Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

Lets get the negatives out of the way first. The protagonist is mostly silent. Laxia and most of the other characters, including your party members, are generic. Except Dana, who is an amazing character! Sometimes, it can be easy to get confused on where to even go in the world, and the map isn't always helpful in making that clear due to how dense the world can be. That out of the way? This made me feel like I was playing some of my most beloved action rpgs on the PS2 and gamecube, in a good way! But with some much needed updates! The combat system has an element to it where certain types of party members are stronger to certain types of enemies. The gameplay is fun, the music is a mix of beautiful pieces and awesome heavy metal songs, and the world (when you don't get confused) is beautiful and fun to explore! Exploring the overworld feels fun unto itself, and the real-time action combat mixed with being an old-school RPG means that you never have to choose between being an action game with RPG elements, or old-school RPG. Most old-school rpgs are turn based, and I don't like turn based combat. Not to worry about that here- it's like an old-school action rpg, as in the combat is fully real-time! Think like the star ocean series or the tales of series, and you're on the right track! I could gush about this game for a long time, but I think you've got the idea! As for the setting and spoiler-free story details, you're playing as the usual series protagonist Adol. Like usual, you don't have to have played the prior games at all to know what is going on, as it is essentially self contained. Also as is often the case, his ship crashes and he washes ashore on a beach. This time, he's stranded on an island with the other party members and must explore the island to find a way to build a boat and leave the island! Despite the mostly generic characters, the story itself is actually really intricate, detailed and full of mystery! I have enjoyed the story so far! I won't say anything else, just experience this game for yourself! It's quite the fun experience!