E3 2010: Hands-on with Ys 7

One of the games that was playable at my meeting with XSEED at E3 2010 was Ys 7, the entirely new entry in the Ys series created exclusively for the PSP. I got to learn about some of Ys 7‘s special features and get to do some hands-on dungeon crawling with Adol, Dogi and Mishera. Adol and Dogi have come to Altago in their adventures, and found themselves arrested while helping a gir. Altago’s king sets them free and tasks them with investigating a shrine and mysterious things happening around Altago so peace can reign.

Before I get into my experiences in Ys 7 dungeon crawling, it’s best to go over a few small things I learned about the game while talking with XSEED representatives. First, Ys 7 is a pretty long game, and will take the average player at least 30 hours to finish. It’s also designed to be user friendly, with customizable controls, the ability to fast forward through story segments and the ability to turn off Adol’s voice during battles so he can remain a silent protagonist. Players can also save anywhere, access restart points before tricky areas to make it easier when facing certain challenges or bosses and travel using warp points.

Fighting is also different in Ys 7. It’s still an action RPG, but Adol isn’t the only playable character. It has a party system with multiple playable characters, and players can switch among them with the push of a button to access different characters with different skills and abilities. (You can play as Dogi!) All weapons that characters can equip have skills, and as you keep weapons equipped and learn skills, they level up. Skills change in appearance and effect when they reach levels five and ten.

As for the hands-on dungeon crawling, I got to explore a wind dungeon with Adol, Dogi and Mishera. You could equip a special cape, which was found while exploring this particular dungeon, to ride the wind gusts that would appear. There were also plenty of puzzles and traps to take on, enemies to fight and places to look through. What I also found interesting were the warp points within the dungeon. It also was a totally 3D adventure, with detailed characters and environments.

If you want to test out Ys 7 yourself, you won’t have to wait much longer. It comes out in August, 2010.

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