Today Nihon Falcom released a new gallery of screenshots, art, and details about its upcoming JRPG Ys X: Nordics, the next installment of the popular Ys series.
We take a look at the new artwork for both hero Adol Christin, and the game’s new heroine Karja Balta. She’s the only daughter of Grimmson, the leader of the Balta Fleet and she’s feared as the “Pirate Princess” by the people of Karnak who see her as the captain of a band of outlaws committing acts of piracy. While she’s beautiful, she’s also a fierce and brutal fighter with her axe and round shield, as typical of a Norse.
We also get to take a look at the battle modes. In “Solo Mode” you control either Adol or Karja, while the other character is controlled by the AI. You can switch at any time with a single button. The focus of this mode is fast battles that make use of dashes and sidesteps. You can unleash different skills and attacks, and switching characters during an attack will trigger an intervention attack from the partner, allowing you to perform lethal combos.
In addition, certain special attacks that have enemies shining with a blue aura (Speed attacks) can be avoided automatically by dashing in Solo Mode.
“Combi Mode” lets you control both Adol and Karja and you can also switch from Solo Mode to Combi Mode with a single button press. In this mode, you can deal a lot more damage thanks to delivering more attacks simultaneously, but movement speed and dash speed are greatly decreased. Instead of avoiding attacks, you can guard. By guarding, your “revenge gauge” will grow and you can spend it to use high-damage skills.
On top of that, enemy attacks glowing with a red aura (power attacks) can be blocked with a timed guard in Combi Mode. When that happens, the enemy will stagger creating the opportunity for a counterattack.
You can check out the screenshots below.
Ys X: Nordics is releasing in Japan in 2023 for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. If you’re interested in the series, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox will soon release on PS5.
