One of the last games I was able to get some time on was Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. I’ve played Ys games before, so I got through the demo just fine. And faster than most of the others.
Ys VIII builds on the party system from VII. You have two companions following Adol around that you can switch to on the fly. Each have their strengths and weaknesses: Adol is relatively balanced, offering a fair amount of both speed and offense.
Sahad, on the other hand, boasts power and defense breaking in exchange for poorer speed and dodging. Laxia is the opposite; piercing damage strikes with less damage but speed and dodging. Due to the enemy selection in the demo however, I didn’t use her much.
One of the major changes is that the game is no longer top-down view. Ys has finally turned over to the sort of camera controls presentation t in other 3D action-RPGs. While I’m a little conflicted about that since I’m the world’s youngest codger, it’snot bad. And the game still plays like the other Ys games made since Ark of Lapishtim, so no big deal there.
I did find the controls a little confusing initially. Though I’m so used to square as an attack button, the majority of my trouble revolved around switching characters when I meant to attack.
Skills are more usable than ever before. Gone is the MP-like gauge. Now, as you attack, you fill up a blue semicircle in the skill display. A few attacks are enough to charge it to the point you can use a skill or two.
There’s also a yellow sphere you slowly fill up every time you attack. When it’s full, you can use a super. Because it takes so long to charge, though, it’s best to save it for extra tough enemies and bosses. It can turn around a bad run.
The demo was pretty meaty, as such things go. You got to fight two bosses, and saw a couple of story scenes. As is typical for Ys, it concerns a shipwreck. Sailors hate to have two things on their ship: women and Adol Christian.
While the whole picture is absent, they absolutely showed me enough of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana to convince me that it’ll be good. The one thing I don’t know is when it will come out. I need my Ys fix!
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