We were privileged to attend a Ys X: Nordics special demo showcase by NIS America. We got shown many things, and I am super excited for the game to come out even more now! But, let’s go over everything that we had a chance to find out about the upcoming adventure.
Housekeeping For Ys
We got introduced to the Obelia Gulf. It is the main area that Ys X: Nordics, you will explore. It is known for having multiple islands. The Obelia Gulf is under the control of the Balta Seaforce at the beginning of Ys X: Nordics. Adol Cristin, our protagonist, becomes forcibly linked to Karja by Mana cuffs. Karja Balta is the daughter of the main leader controlling these islands and is known as the Pirate Princess by the locals.
One of the main differences between the more recent Ys titles and this one is instead of having a party you can swap to, the only two playable characters will be Adol and Karja. Also Ys X: Nordics will take place directly after Ys II. Every game in the Ys series is a different journal written by Adol himself.
The Balta Seaforce is adept at using Mana for utility and combat. In Ys X: Nordics, Adol also becomes knowledgeable about Mana. He becomes competent with a variety of Mana Actions. These actions can include whips to swing to other areas of the islands, rails to skate on the water and sky, and other ways. Adol and Karja have separate skills in combat with Mana they can utilize too. Adol gets fire abilities, and Karja gets ice abilities.
Combining Adol And Karja
Even though Ys X: Nordics only has two playable characters, it has a lot of added extra variety with both of them. Adol and Karja are able to be swapped between in combat pretty seamlessly. Not only can you swap to either character but you can also activate what is known as Duo mode. This mode allows Adol and Karja to be controlled simultaneously in combat. You can use combination skills in Duo mode that will deplete both characters’ SP gauges. These moves are far stronger than their skills. Adol is a speedy damage dealer who can deal damage to the enemy’s health but is hindered by enemy armor. Karja isn’t as fast as Adol but her moves generally do a lot of damage to enemy armor. Swapping between the two is encouraged to maximize your damage capabilities.
The way you build your characters is by utilizing the Mana lines. with Mana seeds, you can place specific stat boosts and abilities in the blank areas of the Mana lines. If they are the same color of stats, you can also get added passive effects as well. When you level up you gain more empty slots in the Mana lines, you find Mana seeds by doing the story or by doing side content. Since each character levels up their base stats in a different fashion and is used for different uses, it’s important to have a lot of Mana seeds to differentiate the builds for Karja and Adol. Both characters have different Mana lines when they level up.
Building Up Your Crew
Even though there are only two main playable characters in Ys X: Nordics, there is a variety of other people you come across in the game. One main way you will come across them is by inviting them into your boating crew. Adol gets to be on a ship and controls it for the very first time in a Ys game. It is both concerning and exciting at the same time to get ship combat in a Ys game! Adol has a bad habit in these games where he is a bad luck charm on a ship and indirectly causes some kind of catastrophe, so it’s nice to not have to worry so much about the boat crashing… hopefully!
Boat combat in Ys X: Nordics is pretty interesting. You have weapons you can fire for long periods or weapons that you can use once and then it gets put on cooldown for a while. It is best to maneuver smartly to maximize both. The demo that we saw of the ship combat was during what is called a capture battle. A capture battle has you destroying three pillars while getting bombarded by ships trying to protect the pillars.
Once you destroy the pillars, you unlock the landing point for a small dungeon that houses someone who is captured. In Ys X: Nordics, unlocking the small dungeon lets you infiltrate the enemy’s base in that dungeon. Depending on how well you perform in the Capture battle, it gives you a score that adds some buffs to your characters in the dungeon. Dungeons consist of a floor or two of small rooms that end in a boss battle. When you free the captured prisoner, they then join your crew and can add passives, abilities, or even shops on your battleship.
On the ship, you can buy resources with gold or with resources you find in the game like lumbar or vegetation. At the beginning of Ys X: Nordics, the ship is pretty basic and empty. As you unlock more party members and amass more resources, your ship gets access to more cosmetics and there will be more characters roaming your ship. You can buy food on the ship with gold or make it into boxed lunches by making it with resources at your disposal. This gives you added passive abilities during ship combat. When you unlock a new crew member on the ship, you also get access to crew quests.
Crew quests in Ys X: Nordics serve as one point of side quests. Doing these quests for your crewmates unlocks more backstory to them as well as unveils a new section of their history in the journal. The best part of these quests will be the interactions they have with Adol for helping them. The more crewmates you unlock and fulfill their crew quests, the greater the stats are for your ship. The name of the ship that Adol and Karja help the captain with Dogi is called Sandras.
Heading To The End
Throughout the journey of Ys X: Nordics, the character that will be growing the most will be Karja. Adol is still our focal point of the story but Karja will have to see the downsides of being the Pirate Princess as well as the influence she has over the Balta Seaforce. This makes Ys X: Nordics a great entry point for those wondering if they should try out the action RPG mechanics that the series of Ys is known for. This entry also gets to have ship combat to try out for those already used to action RPGs. I hope that the ship mobility is more interesting than Skull and Bones personally but if not, at least we get to go on the land and do some great Ys combat!
Ys X: Nordics releases October 25th, 2024 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
