It's been a while since I last played a Ys game but I definitely had a great time playing it because of the gameplay, story, and music. Like newer Ys 4 and Ys 7, Ys 8 follows the newer party system and I think they did a great job portraying the story and the environment.
Ys 8 Review
Like all of the Ys games, this is another journey in Adol's adventures when he gets abandoned on the lost island of Seiren. Due to this, they have limited the cast of characters and it makes it easier for them to flush out a story between the survivors of the ship. In order to open up newer optional areas, it becomes a requirement for people to search out the survivors on the island. So it makes sense for you to explore the island, find the other survivors, and find out how to leave the island.
There are two storylines that you get to play in. The current timeline where you play as Adol and the other members of the party and the past timeline where you get to play as Dana only. Personally, I loved the Dana timeline because it's quite amazing to control Dana and change her battle style. There were also fewer items available so you had to be more careful as you fight through the mobs. Personally, Dana is probably my favorite character from Ys. The story could have been all from her point of view and the game would have been just as great.
World Map
One thing that I really liked was the fact that the world map shows you everything that can be done in regard to obstacles, exploration, and treasures for each small section as well. I didn't run into the issue of 99.7% map completion like I did in Ys 4. The area maps still need some work though but it wasn't too hard to complete the maps. The only thing missing was things like gifts because they didn't show up on the map. I didn't even realize until near the end that I missed a gift in one of the previous boss zones.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Ys 8 is the standard action RPG and you can set skills to be put down for use in combat. In addition, the flash move and guard are back and it's the best way to avoid damage. There are advantages to each one and the timing is different for each type of attack. So it really depends but the flash move does slow down the opponent. So it gives you a better opportunity to do damage while flash guard makes every single hit a critical attack. The timing can be off on bosses and getting the timing right on bosses might be hard without dying to the boss a few times. Of course, you could just skip that and use items if you mess up instead if you want though. I do think that items tend to break the game somewhat though so it's definitely not as hard of a game due to that.
Other than that, I have a few issues in regard to combat. It kind of sucks when the enemy knocks you down and then you get hit without being able to guard or evade. There is also the fact that multiple enemies in combat kind of suck. The camera doesn't always track properly so it ends up causing a few issues when you can't even see the attack and get hit.
Besides that, I did pretty much everything there was including the extra dungeon that was unlocked after the game. I didn't feel like watching the cutscenes in the game so I pulled up a YouTube video to watch them so that I could listen/watch to them while working through the day though. Otherwise, there would have been a few more hours added to that list and I was fairly lucky with farming the items that I needed. I am just glad that the world map does quite a good job of letting me know where to go. I played the game on hard mode but it wasn't really that hard either. Items could push me through when needed.
Music
In this section, I'll talk about a few memorable and favorite tracks that I had from the game.
I have to say that Ys 8 has some really good tracks. Personally, I like Sunshine Coastline the most. It's the first track that starts up as soon as you get on the island of Seirun. It marks the start of the adventure on the island and I think it's just a great track in general.
This is the track from the opening of the game and I have to say that is quite amazing. The orchestral instruments in the track are quite amazing.
This is also another track that I really liked. It's too bad that you don't get to listen to this track that often though. It's a field theme so it goes away too fast but it does make you want to dance.
This track is one of the ones that you get to listen to when fighting the true final boss. So you don't get to hear it unless you did enough of those quests and built up the village. It's a memorable track and I felt it was a good way to end the game.
Conclusion
Overall, I really loved the game. The action based combat didn't have much trouble and other than the weird timing for flash guard/move, I don't have too many complaints about the game other than some minor complaints about knockback or camera. I loved the story and it works out quite well with the setting. At the same time, you have a smaller cast of characters and you can get to know then. The music was great as usual for Ys and I think it has the best set of tracks out of any Ys game that I played. Sunshine Coastline is amazing and it's in my top 3 but it still isn't my top Ys track though.