izigame.me

UPDATE: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It is already obsolete. https://www.gematsu.com/2024/12/ys-x-proud-nordics-announced
Ed. note: I have added more notes in notation after finishing my playthrough.
I do not frequently buy games on day one at full price, but after playing the demo for _over 10 hours_ and given how excellent the past several Ys games were (including the indomitable VIII), I figured Falcom has earned it. (Do note that demo saves carry over to the full release, so my total playtime was around 15 hours when writing this.)
A word of warning: in terms of gameplay, this is easily the weakest Ys game of the multiple-character-party era (i.e. out of Seven, Celceta, VIII, IX, X), and that alone warrants waiting for a sale before buying it.

=== The Good Parts ===
The PC version runs great - even through Proton (which is how I'm playing it, in Debian).
Graphical quality is easily on par with IX if not exceeding it.
There's TONS of work on dialogue (some voiced, some unvoiced ); that and the plot are presently the biggest motivators for me to continue playing. Both EN and JP voices are included.
The OST seems promising so far; it seems to be getting stronger as I get further into the game.
There's clearly still the exploration aspect of the past few games... but that's also a mixed bag which I have to drill into in The Bad Parts below.
=== The Bad Parts ===
Falcom clearly tried some new things with this game... and so far, they're all misses. Much of what I write about here is exhibited even in the demo, so try that first before buying if you're on the fence. (Again, demo saves carry over to the full game.)
I could easily fathom this ending up having the longest playtime of any installment in the series. Why is that under The Bad Parts? Because at the same time, it will also have the shortest playtime of any recent installment if you only count actual compelling gameplay that belongs in an Ys game. This game introduces way too much filler that feels like a slog.
The ramp-up in this game is far more drawn out than other recent Ys games - which is probably a significant contributor to why the demo is so long. For example: side quests aren't introduced until 6+ hours in, whereas that concept is introduced much sooner in other recent Ys games.
Seafaring is a boring slog. Your ship is also slow as molasses, and this is now how you complete the map, so congrats Falcom on turning map completion from something satisfying in previous games to something that feels like a chore in this one.

You'd think seafaring might at least be a reasonable trade if it takes the place of the annoying wave-based combat arenas that nobody liked and yet Falcom made us suffer through in 2 games already. Well, bad news: they're making us suffer through those again a third time, and it's even more heavily phoned in this time - each wave warps in right in front of your face, with absolutely no effort made to make it seem at all believable.
There are A LOT of invisible walls in this game, which seems especially egregious when you have an entire wide-open sea to explore (but there are instances elsewhere too). At least in VIII and IX there were usually at least slightly compelling reasons for these (e.g. needing more castaways to clear an impediment). More often than not, there aren't any compelling reasons in Ys X, it's just "but thou mustn't".
Battles also feel less satisfying. The rock/paper/scissors mechanic of slash/strike/pierce is gone. Instead, some heavier enemies have a break meter that _needs_ to be depleted before you can really do damage (and sometimes this needs to be repeated), and the break meter is susceptible to a separate stat BRK, alongside STR. I know this isn't the first game to try this sort of system; IMO it doesn't belong in an Ys game, as it makes fights feel way less dynamic and way more cyclic (see also: boring).
Along with this is the new Duo system - which I am at least slightly amused by, because the default of binding it to the guard button feels like Falcom is calling me out specifically, as someone who always preferred evading over guarding. That being said, the Duo system makes me feel kind of disincentivized from ever bothering to use individual character skills during boss battles.
There's also a new growth tree for stat bonuses that feels like it's trying to be Final Fantasy X or XIII, but it feels more like a waste of time rather than anything compelling.
The first few acquired movement mechanics don't feel nearly as well-executed as in previous games. Mana String points can sometimes be easy to overlook, even when they're required (which the game seems to attempt to band-aid over by showing a prompt when literally anything stringable is in reach, even enemies). Mana Ride looks fun but is sometimes a nightmare to control .

And whereas some movement mechanics sometimes added bits of metroidvania-esque backtracking in earlier games, Ys X hands out abilities practically before I know I'll need them.


=== Conclusion ===
I can understand wanting to change the formula lest your games start feeling too samey for too long, but this seems like the sort of thing that would warrant external playtests on individual concepts to collect feedback before committing to so many bad ideas at once. It can still be enjoyable in spite of all this (depending on how patient you are for the parts that are a slog), but it's definitely a disappointing slide downhill from VIII and IX in terms of gameplay, and I can't really recommend it at full price relative to the high bar set by other recent Ys games.