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[Mejilan]

Not a single ring in Ys I will have any kind of effect in a boss fight.
Bosses are all about level, equipment, and pattern recognition.

Ys II is different.

Right, gotcha. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't you heal slowly even in monster-infested dungeons without the ring? I did notice on the outside portions of Darm Tower that your heal ring increase the rate of healing more so than if you were inside. I guess these safe spots would also include towns and the main field.

The outer balconies of Darm Tower are considered safe zones, so you can auto-heal there without the ring. If you're in an active part of the dungeon, you won't heal at all without the ring equipped. Yep, the outdoor fields and towns are safe zones as well, so auto-healing will occur there.

 

[Brandon F]

Just spent about 30 attempts trying to down Boss 3 in Ys 1. I want my money back.

I'm level 10(cap), have all Silver equipment, so there is absolutely no work around to this god awful boss. Room is tiny, bats are often impossible to avoid, no matter how skillfully I kite them, and the window of attack is so meager that missing an opportunity to strike is far too easy(punishing too given how fast the bats reappear). Ring effects get turned off, items are locked, its bullshit.

Crazier still, the previous boss was such a pushover I never had an opportunity to even witness a single attack or animation.

This bat boss fight has soured me entirely on the game, which was waning anyway. I also really despise how necessary the included walkthrough has been for activating progression events(the harmonica and apple seed 'events' particularly were some dumb shit.)

Music is quite awesome at least.

 

[Yuterald]

Just spent about 30 attempts trying to down Boss 3 in Ys 1. I want my money back.

I'm level 10(cap), have all Silver equipment, so there is absolutely no work around to this god awful boss. Room is tiny, bats are often impossible to avoid, no matter how skillfully I kite them, and the window of attack is so meager that missing an opportunity to strike is far too easy(punishing too given how fast the bats reappear). Ring effects get turned off, items are locked, its bullshit.

Crazier still, the previous boss was such a pushover I never had an opportunity to even witness a single attack or animation.

This bat boss fight has soured me entirely on the game, which was waning anyway. I also really despise how necessary the included walkthrough has been for activating progression events(the harmonica and apple seed 'events' particularly were some dumb shit.)

Music is quite awesome at least.

It's unfortunately going to get worse from there. I don't even know what to say about that 3rd bat boss. Try staying up against the walls at all times as you circle around the arena. I remember trying to sit in corners and kind of wait for the bats to home in on me at the last second before bailing out seemed to work. It kind of is a shitty boss, what difficulty are you on btw?

As far as using a walkthrough because of vague events, it's an old game. The first time I played it on turbographix I figured everything out but some event in the final dungeon. I thought the apple seed events were cool. I think some towns people even hint at what you are supposed to do. I guess it's just personal preference though. The game isn't that large so you can ultimately figure out what to do by just checking things and talking to everyone in the end.

 

[Brandon F]

It's unfortunately going to get worse from there. I don't even know what to say about that 3rd bat boss. Try staying up against the walls at all times as you circle around the arena. I remember trying to sit in corners and kind of wait for the bats to home in on me at the last second before bailing out seemed to work. It kind of is a shitty boss, what difficulty are you on btw?

As far as using a walkthrough because of vague events, it's an old game. The first time I played it on turbographix I figured everything out but some event in the final dungeon. I thought the apple seed events were cool. I think some towns people even hint at what you are supposed to do. I guess it's just personal preference though. The game isn't that large so you can ultimately figure out what to do by just checking things and talking to everyone in the end.

Yea, I can avoid the bats much of the time, but when they spread, it's nigh impossible to not take damage. Playing on Hard difficulty, which seemed paced nicely up to this point. Any problems were rectified with a small bit of grinding and buying new gear, which didn't take long.

But now I'm capped, and the balance seems fukked. This boss is up there as one of the worst in all of gaming. Miniscule attack window, no real pattern, not enough real room to dodge the mass bats. It's very random when he decides to 'form up' and when he does it's so difficult to actually reach him in that timeframe. Ugh...

Maybe I'll just jump into Ys II already, but part of me just wants to never touch the collection again.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Maybe I'll just jump into Ys II already, but part of me just wants to never touch the collection again.

Could you lower the difficulty, fight the boss, then raise it back up again? I don't have the PSN version yet so I dunno if you can change the difficulty on the fly.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

You should really think about switching to Normal difficulty and restarting from the beginning if Boss 3 is giving you that much trouble. Because its only gonna get worse from here on.

 

[Teknoman]

Just spent about 30 attempts trying to down Boss 3 in Ys 1. I want my money back.

I'm level 10(cap), have all Silver equipment, so there is absolutely no work around to this god awful boss. Room is tiny, bats are often impossible to avoid, no matter how skillfully I kite them, and the window of attack is so meager that missing an opportunity to strike is far too easy(punishing too given how fast the bats reappear). Ring effects get turned off, items are locked, its bullshit.

Crazier still, the previous boss was such a pushover I never had an opportunity to even witness a single attack or animation.

This bat boss fight has soured me entirely on the game, which was waning anyway. I also really despise how necessary the included walkthrough has been for activating progression events(the harmonica and apple seed 'events' particularly were some dumb shit.)

Music is quite awesome at least.

Even though I missed the harmonica and roda stuff (due to rushing), it is kinda obvious to go back and "finish quests" if you are having trouble at a certain point in the game. As far as the bats go, just lure them into the corner and try to run around. You'll know when its reforming when you see a swirl of energy.

And yeah, most of the important NPCs do hint at what you are supposed to do with certain items once you have them.

 

[Yuterald]

I do somewhat agree that Ys I has some balance issues, at least this version does. The fact that you can't use items during boss fights is dumb as shit and I didn't know that rings become inactive during boss battles either until today. I also don't understand why your level caps at 10. Darm Tower is practically half the game and there is no real incentive to fight enemies there once you reach the max. I would have let the player AT LEAST gain 5 more levels.

Ys II Chronicles is definitely a lot more fun and feels way more balanced so far.

 

[vall03]

being a Roo is so damn fun! really loving all the reactions, humans or monsters alike

 

[ULTROS!]

I finally finished both games, will write my review tomorrow.

I have to say Ys II is much better than I. Though II will be slightly difficult in terms of boss battles, it's much more balanced compared to Ys I.

being a Roo is so damn fun! really loving all the reactions, humans or monsters alike

Burning people is fun too.

 

[Princess Skittles]

I have to say Ys II is much better than I. Though II will be slightly difficult in terms of boss battles, it's much more balanced compared to Ys I.

Eh, II's boss battles are a strange thing. On one hand, they pretty much turn the game into a shmup, which breaks the standard mold of the game (something I always consider a bad design choice). BUT, being that the alternative is using the "bump" system that made every one of I's boss battles absolute shite, it's hard to knock on it too much.

Anyway..

I can see how originally, Ys I & II Eternal stuck SO CLOSE to the original games as sort of a deluxe fan package..

But by now (in what, the fifth or sixth version of the Eternal remake), Falcom should have done something to rebalance the games or give them something of a more modern battle system. The PSP package would have been PERFECT for this, they could have made the "Complete" and "Chronicles" selection at the start of the game mean something. The "Complete" versions are the "stick to the originals to a fault" version and the "Chronicles" versions could have been a version relevant to the year 2011.

 

[Augemitbutter]

let them remake IV and V first, then we can talk.

 

[Princess Skittles]

let them remake IV and V first, then we can talk.

Falcom's way too into Legend of Heroes/Trails in the Sky to care much about Ys anymore.

 

[Salaadin]

Falcom's way too into Legend of Heroes/Trails in the Sky to care much about Ys anymore.

Dont say that. It makes me sad
Ive been wondering about TitS though. Its Falcom so it must be good, right? I ought to just preorder it already.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Dont say that. It makes me sad
Ive been wondering about TitS though. Its Falcom so it must be good, right? I ought to just preorder it already.

Nah, they can't abandon Ys, not yet at least.

But there's been a definite lack of non-Ys/non-TitS in their focus since Zwei II in 2008.

If it wasn't for Ys SEVEN, I'd have lost my Falcom card by now.

As far as TitS goes, check out the recent thread here on GAF for some details on it, it's a different beast for Falcom in a lot of ways (30-50 hour turn based RPG, 70% of the game is dialogue). Seeing as Falcom is generally known for brisk, tightly paced action RPGs, it may be off-putting to some fans, though the game still carries Falcom's charms in a lot of ways.

 

[rainking187]

Does anyone have a list of the items in Ys II? I beat the game, but had quite a few gaps on the item screen.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Does anyone have a list of the items in Ys II? I beat the game, but had quite a few gaps on the item screen.

Most of the optional items are really pounded into your head of their locations based on talking to monsters. For instance, the well-hidden healing cape in the Ice Ridge, almost all the monsters in the area(s) near where is is located talk about it.

 

[Ben Morales]

The bat boss is irritating. But once you beat him, the next boss after him is a freaking joke! The boss music for the next boss is EPIC! My 5 year old nephew is watching me play and while bobbing his head to the beat of Darm Tower says, "This music is cool!" LOL

JDK Band FTW

 

[JEKKI]

I needed something to play and popped this game in.

I glanced the posts in this thread and I couldnt find anybody mention it, so I'ma ask;

did anybody else have problems when starting the game when the opening movie hella skips and stutters all over the place??

mine does... and I am on custom firmware btw.

It sucks, tho I wonder if ripping the game will remedy that. The game itself played OK... until I died and restarted the game only to watch the opening movie skip & stutter again!!!

 

[Diomedeskun]

Played through the Turbo Duo s Book I and II on virtual console, and I've gotta say that version is mechanically better. Sure, the graphics are often incomprehensible, but the combination of the two games meant that experience was distributed much better and the game felt much more balanced. I'm stuck at the 3rd boss maxed out as well, and I don't remember having so much trouble with him originally.

Honestly, so many of the new story scenes are so difficult to find that the graphics and music are the only real advancements over the original. They are fantastic, but I still think I enjoyed it more before. That said, it was really, really hard to keep track of the characters in that version.

 

[Johnas]

Played through the Turbo Duo s Book I and II on virtual console, and I've gotta say that version is mechanically better. Sure, the graphics are often incomprehensible, but the combination of the two games meant that experience was distributed much better and the game felt much more balanced. I'm stuck at the 3rd boss maxed out as well, and I don't remember having so much trouble with him originally.

Honestly, so many of the new story scenes are so difficult to find that the graphics and music are the only real advancements over the original. They are fantastic, but I still think I enjoyed it more before. That said, it was really, really hard to keep track of the characters in that version.

You're exactly right about that boss, I played through them less than a year ago and it was not the same. I'm a little befuddled as to why they made some of the changes they did, unless they were purely for the sake of offering something different to the longtime fans (case in point, FFIV DS).

I'm halfway or better through Ys II right now, and I basically agree with your second paragraph as well. The Duo games just have this overall consistency to them that seems to be missing here. I am really enjoying the graphics and music in these remakes, though, the music in particular.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

I dug up some really old soundtracks and listened to Y's Symphonic Suite and Very Best of Y's. Some totally awesome music in there. Are "Endless History", "Palace of Salmon", "To Make The End Of Battle" and "Victory" in these two games in all their symphonic rock splendor?

 

[Princess Skittles]

I'm a little befuddled as to why they made some of the changes they did, unless they were purely for the sake of offering something different to the longtime fans (case in point, FFIV DS).

Any changes from the TG16 version are (mostly) because this game is based on Falcom's original Ys I & II, not Hudson's interpretation of it.

Though I do agree, the melding of the two games to form one experience was a solid idea and I'm shocked that was the only time this was ever done.

 

[Salaadin]

WHy did my level cap at 10? Wasnt it always 20 in the originals? Or was it 10 in 1 and 20 in 2?

 

[Princess Skittles]

WHy did my level cap at 10? Wasnt it always 20 in the originals? Or was it 10 in 1 and 20 in 2?

It was 10 in the original.

Different console versions varied greatly.

 

[Salaadin]

It was 10 in the original.

Different console versions varied greatly.

My first play through was on PC so it wasnt really the original version. I could swear the cap was 20.

 

[Teknoman]

I dug up some really old soundtracks and listened to Y's Symphonic Suite and Very Best of Y's. Some totally awesome music in there. Are "Endless History", "Palace of Salmon", "To Make The End Of Battle" and "Victory" in these two games in all their symphonic rock splendor?

Heres the Chronicles version of To make the end of battle:

To make the end of battle

I needed something to play and popped this game in.

I glanced the posts in this thread and I couldnt find anybody mention it, so I'ma ask;

did anybody else have problems when starting the game when the opening movie hella skips and stutters all over the place??

mine does... and I am on custom firmware btw.

It sucks, tho I wonder if ripping the game will remedy that. The game itself played OK... until I died and restarted the game only to watch the opening movie skip & stutter again!!!

No problems here, but im using the normal firmware/UMD version.

 

[Mejilan]

CFW here. No performance or skipping issues. At all.

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

Any changes from the TG16 version are (mostly) because this game is based on Falcom's original Ys I & II, not Hudson's interpretation of it.

Really? The level design in this remake is far different from the SMS or PCE versions. I don't think they were both done by Hudson?

The world is far larger here, and the game is far more tedious because of it. The intro is inferior, too. Takes too long to get to the action and thanks to the addition (?) of that port town and the tweaking of locations there's even more backtracking.

I don't care much for the new character art or graphics -- they're not bad, but the color palette is kinda drab -- but I was OK with that coming in. I didn't expect such huge changes to the pacing of the game though. They're almost all for the worse.

And yeah, the bat boss is bullshit and I've noticed very slight skipping on CFW, from both memstick and UMD.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Really? The level design in this remake is far different from the SMS or PCE versions. I don't think they were both done by Hudson?

The world is far larger here, and the game is far more tedious because of it. The intro is inferior, too. Takes too long to get to the action and thanks to the addition (?) of that port town and the tweaking of locations there's even more backtracking.

Nah, the port town and larger overworld are new to this version from even the original PC-88 version.

Sorry, I was referring to the level cap/balance mostly.

It's hard to keep up because there are dozens of versions of the game, each one having its own nuances/additions. I do beleive that the Eternal series (including Complete and Chronicles) simply uses Falcom's original PC-88/PC-98 version as its base and has its own additions while ignoring anything anybody else ever changed or added to it (such as new bosses and music in the Famicom version [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-0TW7805Gg][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGYCwyD9U3I][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFMCanF0m6M] or better balance in the TG16 version, for instance).

 

[Abel]

Slightly off topic, but it seems back on February 4th, Falcom tweeted a pic of supposedly adult Terra (heroine from Ys V & VI and

Spoiler

Ladoc's daughter and pirate

)

nihonfalcom 日本ファルコム
大人になってもこの海賊っ子の露出度は変わってませんがな（´・ω・｀） http://twitpic.com/3wd4tu #falcom

Supposedly it says:

"Even as an adult, the pirate girl’s “degree of exposure” hasn’t changed much, huh?"

Pic link: http://twitpic.com/3wd4tu

Could this be a possible sneak peak at the next Ys game :3?

source: http://bit.ly/fX8VsL

 

[Mejilan]

Looks like Terra to me!

 

[Augemitbutter]

new game or a remake of her first story, i'll take it all.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

So if somebody with a PSP was looking to get into this series, what order would people recommend they go in? Chronological order (I&II -> Oath -> VII) or release order (VII -> Oath -> I&II).

Also anyone download these? How big are they?

 

[linkboy]

So if somebody with a PSP was looking to get into this series, what order would people recommend they go in? Chronological order (I&II -> Oath -> VII) or release order (VII -> Oath -> I&II).

Also anyone download these? How big are they?

Honestly, IMO, it really doesn't matter since the games stories are pretty much self contained (there's a few references here and there, but they're all pretty much independent of each other).

Don't forget to add Napishtim into the mix. The PSP version sucks due to it being a bad port, but its still a fantastic game.

 

[JEKKI]

CFW here. No performance or skipping issues. At all.

I did a googles search and I wasnt the only dood having the problem...

it was remedy'd by manually turning the cpu game speed from default to the max setting, now the game works for me!!

or at least it would work if I wasnt busy playing Radiant Historia!!

 

[cj_iwakura]

Bat Boss still kicked my tail, at L10 with the Silver Armor/Shield and the best (shop) sword. Good to see nothing's changed.

 

[ULTROS!]

So if somebody with a PSP was looking to get into this series, what order would people recommend they go in? Chronological order (I&II -> Oath -> VII) or release order (VII -> Oath -> I&II).

Also anyone download these? How big are they?

Ys Chronicles is around 700mb. Manual is included (check the settings of the game file)

 

[Foffy]

Slightly off topic, but it seems back on February 4th, Falcom tweeted a pic of supposedly adult Terra (heroine from Ys V & VI and

Spoiler

Ladoc's daughter and pirate

)

nihonfalcom 日本ファルコム
大人になってもこの海賊っ子の露出度は変わってませんがな（´・ω・｀） http://twitpic.com/3wd4tu #falcom

Supposedly it says:

"Even as an adult, the pirate girl’s “degree of exposure” hasn’t changed much, huh?"

Pic link: http://twitpic.com/3wd4tu

Could this be a possible sneak peak at the next Ys game :3?

source: http://bit.ly/fX8VsL

Please be a new Ys game! ;___;

 

[ULTROS!]

I'm guessing it's an Ys V remake for either NGP or PSP.

Was Ys V any good?

 

[Grimmy]

I'm guessing it's an Ys V remake for either NGP or PSP.

Was Ys V any good?

That's not possible - Terra was a child in Ys V.

 

[Mejilan]

I did a googles search and I wasnt the only dood having the problem...

it was remedy'd by manually turning the cpu game speed from default to the max setting, now the game works for me!!

or at least it would work if I wasnt busy playing Radiant Historia!!

That's very odd. Nothing in the game should require 333MHz. Unless the port just isn't as optimized as it could have been.

But it's probably worth mentioning that I switched my PSPs to 333MHz 4 or so years ago and never looked back!

 

[Mejilan]

Bat Boss still kicked my tail, at L10 with the Silver Armor/Shield and the best (shop) sword. Good to see nothing's changed.

I wouldn't even bother tackling him without the Silver Sword.
Well, on Nightmare, at least, which is what I'm playing.

 

[Johnas]

Finally wrapped up Ys II a few minutes ago.

These are some excellent remakes. The sharp 2D graphics are a sad reminder that newer games with this visual flair are all but extinct now. I just started Oath in Felghana, and while very fun so far, the graphics are slightly jarring after playing Chronicles.

I ended up missing at least one item in Ys II, the spot on the inventory screen just to the right of the Roda Leaf. Also, on the bottom row, I only had an item on the far left side (some kind of berry), the rest of the row was blank. Not sure if I missed more items there or not.

Also, right when you enter the ruins north of the very first village, there's a brown treasure box inside a walled-in area. Is there any way to get that?

It had been a while since I played these games, I had forgotten how mazelike the dungeons are in Ys II.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Finally wrapped up Ys II a few minutes ago.

These are some excellent remakes. The sharp 2D graphics are a sad reminder that newer games with this visual flair are all but extinct now. I just started Oath in Felghana, and while very fun so far, the graphics are slightly jarring after playing Chronicles.

I ended up missing at least one item in Ys II, the spot on the inventory screen just to the right of the Roda Leaf. Also, on the bottom row, I only had an item on the far left side (some kind of berry), the rest of the row was blank. Not sure if I missed more items there or not.

Also, right when you enter the ruins north of the very first village, there's a brown treasure box inside a walled-in area. Is there any way to get that?

It had been a while since I played these games, I had forgotten how mazelike the dungeons are in Ys II.

Not really sure if this is a spoiler, but

Spoiler

you have to use the pick on the cracked portion of the wall

.

 

[Johnas]

Not really sure if this is a spoiler, but

Spoiler

you have to use the pick on the cracked portion of the wall

.

I tried that multiple times. I wonder what I was doing wrong.

I'll try again when I finish Felghana, thanks for the reply.

 

[Lain]

I received my game two days ago, played it some, got to the first boss fight and died like a sucker. I don't think I like the bump mechanic too much.

 

[Johnas]

I received my game two days ago, played it some, got to the first boss fight and died like a sucker. I don't think I like the bump mechanic too much.

General tip: Diagonal attacks are extremely effective. Bosses of course require various strategies, but generally attacking diagonally on regular enemies, as opposed to straight but just off center, will result in more successful attacks (and noticeably less damage to Adol).

 

[Lain]

I reached the Abandoned Mine boss, and this fight feels pretty cheap. Running away from the bats still has me losing health because there is no way to avoid them at certain angles, plus the timing to hit the boss... Feels, I don't know, a mix between unfair and bullshit.

 

[Edag Plata]

So how many orchestral soundtracks are there for the Ys series? I want to start looking into finding some of this music.