A Sea-it through Adventure
Adol Christin returns in this brand new seafaring adventure based on the Ys series. The game begins on the high seas where our Hero Adol and his accomplice Dogi are on their way to Celceta in search of new adventure. It doesn’t take too long until adventure finds Adol as he finds himself tied to an unlikely powerful pirate Karja Balta.
The game begins not with Adol getting shipwrecked unsurprisingly but by fighting with Karja Balta who moments earlier kills a member of the ship that Adol are on for not paying the toll fee. It’s hard to imagine Adol siding with a pirate but the reasoning behind her actions if part of the balta seaforce as a whole who keep the laws and regulations of the sea in place, whome she is a part of, her appearance alone strikes fear into the residents of Carnac, a small coastal town where Adol and Dogi arrive soon at and all the residents refer to her as the Pirate Princess.
The game is set in Obelia Gulf, a widespan area filled with islands, Karja who is part of the Normans is one of the factions who he sides with in order to take down the Griegrs who soon become apparent they are a large threat to the world. As mysterious goings on happen in the town of Carnac Adol finds himself chained to Karja by a powerful invisible force known as Mana which is not only the central plot of Ys X: Nordics, it also becomes an key part to the gameplay early on and then throughout. The plot of Ys X: Nordics may sound like your generic fantasy hero chosen one story but it actually does a good job of bringing two unlikely characters together, the bond they have to begin with seems at first awkward but Karja becomes a likeable character who seems to warm up to Adol after some time.
The game features new types of gameplay which includes Naval Combat. Adol can steer a ship accessible early on through the ocean and explore new islands and even engage in sea warfare. The ship itself can be upgraded further and can find spoils that are scattered in the ocean. Sea battles against Griegr ships are fought with cannons and rely on both player input and spacing between the players ship and the Griegr ship. There are also merchant ships where you can do trade with however some of these are disguised as Griegr ships and you wont know until they attack you so you must defeat them once it is apparent. There are more stronger ships which have durability attached to their ships and will stop moving once it is depleted. When this happens you can board the ship and then finish off the enemies in hand to hand combat. Once won you are free to take the spoils of the ship as your own. Ship combat is expanded even further where you are able to liberate islands that were captures by the Griegrs themselves. Here you will destroy enemy ships before landing on the island where you will raid the enemy base on foot again engaging in combat using Adol and Karja. These raids are certainly nothing new to the Ys series, they just made it unique in execution and it is executed really well.
Standard combat features both Adol and Karja working together and the key element of the story comes into play. While you can control either Adol and Karja, the other character will be played by AI, you can switch freely between them both and the combat is highly fast paced.
There is a secondary mode of combat where Adol and Karja become tethered by the Mana which they are stuck together by. This mode of combat is a lot slower however it is as destructive as it satisfying. To make up for the shortfall, you can defend against enemy attacks and in by doing so rain down greater damage. By switching between Solo and the Combined mode simultaneously, it makes both Adol and Karja a force to be reckoned with.
Exploring the field and dungeons by foot is expanded by the Mana system and can allow you to use Mana string which allows you to use a rope in mana form to swing across pits and is expanded even further by allowing you to hit switches and pull objects that allow you to reach higher places.
Another use of mana is a mana board which allows you to ride to higher elevations to otherwise not accessible places that can’t be reached on foot or by jumping.
Introduced in Ys X: Nordics is a new skill tree system and by unlocking the power of Mana, you can strengthen Adol and Karja’s unique battle skills, and by levelling up both characters receive Mana Points which can be used to unlock new nodes, you can unlock unique Mana abilities also by planting a Mana Seed of your choosing into these. The skill tree expands by levelling and unlocking new abilities. You can unlock new Mana Seeds by coming across Rune Stones. Rune Stones act as fast travel points and can recover health also. They can even allow the shackles that bind these unlikely heroes temporarily, this means that both characters will be at greater lengths from each other but will work together in overcoming an obstacle.
When it comes to Music Ys X: Nordics doesn’t disappoint. Whatever the situation or sitting Nihon Falcom have nailed a near perfect soundtrack.
Ys X: Nordics is a fantastic new entry into the Ys series and has a big emphasis on exploration, something which I really enjoyed with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana which I felt IX lacked in a lot of ways. If you enjoyed previous Ys Games then there is certainly more to Ys X: Nordics with Naval Combat, exploration and a vast world to explore. Whilst some returning features make a return their execution is unique. I would say my only gripe is some of the Ys X: Nordics is the UI decisions. The main character UI is vertical and takes up a large chunk of the screen but also goes horizontal with the characters health bars meaning it looks like a giant upside down L on the right of the screen, it just feels a bit cumbersome and there is no option to make it smaller which would be ideal or just make it completely horizontal as to not take up most of the screen along with the minimap, however I wouldn’t say this overall detracts from experience of the game.
A PlayStation 5 Review Code was provided by NIS America
