Like I said in a previous post, at least this game being so 'low-tech' means it's running a very clean/high resolution and crisp performance on the PS5.
So that's a plus.
edit: Also, this demo is incredibly fucking generous. I'm in Chapter 2 (not sure how many the final game has), but I've already put in nearly 6~ hours, maybe the demo ends with Chapter 2? Let's see.
So I had pre-ordered my copy from Amazon way back when, and yesterday got an email saying it wouldn't arrive until Nov 1st! Cancelled, ordered from Best Buy, it's already shipped and will be here today...
Same thing happened with me except they said November 7th!
This is now the 3rd game from Amazon that has suddenly either "sold out" or is heavily delayed on its release date!
I was also able to order a copy from BestBuy.com since not a single BB store within 15 miles has a copy in-store...and I'm in a major city on the East Coast. Order says it should arrive tomorrow...fingers crossed.
There is not a single PS2 game that looks this good in 480i. Dynamic shadows, ambient occlusion, none of that is to be found in your average PS2 title.
I don't really care for the combat system but it's not as bad as I initially thought (ship combat is pretty damn weak though). The game gets much more enjoyable after you start unlocking stuff and aren't as railroaded.
It's serving as a great palette cleanser between Silent Hill 2 sessions.
I don't really care for the combat system but it's not as bad as I initially thought (ship combat is pretty damn weak though). The game gets much more enjoyable after you start unlocking stuff and aren't as railroaded.
It's serving as a great palette cleanser between Silent Hill 2 sessions.
The combat gets significantly better by Chapter 3, when it starts to open up and give you more options to play with. At the beginning I thought I would just spam R2 combos, but now I'm seeing the advantages of going back and forth.
I also recommend playing on the Nightmare difficulty, where you will have to engage a little bit more with its systems and enemies won't die as quickly.
Also, this demo is incredibly fucking generous. I'm in Chapter 2 (not sure how many the final game has), but I've already put in nearly 6~ hours, maybe the demo ends with Chapter 2? Let's see.
For reference, the demo ends about 3/4 of the way through Chapter 3. As you said, extremely generous - typically 6-10 hours of play time and almost 1/3rd of the full game.
I picked up my copy! Of course, GameStop had zero copies available for general sale. The last four games I picked up from them, they had no copies on the shelf. I honestly believe they are no longer in the business of selling new games. They just do the bare minimum to keep physical afloat so they can take trade-ins and resell used games. Fortunately, I had pre-ordered.
I'll see if I can resist playing until I finish Metaphor. I'm going to download that soundtrack, though.
There is not a single PS2 game that looks this good in 480i. Dynamic shadows, ambient occlusion, none of that is to be found in your average PS2 title.
For reference, the demo ends about 3/4 of the way through Chapter 3. As you said, extremely generous - typically 6-10 hours of play time and almost 1/3rd of the full game.
Yeah, I was able to beat the demo, it ended before the big worm boss. Got my copy in the mail yesterday and was seamlessly able to continue.
However, the game hasn't unlocked trophies for the first 2 chapters for me. I read online that they're supposed to unlock at the end of Chapter 3, but mine didn't. Ah well.
Strange thing happened, my Adol's moveset switched to Karja's. Is this a game mechanic I'm not aware of and if it is how turn it back, because her moveset is pretty slow and consist of only three hits. I tried to restart the game and reload save, but so far I didn't find a way to solve this problem.
Strange thing happened, my Adol's moveset switched to Karja's. Is this a game mechanic I'm not aware of and if it is how turn it back, because her moveset is pretty slow and consist of only three hits. I tried to restart the game and reload save, but so far I didn't find a way to solve this problem.
The demo turned me off from the game honestly. It felt like a step down from 8 & 9 entirely.
I’ll be curious to see this thread as time goes on. I got burned by metaphor so I’m not willing to dive into another long jrpg and have regret. If this picks up and goes hard 20+ hours in then I’ll get it on sale.
I am around 7 hours in and enjoying it. The ship combat is kind of ass though and I've spent so much time sailing on this lame boat. I hope there is less emphasis on sailing as I go. I just want to explore some islands and beat up some bad guys, not slowly move a boat around.
I'm a bit disappointed frankly about the fact that Karja doesn't get the hots for Adol and they form a sibling-like bond. It broke the 6 game streak of all female characters falling over themselves to get with him.
I am around 7 hours in and enjoying it. The ship combat is kind of ass though and I've spent so much time sailing on this lame boat. I hope there is less emphasis on sailing as I go. I just want to explore some islands and beat up some bad guys, not slowly move a boat around.
Anyone able to redeem their digital OST code from the retail copy? I just get a mix of “invalid code” and “there was a problem…”. I’ve tried three operating systems and a variety of browsers. All fail.
I remember having trouble redeeming my Trails through Daybreak code but then one day it just randomly worked.
I’ll be starting this game tomorrow. The DLC prices are ridiculous. It’s like $20 for some ship decorations? $47 for item packs that just seem like cheat codes? Who the hell is buying these?
It's an issue that's been brewing with the franchise but Falcom has avoided until this game I think. The games are made of many simple mechanics running in conjunction; they just went a bit too far and have too many systems/mechanics that need quick access leading to too many button combinations and thus some level of awkwardness. I'm frequently hitting the wrong button to do something and I comletely forget about the 'hold attack to do fire/ice' ability until I see the blatant vine patch or the ledge I can't get to because I can't double jump and there's no point to grapple from.
I enjoy the games a lot but I kinda think they need to do another overhaul at this point.
It's an issue that's been brewing with the franchise but Falcom has avoided until this game I think. The games are made of many simple mechanics running in conjunction; they just went a bit too far and have too many systems/mechanics that need quick access leading to too many button combinations and thus some level of awkwardness. I'm frequently hitting the wrong button to do something and I comletely forget about the 'hold attack to do fire/ice' ability until I see the blatant vine patch or the ledge I can't get to because I can't double jump and there's no point to grapple from.
I enjoy the games a lot but I kinda think they need to do another overhaul at this point.
Yeah, they really need to do smart things like auto sprint etc and free up the shoulder buttons for the world traversal skills instead of holding town the analog stick buttons to use them. Very odd design choice.
-
Also, fairly late into the game, finally got an accessory that turns all the random thousands of crystals lying around the world into EXP. This is great for fast leveling.
Yo, that was nuts. Reminds me of one of my favorite moments in Critical Role (the online series where they play Dungeons and Dragons), where they’re having their first naval battle, and Matt, their Dungeon Master, gets out these custom naval battle rules he made and is real excited for the players to try them out….and then Taliesin tries using a spell in a certain way that manages to capsize the enemy ship in a single round (granted, I think he accidentally misinterpreted the spell wording, but Matt didn’t notice so it’s fair game) and you just see Matt trying to not look sad that the rules he spent all that work on wouldn’t be used at all.
And then despite the enemy boat already being capsized, Travis, Marisha, and Sam proceed to open fire on it with the cannons anyway. Matt, smirking but also having a look that says, “really?”, tells them to roll to hit and then to roll for damage, and for damage results essentially said, “yes, you two, the ship that was already done for is now extremely done for. Well done.”
Yeah, they really need to do smart things like auto sprint etc and free up the shoulder buttons for the world traversal skills instead of holding town the analog stick buttons to use them. Very odd design choice.
If you are playing on PC/Steam, you can bind sprint to the left stick click and make it an "always on" toggle in Steam Input. It works pretty well.
Or maybe you can even bind it to the Outer Ring Command in Steam Input, haven't tried though.
In general the default binds are terrible anyway, had to rebind everything in Ys VIII and IX too.
I just got started on the game and this game seems really good. The graphics are surprisingly good considering the modest budget. It runs smooth as hell on PC too. Locked 120 fps. Port seems to be exceptionally well made.
It's an issue that's been brewing with the franchise but Falcom has avoided until this game I think. The games are made of many simple mechanics running in conjunction; they just went a bit too far and have too many systems/mechanics that need quick access leading to too many button combinations and thus some level of awkwardness. I'm frequently hitting the wrong button to do something and I comletely forget about the 'hold attack to do fire/ice' ability until I see the blatant vine patch or the ledge I can't get to because I can't double jump and there's no point to grapple from.
I enjoy the games a lot but I kinda think they need to do another overhaul at this point.
Its the first YS that plays better for me on mouse+keyboard with a 12 button MMO mouse, just binding all skills on the side of the mouse without holding a modifier.
I personaly have grown tired of YS female characters falling for Adol, romance is cool and all but everyone and their mother knows right from the beginning that Adol leaves only broken hearts behind when he goes off on the next adventure at the end of every game, so it's refreshing that Karja is in a bromance with Adol instead of a unrequited love.
Tried my digital soundtrack code all day, wouldn't work. I dig out my Nayuta Boundless Trails disc and enter its code... worked fine. Then try my Nordics code again... worked this time. No explanation. It was even the same browser window and I didn't even reload between attempts. Bizarre.
Anyway, started the game but didn't get very far. Is it just me or are the controls completely unintuitive? I don't even recall what Ys 8 & 9 used, but I never once even gave the controls any thought. Here, it's like casting a voodoo hex or throwing up a gang sign every time I get in a fight. Hitting R2 to block while trying to hold R1 and press a button for a skill or X to attack or R1 to roll...
Tried my digital soundtrack code all day, wouldn't work. I dig out my Nayuta Boundless Trails disc and enter its code... worked fine. Then try my Nordics code again... worked this time. No explanation. It was even the same browser window and I didn't even reload between attempts. Bizarre.
Anyway, started the game but didn't get very far. Is it just me or are the controls completely unintuitive? I don't even recall what Ys 8 & 9 used, but I never once even gave the controls any thought. Here, it's like casting a voodoo hex or throwing up a gang sign every time I get in a fight. Hitting R2 to block while trying to hold R1 and press a button for a skill or X to attack or R1 to roll...
I feel the same. If Falcom wants to continue with the "Trails-light" approach, Ys IX is how it should be done.
In that game, the story, characters and side quests feel cohesive, as everything feeds into the main mystery of the story. The people of Balduq have always something relevant to say about the setting and the overall mystery. Each party member gets enough time to shine and develop, even with a modest runtime for a JRPG (30-40 hours).
I'm not really feeling the story and characters in Ys X. It's not bad, it's good enough for me to continue playing. The sense of excitement to see what happens next is not there for me though. Maybe it will get better towards the end, let's see.
The combat is really fun though. Weaving in skills and duo attacks, while dodging and guarding and trying to maintain the skill chain going is pretty addicting.
It's so refreshing to see a game with ease hit a native 1440p/120 fps without any bullshit upscalers, no ugly filters and no weird ass AA solutions that just makes everything blurry. Sharpness trumps all when it comes to games and man is Ys X sharp as hell. I think the game is beautiful. They've done a wonderful job blending 3D and 2D assets too.
Same thing happened with me except they said November 7th!
This is now the 3rd game from Amazon that has suddenly either "sold out" or is heavily delayed on its release date!
I was also able to order a copy from BestBuy.com since not a single BB store within 15 miles has a copy in-store...and I'm in a major city on the East Coast. Order says it should arrive tomorrow...fingers crossed.
Anyone playing this on hard difficulty? I’ve tried hard in the prior games, but it lowered the amount of experience you gained, so it just made you underleveled in addition to often being one-shot. This game doesn’t mention anything about EXP change, so maybe it’s actually reasonable this time?
Anyone playing this on hard difficulty? I’ve tried hard in the prior games, but it lowered the amount of experience you gained, so it just made you underleveled in addition to often being one-shot. This game doesn’t mention anything about EXP change, so maybe it’s actually reasonable this time?
I'm playing on Hard, it seems balanced to me. Against bosses you can take some punishment so you don't get one shot.
Don't use potions though, otherwise it trivializes everything.
Anyone playing this on hard difficulty? I’ve tried hard in the prior games, but it lowered the amount of experience you gained, so it just made you underleveled in addition to often being one-shot. This game doesn’t mention anything about EXP change, so maybe it’s actually reasonable this time?
Grabbed this at launch and have been really enjoying my time with the game so far. (At chapter VIII about 28 hours in). Something about the combat in these games (X, IX and VIII) that i find quite fun. So far have been digging the story and the boat (and upgrading the boat) has been pretty cool as well. (My Daughter is also playing through this and is about 3 chapters behind me.. she also has been enjoying the story, she likes all of the dialog choices that you can make as you go along).
If your playing on the Switch be sure to check the Eshop as there is Free DLC you can grab (2 outfits and a item set)
This game has to have the most convoluted control scheme I have ever experienced.
"ok, attack is X... incoming attack I need to block with R2... now counter holding R2 and press triangle... wait they are using a fast attack, I have to dodge with L1... time to switch characters with square... oh yeah skills, so I have to hold R1 while pressing circle"
So I am trying to block, or maybe dodge, then use skills while holding a different button, while pressing square to change characters, while attacking with X, while sometimes holding block to perform the duo attack. It doesn't help that I spent 100 hours playing Metaphor with square being attack.
I never had any issue with Ys Celceta, VIII, or IX. I think it's the block and skills being on the same hand that is trouble. Is this one of those games where weirdos that use separate fingers on R1 and R2 actually benefit?
If you noticed, the game has family relationships as a theme. I'm really liking how they are focusing on family relationship dynamics and multigenerational wisdom, and some characters start off being hostile but learn to understand and appreciate the other generation, their parent, etc. I remember when I started playing JRPGs I'd mostly enjoy the romance and the colorful adventures, but now that I'm in my 30's and have gone through things and understand society and politics, I am now cherishing the wisdom that older people and history have, because I went through the painful lessons that could have been avoided had I listened, rather than being focused only on how good the times were or thinking that I can carelessly risk mistakes because I have so much future ahead. I just got to a scene where there's even an older fisherman scolding the young hotheads who went and tried to save the village but ended up
turning into grieger and helping to build an enemy fortress
He says something like "You learn one lesson but think you know everything now!" So even the appreciation of wisdom has a caveat to keep in mind.
At the same time, there's moments where the younger generation gives out their point of view, like Karja realizing there are risky situations where as a captain she has to just go for it (getting across the "Tyrant"), or the Mayor's son feeling that excessive planning leads to nothing getting done. You've also got those moments where the villains comment on the nature of humanity, and I can say that I've seen enough to appreciate even those tidbits of "wisdom" too, even if I disagree (I had Adol choose the "That's not true" option in the dialogue when the villain essentially made the "you're actually not free and you'd be free if you were under our control" argument that a certain philosophy has made in reality. I can't say I'd have appreciated or understood the significance of these things as much when I was younger, but now that I've seen more I realize that the villains and their points of view are actually believed by lots of people in real life, not just "goofy melodrama". So yeah, this was the right game at the right time and a true sight for sore eyes, this is the type of useful, universal wisdom that bigger/more well known entertainment used to focus on.
As for the gameplay, it's very addictive to me, there's a true steady sense of progression where the player gets new abilities that lead to new actions/activities, and eventually I'm at a point where I'm zooming along the seas or swinging along with a rope or even doing platforming with some time control ability too. Whenever I get the chance I like to zip along the water with the hoverboard. There's also the progression of adding more people the crew, and as far as I'm aware many of the crew are actually "optional" side content? (Don't know if later in the game they "require" getting all the crew?) Come to think of it, I may be thinking about the people rescued during island recapture missions, those aren't crew members are they... I find the "custom leveling" of the characters fun too, with the release lines. Makes this all feel like a true voyage where there's multiple things progressing as it goes on.
I would often find myself holding down L1, then L2 to hook onto something, then R1+R3 to 'scan' the area then quickly press R2 to get into a duo formation for a fight. Then if you want to use a Duo skill, you need to have both R1 and R2 held down then hit a face button.
Too many commands that need rapid switching between each other on a moment's notice.
I referenced Ys IX controls to see what is different. The key difference is that block and skills are on the same button (R1). For Nordics, they separated block and skills into two buttons. I guess to allow for duo attacks and skills.
That's actually true considering they reportedly built the game engine entirely with Switch hardware in mind (to have better performance).
