Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (2016)

I'm alone, free of responsibility for the next 30 minutes, so here's some thoughts on Ys VIII!

I had not played a game in the series before but I'm glad I did because this was an enjoyable journey. The island setting is very lush and vibrant. Any world that looks like a real place helps with immersion.

The main cast is likeable and for the most part not over the top and impossible like some JRPGs can be. The writing doesn't overly rely on tropes and the story is engaging throughout. It is a little padded, but no where near as much as some offenders and I didn't feel the game overstayed its welcome. A great sign is that I did the extra stuff to get the true ending and it did not feel like a chore. And then there's all the NPCs you rescue throughout the game, who have each been fleshed out with their own backstory and personality and I came to care for most of them by end of game.

The soundtrack has a lot of bangers and ear worms. The voice acting is good and not patronising or silly.

Traversing the world doesn't feel overlong and is mostly a pleasure without too much backtracking.

If the game has a weak point, it's probably the combat. It's just OK, but outside of boss battles, you can just spam A for attack until you win. I wish I'd realised sooner that you can use special attacks very freely, as it's very easy to recharge the gauge. That spices things up. Some field enemies attacks can be annoying in a sense that they unrealistically jump about and home in on your character. But at least they are diverse.

I'll miss this game, this setting and this cast. It does feel like saying goodbye to a place and the true ending is bitter sweet, but everyone was happy in the end.

Back to responsibility now. I wish I was stuck on an island sometimes.

Questo gioco in inferno è davvero DIFFICILISSIMO, ma appena riesci a capire come schivare- usare il "Parry" lì inizia davvero il divertimento. Le battaglie erano così difficili e intense che mi hanno fatto sentire, di essere lì dentro. La storia mi è piaciuta altrettanto, mi dispiace che Dana si è dovuta allontanare da tutti, ma dopotutto nella vita, non sempre tutto deve andare nel verso più giusto, ognuno ha la sua strada da dover seguire.

Dana deve cercare di non far accadere nuovamente la "Lacrimosa" Cioè distruzione del mondo. Adol vuole continuare la sua avventura.

4.5⭐ actual rating.

I've never played am Ys game before. I've seen the series throughout the years, and almost played multiple entries, but never did jump in until now. What finally pushed me over the edge? Well, I fell in love with Trails in the Sky trilogy by Falcom and decided to finally give this a go as it's supposed to be a good entry point and I had heard many great things about the game.

My family was out of town for my first play session with this game, so in 2 days I put about 17 hours on this bad boy. I walked away wondering why people give this game such high praise. This is nothing special. Some hack and slash style combat, stranded on an island, getting to know the characters, weird dreams. I've played this game before. And while it wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't striking in any way. I have very limited time now so I debated on giving the game up!

But I'm glad I didn't. I decided to continue on because my love for Trails in the Sky is deep. That trilogy of games has turned into one of my favorite trilogies ever, and because of that, I decided to give Falcom a little respect and trust and continued on. Lucky for me, around the 17-20 hour mark is when the story starting getting good. From there on it just trended upwards until the finale. There was no slowing down. Things just kept escalating. The combat started to click with me too! Instead of just hacking and slashing I started understanding the dodging and special moves better.

everything fell into place for me

The game was fantastic. And I cannot wait to sink my teeth into Ys IX when it releases on Stadia sometime this summer. My only complaint would probably be that or took so long to get going. And with hindsight, I can't see any other way for them to do it, but I still know that some will be put off by the long intro.

With that being said I'd you play this. Don't give up on it. It just might surprise you.

My first involvement with the YS series but what a great one. Loved the story and because I did not know much about the game except for the demo.( I bought this game because I so enjoyed the demo') I was pleasantly surprised by the battle system and the story. Alas I did not get all the trophies, only 43 of 55 but that means I still have something to attempt. Will definitely play this one again.

Finished November 2018

Before listing any positive/negative sides of this game, I'd like to say that this game is very Japanese. You have your standard silent protagonist with weirdly colored spiky hair, a mysterious girl whose story is more complicated than it appears at first, a diverse cast of characters, all exaggerated in their personality, a kid who could beat you up in a matter of seconds, a world with 2 moons, etc. That being said, let's talk positive/negative!

Good

• Story: (No spoilers) The game starts off with the main character, Adol, working on a ship, trying to earn enough money to go on more adventures, as he is a self-proclaimed adventurer. The captain informs him they're about to pass close to the Island of Seiren, a mysterious island in which's vicinity ships disappear. Of course, as they pass by, a monster emerges from the water and sinks the ship. After a cutscene, Adol finds himself washed ashore on the island, and begins searching for other castaways. After a series of weird dreams, the crew discovers that there are a lot of hidden secrets on the island. While the story remained predictable (and oh so Japanese) in the first half of the game, the second half came as a major surprise with the amount of new elements to the story. It's an experience I've personally enjoyed until the very end. And, of course, "end" is obviously differently defined in the JRPG genre, so you have multiple endings.

• Combat: The combat system is great. It's fast-paced, there's a great variety in abilities each character can use, they're easily executable and fun to do. The combat has been enriched with a "flash move" (similar to Bayonetta's witch time) and a "flash guard" (similar, but doesn't involve dodging) system. While the enemies get predictable with each passing instance, new enemies are being introduced all the time to balance that out.

• Music: Every track was very enjoyable in this game. It felt like listening to the soundtrack of old, legendary JRPGs (Chrono series, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy).

• Level design: The Island of Seiren is perfectly designed in its every part. Each area is different than the other, yet they all perfectly fit together.

Bad

• Graphics and framerate: I've played the Switch version of the game. The texture quality is noticeably lower than on the PS4 version. Moving things located far from the camera are animated with only a couple of framers (the animations improve as you get closer, it's a technique to reduce computing cost, but it is extremely noticeable in this game). Know that this is a Switch-only problem.

Conclusion

This game is the definition of the often misused word: Epic!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Capsule thoughts here, full review at the link below ending this post.

Everything involving Dana is fantastic, she adds a fluidity in combat and maturity in story (particularly in the way she looks at the cycle of life and death) that provided refreshing breaks from the all-action norm of the Ys series.

That said, the rest of Lacrimosa of Dana suffers from bloat. The mapping and castaway village systems provide too much filler in-between the story segments with Dana. Enemy placement is more sparse and the maps widened so the floating grace of combat with Dana becomes a start / stop stutter when playing with Adol's party. This is in stark contrast to Oath in Felghana or Memories of Celceta which emphasized tighter maps and more immediate combat.

Overall it's a big disappointment. The sections with Dana are great and they tie into some wonderfully designed mid-game dungeons but overall the increased scope is more bloat instead of engagement.

http://www.cantstopthemovies.com/2018/05/35820/