"Once we get off o’ this island, we’re all gonna go back to the lives we had before we met. But we’re still gonna cherish that we even met in the first place."
Personal Score: 4.5 / 5
This was an amazing well-paced game that I found myself on some nights staying up longer than intended because I lost track of time exploring, questing or pushing the story. Great cast of characters, love the dual-protagonist story, good music, nice visuals, and fun combat. Some small gripes/desires I had with the game were:
- Relatively restrictive Dana side (wish the whole island was accessible on her side with other lore quests or just more fun side quests / discoveries).
- I wish Dana side had party members, even if it was just 1 or 2. Not that it was needed, moreso for the party-adventure feel.
- While there was indeed voice acting, I found myself wanting more to be done, kind of felt like ¼ to ⅓ of the game felt voice acted, ⅓ to ½ would be nice
[ DIFFICULTY ] 📈
☐ Easy
✅ Normal
☐ Hard
☐ "Dark Souls"
Category Note: With the exception of a few end game content and optional bosses, the overall difficulty of the game felt relatively normal. Having weapons that you stick with and upgrade with material you discover in new areas feels well tuned with the majority of monsters you encounter. Flash guarding / moving are cool mechanics that can still be tough to consistently get on a first playthrough but make for a skillful layer in combat.
[ VISUALS ] 🏞️
☐ Bad
☐ Okay
✅ Good
☐ Beautiful
☐ Pixel - Bad
☐ Pixel - Good
Category Note: The character designs were great and the environments were well designed. Considering its original release in 2016 Japan on the PS Vita, the visuals are relatively strong and very charming. Ys 8 is the title to essentially define the modern Ys era where the series moves to 3D, free camera, party-based action combat.
[ LENGTH ] ⏳
☐ Short (2-6 hours)
☐ Decent (7-12 hours)
☐ Long (13-20 hours)
✅ Very Long (21+ hours)
☐ Infinite
Category Note: On my playthrough, I went for 100% reputation, quests, and map. This alone took me 50+ hours after getting the credits. You can easily spend way more time to truly 100% the game.
[ MUSIC ] 🎵
☐ Bad
☐ It’s there
✅ Good
☐ Amazing
☐ Chiptune - Bad
☐ Chiptune - Good / Remastered
Category Note: A lot of soundtracks that I liked so much I put on a playlist. My personal favorites are Sunshine Coastline and the final boss. Overall I would say ⅔ of the soundtracks were solid, and ⅓ were very good.
[ STORY ] 📜
☐ Couldn’t tell
☐ It's there
✅ Well written
☐ Life changing
Category Note: This was a very good story. While the early parts felt like it executed adventure tropes well, the narrative starts to take shape by introducing cause and effect through dual-protagonists. On the way to piecing the plot together, you meet a great cast while trying to overcome equally impactful sub-plots.
[ FUN ] 🎮
☐ Not really
☐ Acquired taste
✅ Pretty Good
☐ Ride of your life
☐ Turn based - Bad
☐ Turn based - Good
Category Note: Movement in this game is fast paced and makes for fun combat and traversing. Sprinting, Dodging, Flash Moving, Flash Guarding, Double Jumping, Mid-Air Attacks, Diving Attacks etc. all make for a very engaging combat experience. Skill animations were good and each character’s weapon type gave a relatively healthy mix. I also liked the idea of finding people throughout the island to recruit to the village. Progressing the story and building the village, going on hunts with them or raid assists felt rewarding and bestowed a sense of comradery.
[ REPLAYABILITY ] 🔄
☐ One-time experience
✅ Only for achievements
☐ Definitely
☐ Infinite
Category Note: Quests and some recruits are missable. A good amount of reputation is also tied to quests, so if you miss a quest you end up not being able to max out certain reputation with people.
