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[Baust]

Did anyone get to the part with the spikes blocking the road?

If I'm understanding it right, you have to use the repellent item to get through?

I'm probably missing something here, but it doesn't seem to work.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

I enjoyed Seven and Celceta, but nowhere near as much as Oath and Origin. It's a shame that seems to be the minority opinion and reflected by sales, so Falcom is probably going to continue in this direction.

You wouldn't think so reading Ys threads on here honestly

I had no idea felghana was so beloved before coming here. I always thought it was an example of weak storytelling in the series and how limiting solo adol is for what Falcom wanted to do with the series.

People always invoke "less is more" when comparing it to the modern games, but idk. Sometimes less is just less lol.

 

[Dio]

You wouldn't think so reading Ys threads on here honestly

I had no idea felghana was so beloved before coming here. I always thought it was an example of weak storytelling in the series and how limiting solo adol is for what Falcom wanted to do with the series.

People always invoke "less is more" when comparing it to the modern games, but idk. Sometimes less is just less lol.

NeoGAF posters are the minority in general. Not very many of us on here are even into Falcom titles, but those of us that are skew towards a higher age range and want Ys to go 'back to how it used to be.' I would say 'get over your nostalgia' but I prefer Napishtim-era, too. I like both styles of Ys, though.

Trails is Falcom's most popular series right now for the Japanese market, far outstripping Ys. Trails of Cold Steel really brought in a lot of fresh new blood into the Falcom fanbase, and since Falcom is a conservative company that isn't much of a risk taker, they're going where the money is.

That's why everything Falcom makes these days has tinges of Trails in it.

Tokyo Xanadu was the younger staff's 'baby' and where all the new blood in the company decided to put work in, and is a pretty good 'indicator' of where Falcom is right now as a company. They want to be known for their well-written adventure/RPG titles, and the fact that they're basing a lot of their stories around well-tread cliches and currently popular trends isn't a coincidence.

Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel both have heavy Persona influence on purpose, but they also have successfully integrated a lot of the currently wildly popular trends in the Japanese anime/game/manga/LN market.

In summary, Falcom has always followed what is popular in manga/anime/whatever and capitalized on it. Ys used to be high fantasy with minimal story and 80s/90s as fuck anime designs. However, that's not what's popular anymore, so that changed.

In the 90s Falcom made plenty of games that aped Slayers and other fantasy anime of the time. Pictured are Legend of Xanadu II, Popful Mail and Ys 4 (the good old 90s giant pauldrons.)

And now Falcom is aping other anime too, just what's popular now instead of what was popular then:

Trails of Cold Steel and Tokyo Xanadu.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

Trails is Falcom's most popular series right now for the Japanese market, far outstripping Ys. Trails of Cold Steel really brought in a lot of fresh new blood into the Falcom fanbase, and since Falcom is a conservative company that isn't much of a risk taker, they're going where the money is.

That's why everything Falcom makes these days has tinges of Trails in it.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Isn't Seven largely attributed with being the start of the shift in the series? That game came out before Zero no Kiseki beginning the series upward trend towards being their flagship franchise. I thought Ys was still that at the time the party system came about.

I think modern trends definitely influenced Celceta, and probably 8, and this is most evident in the game's artwork. but I think Ys was heading in this direction whether Kiseki was a hit or not.


Anyways I appreciate the post, but I'm not trying to hijack this thread with Old vs New Ys again. Just a little bummed to see people get so fixated on the one thing we knew would be the same going in, when there seems to be a lot of exciting new things in the game to be positive about.

 

[NesFe]

Did anyone get to the part with the spikes blocking the road?

If I'm understanding it right, you have to use the repellent item to get through?

I'm probably missing something here, but it doesn't seem to work.

go to your items when you are close to the spikes (a meter close) and use the repellent stay near them while they are taking damage over time. They should disappear in a couple of seconds.

 

[Dio]

I'm not sure I agree with this. Isn't Seven largely attributed with being the start of the shift in the series? That game came out before Zero no Kiseki beginning the series upward trend towards being their flagship franchise. I thought Ys was still that at the time the party system came about.

I think modern trends definitely influenced Celceta, and probably 8, and this is most evident in the game's artwork. but I think Ys was heading in this direction whether Kiseki was a hit or not.


Anyways I appreciate the post, but I'm not trying to hijack this thread with Old vs New Ys again. Just a little bummed to see people get so fixated on the one thing we knew would be the same going in, when there seems to be a lot of exciting new things in the game to be positive about.

Sure, but the Trails 'reinvention' of Legend of Heroes was definitely a factor IMO in Ys Seven's reinvention of the franchise on its own terms, that's all.

I didn't mean to imply that Cold Steel was the 'beginning' of the start of the shift, what I meant was that Cold Steel got a hell of a lot of attention from 'new blood' and was designed by Falcom as an 'introduction' to the world of Trails for the younger audience/a wider Japanese market. The attention it got meant that Falcom did indeed gather the new blood that they're aiming at. That's all.

Ys 8 and Tokyo Xanadu were definitely designed with the new blood in mind, and the wailing and teeth gnashing from Napishtim-era purists and the like is drowned out by the majority of people who are now getting into Falcom games, which is what Falcom has said in interviews that it's aiming at.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Anyways I appreciate the post, but I'm not trying to hijack this thread with Old vs New Ys again. Just a little bummed to see people get so fixated on the one thing we knew would be the same going in, when there seems to be a lot of exciting new things in the game to be positive about.

Thankfully I think (hope?) we're all buying Xanadu Next when it comes to GOG/Steam this season...can't think of a better way to get Falcom's attention than making their older style seem viable again. Same with Zwei!! (II), Dinosaur Resurrection, VM Japan, and Sorcerian Original after that.

Meanwhile, I love what I'm hearing about this new Ys: rolling/skills while in mid-air, a sprint function, general higher difficulty vs. last two games (at least during bosses), &c.

 

[Baust]

go to your items when you are close to the spikes (a meter close) and use the repellent stay near them while they are taking damage over time. They should disappear in a couple of seconds.

Haha, that did the trick. Thanks!

I guess I didn't notice the damage numbers coming up...

 

[Thud]

Both styles can coexist. There's an audience for both, albeit scattered on different platforms. I'm glad this game turned out fine, because my hype was declining.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

It's too much. Too much exposition about obvious things. This game is definitely, more than any other Ys game, a victim of Japanese writing syndrome where everybody repeats everything everybody else says over and over again. Ys is a series that used to understand that less is more, but now they've definitely fallen into the "tell, don't show. actually, go ahead and show, but make sure you tell before and after" trap.

Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about.

I love a good story, even a deep story, but I don't like needless repetition and explaining obvious stuff.

 

[mattiewheels]

It's too much. Too much exposition about obvious things. This game is definitely, more than any other Ys game, a victim of Japanese writing syndrome where everybody repeats everything everybody else says over and over again. Ys is a series that used to understand that less is more, but now they've definitely fallen into the "tell, don't show. actually, go ahead and show, but make sure you tell before and after" trap.

Is there a "skip scene" button, or do you just have to jam on X infinitely?

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Both styles can coexist. There's an audience for both, albeit scattered on different platforms. I'm glad this game turned out fine, because my hype was declining.

Both styles ought to coexist, but here's the rub: Falcom, at its current size and set-up, can only make so many games in a quick time-span. They're juggling blockbuster Ys stories, the Kiseki saga at a little over halfway through, and most likely a sequel to Tokyo Xanadu capitalizing on its high sales. With less than/around 50 employees comprising the company as a whole, in conjunction with a historical shyness to subcontract workload, they're constantly pushing their own limits to develop games as efficiently as possible. I don't think we're a big enough factor yet to change the course of their decade(s)-long action plan, not as big as China or the Japanese handheld audience. Worst case, Falcom might take XSEED's advice on who could best make a mid-2000s Ys-like game, then scout them and license the IP. Best case, Falcom cleans up their schedule and figures out how to get multiple games out every (other) year like in the PC-98 days, which isn't impossible should they go for shorter scenarios.

Is there a "skip scene" button, or do you just have to jam on X infinitely?

Apparently this game has a skip scene function, plus hold-to-fast-forward and jamming on X.

 

[chaosblade]

Is there a "skip scene" button, or do you just have to jam on X infinitely?

I think all Falcom games for a while now have let you hold down the button to fastforward through the dialogue.

 

[Parakeetman]

Btw bit of warning to those playing. Had a freeze for the first time, this was after updating the game. In the middle of combat. Never had a freeze before that.

Only once so far out of the 15+ hours but with that in mind you might want to save often just in case. As its not as if this title auto-saves your data, but at least you can save anywhere.

 

[Tetsuo9999]

I'm sad to hear that there's even more plot than Celceta had in this one. I tried to care about the plot in Celceta, but it dragged on, and the ending didn't really mesh with the hours of narrative throughout the game. It was abrupt and didn't really explain anything, making the act of reading all that text feel like a waste of time. This was the same problem that Mega Man X Command Mission had; lots of extra party members who were basically forgotten when it was time to play the ending. At least when Adol was alone and/or with Dogi, this wasn't a problem. Chances are I'll just skip the plot in this one when it gets localized.

 

[Gitaroo]

hows the frame rate in the final game?

 

[Hasemo]

hows the frame rate in the final game?

It doesn't have huge drops, but the average framerate in the field/during cutscenes with multiple characters isn't that great.

Btw bit of warning to those playing. Had a freeze for the first time, this was after updating the game. In the middle of combat. Never had a freeze before that.

Only once so far out of the 15+ hours but with that in mind you might want to save often just in case. As its not as if this title auto-saves your data, but at least you can save anywhere.

Is there a 1.02 update out? The site says 1.01 and I've been playing with that since the beginning ~30 hours with no freezes. I'm playing in airplane mode though, since it uses less battery and the game doesn't allow you to open other apps anyway.

That said I try to save often, because Falcom's games usually aren't all that stable right after release.

 

[chaosblade]

Hopefully the PS4 version runs better. In theory there's no reason it shouldn't, since it's unlikely Falcom is going to substantially improve the visuals or anything. Who knows though.

 

[Dio]

Hopefully the PS4 version runs better. In theory there's no reason it shouldn't, since it's unlikely Falcom is going to substantially improve the visuals or anything. Who knows though.

Yeah, I would think so, too. Also, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is going straight in my drive since the PS4 version is going to be getting extra content.

I wonder if they're going to add extra PS4 only content to Ys 8 PS4 since it's hitting next year instead of this year.

 

[Parakeetman]

It doesn't have huge drops, but the average framerate in the field/during cutscenes with multiple characters isn't that great.

Is there a 1.02 update out? The site says 1.01 and I've been playing with that since the beginning ~30 hours with no freezes. I'm playing in airplane mode though, since it uses less battery and the game doesn't allow you to open other apps anyway.

That said I try to save often, because Falcom's games usually aren't all that stable right after release.

Am on 1.01. Only updated last night and during that I had exited the game before hand.

Play time is about 17 hours looking at the time and 80% of that time was spent in the 1.00 version.

Freeze happened in

Spoiler

the caves that has the giant toads that are lv 28~

in the middle of the fight with one of those it froze for no reason. Game was not in particular doing anything overly taxing than usual too.

Up until then game was smooth sailing. Must just be bad luck as the game itself is quite stable otherwise so far.

Also after getting patches and whatnots always switch back to AP mode as keeping wifi on is just a waste of batteries.

Yeah, I would think so, too. Also, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is going straight in my drive since the PS4 version is going to be getting extra content.

I wonder if they're going to add extra PS4 only content to Ys 8 PS4 since it's hitting next year instead of this year.

Honestly with how detailed the world is in comparison to TX there is more than enough content in Ys 8 Id say.

 

[duckroll]

Hopefully the PS4 version runs better. In theory there's no reason it shouldn't, since it's unlikely Falcom is going to substantially improve the visuals or anything. Who knows though.

If they aren't substantially improving EVERYTHING, the question then is why it's taking more than six months to be released. There isn't even a date! If the answer is that they are struggling that badly with PS4 hardware to get the game even running, then there's lots of reason to think that PS4 version might not run better at all!

 

[Nightengale]

If they aren't substantially improving EVERYTHING, the question then is why it's taking more than six months to be released. There isn't even a date! If the answer is that they are struggling that badly with PS4 hardware to get the game even running, then there's lots of reason to think that PS4 version might not run better at all!

I-i-it'll look like DQ Heroes, a huge upgrade to the game visuals!!!!!

/jk

 

[Gu4n]

If they aren't substantially improving EVERYTHING, the question then is why it's taking more than six months to be released. There isn't even a date! If the answer is that they are struggling that badly with PS4 hardware to get the game even running, then there's lots of reason to think that PS4 version might not run better at all!

If they stick to their usual annual cycle, Ys VIII PS4 in July and Sen no Kiseki III in September.

 

[encephalon]

Shouldn't the PS4 be easier for them to deal with than the PS3? It's not like they're putting anything out that's more demanding than the PS3, and although I know they're using a proprietary* Sony engine, isn't the PS3 supposed to be a complicated mess whereas the PS4 is "essentially a PC?" It was announced for PS4 from the beginning. What is going on?


*

Spoiler

Am I using this word right in this context?

 

[Glitter and Gold]

Yeah, I would think so, too. Also, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is going straight in my drive since the PS4 version is going to be getting extra content.

I wonder if they're going to add extra PS4 only content to Ys 8 PS4 since it's hitting next year instead of this year.

I hope not. Would only make the wait longer for US.

The silver lining on the Vita version coming out first is that potentially someone could begin working on it now, and have it ready for release in the west on both platforms as soon as possible.

But I imagine you might be right. They'll have to offer some incentive for the JP users to double dip as they are with TX. I just hope if that's the case this doesn't become a regular thing as it SUCKS for us western fans who just want the console versions

If they aren't substantially improving EVERYTHING, the question then is why it's taking more than six months to be released. There isn't even a date! If the answer is that they are struggling that badly with PS4 hardware to get the game even running, then there's lots of reason to think that PS4 version might not run better at all!

......but they're releasing Tokyo Xanadu eX+ on PS4 in 2 months

 

[chaosblade]

If they aren't substantially improving EVERYTHING, the question then is why it's taking more than six months to be released. There isn't even a date! If the answer is that they are struggling that badly with PS4 hardware to get the game even running, then there's lots of reason to think that PS4 version might not run better at all!

I'd have guessed it was a much lower priority than the Vita version, with the PS4 version being more for the international market where it's much more popular than the Vita. So combine that with some hardware struggles and you have them delaying the release to focus on their primary market.

But Tokyo Xanadu PS4 kind of ruins idea considering everything going on with it.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

What makes the most sense to me is that they only have the resources to work on one port at a time, and work on the PS4 version of Ys 8 was halted to work on the Tokyo Xanadu port instead earlier this year.

Either way, Tokyo Xanadu's performance in a couple months will be the best thing to base your expectations of the Ys 8 PS4 port on.

 

[duckroll]

......but they're releasing Tokyo Xanadu eX+ on PS4 in 2 months

A year after the Vita release, with a ton of improvements and new content. That's exactly my point. The PS4 version has to be better in every possible way or the delay would be a huge joke.

What makes the most sense to me is that they only have the resources to work on one port at a time, and work on the PS4 version of Ys 8 was halted to work on the Tokyo Xanadu port instead earlier this year.

Either way, Tokyo Xanadu's performance in a couple months will be the best thing to base your expectations of the Ys 8 PS4 port on.

It doesn't really make much business sense to prioritize a year old enhanced port of a game you already sold, over the simultaneous launch of a new flagship title. It seems more likely that they simply couldn't get Ys8 done in time in a satisfactory manner. Just because they can get one thing running on PS4 doesn't necessarily mean they can get everything running on PS4 well.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

A year after the Vita release, with a ton of improvements and new content. That's exactly my point. The PS4 version has to be better in every possible way or the delay would be a huge joke.

.

Ah I see. I was mostly addressing your point that there were technical reasons leading to the delay.

I agree that it will be an awkward launch domestically for them....but I'm still hoping it's not another TX situation as a western fan

It doesn't really make much business sense to prioritize a year old enhanced port of a game you already sold, over the simultaneous launch of a new flagship title. It seems more likely that they simply couldn't get Ys8 done in time in a satisfactory manner. Just because they can get one thing running on PS4 doesn't necessarily mean they can get everything running on PS4 well

Maybe. I think it makes a little more sense for Falcom as it allows them to have a game for September, which for some reason or other they seem to always have a major release for.

but the business side of things isn't really my wheelhouse. I imagine this still doesn't make much business sense lol

 

[NesFe]

Just had my first death in the game against the boss in chapter 3( I think, haven't checked)

Spoiler

the flying dragon

. Didn't expect him to have so many moves, I blame myself for getting triggered and getting sloppy lol.

18 hours in still only covered 36% of the map.

 

[Hasemo]

I'm near the end, I should be able to finish it tomorrow or the day after.
Almost 90% of the map done, everyone on level 60+ etc. I'm doing everything I can, because the hooks are really well done and I want to get the true ending. I glanced at the wiki, but so far the set of requirements doesn't seem to be complete, so I'm going to try everything I can.

By the way, this really is a ~40 hour long game. I guess you could do it in 30 or even less if you skipped the story, but levels might be problematic. I'm exploring everything, going back to earlier areas for resources etc. and yet I'm always at the same level or a bit lower than the enemies in new story areas.

 

[chaosblade]

I could have sworn I read in another topic that the PS4 version wasnt getting any extras like Tokyo Xanadu PS4. But maybe that was just someone operating on assumptions or hoping for/expecting parity.

 

[NesFe]

I'm near the end, I should be able to finish it tomorrow or the day after.
Almost 90% of the map done, everyone on level 60+ etc. I'm doing everything I can, because the hooks are really well done and I want to get the true ending. I glanced at the wiki, but so far the set of requirements doesn't seem to be complete, so I'm going to try everything I can.

Can you link me to the wiki please ? i want to get the true ending too. So far, I've only failed one side quest, other than that I think i'm doing everything, but just in case.

 

[Pyrrhus]

They already had Trails. Why did they need adulterate Ys into a worse Trails? Who are these people who really like the banal, generic slice of life anime story lines, anyway?

 

[Hasemo]

Can you link me to the wiki please ? i want to get the true ending too. So far, I've only failed one side quest, other than that I think i'm doing everything, but just in case.

Sure.

 

[QisTopTier]

How is nightmare mode? I've only played that in this series so wondering how it is in 8 or has everyone just been face rolling normal?

 

[Nightengale]

I need some spoilers...

Does

Spoiler

Adol meet Dana at all in the game... like face to face, physically reachable at all?

 

[Hasemo]

How is nightmare mode? I've only played that in this series so wondering how it is in 8 or has everyone just been face rolling normal?

Sorry, I'm not good enough for nightmare, so I just face roll normal.

Sahad is a beast. With proper equipment he facerolls through group of enemies with one skill (1/2 SP accessory too) and even bosses aren't that hard.

I need some spoilers...

Does

Spoiler

Adol meet Dana at all in the game... like face to face, physically reachable at all?

Short answer:

Spoiler

______yes_____

.
A bit more in detail, without spoiling much:

Spoiler

She become a regular party member about 2/3 in the game or even earlier

.

I've played a bit during my lunch break and was able to unlock what I think is the access to the rest of the map. If I'm not wrong, I can finish most or all side stuff now before going to the last dungeon (or the set of those, who knows with Falcom).

Really excited to get 100% of the map, all upgrades etc. It's been a while since I've done this in an RPG.
I won't bother going for the platinum trophy anyway. Even if I didn't miss anything until know, which I'm not sure of, there's a trophy for controlling each character for an extended period of time.
So far I got Sahad's (only 0.3% people had this one last time I checked : ( ) and Adol's and I'm not planning to force myself to play as the others if I don't have to.

 

[Guru-Guru]

Anybody know how to get more of that pesticide stuff that takes out those big bee nests blocking paths? Somebody gave me my initial 3, which I have all used. Need more!

 

[Parakeetman]

Anybody know how to get more of that pesticide stuff that takes out those big bee nests blocking paths? Somebody gave me my initial 3, which I have all used. Need more!

Trade items to the merchant chick. She has it in one of the 2 lists.

 

[Guru-Guru]

Trade items to the merchant chick. She has it in one of the 2 lists.

Will do. Thanks!

 

[Parakeetman]

Will do. Thanks!

If you hate fighting the large

Spoiler

scorpions

it actually works on them for causing em to be stunned for a while.

 

[petran79]

NeoGAF posters are the minority in general. Not very many of us on here are even into Falcom titles, but those of us that are skew towards a higher age range and want Ys to go 'back to how it used to be.' I would say 'get over your nostalgia' but I prefer Napishtim-era, too. I like both styles of Ys, though.

Trails is Falcom's most popular series right now for the Japanese market, far outstripping Ys. Trails of Cold Steel really brought in a lot of fresh new blood into the Falcom fanbase, and since Falcom is a conservative company that isn't much of a risk taker, they're going where the money is.

That's why everything Falcom makes these days has tinges of Trails in it.

Tokyo Xanadu was the younger staff's 'baby' and where all the new blood in the company decided to put work in, and is a pretty good 'indicator' of where Falcom is right now as a company. They want to be known for their well-written adventure/RPG titles, and the fact that they're basing a lot of their stories around well-tread cliches and currently popular trends isn't a coincidence.

Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel both have heavy Persona influence on purpose, but they also have successfully integrated a lot of the currently wildly popular trends in the Japanese anime/game/manga/LN market.

In summary, Falcom has always followed what is popular in manga/anime/whatever and capitalized on it. Ys used to be high fantasy with minimal story and 80s/90s as fuck anime designs. However, that's not what's popular anymore, so that changed.

In the 90s Falcom made plenty of games that aped Slayers and other fantasy anime of the time. Pictured are Legend of Xanadu II, Popful Mail and Ys 4 (the good old 90s giant pauldrons.)


And now Falcom is aping other anime too, just what's popular now instead of what was popular then:

Trails of Cold Steel and Tokyo Xanadu.

Back then they even needed an anime to tell the story in more details. Only instance where Adol talks. Too bad they did not proceed to also animate Ys IV

 

[Glitter and Gold]

Back then they even needed an anime to tell the story in more details. Only instance where Adol talks. Too bad they did not proceed to also animate Ys IV

Yeah I'm still kinda bummed out that the Ys IV OVA never got the green light.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

NeoGAF posters are the minority in general. Not very many of us on here are even into Falcom titles, but those of us that are skew towards a higher age range and want Ys to go 'back to how it used to be.' I would say 'get over your nostalgia' but I prefer Napishtim-era, too. I like both styles of Ys, though.

Trails is Falcom's most popular series right now for the Japanese market, far outstripping Ys. Trails of Cold Steel really brought in a lot of fresh new blood into the Falcom fanbase, and since Falcom is a conservative company that isn't much of a risk taker, they're going where the money is.

That's why everything Falcom makes these days has tinges of Trails in it.

Tokyo Xanadu was the younger staff's 'baby' and where all the new blood in the company decided to put work in, and is a pretty good 'indicator' of where Falcom is right now as a company. They want to be known for their well-written adventure/RPG titles, and the fact that they're basing a lot of their stories around well-tread cliches and currently popular trends isn't a coincidence.

Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel both have heavy Persona influence on purpose, but they also have successfully integrated a lot of the currently wildly popular trends in the Japanese anime/game/manga/LN market.

In summary, Falcom has always followed what is popular in manga/anime/whatever and capitalized on it. Ys used to be high fantasy with minimal story and 80s/90s as fuck anime designs. However, that's not what's popular anymore, so that changed.

In the 90s Falcom made plenty of games that aped Slayers and other fantasy anime of the time. Pictured are Legend of Xanadu II, Popful Mail and Ys 4 (the good old 90s giant pauldrons.)


And now Falcom is aping other anime too, just what's popular now instead of what was popular then:

Trails of Cold Steel and Tokyo Xanadu.

Well, im sure those who didnt grasp the conditions in play here got learnt up but good, and the rest of us with criticism and stating opinion can continue doing so (again, while keeping perpective).

 

[Hasemo]

Finished the game!
Took me 40 hours (normal difficulty), almost to the minute, which I found quite funny.
Just to be clear, this is 40 hours to 100% the map, get all treasures, do all quests, have maximum affinity with everyone, all fish/recipes, fully upgrade the base etc.

There was only one endgame side activity which I stopped doing halfway through, because it started feeling like a drag and I was overleveled for the final boss after all (

Spoiler

a chain of optional, long base defense missions

). That said, even if I decided to do that, it wouldn't take more than an hour.

As for the graphic/sound/gameplay impressions, they haven't changed much from the ones I posted after the first few hours. The game will probably run much smoother on the PS4 and that will be the definitive version. The framerate very, very rarely dipped significantly and it was mostly during crazy skills with a whole bunch of enemies on screen and only for a few seconds. I got used to it about halfway through and it stopped messing up my jumps.

Music, aside from the intro, was great all the way through. Some tracks were simply amazing.

As for the core gameplay, when you are left to your own devices and free to explore, the game was really shines. Super tight Ys (7/Celceta) gameplay, many areas, optional dungeons etc. to go through. Sadly, when following the main story and doing quests, you often have to read a whole bunch of text.

It's not bad text by any means and people who just want a solid JRPG will probably be satisfied, but if you're like me and you value gameplay over lengthy exposition, it could get annoying from time to time.

That said, when the game ended I realized that in the end I grew to like all villagers and my party members. So I guess the story side did its part.

Long story short, Ys 8 is a really great game. The best proof of that is the fact that I was entertained enough to 100% almost all side activities, which I very rarely do (and this is my first Ys game in which I did it). Big thumbs up.

 

[matmanx1]

Thanks for the impressions folks. I am a casual Y's fan, a more serious Trails fan and I tend to keep up with what Falcom is doing just because I think they make cool games. I realize a localized version of this game is a long way off but it is encouraging that it sounds like Falcom has improved on Celceta in many areas.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Ah well, doesn't sound the game for me. I prefer old school Falcom to what they do nowadays and after listening to that bland OST, don't think I've enjoyed a Falcom soundtrack in a long time now, they all sound the same. Guess I'll skip it. Still have Xanadu Next and Ys Origins to play yet anyway, so it's no biggie.

 

[theofficefan99]

Finished the game!
Took me 40 hours (normal difficulty), almost to the minute, which I found quite funny.
Just to be clear, this is 40 hours to 100% the map, get all treasures, do all quests, have maximum affinity with everyone, all fish/recipes, fully upgrade the base etc.

There was only one endgame side activity which I stopped doing halfway through, because it started feeling like a drag and I was overleveled for the final boss after all (

Spoiler

a chain of optional, long base defense missions

). That said, even if I decided to do that, it wouldn't take more than an hour.

As for the graphic/sound/gameplay impressions, they haven't changed much from the ones I posted after the first few hours. The game will probably run much smoother on the PS4 and that will be the definitive version. The framerate very, very rarely dipped significantly and it was mostly during crazy skills with a whole bunch of enemies on screen and only for a few seconds. I got used to it about halfway through and it stopped messing up my jumps.

Music, aside from the intro, was great all the way through. Some tracks were simply amazing.

As for the core gameplay, when you are left to your own devices and free to explore, the game was really shines. Super tight Ys (7/Celceta) gameplay, many areas, optional dungeons etc. to go through. Sadly, when following the main story and doing quests, you often have to read a whole bunch of text.

It's not bad text by any means and people who just want a solid JRPG will probably be satisfied, but if you're like me and you value gameplay over lengthy exposition, it could get annoying from time to time.

That said, when the game ended I realized that in the end I grew to like all villagers and my party members. So I guess the story side did its part.

Long story short, Ys 8 is a really great game. The best proof of that is the fact that I was entertained enough to 100% almost all side activities, which I very rarely do (and this is my first Ys game in which I did it). Big thumbs up.

I love the intro theme

also, is the opening the only anime cutscene in the game?

 

[Hasemo]

I love the intro theme

also, is the opening the only anime cutscene in the game?

No, there are a few more animated cutscenes.