Official Playstation Vita Thread! The Last Stand - Ys VIII, Mary Skelter, Yomawari Midnight Shadows, Persona 3&5 Dancing, Atelier Lidy & Soeur, DanganRonpa V3, Demon Gaze II & MORE!

[forevercloud3000]

Ok so about 2 hours into Y's:MoC ............where has this series been all my life?

I am really loving the game, its characters, it's story, it's combat. I'm not too far but I can give my early impressions.

I like that the story is lite and straight forward. Some kingdom wants you to explore this vast uncharted territory for them, due to many ppl going in and dissappearing. Adol, the silent hero, has conveniently lost his memory after taking his own trip deep into that territory. Sure, amnesia is super cliche but Falcom did it where it doesn't take itself too seriously. Its mostly used as an excuse to explain things that I imagine are staples of the series. As the game progresses you find pieces of Adol's memories which is cool.

Combat is a blast. At first few battles I thought I would simply be hacking away with the attack button but later found the intricacies of the combat system. Flash Move: dodge an enemy attack just as they are about to strike and it triggers a 10s slow down period where all allies are invincible and can do damage. Then there is Flash Guard: which by blocking an attack just before it strikes makes you temporarily invincible and all attacks critical. I'm no master at it yet but I am getting to the point where I can chain these together and really dig into enemies. I am also playing on Normal which has proven to be no slouch. Sure the fodder enemies are easy but 2 mid bosses have been able to hand me my ass so far.

Some interface stuff really makes me happy. For one, custom soundtracks work with the game. This is a big deal for me because when doing tedius grinding I sometimes like to listen to my own tunes that put me in "the ZONE". Not to say the in game music isn't superb. In actuality I might snag the soundtrack to put on Vita, so I can listen to my favs anytime in the game(something I wish I could do with P4G :P). Then there is the added bonus of being able to map the buttons as you please. Why every game does not allow this I don't know but I love the fact this game does. I mapped the "Switch Character" function to Triangle and "Guard" to Circle. This just made more sense to me. I also Switched the Extra and Skill Triggers. Now the game wields perfectly just for me. Party controls, being able to manipulate them without ever taking your fingers off the face buttons is awesome. Swiping out or pinching in on the Rear Touchpad controls Party tactics. A genius addition if you ask me. And doing the same on the front screen actually allows you to adjust the distance of the camera.

And lets talk about the camera. You don't actually have control of it which was a bit of a bummer for me at first, then I realized that it almost never gets in my way. I was walking down a cramped alley and the camera adjusted itself perfectly so nothing ever impeded my site. It was like they knew where I would have naturally moved the camera (if I had the choice). Superb.

Graphically the game is pretty good. There is this strange bloom effect on the characters that seems kinda odd at first.....then you realize that it makes your character more visible from the background during hectic combat and there also is not a jaggy in site. The first city is also quite large and detailed. Lots of little nooks and cranies to explore. Unfortunately I have not been rewarded with any chests or the like from going everywhere their is to in the city, dissappointing. Might be just like Legend of Heroes which only ever puts treasure in dungeons/combat areas.

Only naggles I found were ...
-The screen gets bombarded with damage msg,special effects, and enemy bodies. Sometimes hard to see what the hell is going on.
-Leveling system seems to be pretty straight forward. You level, then unlock a new move. I did notice each move has a level of it's own but yet to see how that effects gameplay.
- A few other games with similar artstyle on Vita look better, don't know if I can say their scenery is as populated tho.

Like I said, really early but for now this game is sitting at a firm 9+ range for me.