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Ys X is Falcom's new prototype experimental game which forwards us into a new era of Ys X Gameplay Mechanics, it's just like how Ys Seven and Ark were the foundation to what we know today as, Ys Oath/Origin and Ys VIII and Ys IX, which perfected their own respective formula.
I, for starters, have been a little skeptical at the current state of Falcom, who has been releasing quantity over quality with their Trails games recently, I was afraid that, with Ys IX, we'd be on to rough times for Ys games, and while Monstrum Nox wasn't necessarily a bad game, it had some issues here and there that played against it, rather than perfecting what Ys VIII granted us.
Ys X Nordics gives us a new formula, and a taste of the greatest strengths of the Kuro's engine.
Let's talk about the gameplay first.
Ys X brings Sekiro to JRPG anime style game, with a bit of Ys speed to it, introducing a new block and counter mechanic that it's still a little rough around the edges and not as unforgiving as Sekiro, which would make for what I'd define as a Sekiro-lite power fantasy that Ys is known for. This guard mechanic is by far better than Flashguard, but still needs a little more polishing, such as guard stance breaking faster, it can totally break with tougher enemies and bosses, but you can pretty much bounce back any attack with little effort, and I would have liked if they make the time window a little more close.
There's also an evasion techniques that comes to replace Flash Move, which also works well for the flow of combat.
At the start, the game may feel a little slow, but that's merely due to the fact that you start with the bare minimum. Once the game let loose, it becomes just as fast as any Ys, and super satisfying too, specially as this time around, another of the core mechanics is a Solo/Duo mechanics, as our main duo takes the whole battlefield for each or both. Which makes up for a lot of great combinations and controlling the flow of combat for a display of epic powers and attacks that have the "Ys" Stamp on it because of how cool and flashy they are.
The game also makes use of colored attacks, Red, for power attacks, which you block, and Blue, for fast attacks which you have to evade. Perfect Guard, and you'll see an epic flashy move, while raising another of this game's mechanics: The revenge counter, which will amplify your Duo Skills damage, take risks, and you'll be rewarded. As for the evasive measures, Evade a blue attack, and you're up for a counter attack, not as poweful as Duo Skills, and can sometimes trigger cool flashy moves that deals a lot of damage.
The game hit jackpot with these colored attacks, and while it's far from perfect, I can see this becoming even more polished in a future Ys game, as Falcom perfects it's formula just like how they've done it before.
We also have something other than ground combat, which is naval warfare!
Same with the ground combat, it also starts slow, but as the game let's loose, there's a lot of new mechanics, including a lot of "Ys" Stamp Flashy busted shit, that will make Sea warfare just as enjoyable as the ground combat, although I just wish it were a little faster, but hey!, if you were disappointed by how absurd Skull and Bones were, come join Adol and Karja in it's pirate adventures into what would be a really compelling pirate sea warfare game.
What can I say? I had a blast, the gameplay loop is really satisfying, and has a lot of things going on that keeps it from getting old, keeping the combat fresh with a lot of possibilities on the battlefield.
The only thing I'd say that breaks the gameplay a little, is the fact that you receive less damage during skills, which is incredibly busted, Falcom must adjust this on higher difficulties to make it more balanced.
Also, we needed far more dungeons, some islands were too short, and it would be great to have more challenging areas, but that's more of a nitpick, as I would have loved to play even more.
But the game is not just gameplay, we've got other things too, like our cast of characters, which, honestly? they're a breath of fresh air, and Adol's duo, Karja, is a great co-protagonist and main heroine, among the best Ys has to offer, ruthless, and not as compassionate and lighthearted as Adol, but that gets a lot of spotlight and development that makes her among the finest heroines out there, puts the Boss in Girlboss.
Her interactions with Adol is great, great chemistry and overall, makes up for some of the most expressive cutscenes in Falcom's history, which does a lot of wonders to Adol as a character, specially with a certain little something that happens at the epilogue, which would make any Ys Maniac lose their shit due to the implications.
Steering aside from our great comrade in arms, we have a cast of side characters, all very lovable and with great side stories with them, and I specifically LOVE that the game went with the crew conversations, as it really adds a lot to them, as well as making them feel very alive, with their own aspirations, goals, and even reactions about the things that are happening, which makes up for a very lively cast of characters.
And these crew conversations, I'd dare say they're just as good as Tales skits, I really hope that Falcom brings this back for future games, like Ys V Remake, or Ys 11, whichever happens first, having more character interactions outside of the main duo is something that many games often fail to do, and I'm glad Falcom returned to form with their excellent character writing for this game.
As a story that is heavily driven by characters, their goals and motivations, Falcom nailed on this regard.
Talking about the story, the story, while not as good as my beloved Ys VIII, is also a return to form for Falcom's fantastic writing that I've been longing for ever since Ys VIII (and the good old Sky games)
I enjoyed every bit of the story, because it just doesn't let go, with the exception of a certain few chapters that overstayed their welcome a bit with the side quests and other stuff, the story is full of relentless pain, despair, hope, and great scenes that really exhausts every bit of Kuro's engine to make really expressive cutscenes, epic attack montage of Coolness and what not. I'm really excited to see what the future of Ys holds for us, specially with the implications some of the key plot points this game delivered, as it makes it one of the most important Ys games out there.
The only thing that left much to be desired, is the soundtrack. This is mostly an unpopular opinion, but Falcom glory days with great ost is but a sad husk of what it once was, and while it still has a bunch of great tracks, there are a lot of outsourced tracks that simply do not hold the quality of what Once Falcom stood for in the music department.
There's still a little bit of hope, after the departure of Takahiro Unisuga, one of Falcom's best composers, Falcom got their hands on Shuntaro Koguchi, which seems to understand pretty well what the essence of Falcom games are in terms of music, and delivered a great amount of bangers.
Here's hoping that Falcom treats their musicians better and we get to see more of Koguchi, as well as Jindo and Sonoda, instead of outsourcing their music as much as they've done it recently, which has increased to a ridiculous amount.
All in all, Ys X is a glorious Return of one of my most beloved Action RPG franchises out there, and I'm glad to say that this was a great experience, excited about the future of the series.
8.5/10.