So after weeks of not playing it and with the risk of dropping it, I resumed my playthrough of Ys VII, and I fear I would classify it as a shit Ys.
It has the known flaws of modern Ys, so yap yap yap, yap yap yap, and maybe I could interest you in another bit of yap yap yap. And it's group Ys, so combats are a little messy, boss a little spongy, strategy is less important than BPM.
But fuck, it also has a super uninspired dungeon design, and the writing is a joke. Now you don't play Ys for its plot, but there is often a flavor to them, and several of the games have genuinely serviceable to great stories. In Ys VII, while I expect some development in the final part of the game, the storytelling was a joke. Basically 'hey, something happened in this specific location, might as well visit the other specific locations'.
It's Ys on auto-pilot, and while by no means as bad, I can't shake the feeling it's the Assassin's Creed Liberation of the Ys series.