Japan Time: Ys 7 and Ys Chronicles Announced For PSP
A few weeks ago, Japanese developer Falcom held a press party for their long-running Ys franchise, a top-down RPG series largely based on the PC. At this party, they announced Ys 7, the latest game in the franchise, without a platform.
Falcom announced this morning that Ys 7, as well as Ys I & II Chronicles, an enhanced remake of the first two games in the franchise, will both be heading to the PSP, with Chronicles hitting this summer and 7 launching in September. For those who aren’t familiar with Ys, the series is largely known for its difficult but entertaining gameplay and epic soundtracks, originally composed by Streets of Rage maestro Yuzo Koshiro. The gameplay has evolved considerably since the first installment, but still manages to keep the same feel throughout it all. This is also the first time that a mainline Ys game has been released on a handheld console by Falcom themselves; the developer usually hands off porting duties to another publisher or developer when bringing their games to non-PC systems.
As it stands, there’s not even an inkling of an upcoming US release, but given Sony’s renewed vigor in promoting the PSP platform, letting an extremely unique JRPG go to waste might not be in their best interest.
Woo-hoo! Can’t wait for this! Huge fan of the Ys series since I first bought it for the TG16. I just hope it’s a wee bit longer than 6 with a bit more story. Still, 6 looked great and played nicely.