Falcom’s Ys series may not be as popular as other JRPG series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but the action RPG franchise developed by Falcom, alongside the other series by the Japanese studio, the Trails series, started seeing some well-deserved recognition in the West in the past few years. It has been almost 12 months since the release of the latest entry in the series, Ys X: Nordics, in Japan, and in a few months, fans of Adol Christin in the West will finally be able to experience how the tenth main entry in the series is the first one in a long time that attempts to shake the basic gameplay formula introduced in Ys SEVEN back in 2009.
Ys X: Nordics brings players back in time when Adol was only 17 years old, fresh out of his adventure in the ancient Kingdom of Ys, which took place in the second entry in the series. Finding themselves in the Obelia Gulf, the red-haired adventurer and his friend Dogi end up in the Obelia Gulf, an area inspired by Normandy in Europe known for its multiple islands and the powerful pirate group, the Balta Seaforce, that control them. At some point, Adol and the daughter of Grimson, the leader of the pirates, are bound together by a power called mana, forcing them to face the threat of the Griegr together and find a way to remove their bonds.
During a press presentation hosted by NIS America last week, I was only able to experience some very short glimpses of the story, so how everything will play out remains to be seen. From what I experienced, the story and character development seem to be in line with the Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox approach, striking a middle ground between the classic games and the Trails series, which has had its influence on the Ys series, for a while.
What I was able to see way more of was the gameplay, which really sets Ys X: Nordics apart from the most recent entries in the series. Unlike every Ys game since the aforementioned Ys SEVEN, the tenth entry in the series does away with the party system completely, replaced by the Cross Action Gameplay system. In the game, players will be able to control either Adol or Karja and swap between them at any time. The two characters are equipped with different weapons and learn different skills, so either of them can be more effective depending on the player’s preference and enemy attributes. Besides controlling the two characters separately, it is also possible to control both of them at the same time in Duo Mode, which makes them slower but more powerful and capable of unleashing devastating Duo Skills. Using Duo Mode is preferred against more powerful enemies, some of them coming with a shield that protects them from taking damage until destroyed. In Duo Mode, it is also possible to block attacks to increase the Revenge value, which increases damage dealt, creating an alternation between offense and defense that seems to work rather well. Despite these changes, however, the core combat gameplay remains similar to that of the previous entries in the series, with engaging, fast-paced action and some combo options granted by the Cross Action gameplay and the different skills that have different properties such as launching, pushing back, and knocking down.
The magical bond that ties Adol and Karja in Ys X: Nordics also gives them access to Mana Actions, special traversal abilities that should make exploration more engaging. Sadly, I didn’t see much of them during the presentation, so it remains to be seen how they will improve exploration. The character progression system, the Release Lines, is also tied to the magical bond between the two characters, allowing them to learn new abilities and increase their stats by placing Mana Seeds in the nodes in the Release Line, granting players quite a few customization options.
Another big part of the Ys X: Nordics experience is naval battles. Controlling the Sandras ship, players will be able to explore Obelia Gulf’s different regions using information gathered in town or through the sea chart, fight enemy ships, discover secret islands and so on. Naval battles, some of them required to progress the story, look like an evolution of the Beast Raids mechanics seen in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and the Grimwald Nox battles in Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, as Adol and his companions will have to defeat multiple waves of enemies while completing other objectives, such as taking down some objects that power a barrier. At the beginning of the adventure, the number of naval combat options is rather limited, but it will expand as the crew grows larger. A cooking system promises to make naval combat deeper, as different meals grant different bonuses, which can make it easier to achieve S rank and obtain all sorts of nice rewards.
Having been a fan of the Ys series since the Western release of Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim, I was already pretty excited for Ys X: Nordics’ release, but after seeing more of it in action, I can’t wait to travel to the Obelia Gulf with Adol and Karja. While it is hard to say if the naval gameplay will slow down the campaign’s pace too much and if the story will deliver, what I have seen of the Cross Action gameplay feels like what the series needed to avoid getting stale with yet another iteration of the party system.
Ys X: Nordics launches on October 25th on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
