Ys X: Nordics review: Dynamic duo

Adol Christian is a remarkable human being. He should know by now that if he steps foot on a ship, that thing is crashing, sinking, getting attacked, or all three. Yet he keeps doing it for the love of the game, that being going on adventures. Ys is one of Falcom’s most enduring series, and Ys X: Nordics seeks to make some major shifts to its recent structure. While ambitious or narratively interesting, these new elements miss more than they hit, making for an entry that feels solid but ultimately lacking in extra sauce.

But first, some Cliff Notes

Looking back a bit considering this is the first Ys review here at Shacknews, Ys got its start as a 2D action-RPG that you’d be forgiven for perceiving as a sort of anime-flavored Zelda. The old games had a “bump” mechanic for combat, meaning you’d literally ram into enemies to deal damage instead of using an “attack” function. Paired with the extremely close-quarters combat was a heavy metal soundtrack, likening the whole experience to a fantasy anime OVA of its era that had no interest in genre conformity. Today, Ys games are 3D adventures that use all the buttons on a controller, with systems gravitating around various combo and skill choices alongside character building, exploration, and music that explores genres while maintaining that high energy level. They’re more “everything” games, but still with a core focus on fast-paced combat.

The protagonist is always Adol Christian, a red-haired goober who often never speaks but still gets into trouble wherever he goes. He simply wants to go on adventures, and will crash every single ship he boards, whether or not he’s steering it himself. Other characters, like the blue-haired meathead Dogi, can show up in multiple journeys, but the only constant is Adol. The stories all exist on a consistent timeline, but as Ys X takes place soon after the second game, Falcom isn’t afraid to jump around and fill in previously open spaces. But aside from certain things the hardcore fans can latch onto, each adventure is perfectly approachable on its own. This much is communicated by the sort of diegetic lore that presents each Ys game as an epic retelling based on journal entries written by Adol a long, long time ago. It’s a neat approach that allows for playing with lore, without taking it too seriously. I dig it.

Vikings do not play with toll money

Ys X sees Adol get mixed up with a band of viking pirates based in the northern Obelia Gulf, when he watches the captain of the ship he’s taken passage on being executed for toll evasion by Karja Baltan. She’s the princess of this group of seafaring, fur-wearing pirates, and after a brief scrap with Adol it seems like she could be this story’s villain. But it isn’t long before a nearby village is attacked by undead monsters, and the two become an unlikely duo. They don’t have a choice but to work together as they are literally bound by a mysterious magical force, tethered such that they can’t be in different rooms without reenacting a Tom and Jerry gag. As the undead monsters are revealed to be more like a functioning military, Adol and Karja are bound with a local ritual and set off to be the reluctant heroes the Gulf needs.

Not only does the bond between Adol and Karja serve as the story’s backbone, it also informs the combat systems. Ys has, in recent years, been more of a party-based experience. You always have Adol, but other characters join and you can swap to them to try out their own movesets and other gimmicks. Here’s, it’s just Adol and Karja, and their progression is how your overall toolset evolves throughout the game. Not only do the two have their own separate skills, but simply holding the right trigger brings the pair together for a whole new set of attack properties and skills. And coming together like that also brings the theme full circle as it’s both your primary means of defense and finishing off epic boss fights. Even when they’re acting separately, Adol and Karja are a unit, inevitably coming together as one when the situation needs true power.

A little more time in the oven, please

As cool of a flourish as it is, this mechanic also loudly demonstrates a big problem. Ys X has a huge issue with feedback and clear communication of its rules. Holding the right trigger and bringing the two heroes together also serves as a parry mechanic, which can lead to a cinematic counterattack if done right. But the game doesn’t do a great job communicating what the timing is, both when you fail or when you’re successful. You just kind of have to feel it out, because visually there’s so much going on and the action only really slows down if you get the QTE prompt. And since that isn’t even an apparent guarantee for a successful parry, it’s not a reliable indicator. There’s also a lack of feedback or impact with skills in general. Combat often feels like banging action figures together until one of them breaks, and that doesn’t feel good, especially when it comes to recognizing and reacting to danger. The game clearly wants to be more than a hack and slash affair though, as simply mashing attack comes with consequences.

The other big gimmick in Ys X is a ship customization and combat system that’s oddly reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Just without the blockbuster production value, naturally. Remember, giving Adol access to a ship is a notoriously bad idea. Yet, Falcom figured now is the time to give him one, and even let him manage its financials and upkeep. Yikes! Luckily, since the adventure has already started, this ship is generally pretty safe. It’s just a fumbly, extremely slow-moving system that doesn’t truly start to cook until the game’s nearly over. There’s a lot of thought and complexity baked in, but the beginning moments are so slow and dragged out it’s hard to be excited until it’s almost too late. Falcom is big into iteration, though, and if the ship stuff comes back for the next game it’ll probably be sick. The ambition is here, but it simply misses the mark a little.

Ambition that slightly misses its mark is my main takeaway with Ys X: Nordics. There’s still a rock-solid foundation here, as any fan of action-RPGs can attest to. Ys is a series that’s stood on business for decades and with good reason. The problems here are all in the efforts made to try something different, which isn’t the worst thing to happen with a long-running series. Instead of resting on its laurels, Falcom has tried some new things with Ys X and there’s credit due for those efforts. The story and characters are on point, and the way the core mechanics try to act as a mirror for the themes is fascinating! But there’s some connective tissue missing that could’ve made things really sing. Meanwhile, the ship customization and combat is cool and rewarding in the long run, but the agonizingly slow pace of progression there really hurts the drive to care and engage long enough to see the payoff. Will these systems see iteration and come into their own, or will Falcom try something else next time? I’m curious to see if Adol can become a talented sailor one day.

Ys X: Nordics is available now for the PlayStation 4 and 5, the Nintendo Switch, and PC. A PS5 code was provided by the publisher for this review.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.