Ys Seven pilots the series into a new era, but ultimately ends up feeling like a rough draft. The game has solid bones - a fun and typically fast-paced and dodge-heavy hack-and-slash combat system where attacks build up SP to unleash special skills, as well as a party system to help introduce some variety.
But the game is constantly getting in its own way with weird balancing issues - SP takes waaaaay too long to build up, and bosses are giant damage sponges that draw fights out two to three times as long as they should be. The result is a game that feels both fast and sluggish in its moment-to-moment rhythms. Another key flaw? Only the slash-type characters are really any fun to play as (Dogi hits like a truck but he moves like one too).
I had an okay time with it despite everything. But this is easily one of the weaker Ys games, and the fact that it was by far the longest Ys to date on release really doesn’t help with that
But the game is constantly getting in its own way with weird balancing issues - SP takes waaaaay too long to build up, and bosses are giant damage sponges that draw fights out two to three times as long as they should be. The result is a game that feels both fast and sluggish in its moment-to-moment rhythms. Another key flaw? Only the slash-type characters are really any fun to play as (Dogi hits like a truck but he moves like one too).
I had an okay time with it despite everything. But this is easily one of the weaker Ys games, and the fact that it was by far the longest Ys to date on release really doesn’t help with that
Our first Ys game with the party system in the SEVEN engine which also laid the foundations of future remakes (Celceta) and future new games (Lacrimosa).
I think the first half of the game was better than the second half which felt a bit like padding and repetitive. Having to explore Altago AGAIN, even with shortcuts, was a massive pain and not fun. I think the idea of skills being tied to weapons is a good system overall but not a good system for Ys because of how fast you get new weapons plus add the synth and I ended up with a lot of unlearned skills.
I played on hard and it was a nice challenge until you get the Pentagram skill for Adol + Crimson Jewel and any sense of difficulty goes to the gutter. It's just that broken.
Even if I had a lot of issues with this game I enjoyed it for what it brought to the Ys franchise although I still prefer solo Adol games.
I think the first half of the game was better than the second half which felt a bit like padding and repetitive. Having to explore Altago AGAIN, even with shortcuts, was a massive pain and not fun. I think the idea of skills being tied to weapons is a good system overall but not a good system for Ys because of how fast you get new weapons plus add the synth and I ended up with a lot of unlearned skills.
I played on hard and it was a nice challenge until you get the Pentagram skill for Adol + Crimson Jewel and any sense of difficulty goes to the gutter. It's just that broken.
Even if I had a lot of issues with this game I enjoyed it for what it brought to the Ys franchise although I still prefer solo Adol games.
Ys Seven was a moderately enjoyable experience. Through experiencing what many of the games in the series have to offer, I've started to rate each title through a couple of factors. Those being (1) flow of combat/progression (2) difficulty and (3) music
Flow of Combat/Progression: Too much depth and complexity added to the system comes with unintended consequences. The flow is relatively similar to other titles. It's fast, but has some added depth with the skill, attack type, and extra skill systems. Additionally, there are a few more stats that each character can utilize (dex/avoid). However, more isn't always good. Being required to swap characters mid combat per the attack types interrupted the flow of combat in the micro. General grindiness with expanded RPG elements interrupted the flow of progression in the macro.
Difficulty: The game isn't as challenging as previous titles, which is for better and worse. The incorporation consumables means that, granted you have enough resources, you never really have to worry about bosses. You don't really have to learn their movements, and thus there isn't nearly as much of a challenge. However, the game becomes much more accessible with these JRPG elements.
Music: The music isn't as memorable as the other titles.
Flow of Combat/Progression: Too much depth and complexity added to the system comes with unintended consequences. The flow is relatively similar to other titles. It's fast, but has some added depth with the skill, attack type, and extra skill systems. Additionally, there are a few more stats that each character can utilize (dex/avoid). However, more isn't always good. Being required to swap characters mid combat per the attack types interrupted the flow of combat in the micro. General grindiness with expanded RPG elements interrupted the flow of progression in the macro.
Difficulty: The game isn't as challenging as previous titles, which is for better and worse. The incorporation consumables means that, granted you have enough resources, you never really have to worry about bosses. You don't really have to learn their movements, and thus there isn't nearly as much of a challenge. However, the game becomes much more accessible with these JRPG elements.
Music: The music isn't as memorable as the other titles.
By the time I played Ys Seven, I was already kind of tired of the series. It has a lot of things I don't really like, but the bosses were cool and it's satisfying to destroy enemies with the amount of special skills you posses. After playing Lacrimosa of Dana it felt very mediocre, but it scratches that itch for a solid action RPG.
Gameplay: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Visuals: B
Music: Falcom
Difficulty: Optional (Normal)
Gameplay: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Visuals: B
Music: Falcom
Difficulty: Optional (Normal)
Ys Seven
Juego un poco raro, al principio había momento que me gustaba, luego momentos que no. La trama me ha parecido un poco coñazo a excepción del final final.
Una pena que se el Ys con mejor OST y diseños que he jugado de momento.
(5/10)
Tocará darle al Celceta.
Juego un poco raro, al principio había momento que me gustaba, luego momentos que no. La trama me ha parecido un poco coñazo a excepción del final final.
Una pena que se el Ys con mejor OST y diseños que he jugado de momento.
(5/10)
Tocará darle al Celceta.
Weird yet fitting game to end my Ys streak on. Exemplifies the best and worst traits of the series.
To start with the good: this has my favorite core combat in the series, due to a more manual and deliberate style of combat. In Celeceta, 8, and 9 they automate SP and make spamming moves a lot easier. Flash guard is performed with a button combination rather than one button, and offers less invincibility so it doesn't trivialize the combat as much and flash move isn't in the game at all. In addition to the controls the equipment and items are more limited in selection and amount allowed respectively. I also think the bosses were closer to actually pushing me really learn their patterns on Nightmare, which I haven't had to do for any of the other modern games. You can argue that the classic approach is better since there's not anything to abuse, but I do think the additional mechanics have potential when stripped back like this. Seven also offers the most sensible approach to including Adol in a party by allowing him to use multiple damage types with different basic attacks.
The dungeons have a nice sense of following through on mechanics, rarely is a key item ever used only once and often they appear in interesting puzzles and the like. Sounds like fairly standard RPG affair but it's preferable to enemy spam.
Seven's ost is one of the stronger in the series, although the audio mixing can feel off at times. Environmental noises like waves and volcanos feel like they don't scale with the in-game audio sliders and your slashes will always be significantly louder than anything else.
Enami Katsumi's art is a treat as always, truly one of the GOAT illustrators.
Unfortunately, this game has the worst story in possibly any game I've ever played. Most of the older Ys games had fairly generic and by the books stories, but they would use their very little screen time to show charming characters or interesting lore. Seven opts to waste far more of your time for a less valuable, soulless elemental artifact hunt with overly stoic and motiveless characters. I love RPGs, I've played hundreds and I love most of Falcoim's games but if you HAD to incapsulate everything wrong with RPG and Falcom writing this game would be the result. Honestly irredeemable in my opinion.
The sidequests are dogshit fetch quests with trash rewards and no interesting lore or character details. To add one final complaint, this game shares some of 8's material grind and 6's grinding so it can end up feeling padded.
Ultimately, I still enjoyed the game because of the combat and bosses because that's what I enjoy about these games but I can definitely understand why its divisive and it's a shame that Falcoim kinda corrupted what made the combat so good in subsequent titles with mechanical fluff. This game will always remain in kind of a weird spot for me.
To start with the good: this has my favorite core combat in the series, due to a more manual and deliberate style of combat. In Celeceta, 8, and 9 they automate SP and make spamming moves a lot easier. Flash guard is performed with a button combination rather than one button, and offers less invincibility so it doesn't trivialize the combat as much and flash move isn't in the game at all. In addition to the controls the equipment and items are more limited in selection and amount allowed respectively. I also think the bosses were closer to actually pushing me really learn their patterns on Nightmare, which I haven't had to do for any of the other modern games. You can argue that the classic approach is better since there's not anything to abuse, but I do think the additional mechanics have potential when stripped back like this. Seven also offers the most sensible approach to including Adol in a party by allowing him to use multiple damage types with different basic attacks.
The dungeons have a nice sense of following through on mechanics, rarely is a key item ever used only once and often they appear in interesting puzzles and the like. Sounds like fairly standard RPG affair but it's preferable to enemy spam.
Seven's ost is one of the stronger in the series, although the audio mixing can feel off at times. Environmental noises like waves and volcanos feel like they don't scale with the in-game audio sliders and your slashes will always be significantly louder than anything else.
Enami Katsumi's art is a treat as always, truly one of the GOAT illustrators.
Unfortunately, this game has the worst story in possibly any game I've ever played. Most of the older Ys games had fairly generic and by the books stories, but they would use their very little screen time to show charming characters or interesting lore. Seven opts to waste far more of your time for a less valuable, soulless elemental artifact hunt with overly stoic and motiveless characters. I love RPGs, I've played hundreds and I love most of Falcoim's games but if you HAD to incapsulate everything wrong with RPG and Falcom writing this game would be the result. Honestly irredeemable in my opinion.
The sidequests are dogshit fetch quests with trash rewards and no interesting lore or character details. To add one final complaint, this game shares some of 8's material grind and 6's grinding so it can end up feeling padded.
Ultimately, I still enjoyed the game because of the combat and bosses because that's what I enjoy about these games but I can definitely understand why its divisive and it's a shame that Falcoim kinda corrupted what made the combat so good in subsequent titles with mechanical fluff. This game will always remain in kind of a weird spot for me.
Playing by release date and this game is the worst so far (worse then ys6).
You play as a cripple for most of the game without ability to teleport ,nerfed ability to gain SP and shitty charged attacks.
The game is extremely long and frustrating, it overstays it's welcome a lot.
The worst part is when you have to revisit the entire map on foot. And late game dungeons like wind sanctum are a giant waste of time to make the game longer then necessary.
This game is a downgrade from ys origin. Hope next titles made party system better.
You play as a cripple for most of the game without ability to teleport ,nerfed ability to gain SP and shitty charged attacks.
The game is extremely long and frustrating, it overstays it's welcome a lot.
The worst part is when you have to revisit the entire map on foot. And late game dungeons like wind sanctum are a giant waste of time to make the game longer then necessary.
This game is a downgrade from ys origin. Hope next titles made party system better.
Playing this after Ys Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin kinda gave me whiplash in how differently they’re designed.
Origins and Felghana both had tight combat and no ability to heal during battle that made every boss fight a tense struggle to learn attack patterns and conserve your health long enough to take out the boss. But Seven is mostly a game about spamming the attack button until you have enough SP to spam the skill button, and chugging a few potions to shrug off whatever damage you take. There’s no incentive to learn attack patterns and play well, because the game puts up practically no resistance to stop you from mashing your way through every encounter. I died to almost every boss at least once in Felghana/Origins, but I got exactly one Game Over in Seven, and it was from trying to fight an optional endgame boss too early.
Despite this, I did warm up to the game over time. It has a pleasant sort of junk food quality to it where the combat and exploration are competent enough to keep you engaged between story beats. It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, and I’m still disappointed it doesn’t follow in the steps of previous Ys titles, but you could certainly do worse.
Origins and Felghana both had tight combat and no ability to heal during battle that made every boss fight a tense struggle to learn attack patterns and conserve your health long enough to take out the boss. But Seven is mostly a game about spamming the attack button until you have enough SP to spam the skill button, and chugging a few potions to shrug off whatever damage you take. There’s no incentive to learn attack patterns and play well, because the game puts up practically no resistance to stop you from mashing your way through every encounter. I died to almost every boss at least once in Felghana/Origins, but I got exactly one Game Over in Seven, and it was from trying to fight an optional endgame boss too early.
Despite this, I did warm up to the game over time. It has a pleasant sort of junk food quality to it where the combat and exploration are competent enough to keep you engaged between story beats. It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, and I’m still disappointed it doesn’t follow in the steps of previous Ys titles, but you could certainly do worse.
I thought it was bad at first but then I played it and actually enjoyed it a lot
The only thing I did not like was the timed quests
Honestly I find almost any other Ys game I play better than 8 because they did not bore me to tears with a garbage ass story and repetitive mechanics
Also Dogi is a party member so it's fire for that
The only thing I did not like was the timed quests
Honestly I find almost any other Ys game I play better than 8 because they did not bore me to tears with a garbage ass story and repetitive mechanics
Also Dogi is a party member so it's fire for that
This game's soundtrack was like sex for the ears (i'm still a virgin)