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Maou

1578th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Let's talk about Ys" , posted Fri 30 Jan 09:05

So like 90% of people, I have never actually played Ys (tragically pronounced "iis" and not "why's" as I would enjoy), but I have listened to plenty of its excellent music, wonderful Yonemitsu Ryou arrangements and all. Clearly the music is out of control, First Step Towards Wars being amazing, along with everything else Koshiro Yuuzou touches, but I'm curious about the rest of the deal. Certainly, the original's hilarious battle system of running into your enemies is well-known, though I gather that later remakes have actually made the difficult step of progressing to the Zelda-level complexity of a slash button. So...

How do people feel about Ys? Its story? Which games have you played? How does it hold up today?

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

Replies:

Pollyanna

2636th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Fri 30 Jan 09:32:

I always preferred the old Ys games to Zelda because they seemed "faster", as in, you didn't have to stop to attack. Even though the "running into things" seems a bit silly, it worked well enough in the game that I didn't ask any questions.

I've gone through Ys I and II so many times it's silly. I love the music, the game holds a lot of good memories and it's just...easy to play. It's engaging, but doesn't demand too much from you.

Still, I don't know how it holds up today. The soundtrack is still great, the graphics are enjoyable in a retro kind of way and the gameplay is reasonably addictive...but the story is nothing interesting and it would be very easy to say "I don't see what the big deal is."

On the other hand, I highly highly recommend Oath in Felghana, the PC Ys 3 remake. Thanks to the excellent new arranges, it has (in my opinion) the best soundtrack, decent graphics and fantastic gameplay. It's just so...fast! To me, it really did a good job of recreating the feel of the old games without seeming dated. I would recommend the game to just about anyone, Ys fan or not.

I could keep babbling, but I think this is a good enough start.

EDIT:
Forgot to answer your questions. I've played ermm... Ys I&II on Sega (Master system), PC-Engine, PC (new and old) and PS2. YS III on Megadrive, SNES, PC-Engine, PS2 (remake) and Felghana on PC. Ys4 on PC-Engine and SNES. Ys5 on SNES. Ys 6 on PC...and about 2 hours of Ys Origin. My computer didn't like it very much for some reason. I'll have to get back around to it.

Aaaaaand...the story was never very good. Hahaha...just adequate.

青春謳歌　弱肉強食

[this message was edited by Pollyanna on Fri 30 Jan 09:38]

nobinobita

471th Post

Gold Customer

"Re(2):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Fri 30 Jan 10:09

quote:

Aaaaaand...the story was never very good. Hahaha...just adequate.

Somehow the imagery and mood is fantastic though.

I love Ys. I have fond memories of watching my older brother play it on Turbo-graphix and SNES. For some reason I remember the SNES one having voice acting, though that's probably just my memory getting blurred.

This 80s/early 90s fantasy art is my favorite. Do you know what I mean?

It started around the Pony Canyon NES version of Ultima and peaked at the Record of Lodoss Wars OAV.

This era of fantasy was so wonderful and iconic. No other fantasy style really conveys the same sense of ADVENTURE! as this era.

The last game to give me this feeling was Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (with awesome art by Katsuya Terada. That's a very awesome game if you like Dungeon Crawlers and classic fantasy. I'm talking about like, Dungeons&Dragons first and second edition--if you know what THACO means then you'll probably love this game.

Pollyanna

2638th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(3):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Sat 31 Jan 18:19

quote:

This 80s/early 90s fantasy art is my favorite. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah...that kind of stuff is not especially my cup of tea, but I do appreciate the flavor, particularly in reference to the generic third-rate ero game-looking garbage we have now. So many talented artists out there and that's the best they can do?

Also...I really liked the redesigns used in the Ys Eternal opening, so it was a big disappointment that the ingame art was so generic and poorly-drawn. Ys 3 on PS2 was a blow as well, especially since they had Akiman draw the cover.

I'm not saying old=good, new=bad altogether (Ys 3 SNES intro, I'm looking at you). I like change and updates and re-imagining and all that, but the recent stuff really lacks personality.

青春謳歌　弱肉強食

Zepy

1524th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(4):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Sun 1 Feb 03:47

I love the crappy storylines for Ys.

I think the one thing I liked tremendously in Ys I + II was that you could get that one item and get to talk to every monster in the game and every one of them had something different to say.

IkariDC

761th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member+

"Re(5):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Sun 1 Feb 11:17

I played Ys & Ys II Eternal on PC and Ys VI on PS2 and loved them all. I'd love to play Oath in Felghana and Origins... in English.

The secret staff room on the first version of Ys Eternal was brilliant! Too bad they got rid of it (or changed the way to access it and I'm a fool) on the later revision on which the English patch has to be applied, I wanted to know what the staff was saying. There was one staff member sleeping on the floor, you could bother him to a point at which he would do a desperate attack like Ryo Sakazaki's and kill you, at the last frame of that attack animation he would fall asleep on the floor again. That was just BADASS!

Spoon

1724th Post

Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(6):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Sun 1 Feb 13:00

quote:
I'd love to play Oath in Felghana and Origins... in English.

There's a translated release of Oath in Felghana that you can find if you google it or visit the usual shady outlets.

In some ways I like the old Ys system of running into things to kill them, because the Ys combat system is never terribly deep, so making the experience more streamlined is welcome. Oath in Felghana gives frequent HP restoring drops from enemies and bonus XP for killing things in rapid succession (with the multiplier built/maintained by hitting things), and that helps you stay in the flow of things.

One thing I like about Ys is that it's very easy to just pick up and play for a bit and get somewhere. One thing I don't like about Ys is that it's very easy to put down, because the gameplay is relatively shallow (though the boss fights are usually good!).

Pollyanna

2641th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(7):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Sun 1 Feb 14:32

Ah, I thought of something I really don't like about Ys games. Well, some of them at least. The difference between (EXP) levels is sometimes to great. Like, if you fight a boss at level 10, it will be almost completely impossible, but if you fight it again at level 12, it'll be almost completely impossible to lose.

青春謳歌　弱肉強食

Amakusa

789th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member+

"Re(1):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 05:41

quote:

How do people feel about Ys? Its story? Which games have you played? How does it hold up today?

Played:

* Ys III (SNES version)
* Ys IV (SNES version) <--- yes I know that version is inferior, but how are you supposed to get the PC Engine version, really?
* Ys V (SNES version)
* Ys VI (PS2 version)
* Ys The Oath in Felghana (PC)

Blah blah blah, I haven't played the 'best' versions, so what.

Story? People play Ys for its story? Hell, sure, if you want, but half of the games I played were in straight up Japanese and I couldn't tell you what was going on even if I wanted to.

I'm pretty hesitant to drop money in Origin because I couldn't read it anyway (that wasn't a huge problem with Felghana since it was a remake) and I wasn't actually that good at playing Felghana either even though I found it pretty fun to play (took me a while to figure out how to beat Galbalan, and I was terrible at the reflecting ball Zelda thing at the end of the fight).

I watched a few time attacks on Youtube and I developed an inferiority complex after watching them.

I found Kagami's sword in a junk yard.
I will rule the world and find that truly good cup of coffee.
"Dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-do."

Maou

1581th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(2):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 06:54

Thanks for the comments! It was always so daunting getting near this series with its infinite remakes and (gasp) PC versions adding to the mix. It feels like a game I'll just bump into by chance at a used game shop and grab a copy for 500Y, for whatever platform's section of the store I'm in at the time. I'm looking forward to this.

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

chazumaru

649th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member

"Re(3):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 07:23

Ys aged well thanks to its straightforwardness. The story holds on a sheet of paper and the full explanation for controls can hold on a Post-It note (or maybe the other way round, in some cases). This is what allows the old games to not feel too contrived when you try them out. It's also the reason Falcom does not need to update the gameplay much when they remake the same episode over and over, although 3D obviously changed a lot of things.

If you are new to the series, I join the others in the recommendation of Ys The Oath in Felghana. It is a fairly recent episode so it hasn't really aged yet (although the technical aspect is rather modest by Western PC standards), the music is excellent and an English patch exists.

I would also recommend you Ys Book I & II,the PCE version which you can get on the Wii's Virtual Console as well for 8€/8$/800¥. It is a proper version of the first two games (which directly follow each other story-wise) with an excellent CD-quality soundtrack.

Also, do not expect a well-developed (if developed at all) story. You should rather try Ys for the atmosphere and simple gameplay.

quote:
yes I know that version is inferior, but how are you supposed to get the PC Engine version, really?

Actually the PS2 remake of YS IV Mask of The Sun (published by Taito) improves the original game in several areas.

IT'S THE BLACK PUDDING!

Pollyanna

2642th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(4):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 09:39

quote:

Actually the PS2 remake of YS IV Mask of The Sun (published by Taito) improves the original game in several areas.

Ah, would you recommend it? I didn't play the Ys 4 and 5 remakes because I didn't hear good things about them and I was afraid they would be especially lame after Felghana. Fortunately I played the 3 remake BEFORE Felghana and it caused me to put off Felghana for a few months to avoid a Ys 3 overload.

In reference to what Amakusa said, I don't consider Ys 4 on SNES the "inferior version", it's just a different game. If you had to choose one I wouldn't recommend it OVER the PC Engine one, but if you're looking for another Ys game to play, it's not bad or anything.

Oh, and just to say it...I don't like Ys 5.

青春謳歌　弱肉強食

chazumaru

650th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member

"Re(5):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 12:56

quote:

Ah, would you recommend it? I didn't play the Ys 4 and 5 remakes because I didn't hear good things about them and I was afraid they would be especially lame after Felghana.

Oh but Ys IV will look especially lame after Felghana. That is because Felghana is an impressive remake which does much more to the original game than the Taito projects. Actually, I think Felghana is so good yet so different, it makes Ys III more interesting to replay. So in that sense, you were probably right not to play the Taito remakes back then.

I've heard bad things about Ys V's PS2 version (which I've never played), but from memory of both Ys IV SFC and Ys IV PS2, the PS2 version improved the game's pace and maps drastically. Rather than Felghana, I think it is fairer to compare Ys IV PS2 with remakes à la Sega Ages Vol.1 Phantasy Star.

One purchase I definitely cannot condone is the DS version of Ys I & II. Yuck.

IT'S THE BLACK PUDDING!

Maou

1585th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(6):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 14:06:

Ah! Another relevant thought: how long has everyone taken to play through their various Ys experiences?

I'd be keen to give this creaky yet fast-paced/atmospheric series a spin if the games are of reasonable length. After the painful 50 hour beatdowns of mediocrity I've encountered in too many RPGs of late, I'd love to hear that Ys is something short and tight. Granted, I have high standards given that I have Chrono Trigger on the mind lately, which may be the most tightly directed and well-edited yarn I've ever seen, but I can hope!

Edit: And since Felghana's been getting high praise, I'm curious, how has it worked on everyone's PC's? I'm thinking both in terms of OS (I'm using Vista these days) and OS language...if I played my copy on an American machine, would it install? I seem to remember having problems installing English software on Japanese PC's and vice-versa in the past, but since my computing is pretty basic, it hasn't come up in a while...

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

[this message was edited by Maou on Mon 2 Feb 14:09]

Pollyanna

2643th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(7):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 14:37

quote:
Ah! Another relevant thought: how long has everyone taken to play through their various Ys experiences?

I'd be keen to give this creaky yet fast-paced/atmospheric series a spin if the games are of reasonable length. After the painful 50 hour beatdowns of mediocrity I've encountered in too many RPGs of late, I'd love to hear that Ys is something short and tight. Granted, I have high standards given that I have Chrono Trigger on the mind lately, which may be the most tightly directed and well-edited yarn I've ever seen, but I can hope!

Edit: And since Felghana's been getting high praise, I'm curious, how has it worked on everyone's PC's? I'm thinking both in terms of OS (I'm using Vista these days) and OS language...if I played my copy on an American machine, would it install? I seem to remember having problems installing English software on Japanese PC's and vice-versa in the past, but since my computing is pretty basic, it hasn't come up in a while...

Ys games are short. They vary, but like...probably around 15 hours? Shorter sometimes.

It's very easy to get the games to work on American computers and I'm sure you can find a tutorial no problem. The result, I think...is that it puts your system in "default Japanese mode" or something, since nearly every program I install (regardless of origin) is automatically in Japanese.

I did that a long time ago, though...so I wouldn't take my advice on the issue.

青春謳歌　弱肉強食

chazumaru

651th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member

"Re(7):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Mon 2 Feb 23:57

quote:
Ah! Another relevant thought: how long has everyone taken to play through their various Ys experiences?

I'd be keen to give this creaky yet fast-paced/atmospheric series a spin if the games are of reasonable length. After the painful 50 hour beatdowns of mediocrity I've encountered in too many RPGs of late, I'd love to hear that Ys is something short and tight.

Ys is really short. One weekend should be enough for any of them (maybe slightly longer for Dawn of Ys).

IT'S THE BLACK PUDDING!

Amakusa

791th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member+

"Re(7):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Tue 3 Feb 01:17:

quote:

Edit: And since Felghana's been getting high praise, I'm curious, how has it worked on everyone's PC's? I'm thinking both in terms of OS (I'm using Vista these days) and OS language...if I played my copy on an American machine, would it install?

As a Windows XP user I use Microsoft's AppLocale:

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/apploc.mspx

Pretty useful for XP users as you don't have to change your region all the time.

Although I don't have Windows Vista, so I don't know how it'll go on that one. I guess that doesn't REALLY answer your question.

I found Kagami's sword in a junk yard.
I will rule the world and find that truly good cup of coffee.
"Dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-do."

[this message was edited by Amakusa on Tue 3 Feb 01:20]

sfried

330th Post

Bronze Customer

"Re(6):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Tue 3 Feb 06:43

quote:
One purchase I definitely cannot condone is the DS version of Ys I & II. Yuck.

What's the problem with the DS version?

Maou

1585th Post

Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member

"Re(8):Let's talk about Applocale" , posted Wed 4 Feb 02:41

quote:

Edit: And since Felghana's been getting high praise, I'm curious, how has it worked on everyone's PC's? I'm thinking both in terms of OS (I'm using Vista these days) and OS language...if I played my copy on an American machine, would it install?

As a Windows XP user I use Microsoft's AppLocale:

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/apploc.mspx

Pretty useful for XP users as you don't have to change your region all the time.

Although I don't have Windows Vista, so I don't know how it'll go on that one. I guess that doesn't REALLY answer your question.

Thanks, man, it works just fine on Vista, actually! I gather some people had trouble back in the day getting it to work but as long as the little account protections are off, it seems to run just fine. You have just paved the way to me playing Felghana. One day.

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

chazumaru

652th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member

"Re(7):Let's talk about Ys" , posted Wed 4 Feb 05:42

quote:

What's the problem with the DS version?

Not sure whether it is adapted from one of the existing cellphone versions, but it is one of the less inspired adaptations of the first to episodes. It uses a very poor and charmless 3D engine. The second and touch screens bring nothing to the game ; in comparison, it would have made much more sense to release/remake/port Brandish or one of the early Dragon Slayers on DS because there would have been many more interesting uses of the second screen made possible.

It is still Ys I&II but when you can find so many better versions (well, especially if you have a Custom Firmware PSP), why go for this one? At least the US verson has the good taste of combining both episodes in one cartridge. Selling both games separately in Japan was the extra classy touch that added insult to injury.

IT'S THE BLACK PUDDING!