BananaSplit²
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2022
I've been playing Ys X Nordics on Switch and completed the first two chapters so far, it's an enjoyable game albeit a bit different from the previous ones.
Instead of the team-based gameplay where you instantly swapped your team members to counter enemies and their weakness (like Ys 8 did), you only play as Adol "the Red Hair" (the recurrent MC in the franchise) and Karja "the Blue Raider" (a tomboyish viking pirate girl and daughter of the chief's tribe, the Normans).
A sour first meeting and shenanigans ensue, the two characters are quickly found bind by a magical arm shackle that prevents them to be physically apart from each other more than five meters away. And they're among the few strong individuals that the townfolks in the surrounding islands can rely to in suppressing the menace of the undead monsters (called グリーガー which sound like a french word of "Gris Gars" for "Grey Guys"), with the power of mana.
As such, you can swap between Adol and Karja with their own set of attacks (with a customizable four-slot set of special attacks when hold-pressing R) and blocking attacks with the ZR button fills up your Revenge gauge, which increase your damage for a short period of time. The same ZR button also gives way to 'combination skills' which are incredibly powerful duo attacks when meeting the right SP requirement. It's worth to mention that constantly blocking attacks will leave you in a "Break" status at some point, stunning the leading character for a while and thus losing the precious window time of the filled up Revenge gauge. And while you can revive a fallen character there are limits to how much you may abuse it as reviving halves your HP.
You progressively unlock unique character abilities such as Adol who is able to burn thorns or Karja who can create small vertical blocks of ice to reach higher platform parts. There is also the possibility to upgrade the characters by obtaining new attack skills (once unlocking certain sphere slots or when the characters reach a certain level together) and passive abilities (by spending sphere points which either focus on attack, defense or extra ability effects).
The game also features traveling around islands by ship (with the ability to temporarily boost) as well as naval battles where you get to sink enemy ships of the undead. It's possible to further upgrade the ship by spending points on attack power (including special skills), defense (and HP) and speed (plus better touring to evade shots). I haven't reached yet the part(s) where you can use the various characters as crew members, to trigger different passive or active abilities, or being able to get onboard of enemy ships to sack them like a good pirate.
There are funny story parts when you can have Adol acting like a jester, teasing and embarrassing his partner Karja in the process. Whether there is a romance route possible with her is up to be seen, although there is a friendship barometer for several characters and Karja has the highest amount of stars.
Ys 10 was developed with the Switch in mind, in the same fashion of Ys 8 who was made for the Playstation Vita first, and while there are the occasional framedrops (the in-built screenshot & video features of the console will occasionally not work properly too), nothing truly hinders the experience during the action parts so far.
Ys X Nordics is available in Japan but do not expect a western (and PC) release before 2025 if anything.
I hope I'll be able to finish it before getting into Super Mario Bros Wonder in two weeks.
Instead of the team-based gameplay where you instantly swapped your team members to counter enemies and their weakness (like Ys 8 did), you only play as Adol "the Red Hair" (the recurrent MC in the franchise) and Karja "the Blue Raider" (a tomboyish viking pirate girl and daughter of the chief's tribe, the Normans).
A sour first meeting and shenanigans ensue, the two characters are quickly found bind by a magical arm shackle that prevents them to be physically apart from each other more than five meters away. And they're among the few strong individuals that the townfolks in the surrounding islands can rely to in suppressing the menace of the undead monsters (called グリーガー which sound like a french word of "Gris Gars" for "Grey Guys"), with the power of mana.
As such, you can swap between Adol and Karja with their own set of attacks (with a customizable four-slot set of special attacks when hold-pressing R) and blocking attacks with the ZR button fills up your Revenge gauge, which increase your damage for a short period of time. The same ZR button also gives way to 'combination skills' which are incredibly powerful duo attacks when meeting the right SP requirement. It's worth to mention that constantly blocking attacks will leave you in a "Break" status at some point, stunning the leading character for a while and thus losing the precious window time of the filled up Revenge gauge. And while you can revive a fallen character there are limits to how much you may abuse it as reviving halves your HP.
You progressively unlock unique character abilities such as Adol who is able to burn thorns or Karja who can create small vertical blocks of ice to reach higher platform parts. There is also the possibility to upgrade the characters by obtaining new attack skills (once unlocking certain sphere slots or when the characters reach a certain level together) and passive abilities (by spending sphere points which either focus on attack, defense or extra ability effects).
The game also features traveling around islands by ship (with the ability to temporarily boost) as well as naval battles where you get to sink enemy ships of the undead. It's possible to further upgrade the ship by spending points on attack power (including special skills), defense (and HP) and speed (plus better touring to evade shots). I haven't reached yet the part(s) where you can use the various characters as crew members, to trigger different passive or active abilities, or being able to get onboard of enemy ships to sack them like a good pirate.
There are funny story parts when you can have Adol acting like a jester, teasing and embarrassing his partner Karja in the process. Whether there is a romance route possible with her is up to be seen, although there is a friendship barometer for several characters and Karja has the highest amount of stars.
Norman boy: Heh heh, I didn't expect Miss Princess to be accompanied by a honest-looking man.
Norman boy: By any chance, did you do *this* with the Princess?
>[That's right]
[No way]
Norman boy: Eh? Seriously? That sounds believable from you.
Dogi: Why are you guys walking together like good pals anyway?
[Things happened]
>[I seduced her]
Dogi: e-eh?
Karja: WR-ON-G. Do you want me to cut off your hand after all?
Ys 10 was developed with the Switch in mind, in the same fashion of Ys 8 who was made for the Playstation Vita first, and while there are the occasional framedrops (the in-built screenshot & video features of the console will occasionally not work properly too), nothing truly hinders the experience during the action parts so far.
Ys X Nordics is available in Japan but do not expect a western (and PC) release before 2025 if anything.
I hope I'll be able to finish it before getting into Super Mario Bros Wonder in two weeks.
I would be fine with Jank Souls 2 SotFS coming on Switch too, as I do remember enjoying it on PC in spite of the glaring flaws.I wish Dark Souls 3 got ported to Switch. Apparently the team that did the Remastered port got it running, since Remastered is on the 3 engine anyway, but it was decided to port Remastered only instead of both.
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