Ys X: Proud Nordics Review – Just slightly better

Ys has been a very important series that pretty much popularized what we know today as Action RPGs or ARPGs. The original release of Ys X: Nordics was a disaster, but today I bring you a Ys X: Proud Nordics Review, and from what I’ve been playing while comparing it to the original version this one feels like the original release should have felt. This isn’t a lot to say however, games in the Ys series have been shifting a lot through time, to the point many don’t feel like they have a clear identity. I will be reviewing this one from the perspective of improvements that have been brought rather than the plot itself.

First things first, cooperative gameplay has been removed from this version for no reason whatsoever, this is a huge downgrade but considering how bad was the original release of Ys X: Nordics, I would say its the least of our concerns right now. After all, the cooperative mode feature was something added in the localization project that wasn’t originally a thing in the real game, so it always lead to unintended things happening such as making the game way easier. Now, you might think I’m opinionated for saying this but the current identity of Ys melds together with many generic Action RPGs.

The Ys series has been with us since the 80s, it was born as one of the main originators of the Action RPG genre in the 80s for the PC-88, back when it released it was an instant hit that catapulted Falcom into becoming a crucial player in the early video game market. The heydays are done, and Ys has fallen out of relevance becoming a niche series that not many care about in the west, this is further proven to be true when the identity of Ys itself has been waning since the 5th entry. There has been cool games like Origins and the various remakes of the first pair of games, but that’s about it.

Then, Ys X: Nordics dropped after some tolerable ones like Ys IX and even decently good like Ys VIII and let me tell you, the release was a disaster and a legit damage control moment at Nihon Falcom’s headquarters. The game felt unfinished, the characters didn’t even feel like what they used to be, and the identity of the Ys series kept drifting ever so slowly. Ys VIII marks the general departure for when the series decided to appeal to modern audiences, personally speaking, it removed the charm of what made Ys be Ys in the first place.

Ys VIII was an amazing game that introduced many people into the series despite damaging the identity of it forever, but we can’t say the same about Ys X, its broken systems on release, along with tons of issues pertaining to the world we play in left a lot to be desired from it. The original release of this game almost felt as if you were paying to playtest a prototype of what we should have received. Ys X: Proud Nordics fixes most of the glaring issues the original release presented, adding a slew of new things to do in the game, and even rebalacing and adding new systems and bosses to the mix.

Some of you might remember the struggle that was trying to beat Magna Diga in the original release of the game, some even saying that Chapter 3 is where they dropped off this game, I persevered and won but I can understand why some people might see it as something ludicrous. Ys X: Proud Nordics thankfully shows us that this was a big issue in balancing and the original boss was even glitched up, so it has managed to fix the core issues and also introduced new mechanics we can exploit to have an easier time with our adventure.

If you are a fan of traveling with the Grimbleboard, the experience of using it has been greatly improved, now you can boost with it by pressing L1 which genuinely speeds up things and makes them more fun. Progression has been greatly reworked too, there’s mechanics such as the newly introduced Elding Fragmnents which allow you to improve skills without having to grind them, these are dropped by newly introduced “Mutated Monsters” which are stronger foes that might be a challenge to take down.

The original game allowed you to improve your skills up to 100%, but Ys X: Proud Nordics adds an extra 0 to the equation, pretty much allowing you to boost things up to 1000%, ten times bigger and more powerful. For fans of the series that begun playing with Ys VIII, there’s a very neat feature that makes a return from Lacrimosa of Dana, that being Infinite Mode. For those who don’t remember, Infinite Mode is a way to scale up New Game + by making things even harder, such as boosting the power of enemies or making reviving allies become a much arduous process. Fans of great challenges might love this inclusion.

I saved the best for last, Ys X: Proud Nordics also includes an entire new region with new characters such as Canute and Astrid, along with storylines to follow, Oland Island is a large island that you can explore and it is unlocked in Chapter 5. This was clearly something that should have been in the base game, but Ys X: Nordics was clearly a rushed game that needed more time in the oven. Even with all of these additions, there’s still core fundamentals of the game that won’t be fixed cause it already has a problematic foundation.

The story is rather forgettable, and this is unforgivable for a game coming from the hands of Nihon Falcom, who has always been known as quite the advanced company when it comes to their writers. The creative talent drain that happened for many years at Falcom has severely impacted the quality of what they put out, which is truly saddening, at the very least when it comes to gameplay elements the series remains fine, and its a competent Action RPG that melds together with the rest. If you are looking for something fun and anime-ish, Ys X: Proud Nordics does not dissapoint, but hardcore Falcom fans should be aware things aren’t what they used to be.

Ys X: Proud Nordics Review – Verdict

[Editor’s Note: Ys X: Proud Nordics was reviewed on PC and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]