Sarichi
I'm playing this so much that I got genuinely sick and the sound of Cagliostro screaming Ars Magna and going tee-hee! echoes in my head every time I'm not playing the game
This update was so good I HAD to log it here, what an incredible experience from start to finish, felt every type of emotion and more
2023
Asane is literally me
This is a review for version 1.
After finally completing every main story in Version 1, which took about 100 hours because of me being constantly distracted with cool side stuff, I wanted to make a review here before moving on to Version 2.
The game itself? Masterpiece, the absolute best Dragon Quest experience I've ever had, so many things to do, there's cool things around every single corner, in every town. Super fun vocation system that makes deciding on a main class the hardest task in the game and overall satisfying gameplay, as expected from Dragon Quest.
Now, if I'm rating the main story of Version 1 itself, I don't think it's the best the DQ series has to offer, but it's still really good and uses the DQ formula really well with going from town to town and exploring this vast, large MMO world. The stories here serve their purpose really well, providing rich world building and heartfelt tales that are mostly centered around the importance of family; add to that some charming character and monster design (specially the monsters, the main story bosses are all SUPER COOL design wise), stunning locations and you got yourself an amazing package of a game.
The final section was a ride all the way through with some really nice character writing, super cool story beats using time travel, classic DQ dungeon design, memorable cutscenes and a really cool villain to top it off.
I'm really excited to play version 2, and I couldn't be more thankful to the group of people that are making this game available to English players. Being able to play this game feels like a dream, with how out of reach it has been to English players for so many years, and now that it's accessible, it's as good as I imagined.
After finally completing every main story in Version 1, which took about 100 hours because of me being constantly distracted with cool side stuff, I wanted to make a review here before moving on to Version 2.
The game itself? Masterpiece, the absolute best Dragon Quest experience I've ever had, so many things to do, there's cool things around every single corner, in every town. Super fun vocation system that makes deciding on a main class the hardest task in the game and overall satisfying gameplay, as expected from Dragon Quest.
Now, if I'm rating the main story of Version 1 itself, I don't think it's the best the DQ series has to offer, but it's still really good and uses the DQ formula really well with going from town to town and exploring this vast, large MMO world. The stories here serve their purpose really well, providing rich world building and heartfelt tales that are mostly centered around the importance of family; add to that some charming character and monster design (specially the monsters, the main story bosses are all SUPER COOL design wise), stunning locations and you got yourself an amazing package of a game.
The final section was a ride all the way through with some really nice character writing, super cool story beats using time travel, classic DQ dungeon design, memorable cutscenes and a really cool villain to top it off.
I'm really excited to play version 2, and I couldn't be more thankful to the group of people that are making this game available to English players. Being able to play this game feels like a dream, with how out of reach it has been to English players for so many years, and now that it's accessible, it's as good as I imagined.
2023
I love the combat, the animations are amazing
This game is awesome, I love it.
This game is awesome, I love it.
1989
Having played Chronicles first, this didn't disappoint me one bit, I think it's a very good version of the game, especially for the time it was released, but.
I still prefer the remake for a lot of decisions they made, the presentation, the dialogue feels more fleshed out, the NPCs have their own names, making the game feel more lively and some bosses being more fun (looking at you, Ys II final boss)
Still, Ys: Book I & II PCE was completely ahead of it's time and it's an amazing game that is worth checking out if you love Ys I and II.
I still prefer the remake for a lot of decisions they made, the presentation, the dialogue feels more fleshed out, the NPCs have their own names, making the game feel more lively and some bosses being more fun (looking at you, Ys II final boss)
Still, Ys: Book I & II PCE was completely ahead of it's time and it's an amazing game that is worth checking out if you love Ys I and II.
it's been half a year since i beat it and im still thinking about that Yozora boss fight holy fucking kino
2009
One of my favourite Ys games, definitely the most underrated game in the franchise, absolute top tier soundtrack, boss design, iconic moments, good writing, best villains in the series by far, overall an amazing start for the party system games (this was the FIRST game they made with that system, on an underpowered portable console, and it manages to be so good!!!)
It manages to capture the exact feeling of an Ys game in ways that the other party system games don't exactly do, such as having a limited item usage that keeps the challenging nature of the series pretty much intact, even if this game is not as hardcore as Origin or Felghana (it kinda is on hard mode, which is the mode i played on)
Having Dogi and Geis as party members is extremely cool to fans of the rest of the series, especially if you played VI before this one
There are some things that are not perfect, like the McGuffin hunting for 50% of the game with barely any interesting plot in between but I couldn't care less, the gameplay, the dungeons, the insane bosses and the music easily makes up for that and the payoff is too good.
About the graphics... It's a PSP game. But, there's a texture pack for the PC version that makes the game look pretty good! I was very surprised about the difference in quality, but without it, I'll admit it looks pretty average to bad.
Never understood at all why this game is among the lowest rated in the series.
It manages to capture the exact feeling of an Ys game in ways that the other party system games don't exactly do, such as having a limited item usage that keeps the challenging nature of the series pretty much intact, even if this game is not as hardcore as Origin or Felghana (it kinda is on hard mode, which is the mode i played on)
Having Dogi and Geis as party members is extremely cool to fans of the rest of the series, especially if you played VI before this one
There are some things that are not perfect, like the McGuffin hunting for 50% of the game with barely any interesting plot in between but I couldn't care less, the gameplay, the dungeons, the insane bosses and the music easily makes up for that and the payoff is too good.
About the graphics... It's a PSP game. But, there's a texture pack for the PC version that makes the game look pretty good! I was very surprised about the difference in quality, but without it, I'll admit it looks pretty average to bad.
Never understood at all why this game is among the lowest rated in the series.
2019
Definitely one of the weakest titles in the series, the story has no right to be this horribly paced and laughably bad at times
It barely "improves" from Ys VIII and feels like a completely downgraded version of that game, although this game has pretty fun dungeons, I'll give it that, even though they all look the exact same
I can't hide my disappointment with this game coming from the masterpiece that is Ys VIII and being a big fan of the series, but, it's still Ys, it's still fun, I love it just for that
It barely "improves" from Ys VIII and feels like a completely downgraded version of that game, although this game has pretty fun dungeons, I'll give it that, even though they all look the exact same
I can't hide my disappointment with this game coming from the masterpiece that is Ys VIII and being a big fan of the series, but, it's still Ys, it's still fun, I love it just for that
2007
as a trans woman i loved this a lot. it's very sensitive, real, and made me cry like a bitch at the ending
so much heart in such a short VN
i would like to note that the trans rep is not exactly perfect, could be a bit better, but it's incredibly well done for a 2007 japanese VN and i feel like it tries to show what trans people were going through in that specific age with that weird pub thing but i could be wrong
so much heart in such a short VN
i would like to note that the trans rep is not exactly perfect, could be a bit better, but it's incredibly well done for a 2007 japanese VN and i feel like it tries to show what trans people were going through in that specific age with that weird pub thing but i could be wrong
It's been like 8 months since i finished this shit and even though I hate it I can't stop thinking about it
I'll start by saying that of all the Ys games i played, this one was my favourite, but it's not the best at everything. The main things im looking for in a Ys game is the gameplay, the OST, and the exploration. This game made me appreciate every aspect of it as much as those things.
The combat system was, like always, addictive and fast paced, perfecting that party system coming from Seven and Celceta, with flash guard and flash move being more important than ever, encouraging aggresive, very risky and very high rewarding gameplay.
However, i think the experience would have been much worse if i didn't limit myself to not use any items in boss fights, keeping in mind i was already playing on nightmare mode, the items could have still made every fight an absolute joke. there are some clear balance issues there, ones that weren't on Seven at all, the first party game of the series which had items limitation and the boss fights still felt hard even when trying to use all of your items. Ys VIII doesn't have an item limit, and healing items are EVERYWHERE, i was using them all the time when exploring zones with monsters that killed me in two hits and i never, ever ran out of them. Some bosses were very hard due to this limitation i made myself, specially the Dana exclusive bosses, which i actually enjoyed a lot, but i actually felt like most of the bosses were...... disappointing? at least when comparing to other Ys games, like Seven and Felghana. Don't get me wrong, i still had a lot of fun and the late game bosses were definitely a step up compared to the rest of the game, i enjoyed those a lot too, the final boss was great too, it actually kicked my ass many times. Overall, i enjoyed it a lot but i wouldn't say this game has the best set of boss fights in the series, which is sad because i always enjoy the good boss design the Ys series always puts up.
Moving on to other aspects of the gameplay, the exploration is probably the aspect i enjoyed the most in this game, the normal enemies are always fun to fight, although some of them feel way too tanky... but it makes it satisfying to kill them. The Isle of Seiren is absolutely huge, full of secrets, interesting looking areas, it's like a dream come true to explore a place as charming as this one, and it only gets better. As i was playing through the game, i ALWAYS made sure i was doing everything i could at every point in the story. I even ended up in areas that i wasn't supposed to be yet. I wanted to see everything the island had to offer.
What also makes the exploration so great, it's the incredible, consistently good OST that this game has. Every track was memorable to me and it only filled up my desire for exploration even more. The other tracks, such as the boss fights ones were also pretty good, although i found the final boss one a bit lacking... but it's okay, it is an amazing soundtrack, probably one of my favourites from the series, up there with Ys Seven.
The story of this game has the most developed lore, world building and characters in the series up until this point, and it certainly shows. Having a very extensive lore and lots of dialogue doesn't always mean that it's good, but in this game's case, it really works for good. Uncovering the secrets of the Island, getting to know more about the characters, about Dana's past, was an incredible experience and it kept me engaged through the whole game. By far the most enjoyable story in the series, in my opinion. Unlike the other games in the series, I can actually say, for this title, that you can enjoy it's story as much as any other aspect, because of how well developed it is. It also rewards players who get invested on it because every character has always something to say at every point of the story, and of course, doing quests for them gets you to know more about them.
Overall this was pretty much a perfect game and definitely one of my favourites of all time, everything clicked with me and the journey was amazing from start to finish. Im looking forward to what Ys IX has to offer after this one, it's the only "canon" game in the series left for me to play and im very excited to see how it tries to improve over this masterpiece.
The combat system was, like always, addictive and fast paced, perfecting that party system coming from Seven and Celceta, with flash guard and flash move being more important than ever, encouraging aggresive, very risky and very high rewarding gameplay.
However, i think the experience would have been much worse if i didn't limit myself to not use any items in boss fights, keeping in mind i was already playing on nightmare mode, the items could have still made every fight an absolute joke. there are some clear balance issues there, ones that weren't on Seven at all, the first party game of the series which had items limitation and the boss fights still felt hard even when trying to use all of your items. Ys VIII doesn't have an item limit, and healing items are EVERYWHERE, i was using them all the time when exploring zones with monsters that killed me in two hits and i never, ever ran out of them. Some bosses were very hard due to this limitation i made myself, specially the Dana exclusive bosses, which i actually enjoyed a lot, but i actually felt like most of the bosses were...... disappointing? at least when comparing to other Ys games, like Seven and Felghana. Don't get me wrong, i still had a lot of fun and the late game bosses were definitely a step up compared to the rest of the game, i enjoyed those a lot too, the final boss was great too, it actually kicked my ass many times. Overall, i enjoyed it a lot but i wouldn't say this game has the best set of boss fights in the series, which is sad because i always enjoy the good boss design the Ys series always puts up.
Moving on to other aspects of the gameplay, the exploration is probably the aspect i enjoyed the most in this game, the normal enemies are always fun to fight, although some of them feel way too tanky... but it makes it satisfying to kill them. The Isle of Seiren is absolutely huge, full of secrets, interesting looking areas, it's like a dream come true to explore a place as charming as this one, and it only gets better. As i was playing through the game, i ALWAYS made sure i was doing everything i could at every point in the story. I even ended up in areas that i wasn't supposed to be yet. I wanted to see everything the island had to offer.
What also makes the exploration so great, it's the incredible, consistently good OST that this game has. Every track was memorable to me and it only filled up my desire for exploration even more. The other tracks, such as the boss fights ones were also pretty good, although i found the final boss one a bit lacking... but it's okay, it is an amazing soundtrack, probably one of my favourites from the series, up there with Ys Seven.
The story of this game has the most developed lore, world building and characters in the series up until this point, and it certainly shows. Having a very extensive lore and lots of dialogue doesn't always mean that it's good, but in this game's case, it really works for good. Uncovering the secrets of the Island, getting to know more about the characters, about Dana's past, was an incredible experience and it kept me engaged through the whole game. By far the most enjoyable story in the series, in my opinion. Unlike the other games in the series, I can actually say, for this title, that you can enjoy it's story as much as any other aspect, because of how well developed it is. It also rewards players who get invested on it because every character has always something to say at every point of the story, and of course, doing quests for them gets you to know more about them.
Overall this was pretty much a perfect game and definitely one of my favourites of all time, everything clicked with me and the journey was amazing from start to finish. Im looking forward to what Ys IX has to offer after this one, it's the only "canon" game in the series left for me to play and im very excited to see how it tries to improve over this masterpiece.