Ys VIII is an action RPG with a heavy emphasis on combat. This is the third attempt in the series to turn the Ys Napishtim 10-15 hour gameplay loop into a 50 hour behemoth and it is mostly unsuccessful. The story beats and premise are fine, but the pacing is uneven and the writing is only adequate. Leveling, equipment upgrades, and materials gathering are all unnecessarily padded out. Exploring the island is enjoyable, but many of the new systems (gardening, fishing, raids) do little to add to the experience.
The combat is what really elevates the game, and it is absolutely fantastic in this entry. It is a thrill to pull off a difficult parry into a flurry of attacks to recharge your heavy-hitter skills. Enemies and bosses synergize with this beautifully, although difficulty choice will determine how much the player has to engage with these systems. On Hard I rarely had to retry bosses, but it was still often a close shave.
Ultimately the game is a load of fun but just way too long with too much mandatory side content. If it was possible to disengage and ignore the more cumbersome systems then this could have been an exhilarating 20-30 hour game. It's an experience that is good enough to keep playing, but not great enough to revisit.
The combat is what really elevates the game, and it is absolutely fantastic in this entry. It is a thrill to pull off a difficult parry into a flurry of attacks to recharge your heavy-hitter skills. Enemies and bosses synergize with this beautifully, although difficulty choice will determine how much the player has to engage with these systems. On Hard I rarely had to retry bosses, but it was still often a close shave.
Ultimately the game is a load of fun but just way too long with too much mandatory side content. If it was possible to disengage and ignore the more cumbersome systems then this could have been an exhilarating 20-30 hour game. It's an experience that is good enough to keep playing, but not great enough to revisit.