Ys X: Nordics review – somewhat smooth sailing

The Ys series has been on the go for decades now, tracking the adventures of its red haired adventurer and his companions. It’s come a long way, changing things up with every few entries.

An Unlikely Duo

Modern Ys started to take things in a different direction, with a greater emphasis on story (though still not as much as the Trails series) and lots of playable characters. Ys X: Nordics seems to be developer Falcom’s attempt to reel things back a little, cutting down the playable cast to just two and bringing players back to Adol’s early days.

Taking place shortly after the events of Ys 2, Adol travels with Dogi towards Celceta in search of his next adventure. Before he can reach Celceta however, he’s embroiled with a group of warriors known as Normans.

These Normans (essentially Ys’s take on vikings) rule the waters of Obelia Gulf, and the discovery of a mysterious speaking seashell connects Adol — literally, thanks to a strange wire made of mana — to the Norman princess Karja.

Following the tradition of Adol gaining new powers during his adventures, he gains the ability to use Mana. Something originally thought to be only possible by Normans, this power must be used to deal with monsters known as Griegr that are terrorising Obelia Gulf and its people.

While I mentioned at the start that Ys X attempts to cut back a little on the longer storytelling of Ys 8/9, it’s still a lengthy title when compared to how the series started out. In many ways, this actually works out well for the story that Ys X wants to tell.

For starters, only having Adol and Karja as the playable characters this time means that the latter has plenty of time to shine. Rather than splitting events between lots of main characters, Karja’s permanent presence almost makes her feel like the real main character of this journey.

I liked Karja’s growth during Ys X, as she learns more about both Norman history and the other residents of Obelia Gulf. This is helped along by an excellent English dub (Japanese audio is also available), with nearly all story scenes being voiced.

The story overall does suffer a little from being both a little predictable, and rushing a few sections near the end. You essentially figure out where the story is going to go ahead of time, and the last few chapters have you rushing to the inevitable conclusion.

Even knowing what’s going to happen, I’d say that Ys X’s story is still fun for the most part. This is mostly due to Karja’s growth, though even the supporting cast get their moments. And despite coming across as rushed near the end, the final chapter still manages to stick the landing.

Combat is Fun, But Unbalanced

Ys X’s battle system also follows in a similar vein of “similar, but not quite the same.” Switching things up from the three-person party setup of Ys 7-9, you now only take control of Adol and Karja.

The basics are still what you’d expect, with basic attacks and skills that cost SP. Ys X’s main change comes in the form of Duo Mode, where holding down a button has Adol and Karja act in unison. Duo Mode comes with its own set of skills, and while in this mode you automatically block attacks.

So, if you can switch to Duo Mode at any time, what’s the reason to use characters individually? I genuinely have no idea. Duo Mode has no downsides, and you’re even incentivised to use it as much as possible due to the Revenge Gauge.

Revenge builds up as you block attack, with the multiplier increasing if you perfectly time your blocks. The higher your Revenge Gauge multiplier, the more damage your next Duo Mode skill does. With the Revenge Gauge being upgradable during your adventures, this only becomes even more powerful over time.

I can safely say that 99% of my time playing Ys X was done in Duo Mode. Outside of some story sections, and areas that require you to split up, it’s just the most effective way to deal with most enemies.

What makes this feel weird is that there are hints at systems that could have been used to give solo combat a purpose. Adol makes use of fire Mana, while Karja uses ice. Enemies could have been given specific weaknesses to each, but instead this is only used rarely to traverse the environment.

Skills used in solo mode can also be chained, reducing SP costs as long as you keep the chain up. But since the Revenge Gauge in Duo Mode makes it easy to kill enemies with a single skill, this feature ends up being pointless.

Despite these issues, combat is still fun. Running through maps and wiping out groups of enemies still has that Ys magic. I just wish that mechanically there was a little more going on. In fact, there are a few other systems that the above applies to.

I’ve mentioned Adol and Karja’s Mana abilities a few times now. Mana actually has a few uses outside of battle, with more unlocked by finding items during the main story. The first of these is Mana String, which can be used to swing across gaps, pull yourself towards enemies, and later open up new shortcuts.

Swinging around is cool, but incredibly limited. It’s used infrequently, and mostly just to cross short chasms. It lacks the impact that the movement abilities from Ys 9 had, though it does have its uses when dealing with flying enemies.

What stings more is how Mana Ride is handled. Early on you gain access to the Gullinboard, essentially a hoverboard. While cool in theory, most of the maps in Ys X are relatively constrained. When you can gain momentum down slopes and fly across islands it feels great, but these moments are few and far between.

Switch Limitations

This brings me to what I’d assume is what caused a lot of Ys X’s issues: the Nintendo Switch. Ys X is the first Falcom game to have a Switch port developed in-house, and it was definitely the game’s target platform.

As mentioned earlier, areas in Ys X are generally constrained, often made up of small corridors and mostly flat plains. This also extends to sailing, which I’ve neglected to mention until now because it’s just not that interesting.

Sailing is unlocked fairly early on, acting as a way to ferry you to different islands with the occasional ship combat along the way. Unfortunately, Obelia Gulf is a very bland area to explore. It’s mostly just empty seas with an occasional island — most islands are also just the same grassy plains with little detail.

Having open-ish world sailing in a game that’s designed for the ageing Switch hardware was a strange choice, and it didn’t really work out. While ship upgrades do speed up these sections, I can’t really remember having fun at any point with this aspect of the game.

Port Differences

Most of my time with Ys X was spent both on a desktop PC and the Legion Go, with some testing done on Nintendo Switch later on.

As with other ports handled by PH3 GmbH, the PC version of Ys X is exceptional. You have access to a wealth of graphical options, and it handles any resolutions and framerates with ease (outside of some understandable quirks with ultrawide cutscenes.)

I only ran into two minor issues during my time with the PC port, but these have already been fixed. In fact, this version even has local co-op now, something PH3 GmbH added to other modern Ys titles. It still feels weird to say this when I look back at the rough history of Japanese game ports to PC, but this is easily the best way to play Ys X.

On the other hand, the Switch version of Ys X is serviceable. You’ll have to deal with cut down visuals, mostly in regards to resolution and a lot of pop in. Loading times are also less than stellar, and it even seemed like loading screens were more frequent on Switch compared to PC.

Ys X Review | Final Thoughts

Ys X is a fun time, but there are so many elements that feel underbaked. Combat is responsive but Duo Mode is completely unbalanced, and Mana abilities are vastly underutilised. Hopefully some of these systems can be built upon for a potential Ys XI, since I definitely think they can be reworked into something special.

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Our review of Ys X was done on PC and Nintendo Switch using copies provided by the publisher.