Ys - Celceta, Sea of Trees (Ys IV) announced for Vita

[AweOfShe]

And O for attack + Square for magic does sound pretty terrible if you're going to use magic very often. Especially if it has chargeable magic like the Ys games, that would require some kind of reverse-claw grip to charge magic while attacking.

This, so much. I got accustomed to making my magic a shoulder button for this reason. I'm not particularly bad with reverse-claw, but it's something that I'd like to avoid as much as possible.

If it has no charging magic though, I can probably cope. Still wouldn't like it though. :P

[Sapphire_Eyes]

No, there's no chargeable magic in Nayuta. BUT, there is a certain puzzle that requires you to use magic on two oppositing pieces of triggers at close intervals. Yes I'm looking at you Winter Oltapia #2.

A certain track that sounds similar as a certain song in Kiseki series? You mean Spring Heinmel one? LOL I like it more than the original, just because dem piano replacing the out-of-place recurring riffs of the game.

Please discuss Nayuta's matter in LoH board. This is an Ys board, for Twin Goddesses' sake!

Okay back to topic. Who do you all think the person besides Bammy in the calendar? Twenty bucks on Griselda's true identity or the main villain whose name escapes me (it's female, right?).
Seeing what happened recently when Falcom didn't list Selam's seiyuu in Nayuta's official website and turns out him and Signa are one and the same person, I bet Griselda hides something from us.

[Wyrdwad]

Some people see that as a positive aspect. That's how RPGs are meant to be anyway. Most of them start out slowly and awkwardly only to become something precious by the time the credits roll

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind lengthy cutscenes in traditional RPGs, nor do I mind lengthy cutscenes at the end of dungeons in action RPGs, or even in the middle of dungeons to introduce or cut away from mid-bosses.

But Nayuta is literally divided into stages, like Gurumin. It's a platformer RPG. And you often get lengthy cutscenes DURING THE STAGES (especially toward the beginning of the game). Like, you'll start a stage, and a lengthy cutscene will unfold. Or you'll encounter a character in the middle of a stage, and a lengthy cutscene will unfold. It's... kind of distracting! These are the kinds of games you play for their awesome, fast-paced gameplay. Gurumin and Zwei II both seemed to understand this -- once you began a stage, you were left to delicious platforming awesomeness clear through until it ended, and THEN the story scenes happened. But Nayuta... seemed to need some time before it realized that that's what it needed to do.

That's how it is with ALL Japanese games made for Sony's consoles. O is the primary button for interaction just as the A button is the primary button for all Nintendo games.

O is always confirm/interact and X is always cancel, sure... but the attack button is usually NOT the same as the confirm/interact button. Classically, the attack button in action games has always been square -- or Y, in Nintendo's case. It just seems weird to change that.

Though to be fair, I suppose Falcom has never gone with the standard there -- but they've also never released a modern action RPG that didn't let you change your button configuration. Until now, anyway!

And O for attack + Square for magic does sound pretty terrible if you're going to use magic very often. Especially if it has chargeable magic like the Ys games, that would require some kind of reverse-claw grip to charge magic while attacking.

As mentioned, there's no chargeable magic in this game, and you're really not ever mixing magic and melee attacks -- it's always one or the other. So in practice, it's really not THAT bad, and I got used to it very, very quickly.

I still occasionally fire off a spell by accident when I'm trying to swing my sword, though. Or vice versa.

Please discuss Nayuta's matter in LoH board. This is an Ys board, for Twin Goddesses' sake!

Don't think it really belongs on the LoH board either, in all honesty. It's not technically a Trails in the Sky game, after all But we probably should stop discussing it here -- sorry for the off-topicness, all!

-Tom

[Sapphire_Eyes]

Certain magic makes melee-ing easier, especially if you use greatswords, y'know. There's a late-game spell that doesn't dealt damages, but slowing down the time instead.

And the "story cutscenes in the middle of the stage" thing stops after Chapter 4, after you freed the last continental manager. Onwards the story cutscenes happen in the beginning or the end of a new stage, and when you do sidequests.

Okay seriously I need to stop.

@Tom: well, there's an existing Nayuta thread in Trails board. Why don't we continue discussing this matter there?

[Wyrdwad]

Bah to greatswords, I say! I stopped buying them altogether -- too slow! I'll take the slight hit on damage output in exchange for RAW SPEED any day.

-Tom

[Adrian-kun]

Well, I do have to know one thing: Tom, will you be pushing for this game to be picked up by Xseed? I think your decision weighs heavily in matters such as these.

[Peytral]

A certain track that sounds similar as a certain song in Kiseki series? You mean Spring Heinmel one? LOL I like it more than the original, just because dem piano replacing the out-of-place recurring riffs of the game.

No, I'm talking about the song that's pretty much a carbon copy of Masquerade of Lies.

[Sapphire_Eyes]

No, I'm talking about the song that's pretty much a carbon copy of Masquerade of Lies.

It IS the Spring Heinmel's theme. My favorite Heinmel track to boot, with the Autumn version in the second place.

[Shizuka]

I have, and I've put about 10 hours into it so far.

My first impressions... actually weren't very good. The writing has a lot of really blatant unnecessary exposition and a few pretty glaring plot holes, and Nayuta is just about the blandest main character ever. In addition, you're constantly being interrupted by lengthy cutscenes that really break the flow of gameplay, there are loads of unnecessary tutorials, there's a weird visual filter that covers the screen with some kind of mesh (presumably to make it look less pixilated, but it's very distracting until you get used to it)... and as mentioned, there's no way to reassign buttons, so you're stuck with O = attack, square = magic, like it or not.

I kept at it, though, because when I *was* able to play an actual stage (which felt like it took FOREVER to get to!), it was super-fun. And as time went on, the quality of the writing improved significantly, the story got more interesting, the ratio of gameplay to cutscene balanced out a lot better and the gameplay itself just got steadily more awesome.

At present, I've passed the "This is disappointing" stage, and entered the "Now that's more like it!" stage. The game feels like a proper successor to Gurumin and Zwei II, with a lot of Ys Seven influences as well. I still have a few complaints with it, and I feel Zwei II did a better job overall with this same formula... and I still don't care for Nayuta as a protagonist... but the platforming in this game is extraordinarily satisfying, the controls are fluid as can be (once you get used to using O for attack and square for magic, anyway), the level designs are absolutely perfect and the game's set pieces and soundtrack are top-notch all the way around (I've already decided that this is the best soundtrack in the whole Kiseki series!).

All in all, it has its flaws (especially during the first few hours), and the story is surprisingly tame and cliched for a game that was touted as being a "story ARPG"... but in the end, I'm really enjoying it. I think anyone who played and enjoyed Gurumin, Zwei II and/or Ys Seven would absolutely enjoy Nayuta no Kiseki, without question. Just get through the slump in the beginning, and you'll be addicted in no time.

(As an aside, though, I can't see how this game relates to any other Kiseki title *at all* so far. It really does feel more like Zwei III or Gurumin II than a Kiseki game. The only references to the main series that I've encountered so far are mira as a form of currency, and selge as a unit of measurement. Literally, that's it!)

-Tom

Wow, those are great first impressions! Nice to see that it's a game that people who enjoyed Gurumin might like!

[Peytral]

It IS the Spring Heinmel's theme. My favorite Heinmel track to boot, with the Autumn version in the second place.

oh, well then. Thought we were on different pages or something.[/hasn'tplayedthegame]