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Easing into Ys




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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:31 pm Reply with quote
Very nice to see a basic intro into Ys here on ANN. I first heard of the series back in the early 90s when Ys III was coming out via the advertisements for the Genesis & SNES ports, & I remember reading about Konami's release of VI on the PS2 & PSP at the time, but I didn't actually play any of the games until 2008, when the Turbo CD version of Ys Books I & II was released on the Wii Virtual Console (which I'd say is where most long-time fans probably got into it at this point). Admittedly, the Bump system, which was pretty much just a refined version of Hydlide's combat system, took me two tries to properly understand, but once I did I had an absolute blast playing it on the VC. After that, I made sure to buy every new release that came out on the PSP, I also got VI for PS2 & PSP along the way, but I didn't exactly play them right away.

A few years later I finally played through I & II Chronicles on the PSP, followed by Oath in Felghana, & all were just as excellent. Since then I've also played Vi & Origin on PC, both of which are equally awesome, & I had planned on playing Seven on PSP (& then later via the PS TV), but now I got the PC version, which is how I'll be playing it; I still have to play Celceta & VIII, too (not to mention V, but that has no official English release). It's just such a welcoming action RPG series to get into, with the fast combat, breezy stories, & enjoyable characters being a big appeal, but it's also the fact that you can arguably start with any entry, because while there is an overall timeline of events, they don't really require any prior knowledge to play through (minus II, which requires knowledge of I).

While I only got into the series barely a decade ago, it's now one of the all-time favorites, and it's one of the few where I am perfectly fine with having multiple versions of games. In fact, I'm playing the DS version of I & II (which, by the way, isn't one of the better versions out there), & I still have the PS2 versions of I-IV I imported to play through one day. I am just so glad that Ys has gone from being a relatively forgotten & obscure series into a true cult-classic in just the span of a decade.

Oh, and how could I forget the music! Ys marked the first major work from the legendary Yuzo Koshiro, who worked alongside Mieko Ishikawa on I & II. Even though Koshiro left Falcom after those two games (&, due to not making sure he maintained ownership like later games, has no control over the music), Falcom has pretty much made it imperative that each & every Ys game follows the standard of musical excellence that Koshiro & Ishikawa started off with. There's good reason why almost every special edition release of an Ys game includes an OST of some sort, because Ys as a whole honestly rivals Final Fantasy when it comes to (generally) consistently having outstanding & memorable music every time.


Last edited by Lord Geo on Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:31 pm Reply with quote
I finally dove into the series late last year, and with some suggestions from friends this is the order I did things in:

Ys I & II Chronicles+
Ys Origin
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Ys V
Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim

All on Steam, except for V of course. I skipped the IVs given the situation with those.

Playing Origin where I did worked well, since it's heavily drawing from I & II storywise and was most satisfying right after those. In fact I'd say Ys Origin is my favorite so far overall (sorry Adol-sama) - I really enjoyed Yunica's path, and in fact I was thinking of playing it again recently.

Ys VII came out on Steam not long ago, so that's worth mentioning.
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JDude042



Joined: 29 Dec 2011
Posts: 261
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:25 pm Reply with quote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvvGtPWNRsA

I don't really have much to say except this is a good watch if you want to hear somebody talk about the Ys series.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:56 am Reply with quote
It's so joyous to see Ys get the attention it should have had ages ago. Ys VIII is fantastic to play, much like any title in the series, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Ys V is the only one that doesn't have an official English release, but I'm hoping they go back and remake it eventually. It's been the odd man out since the remake of III as Oath in Felghana. V's magic system was unique, but largely unnecessary due to having too many spells that did pretty much the same thing. Adol may not ever be as popular as Link, but he's definitely become more known than he was back then.
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I_Drive_DSM



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 217
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 1:33 pm Reply with quote
I like this new Ys. I'll admit I haven't played Ys since Ark of Napishtim (and I honestly only picked that up because it was in bargin bin at the time...) but from what I remember from that game this series has come quite a long ways while retaining a lot of familiarity.

Adol seems to have the worst luck traveling in a boat though
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