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Straight Through Ys
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Swimmy
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:30 pm    Post subject: Straight Through Ys Reply with quote

When I was in high school I knew this guy who was really nice, a few years older, worked as a substitute teacher for a while, and was generally a total dork. In a small town the total dorks all know each other, and lacking any total dorks his age he hung out with my friend Todd and me. Whenever we talked videogames he made sure to mention that he grew up with a TG16, that it was better than all the other systems, that some game called Ys Book I & II was the greatest thing ever created, and all of our current RPG favorites owed everything to it.

I was a ROM whore back then, and, curiosity piqued, I scoured the internet for this fabled Ys game. I managed to find copies of almost every TG16 ROM in existence, but Ys was nowhere to be found. With more and more searching I found out why--Ys was a CD-based Turbo Duo game, meaning it could not be compiled in ROM form. I figured that on my 56k connection I'd never be able to find an image of it. I settled for the SNES ROMs of YS III and IV, the latter of which had been fan-translated. Ys III, of course, is side-scrolling and doesn't capture the strange battle system of the original. Ys IV is closer, but it's not nearly as, uh, epic. I'll get to that later.

A few years and I'm reminded of the series--I use improved internet information-gathering techniques to find that Ys I & II were also ported to the NES and the Master System, that the Master System version is superior, and that they both totally suck compared to the TurboDuo masterpiece. I found the MS ROM and played through about half of it. It's ugly and slow. The movement-based battle system doesn't work without the ability to get away from monsters ass-fast. Besides, Book II starts immediately afterward, so what's the point if you can't finish the story?

Which brings us to a couple weeks ago. Even now, the Ys games proper are fucking hard to find. I scoured through torrents and file-sharing programs until I finally found Ys Books I & II buried in a torrent along with every other TurboDuo game. I played through it quickly, but some of the voice acting and cutscenes skipped and were generally awkward.

Then I was on a quest to find Ys IV: Dawn of Ys. You see, Falcom licensed the rights to Ys IV to two different developers, leaving us with a TurboDuo game (Dawn of Ys) and a Super Famicom game (Mask of the Sun). A while back someone named Nightwolve created a text translation for Dawn of Ys, but to apply the patch the game image must be exactly the right size, which makes pirating it that much harder. (Also accompanying the patch is a text document which gives follow-along translations for all the voice acting.)

I found an ISO through emule, but it wasn't the right size. Desperate, I turned to google, just to see if anyone was absurd enough to actually host an ISO on his own website. (Or, of course, if any fans had posted a secret torrent in some obscure forum.) And, what do you know, if you're looking for absurd the internet is the place to turn:

http://romhustler.net/roms/pcengine/y

Ys Book I & II in 4 parts, Ys III in 31 parts, and Ys IV: Dawn of Ys in 33 parts. Ho-ly shit.

SO HERE'S THE DEAL!

I'm going to play through Ys. This newfound image of Book I and II, my SNES copy of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (UNLESS someone gives me a compelling reason to download the PCE version instead), this newfound image of Ys IV: Dawn of Ys, and Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim for the PS2. I just played through Ys IV: Mask of the Sun again the other day, and I will compare it thoroughly with its PCE counterpart. I am unaware of a completed YS V translation, and as it is supposed to be the worst in the series I will skip it, unless someone can convince me otherwise. Or unless someone knows of a translation--I hate playing games in Japanese.

I will post lots of screenshots. If someone will teach me how, I will compile several screenshots into glorious maps which could potentially make excellent desktop wallpapers.

You can join me!

If anyone doesn't want to sit at that website and download multiple the games in multiple parts, I can create and host torrents, just tell me. Tell me if you need an emulator as well. If you actually own the PCE Ys games, tell us why the authentic experience is significantly superior! If you can get Ys I and II Complete, the PC remakes, to run on your computer, give us screenshots!

I'll be starting up a new game of Ys Book I & II tonight. I might post some comparison screens with the NES/Master System versions. Let us commence celebration of Falcom, floating islands, and red-haired heroes.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have Ys I & II Complete, and it works fine! I ended up uninstalling it a while ago because I simply couldn't beat Dark Fact at the end of Book I.

I think it's time for a reinstall!
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have ys I & II on the pce. i'm in the midst of dungeoneering the mine. this could be a good incentive to pick it up again.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm at the end of the mine. I hate that fucking vampire boss. I'll probably have to gain another level.

Six: DO IT! I downloaded it and, no matter what I do, after installing Ys I gives me the ominous message "Error:An Error Occurred" and Ys II gives me a black screen and exits immediately. I really want to play it. If anyone can figure out what I'm doing wrong (besides just having a bad copy, oh the perils of piracy) I'll run through Complete at the end of this journey.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finished with Ys I. It's pretty short, but I made it unnecessarily longer by messing up a few times. I completely forgot to buy a decent shield for when my equipment is stolen, and I died after the part where you have to trek halfway down Darm Tower to talk to Luta Gemma, so I had to do that again.

Screenshots and such tomorrow. As for now I'm ass tired.

I revisited the SMS and NES iterations. My God, they are really, really terrible. I could only conceivably play through either with the help of much gamesharking. I'll have a few screens from those too, but not many because you have to be inhuman to get very far.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you played the Cellphone version? It's pretty terrible!
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Considering the ease with which you can run into enemies and just die, I'd say Ys on a screen that small is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
I downloaded it and, no matter what I do, after installing Ys I gives me the ominous message "Error:An Error Occurred" and Ys II gives me a black screen and exits immediately. I really want to play it.


Weird! My copy isn't legit either. It takes some spooky voodoo to get it working (and it did crash the first time I tried to run it today) but other than that, it's just dandy.

Do you know which version you have? I think Complete ended up being released like three times over the last five years.

...Yeah, here it is:
Quote:
Ys I Complete is a DirectX5 based game for Windows 98/ME/2K/XP that was released by Falcom on 6/28/2001, at least, in its first "Limited Edition" form where it was packaged together with Ys II Complete also. This game is actually a remake of Ys ETERNAL, a prior release from 8/28/1998. The "COMPLETE" version was created by recycling the "ETERNAL" version with updated graphics, sounds, etc. and repackaging it under the "COMPLETE" label to sell again. If there's anything you can count on from Falcom, it's Ys rehashes. But I guess that's why we love them, eh??

The story doesn't stop there, though. Later on 7/26/2002, Falcom released Ys I Complete [XP] and Ys II Complete [XP] as separate packages, unlike the "Limited Edition" which combined Ys I&II Complete as one game, where beating Ys I immediately launches Ys II to seamlessly continue your quest. This mimics the behavior of the beloved Ys Book I&II for the PC-Engine/TG-CD system. Anyway, as if that wasn't enough, on 12/23/2005 Falcom released Ys I&II Complete recombined once again, as it was for the "Limited Edition," so that makes three different packages this game is available in...

This might help. The patch installer seems to download any extra stuff you might need. (EDIT: I just realized you've probably seen it already, but oh well.

Also: put up some screenshots! I'll grab a few tonight too.)
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ys I - Ancient Ys Vanished

So for those of you who still don't know what's going on: Ys is Falcom's signature title. It is an action RPG series which, at least when it originated, had a strange angle. Rather than swinging or stabbing your sword like in Zelda or Crystalis, you simply walk into monsters. Based on your attack/defense and their attack/defense, you do damage. Furthermore, it's important to attack the enemy in a certain way.

Say your character, Adol, is made up of boxes:

If you're approaching an enemy, you want to touch it on the perimeter boxes only. The boxes that make a cross through the center--which would be Adol's chest, generally--can still hurt the enemy, but greatly increase the chances of getting hurt. In Ys I & II, at least, getting hit usually sends you to the other side of an enemy and knocks you a few spaces away, so unless you're careless you have time to escape. This system only works because Ys is fast. When translated to the SMS or NES, it's completely terrible and you die a lot. The PCE version allows you to change the game's speed setting between slow and fast, and either one is much, much faster than the ones made for those 8-bit wonder consoles.

I nabbed a few screens from them for comparison.

First off, the very first thing you see in the game. SMS and NES Ys both drop you immediately into the town of Minea (NES first):



On the other hand, PCE Ys gives you a small introduction where Adol arrives in the town on a boat, some well-animated sprites let him off, and he is led to the seer's house:



I took a few more comparison shots. From here, inside the seer's house, inside the bar, and standing by the river outside of town. Each set is in order from NES to SMS to PCE.













As you can see, the SMS version is more faithful in almost every way (except for the completely out of place thouspeak). The NES game is almost more of a redesign--Minea is filled with water, the buildings are in different locations, the field outside of town is much larger, etc. Standing still while outside allows your HP to refill. In the PCE this can take a few seconds. In the other two, it's soul-crushingly slow and you're likely to have to move to fight a monster before your energy refills anyway. It's perhaps the worst in the SMS version as monster hits take off ridiculous amounts of HP and do not shove you out of the way so you can save yourself.

Of course, this isn't news. Everyone familiar with Ys knows that the PCE is the only way to go. Here are some more screenshots from the proper version of Ys.

First, the cutscenes: they're pretty! SNES Ys IV doesn't have anything this nice:







The first game is short. There are only three real dungeons, though one is extremely long. The first, the shrine at the top of the mountain, housing two oh-so-threatening bosses:



The second, the mine, which is not much to look at and really needs a decent map if you have a bad memory:


The third, Darm tower, which has 21 floors, along with several bosses and characters:


(I really shouldn't have beaten that boss.)



And of course, the last boss, Dark Fact, leaves you craving more Ys:


And for good measure, here's the text of all 6 Books of Ys:

Volume Hadal:
The prosperity of Ys began with the creation of a magical metal known as Cleria. On the highest mountain stood Solomon Shrine which symbolized the great wealth of Ys. The land of Ys was ruled by two Goddesses and six Priests. The Goddesses were the embodiemt of our health and happiness.

Volume Toba:
One day, a wave of terrible violence came upon Ys and our lives were ripped apart.

Volume Dabbie:
The carnage came quickly and with no warning. Lava flowed through the land and soon all was ablaze. We believe the creation of Cleria was the source of this violent act of terror. Therefore, we buried the Cleria deep beneath the ground. If the Cleria is ever unearthed, the same tragedy will strike Ys again.

Volume Messa:
The evil powers had shown their force. A dark and eerie stranger had been following us and he began closing in. All the village people were terrified and could offer no defense against this vile devil and the creatures who stalked the neighborhoods. Finally, we escaped into Solomon Shrine after being chased by six huge hatchet men. Soon after this the Goddesses disappeared and have been long lost ever since. The next day the attacks suddenly stopped. We haven't seen the dark stranger since.

Volume Gemma:
A special amulet has been handed down for generations within the Gemma family. This deep blue amulet has the unique power to break the wicked curse of the evil intruders.

Volume Fact:
Although the attacks had stopped, we could still feel the terrifying presence of evil. We decided it would be safer to lift our land out of harm's reach. We hope to return one day to our former tranquility. We have placed the collective powers of Ys into these six books in the hope that a brave warrior will somehow rid our land of these demons. Only then can we rest in peace.

I love this game.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can add these ones in!

The game opens with a nice prerendered animation:





Did you see this coming?









Interestingly, you can control Adol with either keyboard, mouse or joystick, and can pick 8-directional or full analog movement. It feels kind of weird at first, but it works pretty well once you get used to it.

More shots to follow! I forgot to save for a while and then died, so it might be a little longer before I finish it. Grumble.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I love "no one; leave." That's just such an unusual phrase, and how often do you see semi colons in videogames? The varying names for the same three guys in the bar is also great. Too bad for the one-eyed man, he became a loner.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just wanted to pop in and say this thread is awesome.

And I really wanted to play Ys Arc of ... Nsomething, but it sucks for the PSP so I never did Sad
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shapes if you want I'll send you my PS2 version.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

the font in the PCE version is just too hot.
last time i played ys 1, I saved my game right on top of an enemy spawn point with about 5 hp left. I haven't played it in a long time.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Scratchmonkey wrote:
Shapes if you want I'll send you my PS2 version.

I'll trade you for the PSP version Wink
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I finished up the first one yesterday. So good! I guess past-me was illiterate and/or lazy, because Dark Fact went down like butter this time around. I'll be starting on the second one tonight, and I'll see if I can't give Oath in Felghana (the Ys III remake) a spin after that. Ys III was the first game in the series I played, and even though it's the odd one out as far as gameplay is concerned, it still has that delicious Ys feel. I never owned it, but I will admit to having a major soft spot for it.

A few more screens:







(I really like how he's stepping over the frame in this one.)



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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, that is really beautiful. I wish I could play it, if only to experience the diagonal control. (The version I have is labeled Ys I & II Complete, I don't know which release. Either way it's not the patch that causes trouble--the game simply won't run either way.)

I'll start Ys II tomorrow. I want to make an image map of Solomon Shrine, anyone have advice on how to put a shitload of images together in a glorious map?

a_plus: Ouch, that hurts. On the bright side, Ys I is really short. You could start a new game up and beat it in a few hours with little trouble, especially if you're willing to use a guide. And savestates.

I should probably mention about now that I'm not using savestates or cheating in any way to play through these. In case you were wondering.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

these screenshots intrigue me. i actually have the saturn version of ys, which looks as though it's probably quite pretty, though i havn't played it yet. hmm!
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not to speak the obvious or anything, but that PC Ys is hot.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
Rather than swinging or stabbing your sword like in Zelda or Crystalis, you simply walk into monsters.

So it's Hydlide, but good?

Intriguing!
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

super hydlide is pretty good.

falcom has been doing the bump-enemies-to-attack them thing for a long time. in the ys games it works amazingly well. combat is super-fast and there's just enough strategy to keep it from becoming dull. you can dive into a dungeon, grab an artifact and come back up for air within minutes.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The other (important) thing to remember is that Hydlide had that one annoying song that looped infinitely whereas Ys' music FUCKING ROCKS.

I'll get to that later. For now I'll just note that there are many wailing guitars.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had that version of Ys 1 -- not only is it gorgeous, it's ridiculously expensive. got me a few bucks on ebay though
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm at the end of Ys II, that grueling part where you have to gain 5000 exp for one more level, but the strongest monsters in the game only give you 7 each. Of course, the last boss is near impossible without that extra level.

I've got about 120 screenshots. I'll have to really be selective or I'll kill this thread. Since I'll be playing Ys III and VI on real hardware, expect far fewer screens for them.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aw, jeez. I was kind of trying to keep pace. I'd better get moving!
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, I got distracted by new DS games.

The last level only took me the first 6 songs of Propagandhi's Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes to gain. After that, I went to take on Darm and still got my ass kicked. Twice. Then I remembered the secret and adjusted the game's speed to Slow. On that setting you can actually dodge his attacks.

Screenshots to come, of course. And maybe a couple animated GIFs.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter

(This will, of course, have intense spoilers.)

At the end of Ys I, Adol has collected the 6 books of Ys, unlocked their power, and is transported to a floating island--the lost land of Ys. He wakes up in a field and encounters a girl named Lilia, who takes him to Rance village. (Is this supposed to be Lance?) The first moment at which you can move:



The door immediately above leads to an underground tunnel, which leads to some ruins, which leads to a series of mines and the sacred land. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Adol has kept his level from the previous game but somehow lost all that nice equipment. You reequip yourself and set out to return each of the books of Ys to the corresponding statues of the priests they're named for. This task takes quite a while--along the way you rescue Dr. Flair in the mines, search for medicine to save Lilia's life, and acquire the ability to cast magic.

Ah yes, magic. There are 6 spells in this game, only one of which is used to attack. This is the magic of Fire, which launches a simple fireball into an enemy. Every boss except the last is invulnerable to Adol's normal attacks, so you really end up using fire a lot. Speaking of, here's the first boss:



My first time through the game I was completely stumped, as I found him before I found the fire magic. You're not supposed to do that.

The second spell you acquire is Light. It's used twice in the game. Once in the mines to light up rocks that reveal hidden doors:



and once later on to open a disappearing treasure chest.

To finish returning the books to the priests, you have to go through Jira's basement:



The eeire noises are a shitload of monsters in a tunnel under his house, the best place in the game to quickly raise money:



After this you must trek through both an ice and a fire dungeon. The boss of the ice dungeon:



Near the end of the fire dungeon, you become strong enough that your fire spell takes on a new power. Now, rather than just bumping enemies like a normal attack, they bulldoze over them:



If you follow it off the screen you can kill most enemies very, very easily. Bosses, on the other hand. . .

This is my most hated boss:




The, uh, worm thing he shoots out of his mouth is invincible and you have to dodge it until he sucks it back in. When he does you can fireball him in the mouth. The frustrating thing is that if he kills you, the game over screen won't appear until he's completely sucked the worm back in, so even after Adol's disappeared the game just sits there and rubs in the fact that you got your ass kicked.

After all of this you arrive at Ramia village. Many villagers have apparently been kidnapped and murdered by the demons. In fact, one of them is missing but not yet dead now!



From there it's onward to Solomon Temple, which sits in the center of Ys. The temple is huge and it's easy to get lost, but if you make it through you encounter an evil wizard who turns you into a monster:



(Isn't he cute?)

From there you make your way into the sewer access to a runaway hideout. The runaways won't let you in because you're a monster, so you have to backtrack a bit and use some MAGIC to turn yourself back. Or whatever. One of the runaways gives you a key that allows you into more areas in Solomon Temple. But before that, there's something about this door in the sewer:





Hmm.

The boss of Solomon Temple is frustrating. You have to shoot him with fireballs from the front. He quickly creeps toward you and shoots his own projectiles back. The only way to beat him, really, is to be at a high enough level to stand there and hammer the magic button until he's dead.



The door behind him leads to the Goddess' Shrine, home to the strongest monsters in the game:



and two speaking goddess statues:



They tell you to hurry to the top of the adjacent building, where, if the bell is rung 5 times, poor Maria will be sacrificed.

To be continued!
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even more Ys II



To get to the building where Maria is being held, you have to get past this guy. Or, you have to get past his firebird things. He just stands there. After that, you come face-to-face with the girl we've heard so much about:



Maria. She warns you to run away. You can't reach her because of that barrier. Instead, you begin climbing. This tower's one of the game's more showy places. Most screens have some sort of moving background animation. They look choppy yet cartoony and charming at the same time. In one room, you can see the mountains scroll as you walk:





In other areas, the clouds float quickly by. It's a pretty place.




All the while you're climbing, the game gives you messages that the death bells are ringing. When you reach the top, the wizard who transformed you into a monster rings the fifth and final bell. When you go back down. . .



Uh.



Damn right they will. Brutal.

By this point you've seen almost all of Ys, so of course it's time to backtrack. Back in Ramia village, the gate guard tells you:



Or is it? The Goddess statues tell you to take an idol back to the top of the sacrifice tower to lift the curse the demons placed on the people. When you go back, you'll notice Maria's no longer crumpled on the ground. Just so you think that this isn't the typical videogame practice of dead things magically disappearing, the game points out:

[img]http://static.flickr.com/88/254290931_fa761fe2e1.jpgp[/img]

Once again you climb the tower and the game shows off. The background in each area is now different so you can see the guard's suspicion firsthand:





The mountains are now visible. There's some crazy shit going on in Ys!

Remember the suspicious door in the sewers? That's the final destination.



I'd like to see a game tease me with something so out of reach and not ever let me see what's there, for once. But this game isn't so high-brow or cruel. (Ok, it can be pretty cruel, but in different ways.)

Anyway. The door leads to the core of Ys, where the walls do that crazy flashy shit that videogame walls do sometimes. Also there are zombies there.



When you reach the center, your old friends from Esteria, Luta and Goban, show up to help you.



Now how did they get there?

From there it's only a hop, skip, and jump away from the last boss, an ugly bastard named Darm. He's holding onto this Black Pearl thing that's at the heart of all of Ys' miseries. I don't know. The translation's not that good and none of this is explained particularly well. Allz I know is he's evil and the Black Pearl must be destroyed.



Unfortunately, at level 60 he's almost impossible. So it's back to the Goddess' Castle for some final level-busting:



The weird thing about these monsters is that they deflect fireballs when you first enter the screen, but the longer you stay there the less they can deflect. So after a few minutes of bumping into them you can just plow them down with your fire magic.



Ok, now I'm ready.

The last battle is intense. First, because you actually have to have some dodging skill. Darm warps around the screen and you have to run into him, but the screen is constantly raining projectiles on you. There's a ring you can wear to slow these attacks down, but if you do that you can't heal yourself. (It's still worth it, overall.) Second, the background effects are very, uh, effective. Large flames dance powerfully beneath the suspended platform you're on:



And as the battle rages on, the flames change in intensity and color:





Talk about adrenaline-pumping. Unfortunately, I was still too weak to beat Darm, and I couldn't understand why. I was sure that the last time I played through the game I didn't get to level 62. After dying 2 or 3 more times I remembered. Before another attempt, I changed the game's speed setting from Fast to Slow and tried it again.





Success! His attacks are much easier to dodge on the Slow setting.

And that finishes Ys II for now. I took several screenshots of the ending, but there are only four I want to post. After it shows Adol reuniting with all his friends, both from Esteria and Ys, an overhead map of the entire country is shown, starting from the village of Minea and panning to. . .






the now-settled land of Ys, which has landed back in its original position. I love how you can see all the details from both games so clearly in this map. The game is both contained (especially relative to save-the-world RPGs) and massive at the same time. It's a wonderful experience. Ignoring the cheesy voice acting and mediocre translation, most RPGs from the same era don't have half the creativity or heart as Ys.

Hopefully after playing this I'll have a better appreciation for Ys III and VI. I already have more love for Ys IV SNES, even though it sucks, and hopefully Ys IV PCE will be even better.

Next up is Ys III for the SNES--the strange exercise in 2D sword-slashing that Ys fans hated so much but have now grown to moderately enjoy, much like Zelda II. I'll try to take pictures but they obviously won't look very good. If anyone wants to play along on an emulator--the PCE version maybe?-- and take some decent shots, TGQ will officially love you for it.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Dogi is inexplicably named Colin. That's fixed in Ys III.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
. . .Ys I gives me the ominous message "Error:An Error Occurred" and Ys II gives me a black screen and exits immediately.


Swimmy, did you ever solve this problem? I have the same one, and googling this particular error is (predictably) useless.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
Next up is Ys III for the SNES

No chance of reconsidering this? Because you're missing out on a phenomenal soundtrack, from start to finish. And from what I played the SNES version controlled worse than both the GEN and PCE versions.

I like this thread because I did something similar not too long ago. I stopped when I was halfway through Ys IV because other things came up and my CRT monitor was also giving off it's terminal breath, making it unsuitable for gaming.

And now, listening to the soundtrack... I really want to go back. This weekend will be a Ys weekend, most likely.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adol wrote:
Swimmy wrote:
. . .Ys I gives me the ominous message "Error:An Error Occurred" and Ys II gives me a black screen and exits immediately.


Swimmy, did you ever solve this problem? I have the same one, and googling this particular error is (predictably) useless.

Nope, never fixed. No way to figure out what's wrong, either, what with all the Japanese.
Quote:
No chance of reconsidering this? Because you're missing out on a phenomenal soundtrack, from start to finish. And from what I played the SNES version controlled worse than both the GEN and PCE versions.

I'm up for playing the PCE version. I was just waiting for someone to convince me why I should. If it's a much better game then I'll do it. It'll make taking snapshots easier at least.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've just developed an interest in Ys- enough to want to play through the entire series- and am in the process of yarring a copy of I & II Complete. If I like the games enough, I'd like to actually buy a copy! Is there a good online store which stocks it? Oddly enough, I can't find it on Play-Asia.

To those who've played through the later titles in the series, I've a couple of questions:

1) Is Ys III (apparently the Zelda 2 of the series?) any good? What about its remake- Oath in Felgana?

2) Which of the 2 Ys IVs would you recommend playing- the SNES or the PC-Engine?

3) Is Ys V worth playing at all? This Ys series round-up on Hardcore Gaming 101 suggests that it's kinda crap compared to the other Ys games.

4) How good a game is Ark of Napishtim? I remember some amount of discussion about it back on the old IC forums, but nobody seemed to be really raving about it or anything like that (I may just have forgotten, though).

Anyway, it looks like my yarr Ys Complete download will be done in about 5 hours! Hopefully it'll work and I'll be able to post about my experience playing Ys for the first time ever!
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

1) Ys III is actually good. You just have to look at it a different way, you know. The Zelda 2 analogy fits perfectly. (If you hate Zelda 2, don't touch this.)

2) PCENGINE! The SNES Ys IV misses the mark so hard it hurts. I'll get to that when I actually update this little project thread. I've gotta apologize for not dashing through the entire series like I promised, but life gets in the way, you know. (Also Ys III is atmospherically very different and hard to motivate myself to play.)

3) Probably not.

4) It is mediocre. I kind of hope to see a little more in it the next time I play through, but my first impression of the game was that it's every action RPG ever made.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, thanks to Perseus pushing this back onto the main page it is time for ACTION! No more laziness or distractedness or whatever elseness!

Because my New Year's resolution is taxing the hell out of my internet connection, I can't download Ys III for the PCE, so I'm starting on the SNES version RIGHT NOW!

OK GO!
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If somebody can help me out with a torrent and/or copy of a english-patched Ys IV, I will certainly play through it on my TurboDuo...Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to apply the english patch on the Mac, even though I got Ys IV in one of those big torrents...
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ys I is really fun! I like how Adol is so bad-ass that he can make the enemies explode into bits just by running into them- even when he's not holding a sword! I haven't had this much fun hacking up stuff in an action-RPG since Diablo.

The first boss is totally kicking my ass, though. Well, not so much the boss as the damn flames in the room I have to fight him in. I almost managed to kill him once, but then I got flamed to death just as he disappeared. I suppose I could just go back outside the shrine, level up and buy better armour, but I'm stubborn... I'm just gonna keep at him til he's dead.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After playing Ys: Ark of Nephitiaistststwativ;neaIdon'tcare, I really am inclined to write off the rest of the Ys series. I realize that's like comparing a contemporary Final Fantasy to FFVI or Phantasy Star Online to the rest of the PS series, but Arc left a really bad taste in my mouth.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've reached another road bump- Vagullion. This guy is pure evil. Dodging his bat form is bad enough, but I'm barely even scratching the guy, and I'm at level 9, armed with the silver sword! It's gonna take some dedication to take him down...

The second boss was really boring, though! After all the build-up the game gave it (going through a secret passage, collecting two seperate keys to pass through two doors to get to him, and being warned about an aura of evil after passing through the first), I ended up killing him in less than 30 seconds!

Nana Komatsu, I recommend giving Ys I a try- from what I've read about Ys 6, they're completely different experiences. Ys I is almost like an arcade game, really. There's something very pure about it's stripped-down action-RPG (emphasis on action) gameplay. You play 99% of the game using only the arrow keys!

Say, what was so bad about 6 that it left a bad taste?
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ys VI is more like V in that it has a jump and attack button (rather than the classic style of play - which i prefer). i still enjoyed the game a lot, though. i know Nana supported my claim that the PSP version of Napishtim is utter shit, but i don't know if that's the only version of the game she's played. if so, it should be noted that the PS2 version of the game is about 100x better (and some would argue the original PC version is even better).

whereas Ys was unique in its battle system, music and atmosphere, Ys VI is unique in that it arrived at a time where there weren't really many games out that were like it at the time. it sort of reminds me of an Enix action RPG. i can't really justify that claim, but that's how it felt to me. some portions of the game are somewhat mundane, but others are simply gorgeous. it was probably one of the best games i'd played that year. i think it's appealing in that it doesn't try to be more than what it really is; it's a bit of a throwback, but with some updated graphics.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:28 am    Post subject: Re: Straight Through Ys Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
http://romhustler.net/roms/pcengine/y


I downloaded all four parts from there, but I'm not sure how exactly to write the image to a CD, so if I could get a little a bit help with that... it's be greatly apperciated. Thanks.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll send you a PM.

Ys III is a lot weirder than I remember. The lack of any kind of knock-back means way too many sudden deaths.

I still like it. I just need to finish it. The last boss has to be fought exactly right.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, I just opened an account here because I was reading about going straight through Ys. That's pretty awesome since I'm trying to do that too. And I just finished I and II (OMG SO AWESOME). I'm just having a problem getting Ys IV. I'm trying to go through them in chronological order so I have to wait until I get IV to start Oath in Felghana (Which is the retcon of Wanderers from Ys.. That and I'm waiting for the translation of Oath to be made public.)

But DLing all 33 parts is so taxing. And the fact that I've DLed it all once before my computer crashed and I didn't back it up, doesn't help anything... Ugh.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It seems that this thread is dead. But I just wanted to update my progress

I've finished Ys Origin, Ys I, Ys II, Ys IV and am now finishing up Ys III: Oath in Felghana... I'm hoping to have the english language patch for Ys V out soon so I can play through that and finally finish with Ark of Napishtim.

Suuuuuuuuuch a fun series. I can't wait for more games to come out.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not entirely dead. I'm just real lazy.

Tell us about Oath in Felghana!
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Three weeks ago, I finally made my way up to the top floor of Darm Tower and faced off with Dark Fact. Ten deaths later, I concluded that he was completely impossible to kill as each hit from the unavoidable barrage of projectiles littering the screen took out large chunks of my health bar and I barely took a sliver off Dark Fact's health with each of my hits...

I gave up completely on the game, condemning it for this ridiculous difficulty spike, but had a go again out of sheer boredom today. After 4 or so deaths, I decided to check my equipment, just to ensure that yes, I was wearing the silver equipment set.

Of course, I wasn't. After re-equipping myself, I took on Dark Fact again. Each of my hits took out a huge chunk of his health (huge compared to what I was doing with the Flame Sword, anyway) and I was surviving the missiles just fine. I still died, but the battle was now merely difficult, instead of impossible. Ten tries later and Dark Fact went down for the count.

I can't believe I went so long without playing Ys! It's almost exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when I made this thread. I <3 this game.

I do have one criticism of this version of Ys I- the fancy graphical effects and gorgeous, large sprites make some of the boss fights a bit harder than they should be, because the visual information on-screen just isn't as clear as it should be.

This is particularly apparent during the first boss battle, where the flames shooting from the sides of the room are translucent and fade into nothingness at the sides, instead of being the easy-to-see orange-with-red-bordered lines that you see in Swimmy's screenshot at the top of this thread.

Fighting Dark Fact was a bit irritating, too, as I spent a fair bit of time chasing the upper half of his sprite until I caught myself and started following his shadow instead. Again, his sprite looks more compact and visually clear in Swimmy's screenshots of the PC-Engine version of the game.

It's kind of grating that developers don't think of these things when they remake games, or even when they make "old-school" games like this with fancy new graphics. Visual clarity should never be sacrificed for eye-candy.

Still, it's a minor quibble. Now on to Ys II!
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oath in Felghana is actually really very good. The same people that put out the english language patch for Ys Complete I & II are finishing up an english patch for Oath. I sent in 5 bucks as a donation to them to get my hands on a early working version of the patch and it's incredible. The script is immaculate.

The gameplay is something like Ys Ark of Napishtim, But it seems to be fixed on many levels. It's hard to explain, But it just feels easier to play now (of course I'm using a wired Xbox 360 controller to play these games and not a mouse and keyboard so that might help). The game just seems a little bit faster paced.

They've streamlined the healing items system to stuff that the enemies drop in battle. They drop more on the easier modes and less on the harder modes.

There's also a new system where if you grinding exp you can do it alot faster. Your exp goes up with every consecutive hit you land in battle until you reach a max of .99. So your EXP from any given monster will be 1.99 times higher with that combo then it would without it. It makes gaining levels not only easier, But a little more fun and frantic because the timer bar goes down at a steady pace and once it hits bottom you have to start your combo over again.

Another thing to the item system is enemies now drop buffs. They'll drop a .5 buff to your attack that has a timer bar much like the EXP bar, with a cap of x5.0. The defense and MP Regain speed cap out at 3.0.

Something nifty that they ended up doing with this game is once you complete a full set of armour Adol's sprite changes to reflect it while he's wearing that full set. So that means Sword, shield and armour. Adol gets looking pretty hard core in the course of the game.

I'm playing through slow a second time right now to kill time before the english patch for Ys V comes out so I'll take some screenshots as I go.

Oh. And all these changes also carry over to Ys Origin, Which is a VERY badass game as well.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My image of Ys IV PCE is indeed the right number of bytes, but after successfully patching it, or so I thought, it still played in Japanese. Strange!

Since the translator seems to have taken down all traces of the actual patch, I'll rehost it for anybody who wants it. Just ask...
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This just in: apparently Oath in Felghana translation honcho NightWolve is kind of psychotic?
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've played the Fleghana patch. I donated 15 bucks to him, 5 bucks for each game I've got from him and I'm going to donate more.

The patch is that damned good. It's incredibly professional. Almost as if Falcom hired him themselves. It's amazing.

Deuce and Nightwolve deserve the money. I'd gladly pay a Shareware premium to play the game in english because it's seriously amazing.
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