LogFAQs > #967538282

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (PS4)
Okay, got the Platinum finally.
Adol gets LOST
This one starts with the rather unusual premise of Adol getting shipwrecked on a desert island with the crew and passengers of the ship he was on. Turns out there's more going on on that island than meets the eye, to put it mildly. Mysteries build as he gains new comrades and explores, and it escalates to the kind of thing he usually deals with. The best thing about this one is the structure. Rather than a typical JRPG where the action follows the path set by the story, Ys VIII is filled with exploring the unknown, finding useful items and locating new characters to add to your band of survivors. This can mean shops opening, new sidequests, and the ability to clear obstructions blocking off areas. With all the exploration, it's fortunate that your characters are fast. They can run and jump through the 3D environments as well as using key items for things like climbing and lighting dark areas. In combat, you can do a timed dodge to activate bullet time, or parry for a similar effect. You can quick-switch between your characters, and a meter built by using normal attacks fuels your special moves, which you can spam about as fast as you can hit the buttons. There are also some interesting minigames, like Raid, where you have to defend your village from enemies, and you can spend materials to improve your fortifications beforehand. The more you've progressed each NPC's "S-Link", the more it powers up their automatic abilities to assist you during Raids. This is a really nice example of an ARPG.