Welcome to our review of one of the biggest RPGs to come to Nintendo Switch, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana.
With this game, one of the biggest RPG franchises is finally back on a Nintendo Console, namely the Nintendo Switch. Published by Nippon Ichi Software America and developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation. Originally announced in a Direct, YS is back!
Ys are among the very best role-playing games out there and even without prior knowledge of the game, if you like role-playing games, you will love this iteration of the game.
Adol awakens shipwrecked and stranded on a cursed island. There, he and the other shipwrecked passengers he rescues from a village to challenge fearsome beasts and mysterious ruins on the isolated island. Amidst this, Adol begins to dream of a mysterious blue-haired maiden living in an unknown world. Join Adol as he unravels the riddle of the cursed isle and the blue-haired maiden Dana in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana!
As you start your story, you are still on the ship, the ship that is sailing past the cursed island and as you learn the basics of the game, you walk around and explore the ship. But then, obviously all hell breaks loose and then you wake up on a beach. The beach of the monster-infested island. You start by walking around, slowly mapping out the island and finding fellow shipwrecked passengers.
As you progress in the story, you are solving puzzles, mapping out the island and creating a bigger and better base for everyone to stay at. As this is your everyday role-playing game, while outside the confines of the base camp, there are beasts and monsters all over the place. The biggest monsters reminded me of Monster Hunter styled monsters, which is definitely not a bad thing.
Important to keep your eye on the evolving of weapons and armor too. As you find new people on the island, you get more options. Like how you get a weapons builder or a seamstress for fabrics needed to make better armor. One of the people in your base camp, he is responsible for securing the camp and making sure the monsters do not invade your camp.
That is a very important task because, at times, you are called back into the camp to help fend off the monsters trying to invade the base camp. Protecting your base camp becomes increasingly harder every time you get this quest. One of many quests, but again, Ys is a role-playing game and it keeps true to the genre in every way possible.
It just does not stop at the crafting or scheming or doing all the quests. Ys is all about a strong storyline blended with good action, great adventuring and figuring things out. Like when you are given the words to avoid that one enemy, how about just sneaking or running around him? Right? It does not always make sense, but that is the poetry of this game.
Ys VIII also handles blocking off parts of the game very well, especially when you are unprepared. You will find big boulders or a fallen down tree in your way and you will need a certain amount of people to clear them out. Do be prepared to get some unwanted spoilers when you suddenly see you’d need a certain amount of people at that point to advance. Luckily there are also fast travel points and lots of save points, which is always very welcome in these kinds of games.
But at the same time, not everyone wants to be saved, there are also clear indications that there have been survivors on the island before, it is now up to you and Adol to explore the entire island and at the same time join forces with all survivors in order to finally escape that wretched island!
In conclusion, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana is a great role-playing game in a line of amazing role-playing games. It brings great action to the Nintendo Switch and if you are into role-playing games, I would seriously recommend picking it up when it becomes available.
My rating for this game is 85%
8.5/10
Tested on Nintendo Switch
