Ys X: Nordics (PS5) - Review

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Ys X: Nordics is the first Falcom game I haven't bought via pre-order in a long time; it didn't look visually impressive, in contrast with Trails Through Daybreak; its characters didn't look promising; and the story didn't sound all that interesting. In other words, it was the first time that a Falcom release hadn't looked like it was shaping up to be a great JRPG. Yet after playing it at Tokyo Game Show 2023, Nordics' gameplay convinced me to at least give it a chance.

As usual in Ys, you start off playing as Adol, a young adventurer who has tendency to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Nordics, the ship Adol is boarding is attacked by Viking-like warriors called the Normans. Our protagonist is eventually disembarked at the nearest town, but in a surprising turn of events he's linked by a sort of magical string to a young Norman woman called Karja. As the Normans aren't on the friendliest of terms with the local folk, things quickly get complicated for Adol and Karja, who find they now can't be more than five meters from each other.

The narrative does have an amusing beginning, but I'm not quite convinced by what happens after that. The story awkwardly throws at you a faction known as the Griegr, whose actions and intentions are kept highly vague until their demise, and Nordics isn't much more than a series of convenient tropes. The end-game, which unsophistically plays with an old curse, is so blatantly whimsical that it feels like it was written entirely during a coffee break. Even now, as I'm trying to recall something meaningful that happened, only parts that are really ridiculous spring into my mind. Nordics fails to provide a serious - let alone epic - JRPG story. It's also the shortest Falcom game I've played by far: it took me about 40 hours to clear it, despite exploring heavily.

Unfortunately, the characters don't really brighten the outlook. Falcom only provides Adol and Karja as playable protagonists - a surprisingly low count for a publisher that has always provided a team of at least six playable characters. Needless to say, this causes a certain lack of variety compared to previous Falcom titles, although the gameplay on the whole holds up fairly well, as I'll detail below. The NPCs aren't anything special in general either; they do help with providing ship facilities but are generally as interesting as the waitress of the local inn. Ironically, the only interesting NPC (and subsequent character quest) is the waitress of the local inn, Rosa.

Apart from her, all NPC interactions are desperately bland. That's how much Nordics is lacking in terms of characters, which is very surprising coming from Falcom, a company that usually works wonders in this field. To be fair, Karja is a great main heroine; I loved everything about her design, personality, back-story, and the high amount of screentime she gets.

Nordics has a new take on exploration. Early in the story, Adol and Karja get a ship of their own and can sail freely in the nearby waters. The story progresses as you reach new islands, but between main chapters you can wander about the sea as you wish. The level of freedom, as well as the density of content, is compelling. The sea map is quite large and there are numerous islands that you can land at and explore, each one filled with plenty of secrets, surprises, and hidden sub-quests to discover. Some long-term quests require you search every inch of every remote island.

You can also participate in rush battles on fortresses lost in the vast sea; these are time attack missions that must be cleared as quickly as possible and with low damage taken in order to get the maximum rank. The world design in Ys X is therefore fantastic and certainly hooks you in. It's not an open world per se, but the high level of freedom, the amount of content, and the quality of said content, all makes Nordics feel like a tremendously good open-world JRPG.

As for the combat gameplay, since you only have a team of two, the development team had to come up with something truly special to justify the low number of party members. Adol and Karja remain linked to each other and must necessarily fight side-by-side. It's an action-RPG, so you fight in real-time using combos and special attack skills as finish moves. You can swap between Adol and Karja at any time, and you should too: when either character is controlled by the player, the other one recovers HP.

HP management between the two is essential because healing items are scarce (a solid fix compared to the incredibly lenient Ys IX) and the blows received hit hard. But the main plus of Ys X's two character roster is that you can control both protagonists at the same time: holding a specific button forces Adol and Karja to adopt a defensive stance that nullifies most damage for a short time, which then allows you to launch colorful and powerful combined attacks, in which both characters strike simultaneously.

In addition, there are two types of counters, which are represented by a color code. When a foe intends a "blue" attack, running towards it will make your character avoid the damage and deal a heavy counter. And when you're about to be hit by a "red" attack, if you defend with accurate timing you'll strike an even more powerful counter. In these cases, a fancy cut scene illustrates the action, performed by both characters in concert. Of course, even the best battle system in the world means nothing without a good level of challenge, and I'd say Nordics finds the right balance.

As usual now, the game features various difficulty settings, but I found hard mode to be especially rewarding. It offers up tough opponents and really heated battles without ever being discouragingly difficult. The story also features a decent amount of boss fights, with very different patterns and tricks to learn each time. The aesthetics of the fights are simply wonderful, and so are the combat sensations. So despite Nordics having fewer characters, the battle gameplay actually represents a significant leap forward in quality.

You don't just simply sail the sea in Nordics either. At regular intervals you have to take part in naval combat against enemy fleets. You control the ship and can fire various types of ammo, and even a magical laser canon! The ship has to be modified by using materials and money in order to improve firepower, defense, and maneuverability. That said, such naval action barely serves as an average mini-game, as it's fairly easy and hardly exciting in terms of controls or mechanics. 

It also shows how modest the graphics are: the rendering of both the water and land is rough and the level of detail really minimal. This lack of attention to detail is especially noticeable when exploring too, since most islands have similar types of landscapes; you won't see much besides green grass and common-looking caves. This is all a clear step back compared to Ys VIII and Ys IX. On the other hand, the character modeling sees much more effort put into it than the landscapes; Nordics boasts clean and good-looking character models that are even better than Ys IX's. The fishing mini-game is also very enjoyable, because it's a tad bit more challenging and dynamic than usual when it comes to Falcom titles.

I have deeply conflicting feelings towards Ys X: Nordics, to such an extent that it turns out to be difficult to score. The part of me that really enjoyed the battle system and sense of exploration, which are both better than ever before in a Falcom release, would opt for a high mark; the part of me that's disappointed with the characters, narrative, and visuals would score it lower. The first 'me' probably wins out in the end, because my impression of Nordics is still very positive overall, but I get the feeling that Falcom didn't put its very best effort into the game. 

After graduating from a French business school, Thomas felt an irresistible force drawing him to study Japanese, which eventually led him to Japanese Profeciency Test level 1 in 2012. During the day, Thomas is a normal account manager. But at night he becomes Ryuzaki57, an extreme otaku gamer hungry for Japanese games (preferably with pretty girls in the main role). His knowledge now allows him to import games at Japanese release for unthinkable prices, and then tell everyone about them. You may also find him on French video games media. Feel free to contact on twitter at @Ryuz4ki57

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