My first few minutes with Ys Seven made me fear I’d fallen for an Albany ham scam, with the initial impression offering up some very typical RPG traits that encouraged turning off my PSP. There’s a tense peace after a long war, a King surrounded by vain and villainous characters (who hires these people?) and even a poor flower girl trying to get by just as we happen to stroll onto the scene – we being the ever eager Dogi and the ever silent Adol.
Sticking with it for a few more minutes led to a combat tutorial that seemed promising, teasing a free movement action RPG, and allowing the player to switch between actively controlled characters – a necessity because of attack types, which make certain characters more effective against certain enemies.
Holding down the attack button charges a gauge that allows for more powerful skill attacks to be used, and then it’s time to set off to investigate a newly discovered shrine as a favor for the King.
Between the kingdom steps and that shrine are plenty of the first come enemies, and suddenly this game is letting me charge around the screen, striking and killing, beating on carcasses after the fact to earn more items. It’s loose but focused, and most importantly, quick to get on with the business of being a game as I slash and level up at the same time I’m moving toward the destination in mind.
Then the game drops a large two-headed turtle on my head and instant death follows.
