Ys Seven
SCORE: 77
There are few role playing game franchises that I personally enjoy.
Ys and Mega Man Battle Network are the two that comes to mind. Neither
is perfect, but both are generally safer for families than the other
franchises that are being sold. I also have quite a bit of history with
the Ys franchise. I fondly remember this franchise all the way back on
the Turboduo. I like Ys way better than the Final Fantasy or Dragon
Quest franchises. I know, I have offended who knows how many millions of
worshipers of those franchises. But I gotta be me, and that is how I
feel. Adol Christin is back, along with his companion Dogi. My kids got
a real kick out of that name.
Ys Seven has some great artwork, and fantastic color schemes. There are
various locations in Ys Seven. Expect the standard earth, wind, fire,
and sea. The moon section is a nice element added. Players spend most of
their time hacking and slashing through the enemies. Most of the time
this monotonous activity sends me to go take a nap. For some reason it
did not get old in Ys Seven. I believe that is because how quickly
combat is over with (except bosses), and how quickly leveling up occurs.
There are female characters who are not familiar with terms like modesty
in terms of their attire. Thankfully there are many more female
characters who are mature in this area. The inside case art work is
something I could have done without as well.
The music in Ys Seven is awe inspiring. I just love listening to this
game. This franchise has been known for fantastic music, and Ys Seven is
worthy of the franchise. Swapping characters gives a little sound byte,
so Falcom did not skimp in this area. Ys Seven definitely earns its 'T'
for Teen rating in terms of dialogue. There is bad language in this
game. I was pleasantly surprised to note how many different times bad
language was averted. There were times the game cut a character off
right before they would say something profane. I appreciated seeing
that, and feel it is a step in the right direction.
Ys Seven contains a synthesizing system that will interest hardcore
gamers. There are various kinds of items that can be found all over the
world. Collecting them is key to not only side quests, but also in
creating new items. Ys Seven includes a nice array of weapons and armors
for the various characters that will be in your party. There are extra
difficult bosses in Ys Seven that require a lot of skill and leveling up
to defeat. Family Friendly Gaming was given a reviewable copy of Ys
Seven. With that said I do feel that this game is worth the money for Ys
fanboys, as well as teenagers and adults that enjoy some action
adventure role playing gaming.
There is one aspect of Ys Seven that shocked me. That is how intelligent
the players companions are. Players control one of three characters
(most of the time) that have different strengths. One is good against
tough enemies, another against flying enemies, and Adol is great against
the softer or normal monsters. I would kill a monster (that looked like
an animal), and they would quickly collect the money and materials that
came from the dead bad guy. The fact that they do that is one of the
coolest things I have seen in a video game in a long time. This saved me
time, and allowed me to appreciate the level design. The various maps in
Ys Seven are very well thought out. I enjoyed the dungeons, and could
almost feel when the boss was coming up.
Ys Seven has a lot of talk about different gods these people worship. As
well as gods they have ignore for two hundred years. Ys Seven directly
ties the lack of worship to the lack of strength of these elemental
deities. Adol is an adventurer who gets dragged into helping these
people restore balance to their land. The main lesson I got out of Ys
Seven is to have a balance between worship and commercialism. Others may
walk away with different lessons. Players get to perform many good deeds
throughout the course of this Playstation Portable (PSP) game. I hope
this franchise continues to improve in future releases.
- Paul
Graphics: 69%
Sound: 70%
Replay/Extras: 88%
Gameplay: 86%
Family Friendly Factor: 70%
System: Playstation Portable
Publisher: XSeed Games
Rating: 'T' for Teen
{Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language}
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