Ys Seven Comes to PSP in August

Greetings from well beyond the “dangerous sea area” west of Canaan!

My name is Tom Lipschultz, and I’m XSEED’s resident Falcom nut (also, one of their localization specialists!). I’ve been bugging Ken at XSEED via email for years now to localize games from Falcom’s extensive catalogue of awesomeness, and was always really pleased with the detailed responses he’d send back. Our emails bloomed into entire conversation threads, and eventually, once XSEED and Falcom established their partnership, Ken offered me a job – which I gladly accepted!

Now, all your Falcom scripts are belong to me. Mwa ha ha!

Ys SEVEN will be the first game released as part of the XSEED/Falcom partnership (a.k.a. the GREATEST TEAM-UP EVER), and is currently scheduled to ship on August 17th, 2010. In North America, three versions of the game will be available: the UMD version ($29.99), the PSN download version (also $29.99), and of course, the faaaaabulous limited edition box-set version ($49.99), which will include the game on UMD, a ludicrously gorgeous cloth map of Europe (not our Europe, but Ys series Europe, which is pronounced “eh-ROH-pay”), a one-disc “Ys SEVEN Musical Selections” CD, and a 60+ page art book containing various works from Ys SEVEN, Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys I & II (as well as a brief cameo by some Ys VI characters).

Ys SEVEN will also be available in Europe, but only as a PSN download – and I’m afraid the price is yet to be determined. Sorry, European fans! (Europan fans?)

Now, the all-important question: Why should you buy the game?

Well, how about because it’s AWESOME?!?! Seriously, if you’ve never played a Falcom game before, you’re about to be blown away by this one. Falcom games – and Ys games, especially – are generally characterized by three things:
• Insanely fast-paced, action-packed gameplay (Turn-based? HA! Ys eats turn-based RPGs for breakfast, then regurgitates them and launches them at beings of ancient evil JUST BECAUSE IT CAN!)
• 80s power rock- and metal-inspired soundtracks, often performed in the studio by Falcom’s in-house band (I dare ANYONE to hear the riff at the beginning of Ys SEVEN’s main boss theme “Vacant Interference” and NOT get totally pumped for the battle ahead!)
• “Less is more” storylines, with a greater focus on fun gameplay and interesting, well-developed settings than on plot twists and epic ironies (Going along with the music, think of Ys as the rock opera to every other RPG series’ novella!)

With 9 playable characters (in parties of three at a time), 98 unique skills (84 of which have three visually and functionally unique variations apiece – and remember, this is an action RPG, so these skills aren’t just for show!), a robust crafting system (that’ll keep you scouring the landscape and searching every nook and cranny of every dungeon!), and a story that’ll easily last you anywhere from 30 to 90 hours (my final playtime was 72 hours, but I’ve been playing a lot since then to level-up my skills and craft the best armor for everyone, putting me well over the 80-hour mark, with tons more yet to do!), Ys SEVEN is easily the best portable game on the market… or will be, once it’s on the market next month!

Get yourself ready to finally play an Ys game straight from Falcom’s own studio (rather than a third-party interpretation of an Ys game, which is all we’ve ever gotten in English until now!), and put in your orders for the LE box a.s.a.p., since they may sell out once everyone in the world realizes this game is awesomeness incarnate and rushes out to buy it.

Seriously.

-Tom