As it is undeniable that the Ys franchise has made history of video games, it is also fair to recognize that it has not enjoyed the recognition it deserves because it has never managed to take the extra step to fully explode and become a game of which all the the world speaks. In a certain way, he lives in an intermediate field in which he leaves a good taste in the playab
le terrain, but never has deep arguments and unforgettable characters to accompany those gratifying sensations with the control in his hands. Throughout its three decades of existence, the franchise has evolved a lot in the playable and, in fact, the
latest installments (this Lacrimosa of Dana and Memories of Celceta, 2012) are the best way to get into the franchise; Nevertheless,
And the genre of the role, especially the role of the Japanese, stands out above all for those two fundamental aspects such as history and characters. In that aspect, the Ys franchise fulfills, but does not try to go further and there is a certain confor
mism in the deliveries. It is as if he were fully confident in the true emblem of the franchise: the in-depth investigation of the environment, the sensation of discovery and living a deep adventure. There is no denying that all this has been doing very
well since the time of the 8 bits, but just as in the past the plot lines were simpler and somewhat similar, today they are a differentiating element to stand out in a crowded market of great games. And that’s where you need to, in future deliveries,
One of the best deliveries of the franchise
With this we do not mean that Ys VIII is a bad game, but quite the opposite. We want to remove from the front the most negative point of a game that, for the rest, is almost perfect in everything it does. And in fact, although we are commenting on the problematic plot of the franchise, it is fair to recognize that in this new release has begun to experiment with t
hings that break with the standards established in previous chapters. It is true that it is still not a story too deep and that the characters are
still forgettable, but those who have a few Ys above appreciate this unexpected change of pace and, likewise, new players can enjoy from the beginning of a title that fight to be something else. Possibly,
Rupture with tradition
In Ys VIII there is not a big city full of problems, but the big problem we will have is survival and the city we will have to build it among all the survivors of the accident. In this way, the exploration of the map takes on a new meaning: that of looking f
or castaways who are lost on the island, bringing them all together in the new village and getting the necessary resources to build it little by little. At the beginning of the game we will not even have stores, but we will have to survive based on the objects
that we find; As we find shipwrecked, we will see that they will have different skills and, thanks to them, we can have an artifact shop, a black
smith shop, a tailor shop, a doctor … But since we are on a desert island, there will be no money to buy things with . If we want something,
During a third of the main plot of the game (if we start to explore and make secondary the duration multiplies substantially), Ys VIII is more like a Lost in Blue than the traditional RPG. We will not have attributes of hunger or thirst, for example, since everything will be fairly guided by the needs of the argument; but we will always feel that need to continue explor
ing and progressing in order to survive. This is so, that there will be plenty of times when we will face long dungeons and big bosses in which w
e will miss having an arsenal of healing potions, for example. But that makes the whole experience magical and very enjoyable, as we will get more involved and think well each and every one of our steps before giving them.
From that third of the game is when the game is settling. That is, approximately 10 hours after the main plot (of about 30, more then another couple of tens of hours to do everything secondary and explore 100% of the map) is when the underlying argument of the game begins to emerge. It is the perfect moment, since when it seems that the game can not give
much more of itself with a camp already prosperous, the plot turns us back into matter and we want to know more of what is happening. Already since arriving at the island, Adol has strange dreams in which we see a kind of ritual of the ancient inhabitan
ts of that island; but these dreams become clearer and it is at that moment of the adventure when they become playable.
The protagonist of those dreams is Dana, the character whose name appears in the title of the game, and from that point we will begin to control her directly and live her history very closely. It is a story completely parallel to the shipwreck, but it is
presented to us so gradually that the moment comes when we see it as the true plot of the game. And, without wanting to gut much beyond this point, in a way it is. Although the game manages to maintain our interest at all times, it is a pity that t
he plots seem so disconnected from each other and that the dialogues are so unmemorable. It lacks a bit of spark for us to continue talking about the game once the adventure is over, but despite everything, we reiterate that the experience and the trip are worth it.
