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Ys Community Thread | "Do you know the name Adol Christin?"

Y'all need to reconsider Vagullion. It's tedious even with Sliver equipment, but I like the boss more than I expected. It also seems less annoying in the PC-88 original, where the clump-up pattern is more consistent and the bats themselves slower when chasing you. I'd rather fight this guy again than worry about Dark Fact, who seems to be way overpowered in the Windows PC versions. The sped-up bouncing is bad enough, but the even quicker floor panel destruction is the problem here. Panels in the original and its ports didn't blow up that quick at all! Given Adol's movement speed in 1987's Ys I, Dark Fact was a lot more manageable in that version. Vagullion's certainly more fun to fight than either Dark Fact or Khonsclard, the latter of which sometimes comes down to luck in a way Vagullion doesn't (seems the winning pattern is to ram it counter-clockwise to whichever direction the boss is turning).

Ys I boss rankings for me: Yogleks & Omulgun > Jenocres = Pictimos > Nygtilger = Vagullion > Khonsclard > Dark Fact.
Ys II also: Darm > Zava > Druegar > Gelaldy > Dalles > Tyalmath > Velagundar

I've noticed that, while Ys I's bosses tend to develop in patterns (1st and 3rd bosses demand patience, 2nd and 4th demand aggression, last three are unique), Ys II is largely about Fire Magic, with only the final two bosses reintroducing bumping as the main attack. Ys II's bosses are less ambitious in ways but easier to fight and not have a bad aftertaste (Zava is the first and last time I even had to use homing Fire Magic, as I was otherwise bumping diagonally for goons).

Also: is there a list of script differences between Falcom's main versions of Ys I & Ys II (PC-88, Eternal, Complete, Chronicles)? I want to know how many of the subtle plot and world-building touches were in the originals, like Keith and Marle or the recent mining activity and disruption (monsters and Stormwall) happening in Esteria.

(Update from the future: none of what I said about Vagullion applies on Nightmare...worst boss fight on that difficulty, I underestimated how poorly balanced and programmed it would be.)
 

Rhapsody

Banned
Speaking of jumping, I'm glad Ys 8 brought it back. Just hope that means they're going to add some platforming back into the series.
 

kama

Member
bought Naphtism despite having seven and felghana in my backlog because I'm insane and what the hell there's jumping?

So did I, but not from GoG, I'm content with the still unplayed steam release. Instead I found this today:
quMY2OI.jpg


I didn't even know this existed! It looks gorgeous in the pictures, so I had to pull the trigger.

And speaking of 'Ys games with jumping': The PC-98 version of Wanderers of Ys came with a frigging hardcover manual. How awesome is that? As much as I love Falcom releasing all their games on the Vita, I really hope the good steam sales persuade them to port upcoming titles to the PC as well. There's just something about opening these beefy game boxes filled to the brim with nice goodies that can't be beaten by a Drama CD and vita-manual-sized softcover-artbook.
 

jdkluv

Member
Of course it has fucking jumping, play Felghana first.

Actually, I think he should play Napishtim first. I feel plenty of people will find Ys VI primitive and (maybe) unbearable if they play Felghana and Origin first, and therefore being unable to appreciate Napishtim just because the later games are much more refined in terms of gameplay.

So did I, but not from GoG, I'm content with the still unplayed steam release. Instead I found this today:
quMY2OI.jpg


I didn't even know this existed! It looks gorgeous in the pictures, so I had to pull the trigger.

And speaking of 'Ys games with jumping': The PC-98 version of Wanderers of Ys came with a frigging hardcover manual. How awesome is that? As much as I love Falcom releasing all their games on the Vita, I really hope the good steam sales persuade them to port upcoming titles to the PC as well. There's just something about opening these beefy game boxes filled to the brim with nice goodies that can't be beaten by a Drama CD and vita-manual-sized softcover-artbook.

You are one of mine, brofist to you good sir.

Especially for that Dinosaur avatar.
 
Anyone who buys A-Train games and the Ark of Napishtim PS2 box-set is a mensch.

Solomon Shrine is a great dungeon, don't know why people complain about it being obtuse. It's what I'd expect after playing through Ys I's Shrine, which is supposed to lead into Solomon Shrine going by geography. The Chronicles arrange of its tune helps a lot.
 

kama

Member
You are one of mine, brofist to you good sir.

Especially for that Dinosaur avatar.

Well, brofist right back at you.

And yes, Dinosaur has been great so far. I'm not too deep into it yet since my copy only arived last week and Revival Xanadu was eating up what little spare time I had. But once I wrap up Xanadu Next I'll dive right in, because: Falcom + First-Person-RPG = what's not to love? [Also: that youtube channel you linked should be a mandatory subscription for anyone reading this thread.]

At this point it's pretty much a given that XSEED will release Xanadu Next in the near future, but I really hope that Dinosaur Resurrection will also come to us down the line.

Anyone who buys A-Train games and the Ark of Napishtim PS2 box-set is a mensch..

Habt Dank für die schmeichelnden Worte!

But seriously, the last few months, no matter to which small and hidden corner of the internet I have travelled, everywhere I came across your footprints. Anytime I went to look up an old, obscure japanese computer game I found your forum posts. Everywhere.
It may be hard to be a god, but it's even harder to research japanese pc history without stumbling across your writings.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Playing through YS origin right now on normal with yunica and the game is kicking my ass.

Managed to defeat nygtilger with only 1 hp left.
 

Rhapsody

Banned
Playing through Felghana finally because of that Steam sale and finishing up Nayuta.

Just got the double jump. Jumps are great, so double the fun.

Game's kicking my butt. The bosses are pretty fun though. Normal basically forces you to understand how to deal with the attack patterns.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
Playing through Felghana finally because of that Steam sale and finishing up Nayuta.

Just got the double jump. Jumps are great, so double the fun.

Game's kicking my butt. The bosses are pretty fun though. Normal basically forces you to understand how to deal with the attack patterns.
I played through on nightmare my first time only 3 frustrating bosses in the game imo, it's great though have fun :)
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
So is celceta considered to be very easy? I don't remember it kicking my butt like origin.

Loving the difficulty though.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Normal. I just find the bosses hard. Everything else is pretty much fine. Celceta was just pretty easy throughout though, which is why this took me by surprise.
 

Rhapsody

Banned
Normal. I just find the bosses hard. Everything else is pretty much fine. Celceta was just pretty easy throughout though, which is why this took me by surprise.

Oh wait, I got it flipped. I thought you were talking about Celceta. I haven't played Origin outside of the demo (really excited for the nostalgia trip when I get to this one though).
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
In Celceta on normal I think I died once or twice, and that was without using healing items or flash guarding. I also didn't intentionally try to use flash move, but some were unavoidable due to the nature of the mechanic.

I'd say it's the easiest Ys game I've played. I didn't find Origin all that hard either though, I consider its hard mode to be comparable to Felghana's normal mode.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Huh, though I wonder how much of it is me being udnerleveled, because there were some sections which I skipped and now that grinded a level or 2 the boss I was stuck at was a LOT easier.
 

demidar

Member
Huh, though I wonder how much of it is me being udnerleveled, because there were some sections which I skipped and now that grinded a level or 2 the boss I was stuck at was a LOT easier.

Origins and Felghana both have coarse power gains (Felghana way more so). What that means is that a single level up in Felghana can change an impossible boss battle to a very manageable one (whereas it'll take 3-5 levels in Origins).
 
The Colliseum fight in Ys 7 just pushed this game way up my Ys list, I was already surprised by how much I was liking it after being meh'd by Memories Of Celceta, but Ys 7 is easily one of the best in the series story, gameplay, characters, music, etc. Even with the party system this feels like a Ys game.
 

Usobuko

Banned
The Colliseum fight in Ys 7 just pushed this game way up my Ys list, I was already surprised by how much I was liking it after being meh'd by Memories Of Celceta, but Ys 7 is easily one of the best in the series story, gameplay, characters, music, etc. Even with the party system this feels like a Ys game.

I didn't know I could block until I beat the game.

And the colliseum fight was tedious as shit because of it.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Just beat Ys Chronicles. People weren't kidding about them being old school RPGs. You really do need one of those old school thick RPG manuals that used to come with PC games to beat Ys I & II (I suppose you could do it without a set of maps, though it would be pretty excruciating) though I had immense fun in figuring out how to beat the bosses by myself. I also really enjoyed how well the leveling system was balanced; I never felt like I had to do more than 2 minutes of enemy slaying in certain rare points to get proper experience to get the levels I needed to win against bosses, though it was a rude awakening to come across a boss and doing tiny pixels of damage with the wrong weapon or improper level.

Example of the map I used to navigate the shrine in Ys II (and I still got lost many times).
http://i.imgur.com/nq0Dg9z.png

Just started Ys Origin and I've only played 5 minutes and wow, this game is really awesome (though the art looks a little weird in how clean it is... call me a sucker, but I liked older, more imprecise character art). I think I'm going to switch from controller to keyboard for this one with WASD control on movement. Feels like I'm playing a really awesome 3D "Castlevania" with the way enemies and traps move and how I interact with them. Currently playing through blind right now without any guide assistance (that's the way I prefer to play) and if it looks like I won't need maps or extremely specific weapons to advance in the game then I should be good to go through guide-less.

So all is well in the world of Ys... for now.
Did I mention that Adol Christin is a really badass name for a hero?
 

Erheller

Member
Ys Origin is decently playable with a keyboard, except for when you're fighting
Velagunder
. Climbing up his arms is a huge pain in the ass without an analog stick.
 

KHlover

Banned
Just beat Ys Chronicles. People weren't kidding about them being old school RPGs. You really do need one of those old school thick RPG manuals that used to come with PC games to beat Ys I & II (I suppose you could do it without a set of maps, though it would be pretty excruciating) though I had immense fun in figuring out how to beat the bosses by myself. I also really enjoyed how well the leveling system was balanced; I never felt like I had to do more than 2 minutes of enemy slaying in certain rare points to get proper experience to get the levels I needed to win against bosses, though it was a rude awakening to come across a boss and doing tiny pixels of damage with the wrong weapon or improper level.

Example of the map I used to navigate the shrine in Ys II (and I still got lost many times).
http://i.imgur.com/nq0Dg9z.png

Just started Ys Origin and I've only played 5 minutes and wow, this game is really awesome (though the art looks a little weird in how clean it is... call me a sucker, but I liked older, more imprecise character art). I think I'm going to switch from controller to keyboard for this one with WASD control on movement. Feels like I'm playing a really awesome 3D "Castlevania" with the way enemies and traps move and how I interact with them. Currently playing through blind right now without any guide assistance (that's the way I prefer to play) and if it looks like I won't need maps or extremely specific weapons to advance in the game then I should be good to go through guide-less.

So all is well in the world of Ys... for now.
Did I mention that Adol Christin is a really badass name for a hero?

Idk about Ys 2 (didn't finish it yet but I got lost in Solomon mines more than once), but Ys 1 is definitely beatable without any kind of map (you should ideally have played another Ys game before though). You got road markers everywhere and the dungeons aren't too complicated either (Shrine puzzle with the statues is where I was stuck the longest). As long as you get every chest you can't possibly miss the silver equipment and levelling is extremely fair. One point where I could see someone get stuck is Vagullion if they didn't
eat the Roda fruit and get the Silver Sword yet)
, but otherwise the game is actually pretty linear. Darm tower is also pretty straightforward with one or two exceptions.

Note: I'm probably a bit biased though, since I already played Ys Origin before Ys 1. That may have made Darm Tower and getting the Silver Sword a bit easier since I already knew about the Roda Tree and some puzzles in Darm Tower before starting the game.
 

Rhapsody

Banned
The only thing that got me in Ys 1 is that pillar lol. Ys 2 wasn't too bad either. The shrine is expected to be complicated since you're near the end. I think the beginning's mines dungeon was a bit overwhelming for the start of a game. Then again, it did expect you to just come off of Ys 1.
 

KHlover

Banned
The only thing that got me in Ys 1 is that pillar lol. Ys 2 wasn't too bad either. The shrine is expected to be complicated since you're near the end. I think the beginning's mines dungeon was a bit overwhelming for the start of a game. Then again, it did expect you to just come off of Ys 1.

Those mines would have been fine if everything didn't look exactly the same. Like - no matter which way you went there'd be zero difference in how each part of those mines looked. The worst were those rooms where you had three staircases next to each other and no matter which one you took you'd have ANOTHER two or three staircases o_O
 
Solomon Palace/Shrine isn't that confusing IMO, but Subterranean Canal threw me for a loop when I lowered the water level and tried figuring out how to get into the area that I later found led to the Core of Ys. Both dungeons are great—they're not complex enough to need mapping but more loopy than a lot of dungeon layouts in games today, and yet it all makes sense within the game's world. Rasteenie Mine is like this as well, but I can see it being overwhelming because players don't want to fight the hardest demons yet and running through half-abandoned spaces that look the same isn't easy. Three staircases in a row with branching stairways through each door was the most complex it got, and that's only a bit worse than most of Solomon.

Moondoria is for newbs, but at least I found one last use for the Mattock when getting the Bestiary Potion. Noltia and Burnedbless feel more like transitional overworld dungeons and so aren't as rough to memorize.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Maybe I'm just the king of scrubdom but I kept getting stuck a lot and many of the areas and rooms are visually similar, so it was frustrating; but thinking back to the time when maps were provided with the games you bought (like with the first Legend of Zelda; I still have this map, by the way) I figured it couldn't hurt. I felt like it contributed to the experience of being an adventurer by having a map on hand. :p

I should note I didn't consult the maps constantly. Only when I got stuck for a decent amount of time, which happened a lot. :p
 

gaiages

Banned
I didn't know I could block until I beat the game.

And the colliseum fight was tedious as shit because of it.

Lol! I didn't know either, I just dodged around like a crazy person and never realized I could used that darn shield. Yeah, it made the Coliseum fight and that boss battle against the bird a pain in the behind.
 

Psxphile

Member
I knew how to Flash Guard (tap R, then L) but I almost never used it in my last (read: first) playthrough. Probably a good thing, since from what I hear it kinda breaks the game. You get a pretty big attack boost after a successful guard.
 
I knew how to Flash Guard (tap R, then L) but I almost never used it in my last (read: first) playthrough. Probably a good thing, since from what I hear it kinda breaks the game. You get a pretty big attack boost after a successful guard.

So just like in Memories it's a completely broken mechanic? Excellent glad to know :|

Flash guarding and flash dodging killed Memories combat because it wasn't about learning enemy attacks, it was about standing and hitting dash/guard just before you got hit, then pounding on them.
 
Another thing I really like about Ys 7 is kind of a spoiler so I'll tag it

I like that the party isn't permanent with Sigroon replacing Aisha and Cruxie replacing Mustafa, it helps make a fairly cliche story be slightly less predictable

I also feel like there is less dialogue when compared to Memories and as a whole the party is far more interesting, at least Dogi and Geis > anybody in Memories cast.
 
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