Bodysuit 23 #336

Picked up Ys VIII. I'm liking it a lot so far, though I'm only like 5-6 hours in.

The setting for the game is a deserted island with Adol, Dogi, and a bunch of one off characters who will never be heard from again in the franchise stranded with no way off. Because of this currency doesn't exist to purchase weapons and supplies. Instead, you go around collecting materials to craft healing items, meals, and structures to fortify their temporary base of operations. You also don't buy newer stronger weapons but instead constantly upgrade the same weapon the characters start out with. One thing I usually have a bad time with in RPGs is trying to figure out what stuff is okay to sell and what stuff I should keep for upgrading/crafting/etc. Some games are better than others at listing off what's stuff that's worth keeping and other stuff whose sole purpose is to be sold to net you some cash. In Ys VIII you don't have to worry about any of that because you can't sell stuff. There's nobody to sell anything to. When you get around to finding a castaway who's job was originally a merchant all she ends up becoming is a trader, allowing you to exchange lower quality materials for higher quality ones, or trade higher quality material down for a bunch of lower quality stuff. In a way it manages to deal with that old issue I have with RPGs by completely getting rid of it.

The gameplay is fun. Standard action RPG hack and slash. I never played an Ys game beyond The Oath in Felghana (Ys III remake), so I can't really compare it to any of those, but it's easier than Felghana, thankfully. I'm not a super hardcore gamer like I used to be when I was younger, so I don't have the time to keep retrying shit over and over again.

Music is tight as always in the Ys franchise (that I've played). You go out into the field and you'll be fucking shit up with some bitch ass rock music. Same with the boss fights.

There's plot. It exists.

Hummel is a fucking loser edge lord dweeb who I wish would fuck off into the ocean because I don't have time for his lame ass bullshit.