Ys: Age of Heroes - thoughts and opinions? | Tabletop Roleplaying Open (2024)

As anyone who has noticed I exist here will know, I’m very much into JRPG style games. Fabula Ultima, Cloudbreaker Alliance, Break!!, KonoSuba, Challenge Dungeon, all grist to my mill.

So I was interested when this came out a month or two ago.

I’ve played and completed a lot of JRPGs, but have only played a couple of Ys games - I don’t know much about the setting (apart from the basics of “Adol washes up somewhere after a shipwreck* and engages in action RPG adventures”) so I don’t know most of the lore.

*Seriously, Adol shouldn’t be allowed on any ships ever.

Has anyone read it or played it? If so, what do you think?

PS: I’ve just noticed that it’s supposed to have some AI art. Which is terrible, but it looks as if some of the developers have apologised and will change the art. I haven’t bought the book so I can’t verify if the pdf still uses AI art, sorry.

I think the Ys setting is a fantasy stand-in for our world. There's the Romun (Roman) Empire. Garman is Germany. Ofrica is Africa. (Not sure if those spellings are right.)

The games revolve around exploring the ruins left by ancient, magically-advanced cultures.

In other words, I love the games, but I'm not sure what the setting offers that isn't already available in lots of other settings.

Jian said:

PS: I’ve just noticed that it’s supposed to have some AI art. Which is terrible, but it looks as if some of the developers have apologised and will change the art. I haven’t bought the book so I can’t verify if the pdf still uses AI art, sorry.

Click to expand...

I would not trust this company at all. I noticed this on DriveThru when it first showed up and they were all in on Ai art and actively defending it. All of those comments, and pushback from the community has been removed so it looks like they are trying to cover up their pro-Ai stance. Notice that only current review is from a 'Ai is the future get over it' type.

Balac said:

I would not trust this company at all. I noticed this on DriveThru when it first showed up and they were all in on Ai art and actively defending it. All of those comments, and pushback from the community has been removed so it looks like they are trying to cover up their pro-Ai stance. Notice that only current review is from a 'Ai is the future get over it' type.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, of course I can’t see that now. I’ll avoid the review if I find it.

gebeji007 said:

I also like anime and jrpg (i have a number of Ys videogames), but just had time to quickly skim the book, i'll do a proper read and get back to you. As for the AI art, the interior cover "disclaimer" says : "A.I. Usage and Content Policy: Generative AI was employed in the art, post-production and editing stages of this book. We acknowledge the ethical complexities of this technology, and remain committed to ethical AI use and championing artists’ rights."

Click to expand...

Well that's just...fun. So they totally used the plagiarism machine but they care so much about artist's rights. That's a pathetic attempt at warding off justified criticism.

The use of AI art is pretty obvious from a quick scan of the pdf. It's odd, considering that there must be loads of art from the series available. Here's an early example:

There's a lot of other pictures that have some AI telltales, like asymmetric designs, excessive ornamentation and greebling that doesn't make sense on close inspection, and objects/decoration blending into other objects.

CandyLaser said:

The use of AI art is pretty obvious from a quick scan of the pdf. It's odd, considering that there must be loads of art from the series available. Here's an early example:

Click to expand...

Embarrassing I didn't think of that, Y's has quite the legacy with multiple artbooks worth to pull from, it does seem weird a licensed product wouldn't use art from the original property. Heck there must be scads of art that's never been seen outside Japan.

Balac said:

Embarrassing I didn't think of that, Y's has quite the legacy with multiple artbooks worth to pull from, it does seem weird a licensed product wouldn't use art from the original property. Heck there must be scads of art that's never been seen outside Japan.

Click to expand...

Yes, it’s a common complaint about the RPG - there’s so much iconic art for the Ys franchise it seems amazing that the developers aren’t using it if they bought the license.