As someone who was born in the 80’s and while living in a third world country, I was able to enjoy many things that in other countries were not popular anymore. We played SNES games, while N64 and PS1 were all the rage, or Sega Genesis, while everyone just had SNES on their minds. It was during this time that my love for JRPGs bloomed, and it started with a SNES game called Chrono Trigger. It’s no wonder that this game is my all time favorite, and even now, I still continue to play it just to never forget this amazing game. Ever since playing that masterpiece, I started to play more games of the genre. I got the chance to play Lufia, Secret of Mana, and FF6, so whenever a JRPG-style game gets announced, I wait with bated breath, thinking about the possibilities and what adventures the developer has in store.
With YIIK: A Post Modern RPG, I get a JRPG-style game with a lot of charm and a really good and sometimes dark story. Also, I remember the Y2K event, since it is mentioned in the game among other things. As a personal experience, I remember hearing about Y2K when I was in highschool, and I remember that everyone was really worried about it (not so much in my country being a third world country and all). I laughed a lot about an episode in The Simpsons about it. In any case, YIIK is a game that with every hour that I play keeps me intrigued about the story, the cast of characters, and the AMAZING combat system.
YIIK puts us in the role of Alex, a college graduate who returns to his home in Franktown. With no real goal in life, he is just lazily passing the days home. His mother is a successful employee for local communications company. Tired of his son doing nothing, she leaves her son with a simple task: to go grocery shopping. On the way to the grocery store, he comes across a peculiar cat. Alex says that the cat looks a lot like Salvador Dali (a prominent Spanish surrealist). As Alex gets close to pet it, the cat snatches his grocery list and runs away through a creepy forest all the way up to an abandoned factory. As Alex makes his way through the factory catching up with the cat, he meets the cat’s owner, a girl name Sammy. This encounter sets the wheels of fate in motion for an history that makes Alex challenge his beliefs and ultimately show how he has changed.
This is just part of the game’s story, but I feel that you need to experience it for yourself and make your conclusions. I’ll try to keep the review as spoiler-free as possible because since Chrono Trigger, I haven’t been so captivated for a JRPG until YIIK came. I feel that the story is one of the strong points of the game, since it deals with real issues like depression, coping with the loss of a loved one, or even suicide. It deals with the uncertainty of the future, what college career to choose from, our place in the universe, and more. I like how the game tackles these different subjects, even if in the beginning you can’t help but think that Alex is just an spoiled brat.
One of the things that I love the most about YIIK is the battle system. One of my favorite games on the Gamecube is Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door. What I liked most about it is the battle system that require inputs to deal more damage or to receive less damage when being attacked. The battle system in YIIK feels like an evolution of said battle system. Honestly, each battle feels so satisfying, and I like that each character has different inputs and systems within the system to make them so different from one another, including the peculiar weapons each one uses. Alex, for example, uses a Turntable and a LP to attack. His way to attack is to hit the yellow colored parts of the record, hitting the red part allows for another spin (when you purchase better records you can spin more times; my highest combo is 35 hits but in conjunction with other help that I’ll explain further), allowing for multi-hit combos. Vella uses a keytar, to attack. You just hold down the left stick until the green colored prompt appears. When you let go and she attacks. Michael uses a camera to attack. Hitting the correct buttons when they appear on the film increases the amount of hits you can do (as in Alex and other characters better “weapons” have more inputs thus more damage). If you screw up with the timing, (I did it a lot), your character does a 0 hit combo, and your enemies see that coming from a mile away. They just dodge it.
For defensive options, when you finish your turn the enemy attacks. Depending on the attack, you can defend or dodge. As you might guess, it’s through active inputs as well. When you are about to take the attack, a gauge appears with a yellow colored portion and a small red one. If you press the bottom in the yellow part, you defend and reduce damage, but if you press on the red part, you dodge the attack. Some enemies attack your group as a whole. During those times, you don’t have the option to defend, and the gauge changes to three red parts that you must press in order to dodge the attack. If you miss the inputs (since the gauge speeds up when you press the colored areas correctly), you take damage, although often times it’s reduced.
Each character has different skills that use PP points. When you use one, you play a cool mini game, and if you are successful, you deal good damage to enemies. Alex’s has you throwing discs to enemies in a Galaga fashion. The more hits means more damage, so there is a lot creativity shown in each character skill move (won’t spoil them, but Vella is one of my favorites).
Another thing that I will praise is the level up system. Unlike other JRPGs where you grind your way to success and plow through enemies, YIIK does things differently. For example, there are no random encounters in dungeons, and the encounters that you find in the overworld are limited by chapter. That is to say that if in Chapter 1, you had your allotted random encounters in the overworld. In the same chapter, it wont happen again, as well as with enemies. If you defeated all enemies in a dungeon and decided to backtrack to get supplies or better weapons or armor (clothes), enemies do not respawn since they are set for the level of your characters. I think this is a great idea since it keeps the challenge fresh but doesn’t overwhelm you with a battle every two steps, especially if you are looking for a place to heal or revive downed party members. For those hungry for battle, there are monster dens scattered through the overworld in which you can defeat enemies to train and gain experience (Pro Tip: defeat as many enemies as you can in the first chapter; the experience is worth it).
Now you won’t level up until chapter two. In this chapter, you meet someone who teaches you another great feature the game has: The Mind Dungeon. When I first got into the Mind Dungeon, I said “This is like Persona,” and that’s not a bad thing. Remember at the beginning of the game, all the questions the crow asked? You will find him here in the Mind Dungeon. You can level up and choose the stats you want to improve for Alex. The mind dungeon is for Alex’s use only but within the dungeon, there is a blue guy that if you talk with him, you can “encourage” your friends to level up (if they have the necessary experience).
With Alex, you can choose to upgrade four of six different stats HP, PP, Attack, Defense, Speed and Luck (I don’t know if the questions Marlene asks at the beginning have any effect on the stats of Alex but in my play through he has superb Speed and Luck, the rest sucked). When you choose what to upgrade, you go through each stat door, and you gain the stat points. After all doors have been opened, you can talk with Marlene and pay 100 experience points to level up and continue upgrading Alex’s stats (by the way, there is a day one patch when the game releases that will buff Alex since the vanilla Alex is not that strong). That is why getting as much experience as possible is a must (even better since 100 is all needed to gain another level).
I like the art style YIIK has. It has a colorful, cell-shaded style that goes really well with the game. Each area is well-detailed, especially in the dungeons with dark areas. The style used helps make them creepy but with enough lighting so you don’t miss important things like treasure chests, enemies, or even important puzzles to continue. I really commend the developer for it.
The enemies are interesting, and honestly I laughed a couple of times with them. For example, when you defeat the UFO (is a normal enemy you encounter) when you defeat it, it says, “You defeated it now. No one will believe that you saw one.” When you find some samurai tortoise (wink, wink) in the sewer, it attacks you says, “I said no anchovies.” There is a lot of charm in each enemy that you encounter–even the poop enemies. The enemies are so weird and out there that this is definitely a JRPG-style game all right.
The music is godlike with tons of different tunes. The one thing I definitely love is how random the music plays, since when you enter a enemy battle, the music that plays is not the same every time. For example, you enter the battle with a really epic tune worthy of the 90’s JRPGs, and you end up fighting a bunch of rats and poo. Or, you could be entering the battle with a really chill tune, only to battle against a horrible four-headed monster. You never know what you will get, and that makes every battle fun and rewarding. By the way, Vella’s song is so good that it made me cry. Kudos for that. Only Chrono Trigger had made me cry before.
I honestly have nothing but praise for the game. However, there is one tiny thing that I didn’t like. It is that the game suffers from long loading times (there is a day one patch coming; besides buffing Alex like I mentioned above, I hope that it addresses the loading times). Sometimes you need to wait 30 seconds to get into a battle (but the music starts immediately so at least you can enjoy the tune). You get used to it once you are full on the game, but some might feel that it takes too long to load. The game overall kept me coming back for more, and for those who like to replay the games like me, it has two different endings and both are considered canon. There is a lot to do in game, and honestly I congratulate the developer for bringing this experience to the Nintendo Switch.
Bottom Line: YIIK a Post-Modern RPG is a great JRPG that isn’t. It has all the great things the JRPG of the 90’s had, but with a modern twist and a story that explores on human values such as the uncertainty of the future, wanting to belong, and wanting to find the meaning of your life. It comes with great music and a fun battle system. Honestly, this is a game that I feel can stand toe to toe with the likes of Final Fantasy or other big JRPGs in the market, and this was all possible by an indie developer.
A Review Copy was provided for this review.