible before, now gave a full view of everything around them. The character models are a step up as well, something I appreciated from playing other titles due to the fact that, while not flat, the designs just did not woo me over, as they are now more animated and give more expression.

Get pumped for battle, as the soundtrack used in Ys SEVEN is one of the best elements the game has to offer. Musically, the soundtrack provided stands out from other games in the series, as it mixed what were the traditional elements expected from other Ys games with some of the cords like the guitar and just brought a fresh take on the series’ musical score. The sound effects were on point for Ys Seven; every clash felt like it had its place and I appreciated that, as it gave the scenes, combat wise or not, more personality and vibrancy. The lack of voice acting for the game, though, left a bad taste in my mouth, more for the fact that I have come to expect from RPGs some form of voice acting, and, with none to very little present here, it felt like a missing piece to a puzzle.

Overall, Ys SEVEN is a welcoming experience to the PC RPG lineup with its full 3-D visuals, an amazing soundtrack, solid story and interesting combat decisions to an already well-rounded genre, even with a few issues between the story and combat. The solid story, mostly well-written tale, changes to various combat mechanics, making weapons have elements of their own, an older but more 3-D animated visual style all around, an amazing game soundtrack all around, and one of the more memorable RPGs of this year make this game worth a play at the right price.

Pros:

• A solid story being told
• The mostly well-written tale
• A solid amount of changes to the combat mechanics
• Weapons having this element of choice
• The older but 3-D animated visual style choice
• An amazing game soundtrack
• One of the more memorable RPGs from this year

Cons:

• Boss fights felt too tough at some points
• Lack of a historium or previous events feature for newer players
• New weapon element system can be confusing at first
• Lack of the one man versus the world challenge
• The missing voice acting as a whole

DarkLunarDude gives Ys SEVEN a Drastik Measure 8.2 out of 10 (82)

For the price of $24.99 (USD) on Steam, Ys SEVEN is an action RPG I can give big props to and recommend it to any action RPG player, as what it brings to the table is good but the slight learning curve the game has can be considered a negative for newer players of the genre.