this is the best game in the series and I dare say the best game from the company, all boxes were ticked for this entry, amazing game
I gave this JRPG 6 hours of my time, but it couldn't maintain my interest.
For a PS4 game it still looks and runs pretty good on a PS5. No real complaints on the graphics front, they've always been the least important thing for me in an RPG anyway.
What's most important is character and story, and this game is unfortunately very bland for a newcomer to the franchise like me. Mercifully none of my 6 hours spent wandering around a forsaken island was bad, but just...very unremarkable. It's a JRPG that feels like its going through the motions.
Before anyone retorts I didn't give the game a chance to 'cook', let me mention that I loved the first Trails in the Sky, you know the game where barely anything 'happens'. Yet that game had tons of character and compelling storytelling.
The mute protagonist of Ys VIII did not help. It's a pet peeve of mine, just so silly and antiquated in the modern era. When are Japanese devs going to move past this? Well, I guess Adol is technically not mute as the player can pick text dialogue options, but still, it's just so goofy when characters have voice actors but the protagonist doesn't (well, he does but all they paid him to do was grunt).
The game's default controls were also horrendous. I almost gave up 30 minutes in until I realised I could just rebind them to something sane:
Square: attack
X: jump
Circle: dodge
Thank you very much.
Though it was all a moot point, the combat was beyond boring. I'd take turn based combat over this mindless button mashing any day of the week. Not that I'm averse to action in a JRPG, but unless it gives me the endorphin rush of something like Bloodborne or Metal Gear Revengeance, then I'm just not interested.
For a PS4 game it still looks and runs pretty good on a PS5. No real complaints on the graphics front, they've always been the least important thing for me in an RPG anyway.
What's most important is character and story, and this game is unfortunately very bland for a newcomer to the franchise like me. Mercifully none of my 6 hours spent wandering around a forsaken island was bad, but just...very unremarkable. It's a JRPG that feels like its going through the motions.
Before anyone retorts I didn't give the game a chance to 'cook', let me mention that I loved the first Trails in the Sky, you know the game where barely anything 'happens'. Yet that game had tons of character and compelling storytelling.
The mute protagonist of Ys VIII did not help. It's a pet peeve of mine, just so silly and antiquated in the modern era. When are Japanese devs going to move past this? Well, I guess Adol is technically not mute as the player can pick text dialogue options, but still, it's just so goofy when characters have voice actors but the protagonist doesn't (well, he does but all they paid him to do was grunt).
The game's default controls were also horrendous. I almost gave up 30 minutes in until I realised I could just rebind them to something sane:
Square: attack
X: jump
Circle: dodge
Thank you very much.
Though it was all a moot point, the combat was beyond boring. I'd take turn based combat over this mindless button mashing any day of the week. Not that I'm averse to action in a JRPG, but unless it gives me the endorphin rush of something like Bloodborne or Metal Gear Revengeance, then I'm just not interested.