Tom

ys x is good y'all

it's mostly good in the ways an ys should be good, which is to say its combat slaps and the seafaring exploration is genuinely neat

the storytelling so far is generally kinda whatever for as much talking as there still is, if toned down from ix mercifully, and that's okay, i'd honestly be worried for kiseki if falcom suddenly brought its writing a game to ys

but kaja?

she's a good one

i know she's not the first playable lady in the series, but she feels like the best fit for adol as a swashbuckler herself and i'm kinda alarmingly invested in their relationship and i'm gonna be bummed when she presumably gets sidelined at the end of the game so he can keep going on his chronicled adventures and all that

but yeah

ys x is cool, it's the first one of these 3D ones to click with me as completely as it has and you should play it whenever the hell it comes out in english, i have no idea when

I am definitely in the end-game stretch by this point and y'know what? It's all coming together in an incredible way, both narratively and in the combat encounters. I'll probably have more to say after I finish it, but I'll just say that I totally get now how this game ended up on people's GOTY lists even with such a murderers row of games going up against it. This is Falcom at its most confident as an action game developer in a long time and you can see the presentational refinements it's been exhibiting in Kiseki for the past couple of games really coalescing here now that they're finally using a brand new engine.

Really hope this game gives the series a new shot in the arm overseas and that people give it a chance. Between the combat, the chemistry with Kaja, and, miraculously for an Ys game, the way the story is wrapping up and exploring its themes, this feels like an entry people are gonna be talking about in hushed tones for years like Felghana.

For the love of god, do not sleep on this whenever it comes out in English, folks. I'm genuinely floored at how much this game accomplishes.

i finished ys x and the ending sequence and epilogue made me bawl my eyes out?

an ys game made me cry

came to bop some bad guys for a couple dozen hours because falcom is good for that, left in tears over an impressively heartfelt and sincere execution on its themes, simply as they appear on the surface

incredible finale from the falcom series i don't remotely need any of that at all

when you first start playing it, you might think it's a solid 8/10 like a lot of these games tend to fall, propped up in large part by its combat, which is absolutely great and worth playing for alone

but give it a chance to really talk and you'll find a game that narratively punches way above its weight in places when you least expect it

gonna be thinking about this one for a long time, folks

some additional scattered thoughts before maybe i throw up a more substantial write up sometime later:

• in a lot of ways, the overworld exploration on the ocean is a better wind waker than what nintendo made, to the point that i found myself wondering why nintendo didn't end up adopting some of falcom's solutions for making seafaring more engaging in the hd version instead of just cheaping out and giving players a cheat code sail and truncated tingle questline. ys x actually gives you things to do in the ocean that make traversal in the water more than just going between plot points like it so often is in wind waker. is it an icon hustle? yes, to an extent, but the amount of stuff to do at any one time is never overwhelming and compliments the series' theme of the joy of adventure quite nicely.

• really, ys x feels like falcom sat down and pondered how it could make a more properly open game over ix that feels expansive, while still true to those thematic roots and everything from the setting to the types of characters that populate the world advance those goals. it's a resounding success on that end and i say that as someone who usually doesn't enjoy the types of games it's most directly inspired guy

• i cannot stress enough how clutch kaja is at making the story so touchingly effective. if you're like me and never previously been one to pay much mind to ys stories and their lore, then i feel you should know that, in my opinion, x is secretly her game first and foremost and about her growth as a person. the game is, at its heart, an exploration of choosing to live life proactively and with intention, rather than passively letting it simply flow by and kaja and her whole arc embodies that most. (although the one truly big story moment of his own that adol has also advances those ideas in its own poignant way, which i enjoyed)

• seriously, kaja and adol have a chemistry that's a joy to watch unfold and the way they change how they speak, act, and especially look at each other is genuinely sweet, especially her body language she has around him when she becomes comfortable and fully embraces him as a part of her life. i was a wreck by the end for a reason and i will genuinely hold a grudge against falcom for life if they never make an exception for her and bring her back

anyway, yeah, tremendous game that doesn't play its full hand narratively until about the halfway point, but if you stick with it, you're in for an ys story like no other

and the combat is as fantastic as it's ever been in these 3d iterations

but

for once, rest assured, it's okay to come to ys for the story too