Ys Seven Review
The Ys series is known for bucking most of the trends that gamers expect from Japanese RPGs. Rather than being a franchise based on its storytelling, Ys is built on hacking and slashing until you eliminate every monster on the screen as series lead Adol Christin, with a rockin' music track playing in the background. While developer Nihon Falcom has expanded the series with their latest title, Ys Seven, adding more of the "traditional" aspects found in more well-known Japanese RPGs, is this type of game a relic better left forgotten or is it a gem that gamers shouldn't overlook?
In Ys Seven, Adol and his buddy Dogi have set out on yet another quest, this time taking them to the far-away land of Altago, where they are looking for adventure and treasure. Ys fans should be used to this storyline by now as this is essentially how each of the game's storylines starts out. But things quickly take a turn for the worst as they begin to learn of a seemingly random sequence of events and illnesses afflicting the land. And as expected, the King of Altago asks Adol and Dogi to investigate the events, which lead the duo, along with a plethora of other playable characters, in an effort to save Altago from impending doom. While this sounds like all of the typical RPG tropes bundled into one, which save for a few plot twists it is, the game itself is so much fun that you'll overlook these issues.
In a change for the series, Ys Seven allows you to now control three characters, which can be switched out using the Circle button on the PSP. Attacks are mapped to the Cross button, dodging via rolling is mapped to the Square button, and a menu which contains healing, equip-able, and other miscellaneous items is mapped to the Triangle button. Attacks can be charged up by holding the attack button, and by delivering enough attacks a meter will fill up, giving you access to four different skills. These can be swapped in and out in the game's menu and range from small, cheap attacks to massive attacks which deal loads of damage at the cost of using up more of the meter. And once you've used up enough of those skills, there's another meter which unleashes a special "Ex" skill which is complimented with flashy graphics and a cut-in of the character who executed it.
For advanced players, the battle system has some other unique features. There are three different weapon types in Ys Seven: slashing, heavy weapons, and projectiles. This is where switching between characters becomes important, as some enemies are resistant to certain attacks and are weakened by others. As I played through the game there were numerous instances where I switched between characters to deal the most damage, and the ease with which the game allows the player to do this keeps things from getting bogged down - a trait many games which employ this method usually get wrong by making the system too cumbersome. Even after playing 20+ hours in the game, the combat never gets old because you can try out new techniques and approaches, so no one battle ever feels the same.
