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Ys Seven Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Ys Seven Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Ys: A Seventh New Adventure!

It may be difficult to believe, but the Ys (pronounced YEEZ) series has been around since 1987. Though I never got the chance to play the original Ys in its non-remade form, the original game’s simplistic approach to the RPG genre made it an instant classic, and its basic formula has endured more than twenty years later. While the original Ys games have been enjoying several remake versions for the handheld market, fans around the world have been clamoring for some new content. Fortunately, Ys Seven continues the story of adventurers of Adol (the red-headed adventurer) and his companion Dogi in a cohesive way that is both friendly to those who have never played as well as longtime fans.

Ys Seven screenshot

Like most Ys titles, Ys Seven starts out with Adol and Dogi arriving in a new country, Altago. The world of Ys is a fantastical place where adventurers are in no short supply, but this new country is not the most welcoming to Adol and Dogi, and before they’ve even battled their first monster, they are arrested! Fortunately, after a brief audience with the king, Adol and Dogi are found innocent and implored to investigate strange happenings around the country. As fate would have it, some ancient evil is stirring, and it will be up to your heroes to dispatch the evil and save the world!

The story in Ys is clichéd, and if you are thinking about picking this game up for a moving or unique story, then you may want to reconsider as it follows the straightforward template of a JRPG game. While the dialogue can be funny in places, even the banter between characters feels like something we’ve heard many times before. This is disappointing, as you would hope a series that has been around as long as Ys would manage to avoid re-treading so much ground.

Still, if you can put up with the clichéd story and occasionally boring dialogue, there is a lot to love about the gameplay in Ys Seven. True to its roots, Ys Seven has a simplistic battle system. However, it is important not to mistake its simplicity for blandness. The game starts you off with a single-attack-and-skill system that allows you to get familiar with the game’s active battle system. Running up to enemies and hammering on the X button feels great, but the real challenge comes from being able to use your party members’ strengths to go after enemies of various difficulties. The enemies in Ys are not classified into an elemental taxonomy, but are instead grouped by attack level and speed. So, if you have a slow but heavily-armored enemy, you will need to use Dogi, as his burly attacks will put more of a dent in the enemy’s HP than Adol’s regular sword.

Ys Seven screenshot

In addition to using an enemy’s type to your advantage, you can also develop special skills that will keep you competitive in battle. Although you can only use one character in battle at a time, you can equip and level up all the skills for your entire party and switch between party members on the fly. This is particularly useful if you are in a tough situation, as you can try out different skills and maximize your SP between your party members. Up to four skills can be equipped at a time, and activating these skills is as simple as pressing the right shoulder button and the corresponding face button.

Ys Seven screenshot

Although the control scheme allows for a lot of button mashing, your actions in Ys must be deliberate for you to succeed. While I’ll concede that button mashing your way through the first few stages may get you a decent amount of character growth, you won’t fare too well in later stages if you don’t learn to balance your skills, charge attacks, and, of course, regular attacks. The battle system has a decent amount of depth to it, but the game takes its time easing you into the more complex facets of the game, which gives the player a manageable learning curve.

Ys Seven screenshot

As far as play time is concerned, Ys isn’t terribly long, and weighs in between 20-30 hours. Although there isn’t much to the game in length, the game does have plenty of areas to explore, and if you are into extreme character development, there are plenty of places to grind and improve your statistics. There are also plenty of places you can explore in the land of Altago, and I was pleasantly surprised at the scope of both the dungeon areas as well as the game’s main hub world.

Technically, Ys is hit or miss. The visuals in the game look good, and I was impressed with the design of the country of Altago as well as the character designs. The game also features some interesting creature designs, which is always nice to see. Although I was a little disappointed with the game’s lack of pre-rendered cutscenes, it looked nice overall. The music, on the other hand, leaves much to be desired. The same handful of tunes play throughout the game, and even though there is a lot of dialogue, there is no real voiceover. Ys Seven is definitely that rare game that is nice to look at but is difficult to listen to.

The Ys series has been around for quite a long time, and though the series has bounced around from the PC scene to home consoles, Ys seems to have carved out a nice little niche on the handheld platforms. The Ys remakes did well on the Nintendo DS, but as the first Ys title designed exclusively for the handheld sphere, I think Ys Seven works just fine. The genre’s scope definitely hasn’t shrunken with the move to handhelds, and while you could make an argument about a lower play time on a handheld system, I think Ys Seven has found a good direction for itself that will satisfy older fans, and give series newcomers something to enjoy. While the story leaves quite a bit to be desired, the nut-and-bolts RPG gameplay and fun combat system make this a perfectly serviceable JPRG that genre fans will enjoy.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.7 Graphics
The world of Altago is expansive, and there are plenty of nice visuals to behold in this fantastical setting. 3.6 Control
Controls in Ys are very easy to learn, and while combat initially seems like aimless button mashing, the game eases you into developing your own strategy for combat. 1.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The handful of tunes featured in the game are repetitive and simplistic, and the lack of voiceover during plot scenes is regrettable. 3.0 Play Value
The game isn’t particularly long (by RPG standards), but you can spend some extra time maxing out your character if you so desire. 3.5 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Gorgeous New RPG for the PSP: Built from the ground up for the PSP, Ys Seven takes full advantage of the hardware with beautiful 3D graphics presented in a widescreen format, with minimal load times.
  • Epic Story Spanning Over Thirty Hours of Gameplay: This tale of Five Great Dragons, a war-torn kingdom, ancient rites, and more spans over thirty hours of gameplay as the player ventures on an epic quest to save the world.
  • Real-Time Battles on the Field Map: Experience no random encounters, as all enemies are seen and engaged on the field map in real-time with the player’s three-member battle party.
  • Highly-Rated and Eagerly-Awaited by RPG Fans: With five years since the last installment was published in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and having already been awarded a Gold Award by Famitsu upon its Japanese release, Ys Seven is the long-awaited next chapter in the Ys series, highly anticipated by old and new fans alike.

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