And here we are as we continue to play through Adol's adventures. What started as a flawed classic has become a long and storied franchise of fun and exciting games and me eager to see each as they come up in the backlog. And this is where this game differs: when I finished the last one, I had run out of backlog entries, making this the first title I went out of my way to pick up to continue. Suffice it to say, I made no mistake doing this.
Story: Welcome to Altago: the newest destination of one Adol Christian. He and Dogi have just landed in port and it's time to check out the area... but of course this is Adol, we are talking about. He doesn't find adventure, it finds him, and his time in this land proves no different, starting with a run in with the Dragon Knights: a legendary army that has defended this land for as long as it has stood and recently took part in the recently ended war with the Romun empire. In this particular situation, one of their not-so-honorable captains was giving a flower girl and her sister trouble, and Adol just can't let that slide. Suffice it to say, things don't end well and before their first day in town is over, our duo is in jail.
Fortunately Adol's reputation travelled well before him, for the King knew of him through a mutual friend. And freshly pardoned they were ushered into the throne room. Here, the real story begins, for he informs the duo of recent Earthquakes that have been going on with little to no explanation. But there may be a clue in the form of a shrine that one of the quakes uncovered. The knights were not able to find anything, but maybe Adol would have better luck...
This basic start will begin you on your adventure as you guide Adol through the lands of Altago, The story from here will have you finding dragon alters through the land in an attempt to figure out why these dragons chose our red-headed hero as their chosen warrior... because of course they did. (If you know the series, you know why I it that way.) There will be little in the way of twists and turns along this leg of the journey, but then it opens up everything to lead to a grand finale appropriate of our experienced hero. Unfortunately it will be made up of two major twists... one pretty good, and one that just feels like it was made just to have one there. It's not quite as bad as it seems right away, but, it never sits quite right.
Overall though, like most of the series, expect a rather easy to follow story that gets insanely epic, even as it never gets all that complex.
7/10
Graphics: Ys Seven was originally developed for the PSP, and as such you may already have some of the limitations in mind. After all, this is not a remake of any sort, but a direct port, upscaled from the little tiny portable screen to full HD resolutions.
As such, you can expect the world to look fairly simple and perhaps even blocky. Nor is the there going to be much in the way of technical prowess coloring the world, as the detail is created with lower-resolution bitmap work. It looks clean enough, but to say it looks "dated" would be an understatement. It even has free-standing sprites for some of the object in the world that point this out since they would probably fit a 2D world better.
Thankfully the characters (both human and monster) work out much better. Where the world is there to give atmosphere, this is where the game spent the limited resources of it's original system and it shows. And don't get me wrong, they still look dated, but the level of work is might higher, between art and modelling. If I have any complaint here, it's that the faces can look kinda dumb in their fixed positions.
Not that you will pay a lot of attention to those expressions as the game also features fully drawn facial work whenever anyone talks, and this looks just as good as anything the series has offered so far! Everyone fits their moods and personalities perfectly and just add some real feel to the characters.
And overall the result is a game that looks dated. It is clear the PSP was used to try to get as close as they could to having a PS2 in the palm of your hands, and while that doesn't sound particularly great by today's standards, they succeeded. And with the resolution boost of this version, everything retains that vibe, but cleaner and clearer then ever. Retro-fans will simply love this look into yester-year.
7/10
Sound: Like just about every game in this series so far, the star of the show is once again the soundtrack. It will take a little time to set in, as the game uses duclet tones and the sea to feel laid back before the title screen, but as always the energy that is always there makes itself apparent when the game opens up with a title cutscene that walks that perfect balance between cryptic and spoiler where it gives nothing away, yet highlights everything you saw in your adventure if you watch it after finishing the game, melting metal and classical in a way that just always felt great for me. In essence, it's a mini Anime Music Video right there to introduce you to it all!
The rest of the soundtrack, however, runs the range from exactly what you would expect for a game trying to say "see? we can do PS2 on the go" back in the day to it's own... and mixes it well. You won't be in game more then 10 minutes before you get whiplash from it in the best way possible as you meet the first character with their own theme: one that feels heavy and menacing. It is perhaps one of the best uses of music whiplash I have heard in a while
And of course when things get crazy the music comes fulling into it's own as metal and string clash in ways that few other games do, much less so consistently over it's entire franchise! No one of these games may be my favorite soundtrack of all time (that honor goes to Axiom Verge), but few series have me looking forward to combat to hear the accompanying music every time like this. Enjoy!
Sadly, this energy and effort does not go far beyond the music. The sound effects you hear are pretty much the standard for gaming with slashes, thuds, and thwack noises you expect to hear are all in place for combat, and little else you will be paying attention to. It's not all there is, for example footsteps sound descent enough and even change with the area you are stomping through, but it's basically ambiance that will fall to wayside due to how awesome that soundtrack is and the fact that all the tells enemies have are visual, not audio, so it just doesn't matter much. And do not expect the voices to add to this either. This game has none outside of battle-grunts.
7/10
Gameplay: Ys Seven is an action RPG which you will play from a fixed camera, much like most of the franchise up to this point. It will start you in the main city of Altago and leave you to your devices so you can get a feel of how Adol and Dogi move before moving the story along and giving you a real reason to be there. And with that, it's time to mix combat into the game.
And that combat will not disappoint. Much like other games in the franchise, combat is a bit more technical then most action games, requiring you not to dodge enemies, but their attacks. You would think this would make things easier, and sometimes it can be if you are quick and can take the monster you are fighting down before it can fight back, but this is not going to be something you can count on doing. Rather, you will likely spend time learning the enemy's tells so you can effectively dance around them and striking where there is a chance.
But basic weapons will only be part of your arsenal, for each character also has a set of special moves they will have access to as well. Using these techniques will cost SP points, but you gain them back with regular combat, making for a balance in action you will have to maintain to be effective. On top of this you will also find yourself in a "rock/paper/scissors" scenario. At any given time you can swap between your three active characters any time, and each will specialize in a specific weapon. Each one of these will fit into one of three roles: slicing, blunt, or piercing, and each of these will match specific enemies based on if they fly, are armored, or fleshy. This is obviously not the case for all enemies, but many will likely require you to take direct control of the strategy by swaping away from Adol for a while, or back as needed.
Most of the time if you have more then three allies, you can select which ones you want in your active party via a camp menu (which will also be where you equip everyone: both any equipment you get as well as techniques), allowing you to adapt the group to fit your style or even the area you are in, but not always. A traditional limitation to this franchise is that once you are facing off with a boss, you will have to face it with your current team, so plan wisely.
The result is a back and forth as you respond to the enemy, dodging their attacks and darting in to make your own strikes in a dance that is both strategic and satisfying and will leave you excited to see what the next big boss you find is. But I wouldn't call it the perfect blend, as one of the late bosses prove to me. Don't get me wrong, the dance was real, but he makes you wait for each and every round for ridiculously long times. But if you can put up with this one fight, the rest of the game is beyond excellent and leave this one fight as a blip against everything else offered.
8/10
Bugs: Outside of the enemy type, this game was a completely bug-free experience! I had no issues with this game at all.
Overall: Once again, I have to say I absolutely loved another game from the Ys franchise. And while it is not the absolute best of the best, it is right up there with it. In fact you can clearly see a lot of what made Memories of Celceta so great got it's start here. Yes, that game balanced it out better, but the formula was great from the start and I can only hope to see more of this as we go on. Another phenomenal game in the series!
Score:
System Requirements:
- Intel Core i5 2.4 Ghz
- 1 GB RAM
- Intel HD Graphics 4400
- Windows 7/8/10
- 2 GB hard drive space
System Specs:
- Ryzen 5 5600G running at 3.9 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Windows 11
- PDP DX Wired Controller (Crimson)
Source: gog.com
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