Ys 7 - PSP

[abigsmurf]

There was a lot of excitement when this was announced as coming to the west so I decided to check it out.

It's an action RPG featuring up to 3 characters at once ( you can switch between them ). They each have different types of weapons and some weapon types are ineffective against certain types of enemies so you're constantly swapping between them.

The story apparently follows on from the previous game but it doesn't really matter if you haven't played it. The main character doesn't have a personality of note (his actions and conversation choices are narrated in third person) and the companion is a typical 'everyman' brawler.

The plot is fairly laughable, you travel around seeking out 5 dragon shrines for the flimsiest of reasons and the characters you meet are all stereotypes (mute orphan - check, flower girl - check, kid who steals from you and you have to chase him - check).

Ultimately it's the combat that keeps you playing. It's fairly fast and fun and there's a simple crafting system tied into it. The dungeons themselves are fairly typical of PS1 era RPGs being bland mazes.

The boss battles are especially fun, it's just a shame they become rather easy after a first, incredibly challenging one.

The graphics are ok but it features some nice town designs. Everywhere feels like it's a real place.

Overall, enjoying it. It's a nice little game to keep me busy until KH:BBS comes out.

[neoboy259]

I'm finding this bland and cliched. Think I'm going to ditch this for something else.

[abigsmurf]

Yeah, the biggest problem with it is how soulless it feels.

[Ajay1986]

Im currently 12 hours in at the water shrine and I've been finding it pretty addictive. Its totally generic story wise but the combat and item collection is pretty good. There seems to be tons of weapons to buy/synth and nearly all of them so far have unique skills to learn.

Its basically a mindless grinder but its been entertaining enough so far.

[MisterBubbles]

Ys Seven (PSP)

So the famous Action RPG from Nihon Falcom has reached it's seventh itineration ( pronounced Eees ) with this release exclusive to the PSP.
This is my first Ys game and im glad to say its been mostly a positive experience.
The game starts with Adol and Dogi arriving on a ship at Altago, off the ship you come into the city and this acts as your hub to all the other regions, the city is big and has a coliseum which acts as a tutorial to start, plus all the usual pubs, castle and weapons sellers etc, everything looks colourful and the sprites and animation on the character is first class.
So battling monsters theres a few types , hard body, soft and flying and other types, here's where the fun and face pace of the game open's up, Adol is best at killing soft monsters, you can hit hard type but you'll see and command saying ' bad hit ' so with a quick hit of the circle button you change over to Dogi , who dispatches hard foes easily , Dogi is best killing hard type , so switch again to Adol , other characters are better hitting flying types, you'll meet these characters later in the game.
Hittibg X carries out and attack , you have special attack which you can map to R X, circle,sqare , triangle . but you need SP powerr which you get for hitting monsters with X, you can also do a power attack by holding X till you see an aura , if you hit you do super hit, but fail you take more damage.

All the animations while hitting and using powers looks fantastic. You also can synth your weapons but you need materials some by killing monsters which they drop or by gathering materials around the map, this is where you can see the love the devs have taken, most devs would just get you to push X , no Nihon Falcom just has your characters walk up to the materials and your character does an animation of gathering , plus you see the materials go down so you know when your done gathering.

So the dungeons and lands are very varied wity nice monsters, but its the boss battles that stand out with huge bosses which are really difficult to beat.

The characters are really great and all have personality and you really want to see how their stories unfold, and the story so far is good, if a little RPG predictable , all the battles are in real time , none of this slow boring turn based of the usual JRPG.

You can also save anywhere you want , which is great for a portable title, in its short spurts of play on the bus home etc.
So if you like fast paced RPG 's look to pick this up, im so impressed im looking to pick up I and II complete for the PSP ( yes i know there's a DS version too ) and Oath in Felghana which is hitting US shores in october.
MISTERBUBBLES gives this 85/100 , buy it, play it, its so good its stopped me playing VC2.

[abigsmurf]

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=105427

KH BBS has made me put this on hold for a bit, was relatively close to the end. Is an enjoyable game though, if slightly throwaway.

[SuperBeatBoy]

I love YS, if i still had a psp i would bag this in a heartbeat. :/

YS VI: The Ark of Naphistim was awesome.