The game is certainly a sequel in gameplay to Memory of Celceta adding more gameplay elements and refining the combat as well as adding new things to do in the game (the previous title on PS Vita, a really fun game). However, what drags the game down quite a bit is the translation...I can't speak Japanese but I can tell you even with that this game has a mid 90's translation quality. The game isn't fully voiced before I dive into this problem, Adol (the main character) will only say small quips at most and as for the rest of the dialog, it's kinda random what is and isn't spoken.
It's not the English voice work that's a problem which is passable depending on what character is talking. But there's a lot of weird dialog both written or spoken. Adol when casting his fishing line will say "I wonder what I caught", which had me stumped pretty hard as we haven't even started. That kinda thing carries on, you're asked choices and some responses feel flat or ambiguous and it's really off putting. I don't recall that being the case in Memory of Celceta. So, it's bad in this regard but it's passable, it's not Breath of Fire 2 levels of awful with it's translation.
The translation being passable doesn't really effect the game at large as it's ...pretty packed with cliches. Down to walking in on a girl while she's nude and cleaning herself up, followed by, you guessed it, a slap to the face. Everyone is fairly up beat despite the situation and the captain can't seem to order the people around, instead he's basically politely asking. I'm not super far but the game is hinting at some secret plot of interest but, I'm not sure how big it'll be given the run of cliches but it'll probably be enough to carry the characters along. Which, seem to be at least given an arc.
The game itself looks pretty good, it's not Final Fantasy 15 levels of over-polish but the game also runs vastly better than FF15 at 60fps. Well, most of the time. The game seems to have trouble keeping it to that level during some parts of the game but it's nice to see a game that focuses on framerate when it's an action title. But it looks pretty good, anime themed and keeps level detail up nicely. I prefer the style as it'll look better than the games trying to look 'real' years from now.
Loading is also fast for once. You wont be sat around for 10-60 seconds waiting for a map to load, fade out, fade in. Done. Good, more games should be trying to do this.
Alright can't talk about a Ys game apparently without mentioning the music or you'll be mauled by the fans I hear, the music is great. High energy rock-tunes that gets you hyped for sprinting around the map and carving up monsters.
Right, should talk a bit more about what the game is, it's an action RPG with lots to do. You've been shipwrecked and your goal is to explore the map while gathering supplies for your village of survivors. You'll have to get bits to upgrade your base, items and help with your relationship with the towns members as they'll help you break through obstacles as you progress, opening more points of the map.
This sounds complicated, well, it's not. You gather items from combat or little natural points that you ...swing your sword at. Characters will even voice out what they see or when you should use a character vs an enemy.
Combat then, combat is fully action in the field. You bring 3 party members with you who'll actively attack and you can switch to them with a push of a button. This is helpful since some enemies are weak to certain characters, characters with you will call it out "Adol it's up to you here!" but really for the most part, even on hard it doesn't seem to be mandatory. Yes enemies go down faster and will drop more stuff but overall it's not so big an issue.
The combat is really fun, it's got a fast pace to it and a nice impact. Character switching is instant and it's really satisfying when you get good at it. Dodging or quick guarding at the very last second triggers a "flash" state where everything except you slows down and you can go to town on an enemy. You get special moves that you can work into combos and your AI will thankfully use these moves as well. Combat is all on the field, no random encounters or screen transitions.
Really nice: The game lets you remap EVERY button you want. Why all games don't do this? I don't know. But it's great to have. The day one edition sports a music disc with select tracks and a manual sized art book in full color. Why don't more games do this? ...I, don't, know. You think it'd be better than carving off DLC for BS reasons.
It's a worth while game to get into, up beat, fast snappy combat that isn't overly complicated and charming characters that are let down by janky translation.
The publisher has since said they will be patching the game's translation which is good news but as of this reviews writing it's not out yet.