Developer Nihon Falcom has always been talented, but this project represents a new high for the studio, a game where each piece comes together and interlocks in a way that feels damn near perfect. Don’t let the obscure name fool you; forgettable story aside, this is one of the best action-RPGs of this generation.
I often found myself torn between pushing the main story forward and doing all the side activities, but the real tell was I just really enjoyed spending time in the game no matter what I was doing. The graphics, music, and game mechanics all work well together to provide many hours of delightful and fun entertainment.
Fluid gameplay, tough but fair combat, great story, epic adventure, and nice music. The dialogue is fine and enjoyable, often humorous. The combat system is unique and works very well. You can be underleveled and beat a boss with pure skill. This game should be way more popular. The only thing probably holding it back is the graphics but they manage to be detailed enough. It was fun on hard for my first playthrough.
Ys VIII abandons the sprawling, dramatic settings of other JRPGs for a restrained world and cast, then gives us every reason to fall in love with both. From combat to story to exploration to sound, Ys VIII offers subtle, but refreshing distinctions from the usual genre fare.
While obviously not without its flaws, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is one of the stronger, albeit more obscure, JRPG offerings to hit the PS4 this year.
Featuring an undeniable retro charm, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana certainly doesn't stand out for the graphics. On the other hand, the gameplay is fun, frenetic and framed by a pleasing and multifaceted narrative. A title strongly recommended to old-school RPG action fans.
I prefer this one to the newest Ys game. Both the gameplay and the story were good and the soundtrack is also great, if you want to play good JRPG this game is a must-play.
The only aspect this game really nails as far as the Ys formula goes is the music. The combat is more like Dynasty Warriors and the deeper crafting aspect kind of bungles things.
What's also interesting is the game can't maintain a constant 60fps, not even on my PS4 Pro, which is extremely disheartening when it's clear this version is nothing but a dump of the PSVita release with a resolution bump. It isn't that demanding, they just did a bad job optimizing it (if they did any effort at all beyond dumping it on PS4 and letting its hardware brute force the Vita engine to meet - not maintain - their framerate goal).
There's a decent amount of noise being made about the translation. I don't see the issue with most of it, there are some incorrect item descriptions but that isn't poor localization so much as it is just pure ineptitude when it comes to labeling. People are complaining about things like "My name is Alison, please just call me Alison" like it's the worst thing they've ever read in what's essentially an imported JRPG with a translation slapped on. Castlevania 2 is bad localization. This is that humorous Engrish that comes from adequate translations and to me is part of the charm of these games. Making it perfect English is going to ruin even more of the charm of Ys, I don't know why people are picking a bone over this when 1) the story **** anyway (the shoebill is the best character in the game) and 2) the technical issues are genuine issues. The intent with the translation here was clearly "Ys Meets Kung Pow".
There is also some enemy scaling involved - as you get stronger, enemies do more damage as well, to a certain point. Just like Oblivion. Enemies still maintain that traditional Ys format of giving less XP as your level gap grows, so despite becoming more threatening (again to a point) as you level, enemies give you less and less for exterminating them. If this combination isn't a cardinal sin in RPGs, I don't know what is.
Giving it a 7 regardless because the generally outstanding soundtrack and gameplay is enjoyable enough anyway. It's no Oath and while some of the pieces of a Ys experience are still here, it certainly doesn't feel like Ys anymore, which has been the case for me ever since they adapted a party system.
What I expect from an RPG: captivating characters, exciting story, a good battle system and good music. Ys Lacrimosa in almost all these aspects is generic. In addition to having a very generic art direction for the genre as well.
About positive points: The soundtrack is good.
It's not a bad game, but it didn't captivate me or move me.
The combat is fun but everything else about this title is utter garbage. All the characters are one-dimensional and the story is contrived generic nonsense. Still, I tried to muscle through until the onslaught of anime **** got to be too much, those of you who enjoy sexualized children and rampant misogyny might enjoy the game but everyone else should steer clear.
Could have been one of the better Ys games. Bad decisions made a bad game.
So Ys 8 has a lot going for it. The soundtrack although not as good as some other Ys games is still good. The combat is fun but again not as good as those on the previous engine but this game is heavily bogged down by certain elements. The characters whilst being likeable are rather uninteresting and some are very forced.
The big failure is that this is an action rgp and the action is really stop start. You explore via a terrible map system and then when you get to your destination, you get called back to base. Sometimes this is automatic, sometimes it is fast travel but it always feels like an interuption. I don't like the fishing but I have no way of knowing if the treasure chests found fishing are needed, as in past Ys games chests hold items to advance in the game.
The scenery whilst nice, I don't find to be as pleasant as SAO, Zestiria, Berseria, etc The whole base thing just feels like a waste of time. Collect ore, forge weapons etc. It is just another chore between the action. It feels like an action RPG that sidelined the action too often.
Now when I play Ys 8 which I have been doing very slowly over a couple of years now, I often get a bored. When I played Ys Origin, I couldn't put it down. Even the grind was fun in Ys Origin and I hate grinding as a general rule.
I am also playing Oath in Felghana and Memories of Celceta at the moment and to me they are way more fun.
I hope they develop a new engine, or do something more fun with the new engine because this 3D open world Ys does not work as well as the top down Ys games of recent past.
The other thing is that every new area has an intro where you walk slowly supposedly in awe at the scenery but it really just doesn't look that nice that I need to wait an extra 10 seconds. Again there are lots of little things like this slowing the action. The stories of Adol's dreams being another and worse, they are damn boring
It is a nice production and feels good to play, with reasonably tight controls but it it is like Ys with the fun stripped out. I find it a bit bad for Ys and Tales of that the latest entries are ranking so high because these new games are pretty **** and I feel people will be put off previous games because of this.
Ys 8 is not as good as the previous entries that I mentioned and same with Tales of Arise, it is totally boring compared to Zestiria and Berseria (again that I mentioned above).
Even Tales of Vesperia, which was a bit of a boring slog at times is better than Arise. It just feels like these new entries are really putting a dint in the long running franchise's. If I was new to Tales of and Ys and bought 8 and Arise as my entry, I would never play another and I think that is a shame for newcomers.
SummaryAdol awakens shipwrecked and stranded on a cursed island. There, he and the other shipwrecked passengers he rescues form a village to challenge fearsome beasts and mysterious ruins on the isolated island.