Falcom’s Ys X: Nordics is an intriguing action RPG that sets the stage for the rest of the Ys series that fans know and love. Although it’s the latest entry in the series, the game tells the curious tale of 17-year-old Adol Christin and his exploits in the Obelia Gulf, a nautical region located between Esteria and Celceta. Returning fans will notice that Ys X: Nordics takes place after the events of Ys II and before Ys: Memories of Celceta, placing it as the third chronological title starring Adol.
In my Ys X: Nordics preview, I claimed that this is one of Falcom’s most exciting games yet and the grandest Ys title so far. I’m thoroughly pleased to say that even my own expectations were shattered, as Ys X: Nordics delivers a captivating story with an equally engaging combat system and array of mechanics. Despite the party being limited to two characters this time, the combat system feels true to the identity of Ys while bringing refreshing new ideas to the time. There’s so much to what makes Ys X: Nordics so great, from its opening hours to the credits roll.
The Young Red-Haired Hero Takes a Detour in Ys X: Nordics
Ys X: Nordics continues the series tradition of Adol sailing the high seas to his next destination, with faithful companion Dogi the Wallcrusher in tow alongside a returning Dr. Flair. Their voyage is en route to Celceta, but a raid from the Balta Seaforce quickly derails their plans, and the ship captain pays the ultimate price. After a brief showdown with the Pirate Princess, Karja Balta, Adol’s group lands in Carnac, a trade hub and town situated at the north end of the Obelia Gulf.
While passing time in the town, Adol hears a strange girl’s voice call to him, leading him to a conch shell on Carnac’s beach. This voice introduces herself as Lila and grants Adol the power of Mana, magic that only Normans are believed to wield. Adol’s newfound power gains the attention of Karja, one of the two Mana wielders of the Obelia Gulf. The story certainly quickly picks up at this point.
This second encounter leads them to become bound by a Mana thread, and they’re now forced to work together as the Griegr, monsters that can only be defeated with Mana, wreak havoc in the region. The Griegr are led by the Trident, a group that’s determined to find a “vessel” in the Obelia Gulf. Adol, Karja, and their new friend from the Youth Brigade, Grenn, escape the town of Carnac on an aging ship known as the Sandras.
Adol’s Mana awakening piques the interest of Grimson Balta, Karja’s father and jarl of the Balta Seaforce. Grimson is also the only other Mana wielder in the Obelia Gulf, so his presence commands attention just as much as the red-haired hero. It becomes clear that Grimson knows more than he’s letting on, adding some foreshadowing to the story at a very early point.
This Story Focuses on A Youthful Crew
Before total chaos ensues in Carnac, Adol meets a group of young men and women known as the Youth Brigade, who become fast friends with him and Karja. This meeting does a great job setting the overall tone for this coming of age story, as all of these characters are around the same age, have something to prove, and lack maturity to an extent.
I think Ys X: Nordics does an excellent job showing camaraderie between Adol, Karja, and the supporting characters, especially during bonding moments. Similarly to Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, Ys X: Nordics places emphasis on these supporting characters and they all have a role to play, even if its mostly in side quests.
Adol and the Sandras crew will adapt and face a lot of adversity throughout the story of Ys X: Nordics, with the help of many allies they recruit along the way. Of course, Adol and Karja’s relationship is a clear highlight, as their personalities complement each other quite well. Still, the main story actually gives each character a role to play at one point or another without feeling tacked on.
For example, Grenn is a naive militia member from Carnac who becomes more dependable and complex as a character when he gets closer to Adol and the others. Since each member has their own goals and motivations for adventuring with Adol, they integrate quite well with the plot, which involves finding a way to liberate their home and the people they care about.
Ys X: Nordics Refines an Already Great Gameplay System
Instead of a three-man party system, Ys X: Nordics solely focuses on Adol and Karja. Players can switch between Adol and Karja in Solo Mode and utilize four skills that are equipped for each character, so it’s still faithful to the Ys combat system that I’ve come to enjoy in recent years. However, a new Duo Mode lets you control both Adol and Karja at once to parry/defend against attacks and unleash powerful Duo Skills, which Falcom calls Cross Action.
Additionally, enemies may use Speed and Power attacks, which are color-coated in blue and red, respectively. Speed attacks can’t be blocked, and Power attacks can’t be evaded. Thanks to the power of Mana, Adol and Karja will instinctively dodge Speed attacks while running, and blocking Power attacks at the right moment lets you unleash a powerful cinematic counterattack. For some enemies, dodging Speed attacks will also give you the window to perform a counterattack.
Blocking attacks and counterattacking will fill up the Revenge Gauge, significantly multiplying Duo Skill damage. At the start of the game, the damage bonus is relatively small, but it can be increased tremendously by progressing the game and finding tomes. Revenge Gauge can trivialize many enemies at lower difficulties, so players familiar with action RPGs may want to raise that up.
Regularly, tough enemies with armor plating around their health bar will appear, and it’s normally a cue that the player should use Duo Mode to whittle away that armor quickly. Once the armor is depleted, the enemy will be stunned briefly, allowing players to follow up with a Solo Skill or a powerful Duo Skill. I found this Cross Action system extremely satisfying and addicting, as it gives Ys X: Nordics extra flair and some cinematic notes.
Planting Seeds for Greater Power
Like in other Ys games, players can equip helpful accessories on Adol and Karja to give them special modifiers and bonuses in combat, such as increased stats and boosted item drops. Ys X: Nordics has a vast assortment of accessories, more so than any other game in the series, and each character has three accessory slots in total. This is just the beginning, as both characters can gain incredible bonuses and effects in Release Lines.
Release Lines hold many of the bonuses and skills that Adol and Karja will gain throughout the course of the game. Each Release Line section contains slots that may be unlocked with Mana Points, which are given by finding Hewnstones, or checkpoints, and leveling up. Gems known as Mana Seeds may be placed in each slot to gain an array of unique bonuses tied to Valor (offense), Mettle (defense), Optimism (special attributes), and Darkness (powerful abilities with stat trade-offs.
Mana Seeds of the same type will synergize to yield more powerful bonuses per Release Line sections, with more sections containing slots and skills for every ten levels gained. These bonuses include the ability to poison or paralyze enemies and increase critical damage against Grieger, to name a few. Some restrictions will keep characters from becoming completely overpowered. For instance, getting the most out of specific bonuses usually involves dedicating a section to one type of Mana Seed.
In short, Mana Seeds are a great new addition to Ys X: Nordics, and I’d love to see the Ys series experiment with a similar sort of feature in future games. It’s a potent way to strengthen each character, besides learning new skills or upgrading gear and accessories.
Exploring the Obelia Gulf
Exploration is the hallmark of Ys X: Nordics, as you’re always incentivized to explore, upgrade the ship, and discover new locations. The Obelia Gulf appears to be the most vast region in the Ys franchise in terms of overall scope, and it doesn’t feel overwhelming, either. In the first chapter, players only have access to the sea outside, so the sense of scale seems small at first.
As you explore the Obelia Gulf, you will encounter enemy Griegr, known as “Puppet Griegr,” which can be turned back into humans. Once restored, the rescued person will become a member of the Sandras and aid in Adol’s adventure. You’ll also gain additional shops, character affinities to level up over time, new side quests, and unique ship upgrades to craft.
After some much-needed renovations, the Sandras is more than capable of taking on rough currents, battling enemy fleets, and reaching destinations that were previously inaccessible. The Obelia Gulf really opens up with tons of islands, secrets, and NPCs to discover. In addition, the crew can liberate land and mark landmarks on the sea chart (map) in Recapture missions, which act similarly to Raids from previous games.
Recapture missions take place around and on islands captured by the Griegr. These missions will test your ship, as you have to take out pillars and waves of enemy ships in order to earn bonuses for the dungeon part. After the ship sequence, players are tasked with clearing out areas of enemies on foot, including the boss at the end. Like in Raids, you will receive a high score and rank with rewards associated with the tier up to S-Rank.
Using Mana to Take Action
Mana is not only useful for the duo’s Release Line progression, but it can aid in traversal as well. The Sandras may use Mana for speed boosts, a defensive barrier, and weapons; most notably, Adol and Karja may use Mana Actions: Mana Swing, Mana Ride, Mana Burst, and Mana Sense. These abilities allow them to swing to out-of-reach locations, hover over water and obstacles, unleash charged fire and ice attacks, and discover hidden items and secrets.
Mana Actions essentially act like key items from previous Ys games, except they aren’t tied to an inventory slot and can be used freely now. I appreciate this quality-of-life change, as it means that all of these abilities can be used seamlessly to keep the combat and exploration going without pauses. Each Mana Action can be improved by finding key items, which are mandatory unlocks in the story.
Out of the four abilities, I feel like Mana Burst could have been more useful in combat. Adol’s Mana Burst unleashes a rune of fire to burn away vines, but its use in combat isn’t really practical since Solo and Duo Skills are much more effective. The same applies to Karja’s Mana Burst, as it’s mostly useful for making ice blocks to jump onto higher ground.
Mana Sense is tied to exploration progression, so completionists will be using this ability very frequently on the journey to 100%. For the most part, looking for treasure is rewarding, but using Mana Sense over and over in certain locations can become tedious. At the very least, the rewards associated with reporting exploration progress to Dogi are worth the effort.
A Well-Optimized Game
I played the PlayStation 5 version for review, and it runs like a dream. Ys X: Nordics plays in native 4K at 60 FPS on PS5, and it’s really well-optimized with extremely fast loading times. Loading screens really only last a single second at most, and I didn’t run into any performance issues in my 65-hour playthrough.
Moreover, the file size is only around 7 GB, which is quite impressive for an action RPG with a large, colorful world. Unsurprisingly, the audio quality is also really great, with an amazing soundtrack from Falcom Sound Team jdk. Even the fishing song on the Sandras ship is an incredible tune.
The only real issue I ran into was that some in-game cutscenes would display subtitles in Japanese despite English voice-overs and subtitles being enabled. Fortunately, this issue can be fixed relatively quickly in a patch from NIS America. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the PS5 version, and I’d imagine the PC version holding up quite well too.
Ys X: Nordics is the End of the Beginning of Adol Christin’s Journey
Ys X: Nordics is the game that truly graduates Adol from a young swordsman to a seasoned hero who makes a name for himself as a true adventurer. Falcom did an excellent job giving Adol plenty of characters to mature and work with. Although Adol doesn’t have many voiced lines in dialogue, his personality continues to shine through, and he’s part of an excellent and endearing duo with Karja.
From start to finish, Ys X: Nordics invokes a sense of adventure and mystery that kept me heavily invested. I searched basically every nook and cranny of the Obelia Gulf in 65 hours and didn’t feel exhausted or fatigued. Since New Game+ and Time Attack are unlocked after beating the game, I might just revisit it in the future while awaiting the next entry. With its excellent combat system on foot and in a ship, Ys X: Nordics sets the standard for modern-day action RPGs and lays the groundwork for even better Ys games in the future.
Ys X: Nordics releases on October 25 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store in the west. To experience more of what Falcom brings to the table, check out Final Weapon’s reviews of the Trails and Ys series below:
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak Review
- The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Review
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie Review
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Review
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Review
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure Review
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero Review
- Ys IX: Monstrum Nox Review
Disclaimer: NIS America provided Final Weapon with a PS5 copy of Ys X: Nordics for review purposes.
