Ys Seven

The most recommended gateway to the series.

Ys Seven is the latest installment of the Ys Series so far that has been released. I have actually finished this game few months ago along with other series during my Ys marathon. By far it has the longest playtime for Ys Series and it introduced new gameplay . This game is the best entry title for Ys series as it is the most attractive for current generation of gamers in terms of appearance and the easiest at the same time.

Ys Seven covers the story of Adol's adventure in Altago where the land is governed by 5 dragons that maintain the balance. Just like his other adventures, Adol find himself to be chosen by the deities to prevent the catastrophe that will befall on the land and this time he will be accompanied by several allies during his quest.As he ravels through the land of Altago he eventually learn the nature behind the catastrophe which involve his allies.

The Kingdom of Altago has mediterannian feeling as it is based on Carthage. In Ancient times, Altago was ruled by 5 chieftains which represent 5 elements of nature: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Moon which maintained the harmony of the land. However 200 years prior Ys Seven, Water tribe fought Moon Tribe over their land and cause the moon tribe lost many of its people and land which breaks the balance of the land. The particular catastrophe that happen in Ys Seven is caused by this issues.

The damsel of distress in Ys Seven is Tia who Adol and Dogi met as florist at the first time when they arrive in Altago. However unlike the other damsels from previous installment, she serve as main villain which plays big role in the main plot though it won't be revealed until the last half of the game.Tia carries the bloodline of Moon Tribe chief which carry out the role to initiate the Ritual of the Rebirth of Altago which will reset everything on the land of Altago when the balance cannot be maintained anymore.

Ys Seven is the first title of the series that introduce party system with 3 people in the main team. Each characters will have different attack type which affect the effectiveness against several enemies and it is crucial to have the team to be well balanced. While there will be several characters join Adol from time to time, the final party will be seven people only and Adol will always stay in the main party.

 Another new feature that Ys Seven introduced is the weapon techs called Dragon arts in this game which are similar with the Artes/Ougi. The Dragon Arts are learned from the weapons as specific weapons for each character will enable the character to use the technique and learn it once they reach the level 1 of the art. Every character also have final attacks/ Hi Ougi and will gradually upgraded through out the game.

Ys Seven also introduce item creation for the first time which you can craft equipments and items from the materials gathered or dropped by monsters. This is also the only way to get the ultimate weapons in the game.

Personally i would say Ys Seven is quite lackluster compared to the other Ys i have played so far since i find the gameplay is quite unpolished as there are too many redundancies. Though i still find it understandable I think Falcom intended Seven as the testbed for improving the gameplay of the series.

Probably my greatest personal disappointment for Ys Seven is lack of replayability since there are no New Game+ feature at all which makes the games seems to be rushed. Nevertheless i think if you are general RPG fans you will enjoy this one as it still has great soundtracks just like other Ys series. I am looking forward for the Sea of Celcetta which will be released on PS Vita considering it seems to have improvised version of Ys Seven gameplay.