when does the game get good

[Powercrank]

hello. i'm about an hour into this game and outside of the outstanding music and cute girl, i'm finding the game to be fairly "meh" and boring. i'm playing on nightmare mode and i nearly get one-shotted but the game has still been easy. i' assume its because it's basically a tutorial still (i've been asked to start mapping the island).

my question is, when/how does the game pick up the pace?

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Not sure what you expected from the first hour of an RPG. Most take time to establish everything before sending you on your way.

[essen]

There's two parts of the game, before and after you reach the peak of the mountain. Before is mostly exploration, survival and story around the survivors. After is the epic story. But don't worry, even before the story really starts going you'll have to deal with many fun bosses and activities. It takes a few hours to get most of the gameplay started. You can easily get 100 hours out of this game so sit back and enjoy the ride.

[Legato Bluesummers]

The first part, mentioned by essen, can be a bit slow if you don't like exploring so much but the pacing in this game is very good as it continually adds more and more elements of the game as you go along. Even when you hit 3/4 of the game it's still adding some things here and there. Give it a few more hours. also, idk why you would go with nightmare mode unless you've played other Ys games. While this one is by far the easiest one, it doesn't mean it's easy.

[Xengre]

If you are used action games and dodging in some of them and you are fairly decent at the flash guard/flash evade the game simply wont get harder tbh. One optional dungeon boss might pose a bit of a challenge on nightmare, Mephorash. Aside from that they are too simply designed for the open space you get and the flash mechanics.

In terms of character/story it doesn't begin to pick up character stuff until late chapter two or into chapter 3. The game has 6 chapters and chapter 4-6 contain about 85% of the game's story (no, that is actually not an exaggeration). As chapter two is by far the longest due to the ability to explore a ton of areas early and optional stuff it makes the pacing even more uneven. What you can do to better balance this is simply skip a lot of the extra exploring in chapter 2 and 3 and focus on main objectives. Just check the board every now and then for "short" quests and complete those asap, and if you want to be safe you can get mid (or med or w/e its called) as well. Then come back and do the optional stuff much later in the game in one fell swoop and when you are stronger so it is faster.

I enjoyed exploring around early but it sounds like you will likely want to rush to around chapter 4 tbh.

The person that said you can get 100 hours out of this game should include context that this is over 2-4 playthroughs. If you get 100 hours or even anywhere near that in the first playthrough, even if you are bad at it, something is honestly probably very incredibly wrong with the situation. The game simply isn't long enough no matter how much you complete in a single run to ever get near that.

Also, I advise to enjoy the parts of the game you do because it certainly isn't perfect and there is no reason to water down the experience tackling stuff you aren't enjoying. If you want the story focus on that and come finish the extra stuff when you can breeze through it later on. As for hunts, honestly I'd recommend outright skipping them until the end of the game. Most of them can be completed S rank reasonably if you really know what you are doing and very well geared/stat progressed and use the right tactics as you encounter, except one which is notorious for being basically BS even when way over leveled for it. However, none of the hunts are really rewarding tbh... they grant minor access to materials a bit earlier that really don't mean squat (the only upgrade that actually has any true value is mainly the HP on the lures...) and progressing is by far the best way to get materials and if you do the hunts later then... you got the materials. They aren't going to unlock any nice equipment early. Basically, hunts are mainly for filler/achievement challenges for the most part. So skip that if it proves too tedious for you.

You also get the second main character when you get to that point in the story and it starts to pick up which may boost your appeal towards the game. Dana is very popular among the player base.

[Powercrank]

thanks for the info my mans

[essen]

Originally posted by Xengre:

The person that said you can get 100 hours out of this game should include context that this is over 2-4 playthroughs. If you get 100 hours or even anywhere near that in the first playthrough, even if you are bad at it, something is honestly probably very incredibly wrong with the situation. The game simply isn't long enough no matter how much you complete in a single run to ever get near that.

I got 100 hours out of my first run on Nightmare. It can be done faster for sure and there's probably a few idle hours in total but otherwise it can easily extend that far, at least if you're trying to do everything optional as soon as it's available (minus a few S ranks for some raids/hunts). Optional stuff include trying to take down enemies much higher level than you to get their item for a quest or a trade. A lot of fun, but of course it takes longer than waiting to be at a higher level.

[Legato Bluesummers]

i put like 120 hours into the game before I bought the steam version; so going in with the knowledge of the entire game it still took me 141 hours to 100% it. I feel like I blew through it too.

[Melon Sc//ence]

364 hrs, 1st playthrough was Hard, 1.5th playthrough in NG+ Nightmare Infinity but dropped back to Hard Infinity because scared of lv scaling + bonus dungeon that haven't accessed in the first time, during this one also spent much time to up Dana lv in her dungeon to be able to fight in Nightmare Infinity, and a heft ton to increase Adol strength to 4000+ lol. And 2nd playthrough was Inferno from scratch. Still need all playthrough tho in order to get 100%.

And extra 24hrs for VIII in PS Vita, at around chapter 5, yet missed one quest at ch2 - serving Sir Carlan food lol, the price of going too fast...

Guess I'm a maniac or Dana simp, but seriously, once I put my hand on the game, I can just flow naturally, not getting bored at all.

[ヨロシクね]

Originally posted by Sara:

See you again in about 100 hours. This game will change your bloody religion.

true ending spoilers: Local fisherman goes on a vacation, meets GOD.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by essen:

Originally posted by Xengre:

The person that said you can get 100 hours out of this game should include context that this is over 2-4 playthroughs. If you get 100 hours or even anywhere near that in the first playthrough, even if you are bad at it, something is honestly probably very incredibly wrong with the situation. The game simply isn't long enough no matter how much you complete in a single run to ever get near that.

I got 100 hours out of my first run on Nightmare. It can be done faster for sure and there's probably a few idle hours in total but otherwise it can easily extend that far, at least if you're trying to do everything optional as soon as it's available (minus a few S ranks for some raids/hunts). Optional stuff include trying to take down enemies much higher level than you to get their item for a quest or a trade. A lot of fun, but of course it takes longer than waiting to be at a higher level.

100 hours is really very slow though, unrealistically so if that is actual playtime. It cannot normally extend to that far unless a great deal of it is afk time, like in my case, as there simply isn't enough game to warrant it. To set fair expectations to someone I'd paint it at around 35-70 hours for first run at any difficulty from minimal to completionist.

Originally posted by Sara:

Xengre has 116 hours in the game too as of writing his review. Right about what I had after my first playthrough where I almost totally 100%'d the game. I enjoyed every second and also enjoyed blocking Xengre's account for insulting how anybody else plays. :crashthumbsup:

116 hours, yes, however I'm on subsequent playthroughs AND most of that time is AFK time as with all my games unless it is unusually short due to a single sitting completion. My actual time is under 45 hours for my first run completing everything, however that was on normal for my first run (and playing through nightmare would not have extended that by much only making some item farming a little more tedious due to rarity of drops vs speed of killing if done as early as possible).

I never insulted anyone. Even if some of you get over 100 hours in first run that is completely unrealistic to the average gamer and this can be verified at howlongtobeat's website, stat sites like steamspy, reviews, and a basic Google which all state around 70 hours for the first run on a mostly full completion. I didn't say, hey your slow and awful for taking that long, because I'd honestly consider 70 hours really long as I got what I did in under 45 hours while doing everything the moment it was possible including exploring areas way beyond my progress point or S ranking every hunt the moment it was available. So no, I'm not saying it from an elitist perspective but from a realist. 100 hours is definitely not a normal run length and you guys are likely not considering substantial idle time in your runs. You are talking about an average 30-45 hour hike over the average high end completionist time. That is enough time to basically completion it nearly 2x over with nearly full completionist or farm obscene amounts of materials. Even farming tons of str potions, for instance, shouldn't account for more than an extra 1-5 hours.

You block me because you literally are hyper biased towards this game to the point you refer to it as your "religion" and "literally the best game ever created". No offense, but your opinions aren't exactly reasonable on the subject or fair. Its fine to be a huge fan, but it helps to be able to be objective.

Originally posted by ヨロシクね:

Originally posted by Sara:

See you again in about 100 hours. This game will change your bloody religion.

true ending spoilers: Local fisherman goes on a vacation, meets GOD.

LOL

[EdgarAllenSwole]

You can easily hit 100 hours without idling. Especially if you grind out map completion, bonus dungeons, S-Rank raids, skill mastery, etc. Or enjoy the combat enough for self-imposed challenges like no-hit attempts on bosses. Either way it's presumptuous to say something can't happen just because it didn't happen to you.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by EdgarAllenSwole:

You can easily hit 100 hours without idling. Especially if you grind out map completion, bonus dungeons, S-Rank raids, skill mastery, etc. Or enjoy the combat enough for self-imposed challenges like no-hit attempts on bosses. Either way it's presumptuous to say something can't happen just because it didn't happen to you.

False. Literally, factually false. You need to add context. First, can someone hit that high? In theory any value can be hit that is excessive playtime wise, however, statistically the average person is going to finish their first mostly complete run in around 70 hours or less. For less complete runs or faster players it can be as low as 20 hours reasonably.

Hundreds of scores here that give you a good idea of what to expect. In addition, if you look at reviews they line up with these time frames as do general Google search consensus.
https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=39002

Myself, took 45 hours on first run doing very close to a no damage run because of how forgiving flash guard is and how much it speeds up combat with guaranteed criticals, and also out of necessity because I was frequently exploring areas the moment they became available well ahead of progress. Despite S ranking EVERY hunt the moment it became available, fully exploring 100% of all maps and finding enough resources to get everything the MOMENT it was possible to buy/get, and all the other extra content in a virtually 100% run (the only thing I didn't really do was max out every single skill for some extra chars that would have taken about 5-10 mins to do anyways on a wasp hive) I did it in sub-45 hours without a guide. If I weren't being a completionist, weren't doing stuff asap as (everything but short objectives can be put off to be completed 10x faster way later) I could have probably bested 30 hours easily. Now, I'm not going to absurdly assume other people are as fast or good at games as me, but saying someone who can do what was just described above in 100+ hours (literally 2-3x+) for the same results and it is statistically backed up by other people's accounts and reputable sources indicates 100+ hours is well outside the "norm". I never said it wont happen, but it is certainly not reasonable to describe to someone who asks the question of how long the game takes that it takes over 100 hours per normal. It isn't normal. You guys can take that offensively or whatever per your own egos. Frankly, I don't care and I'm not going to hold your hand because you die 50x on a single boss or are counting afk hours because you guys are taking farrrrrr longer than the game's content warrants. This isn't Xenoblade Chronicles or some other game where there are actually reasons to have inflated times between average and leisure playstyles, or even bad playstyles to the extent you guys are presenting. It isn't just "me" it doesn't happen to. It statistically does not happen to almost anyone playing this game per statistics.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Not reading a wall of text on why your playthrough is canon. No one cares. The fact remains that it's fully possible to savor one playthrough for 100 hours. End of story.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by EdgarAllenSwole:

Not reading a wall of text on why your playthrough is canon. No one cares. The fact remains that it's fully possible to savor one playthrough for 100 hours. End of story.

Yes, if you are seriously bad at the game or idle. Your 100+ hour playtime is statistically "significantly higher" than others across all platforms. In fact, your playtime is roughly quadruple that average time put into the game on PC and triple to double the average completionist time across all platforms.

Its fine to be bad at the game so long as you enjoy it but don't go misrepresenting to others asking a legitimate question about the game as if they are as bad as you and will thus have the same experience. I'm not saying that to be mean but you are misleading others.

[Legato Bluesummers]

The original topic is about when the game gets good, it has nothing to do with how long the game is. Ys is not really an rpg anyway. Most of the other games are very short with this one being an outlier as it grafted on some Trails aspects. I don't see why it matters if someone can complete the game in 75 hours or 100 hours. People that keep score online probably aren't casuals.