Falcom's president shares fresh details on Ys X: Nordics

What's lined up for this legendary series' next installment?

21 December 2022
by rawmeatcowboy 3
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Just a couple of weeks back, Falcom announced that Ys X: Nordics, the next mainline entry in the Ys franchise, was heading to Switch. At that time, we didn’t really have much to go on in terms of game details, but that’s all changed with the latest issue of Famitsu.

Famitsu magazine had a chance to chat with Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo, and he had quite a round of information to share for Ys X: Nordics. You can see the bullet point breakdown of the news below, as translated by Gematsu.

Get the key tidbits below.

  • “‘Nordics’ is a term that means ‘people of the north.’”
  • “The time period goes way back—after the events of Ys I and II. Adol is 17 years old and on his way to Celceta (which is brought up in the manual preface of Ys I!).”
  • “Dr. Flair Rall is traveling with you.”
  • “It’s a story of boys and girls. Since this is the first time we’re releasing on Switch, the main characters are younger, and part of that was considering the userbase.”
  • “There are only two playable characters (Adol and the axe girl). That being said, the action is dense and there are all sorts of things you can do.”
  • “There are town(s), but your base will always be your ship.”
  • “Solo Mode offers the usual high-speed battles [of the Ys series]. Combination Mode lets you pull off more powerful attacks, but the overall speed of battle is slower so you can fight more carefully. (The speed only changes on Adol’s side.) You can only switch to Combination Mode when holding down a certain button, and it switches back to Solo Mode when said button is released.”
  • “Defense carries major weight. Guarding builds up your Revenge Gauge, which can increase your attack power.”
  • “We’ve taken considerable care to adjust the difficulty level so that a wide range of users can enjoy the game.”
  • “There are special actions called ‘Mana Actions.’ There’s more freedom when performing mid-air actions.”
  • “About 20 percent of the game is sailing your ship. There are maps dedicated to ship and naval battles occur when you encounter enemies. There is also a growth (i.e. character development) element to the ship.”
  • “We’ll release new footage(s) either in the early New Year or in the spring.”
  • “Hopefully the release date will be around the same time as usual. (Laughs.)”
  • “We’re quite aware of the challenge we’re undertaking in the new field that is Switch. Production is currently underway with the intention of making a game that both series newcomers and fans alike can enjoy.”

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Comments (3)

ngamer01

1+ y ago

Ah, I forgot X is set after Ys I and II. I remember reading it back when X was officially announced. I need to get back to the Ys series. I still need to finish my second of three runs of Origin.


the_crimson_lure

1+ y ago

"Since this is the first time we’re releasing on Switch, the main characters are younger, and part of that was considering the userbase.”

Ah yes, the Switch userbase, where the largest demographic is 20 to 30 year-olds. So much younger than other platforms.


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