Holy cow! What an absolutely pleasant surprise this has been, especially considering it seems like it has sold poorly and only really been talked about in light of it's bad translation. I've only played it post the re-localization, and I think it's been pretty good overall, although I find the story to be a little silly in general. The mechanics are just a ton of fun though, and the entire deserted island aspect is really well done and while I'm not that into JRPG or action JRPGs, it feels pretty unique to the genre. It doesn't look like this site has had much traffic for it either, but I figured I'd make a post to see if anyone else has come to it late, what with the new localization and what not. Also, I wanted to ask a question to anyone that has played other games in the series:

Are the women always so ridiculously dressed? This isn't meant to spark some sort of multi-page debate about the merits of sexiness in games, it's fairly tame (outside of one of the younger characters where it feels kind of gross), but it does feel kind of ludicrous at this point. At one stage, literally the only remotely covered woman in the game, a frickin' nun, trips and falls, and her solution to this is to rip her tunic off into a barely-covering-her-lladybits mini skirt and it literally made me laugh out loud with how absurd it was.

Haven't played the full thing, but I did have a surprising amount of fun with the demo when I tried it recently. I like how each character has their own combat style and you wind up picking your favorite. It also seemed like the combat was way deeper than what I managed to pull off in the demo. The bosses are cool to fight, the dialogue is pretty funny and the game's art direction is gorgeous. I really did enjoy what little I played. I may wind up picking this up for my Switch at some point.

Also @sethmode, what exactly is all the purpose of all that stuff you collect? I couldn't do anything with it in the demo, sadly.

@nicksmi56: When you say "stuff you collect" do you mean like "x1 sparkling plant" or "x1 beast bone" etc? I'm going to assume you do as I can't really think of anything else you collect that isn't an outright buff or HP boost. Forgive me if any of this is redundant and in the demo (I didn't play it):

So, going through the game, you find a number of fellow castaways on the island with different skills. The materials you find are used by these castaways in typical RPG fashion, but with a neat, albeit in name only twist: basically, they range from everything from your currency (as there is no money on the island) with the castaway merchant (you can trade less rare items up for rarer items, or rarer items down for less rare items) to ingredients for potions, etc...with the castaway doctor, to, you guessed it, upgrades for weapons and armor with the castaway blacksmith. It's all conventional, but they have fun with it in the writing and style in a way that makes it feel more fresh than it is writing it out here in a forum.

I'll be curious to hear how it runs on the Switch. It runs at a pretty 60fps almost constantly on the PS4, and I hope they can do the same on the Switch both docked and undocked.

And yeah, you mentioned the bosses...I'm on Chapter 4, which I think is a little over the halfway-ish point, and it has been packed with bosses and the art design has been Dark Souls level inspired. Fun, brightly colored, intricately designed. The dodge mechanic leaves a little to be desired at times, but that's also partially on me I think, getting caught up in all of the manic, explosive color on screen.

Regarding the dress of female characters, previous Ys games generally featured fairly conservative female designs. The most recent three entries in the franchise have had larger casts of characters and increased focuses on actively evolving stories; with this most recent title, one can maybe assume Falcom also decided it was important to try and make their characters more visually enticing.

Speaking to the actual game, as a fan of both the franchise and the Ys style of action-RPG, I mostly enjoyed my time with Ys VIII, but still came away feeling it was rather unremarkable.

@junkerwoland: So...at the risk of going off topic in my own thread, what didn't you like about this game that you liked about others? And are there any others specifically you would recommend I try? The only one I have vague recollections of giving a shot was the SNES one but I was too young to remember anything other than it being too hard for me at the time.

@sethmode: Don't worry, you're not being redundant. I knew about the castaways (you find two in the demo), but I didn't know about the whole trading mechanic. Glad to know I wasn't picking up all those plants and rocks just for the sake of it.

I kinda need to dash, but so I’m not responding hours from now… In short, I find the game has pacing issues that too often require the player to turn their attention away from the core adventure (this is somewhat exacerbated by the way the world is segmented, due to the game’s handheld origins). I also don’t find Ys VIII (and its two predecessors) have nailed the execution of their three-player-party setup, with certain systems detracting from the fun and feeling of simply running around the world and defeating enemies. Additionally, the story and characters are fine, but aren’t charming enough to carry the amount of cinematic and dialogue sequences.

As for recommendations: Oath in Felghana and the PC version of Ark of Napishtim. Ys I & II might still be my favorite(s), but it can be difficult for new players to accept its archaic bump-system style of attack.

@junkerwoland: No worries duder, appreciate the input. This game definitely has me curious about the series as a whole, so I'll have to check them out, although the very term "bump-system style of attack" made me a little terrified.

Whenever you do get a free moment, I'm curious, are the games you mentioned also a 3 party system, or are you soloing as (I assume) Adol?

@sethmode: In Felghana and Napishtim, you only play as Adol. The three-character party is currently only found in the most recent games: Ys VII, Memories of Celceta, and of course Ys VIII. Ys Origin somewhat splits the difference, in that you're meant to play through the game three times, using a different character.

As for the bump system, it can definitely seem awkward, but once you gain levels & equipment, you're essentially running around the field blasting through enemies like some manner of deadly pinball--it feels F-ing awesome.

@sethmode: As as a Counter pov to Junkerwoland, I think the most recent Y's VIII has been the best it's ever been. The combat is still fast and frenetic, the other characters that join you feel well realized in regards to how they are utilized in game. The three character setup that been around for the past few games give combat an added nuance that the solo character games sort of had to make up with special abilities you found along the way. I think it's a fine game that I wish more people played.

As a fan of the Tales of games, I am bias towards larger teams when it comes to action JRPGs.

@junkerwoland:Interesting duder! I will have to look into it, although I'm not sure that sounds so appealing to me without the nostalgia that I think you may have haha.

@merxworx01: Nice! How does the story play out for you? I feel...let's say remotely intrigued if not slightly bored at times. I am kind of ushered on by the dialogue between characters that I think is genuinely funny at points (I don't mean that to sound as weirdly condescending as it does, it's just, with the localization kerfuffle and all I was expecting some sort of nightmare and Sahad, for example, is kind of outright hilarious?)

Having said that, I do feel like this is kind of a slowly peeling, obvious onion that we're unraveling so I can sort of see where @junkerwoland is coming from from a pacing perspective. I feel like I'm having more fun when we're doing the Swiss Family Robinson stuff than when we're doing the Primordial whatever it is. Which isn't a knock on the writing, they're doing a decent job, it's just kind of dragged out.

Final thought, which I would say is again at the risk of derailing my own thread but there are only four of us so, whatever: I never tried the Tales games...is enjoying something like this something would indicate I should give them a shot?

@sethmode: My tolerance for anime nonsense waxes and wanes but more often than not the moment to moment happenings in the game paired with game-play that once in a while feels like busy work, keeps me interested. Exploring the island, opening new paths and meeting new characters bolster the fast paced combat well enough. I can't speak to the pacing issues that some have since I usually play games for the mechanics. Even if I am wondering around the map trying to figure out what to do next I know that I'm leveling up, finding items and generally enjoying the combat. If the game's fighting mechanic was as slow, plodding or relied on turnbased style combat I wouldn't have been able to tolerate the gameplay loop. The cutescenes and the interactions between characters and NPCs help round out this loop and keep it from going too stale.

As for the localization issues, sadly I'm inoculated to bad dialogue to a degree that I don't notice it, as in I sort of flesh out the meaning of a statement via context and assume that was the best way it could have been said without losing the original meaning. I'm sure my explanation didn't make any sense but years of watching subs of movies and shows, you sort just assume a degree of open endedness to certain words due to the imperfect nature of language.

I love Tales of games. I play every single one day of release and they exude a sort of cute, harmless charm. I don't always finish them but they for me fill a singular niche that most modern JPRGs no longer fill for various reason. But they are unabashedly anime. If you don't watch anime and tend to hate most of what you hear characters in shows say I don't think you would like them since the characters talk alot, obviously in cut scenes(which there are many)they talk during battle, they converse and have post battle dialogue(which is usually had between the first and second best performers of the fight, these tend to be comical and I love these). They talk often with NPCs. They even have "skits" that occur during plot specific moments where sometimes lengthy background is explained between characters or even just some light banter talking about whose cooking is the best. As you would guess the conversation tend to be light or silly, enemies and allies tend to be one dimensional, not always but you pretty much could ascertain a characters motives at first blush.

The Second issue is the combat, It's fast and has alot in common with fighting game combat where customizable directional attacks and combos are necessary to build meter(s). I'll be honest the past three Tales of games I've played there are just some aspects that I just barely understand 40 hours in. They change enough of the fight mechanic from game to game that I'd be slightly clueless when it comes to the multilevel abilities. For the most part I know what I'm doing but regarding how certain meters and abilities are activated I can only sort of tease out via button combinations. I just erased a few sentences trying to explain my some mechanics that escape me but I realized they would do no good here. Just that there are several meters and dials and flashing bars on the screen and how to activate them or build them sometimes elude me. But because of how fast the fights are, the only times you really could test things out would be mid bosses or full on bosses where things are happening so quickly that the best thing to do is concentrate on timing attacks. Your mileage may vary but that's just me.

They can be dumb and it's easy to overlook these annually released things but over all these trope filled, occasionally saccharine games never fail to make me smile.

@merxworx01: Thank you so much duder! I really appreciate that entire post!

@sethmode: No problem! Have fun with Y's, it's a great series.

@merxworx01: I am and hope that I will continue to! Not to sound too much like Dan but: Dogi seems like a badass with a lot of history, and on top of that he's one of the few scantily dressed male characters. Seems like a cool dude. I'm guessing I should know more?

@sethmode: Not necessarily, He is Adol's friend and fellow adventurer. The bruiser to Adol's agility. I think having him as the Leader of the main camp of castaways speaks to his abilities as being just as capable of leading as Adol. They are "Type A" characters meaning they are honest, thoughtful and loyal which can be boring to some but I've never really got bored of this type of character as long as they are passionate. The thing about these two characters is that they are also just pure wanderlust. They are in a perpetual state of moving from one place to another. As with all games they are vessels for adventure seeking.

Aside from the fact that they identify as adventurers and travel armed, their background is usually never spoken(I guess they just assume you know the characters). New environments, landscapes and their inhabitants are the narrative focuses. They do have a history as do the places they come from but it's not needed and can be distracting. If you had any fondness of a previous local and now they are traveling somewhere new while leaving new friends and allies behind. In a previous game this was handled mildly by having him return to a place in turmoil and reflect on if he somehow forgotten having been there and leaving without being able to fix a curse plaguing a town. It asked what kind of person Adol is and if their travels are thrill seeking in nature or if they are actually trying to do good. This was shortly lived and subverted by a plot mechanic. Ultimately for the main characters, the old adage "what you see is what you get" hold true.

@merxworx01: Thanks for the info! I am kind of into Dogi and Sahad as characters the most right now, if only because they're a nice respite from the barrage of scantily clad ridiculous women. Everything you said makes complete sense considering where the story goes (afraid to say more for fear of spoilers).

Weird question but like, did I imagine everyone making jokes about how Adol should be better at sailing at this point? I can't remember if it's from the game or something I picked up via a potpourri of shit over the years. If it's from the game and based on the history of the games, I have to say, it's kind of hilarious.

To elaborate, this is a more recent development with the series. Ys has had its artstyle evolve along with the general direction of anime, and as such it's gotten more and more fanservice-y with time. Other long-runners like Fire Emblem are the same way, really. It also depends on if you're comparing in-game art to promo art, as obviously the older games in the series with sprite-based graphics tended to look nothing like the official illustrations. The versions of Ys I & II on Steam actually have all-new art in them, with an option to go back to the older art.

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@gundamguru: Thanks duder! Appreciate the visual context. I don't even really have a problem with it, although I still found the Nun situation hilarious. And like, all of the people in Dana's kingdom are like in some unspoken competition for who can come up with the most creative side or under cleave method.

@sethmode: It's never been this stripperiffic, that's for sure. It's not that it bothers me per se (I've watched my fair share of much worse anime), but that the jump in visual style between Seven (the third picture) and VIII was pretty dramatic. Expecially in the character design. There's certainly an element of over designing the costumes, some Japanese character designers could do with some restraint. Given the level of detail available to them in the HD era (Ys Seven was on PSP), many anime-style games have just gone bonkers with their wardrobes. You'd think we'd be past these kind of growing pains by now, but as it turns out many Japanese devs spent last gen hiding out on handheld.

@gundamguru: They certainly seem to love their straps, regardless of gender.

@sethmode: I like them too. I was worried that Sahad would just be an ersatz Dogi when I saw him shown in most of the pre release material but it seems they've found a way to have a tough older character that is also more or less familiar to the setting.

The jokes about Adol I think are references to most of the games starting with some seafaring disaster which is usually a game's prelude.