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Post by toei on May 18, 2024 22:17:12 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed a single level made a big difference on the first main boss. But I was maxed out at level 10 by the Abandoned Mines portion probably, so the whole Darm Tower section was just having to brute force it and the final boss. That's maybe where a little grinding and a higher level cap might not have been a bad idea, if another level or two eased up the final boss fight. Eeesh. Can't even fathom how that fight is on anything higher than Normal. Classic Ys is different than other RPGs in that you are supposed to max out before the end. You can pretty much tell what level you're supposed to be in any given area based on how combat works out (one level makes a difference, two is another world) and how much exp. you're getting from enemies, because it scales down as you level up. So if monsters are hardly giving you any exp. anymore, you're already as high as you're supposed to be for that place. Also Ys I and II kind of form a whole, so that's why you max out at just 10 in 1. I agree no potions during bosses sucks. II has one big addition to combat, as Sarge implied... but you're going to be mad when you see how the bosses work. Also, no, it's not 10 hours shorter than anything, lol. I keep telling you, those early Ys games are all 5-6 hours each. Maybe 8 hours is the very longest. That's one thing I really liked about them, so compact. I think both versions of 4 are the best with that formula as they're a little more developed in some ways (we know Ex ). 1 is actually my least favorite of bump combat Ys. Also keep in mind Ys 1 & 2 aren't from the '90s, they're from the '80s, which is where the few bits of bs design comes in (at least the one mirror trick, etc...) Even the first wave of 3D Ys - VI, Oath in Felghana, Origins - aren't very long. So you can catch up to Seven pretty quickly, despite there being so many games before. |
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Post by Xeogred on May 18, 2024 22:27:26 GMT -5
Also keep in mind Ys 1 & 2 aren't from the '90s, they're from the '80s, which is where the few bits of bs design comes in (at least the one mirror trick, etc...) Even the first wave of 3D Ys - VI, Oath in Felghana, Origins - aren't very long. Origins especially, but it's got the whole multi-character with some story differences approach where it's largely the same stuff but not entirely. The last character you can unlock is crazy fast and fun to play as, but I don't know if it's worth beating it 3 times like I did. Maybe after a break. +10 to my respect, heh. Yeah I forget Y's is going back pretty to the 80's. I'm glad they didn't take the Mask (hidden doors) gimmick too far either, cause that could have been abused more in the wrong hands of some mad dev haha. It's a good thing that there aren't too many main supporting characters. After awhile I got the hunch that even if no NPC tells you directly, sometimes it was worth going back to talk to some of them again after getting an item or whatever. At one point I went back all the way to the first town and actually got a free Talwar(?), the level 3 sword, from Adol's military friend in the barracks. My item screen had a spot or two blanks, so I probably missed a few other little things like that. Oh yeah, you couldn't even cycle through your equipped rings in boss battles either. But you could do that anywhere else. Another oddity. I'm surprised that the original versions are so brief too then. But I guess that adds up with how the leveling works in these early games. With no real need to grind, the game just pushes you forward on the main path. Guess you guys have me intrigued on Ys II. Wasn't sure if I'd jump into that one right away next, but with it being fairly short too and now sounding like it changes up something with the combat, I'll think about it tomorrow. It's kind of rare that I run through games back to back with just a different character. But it happens sometimes across various genres. |
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Post by Ex on May 18, 2024 22:30:27 GMT -5
I beat the Eternal version of Ys1 (English patch exists). I liked everything except the "puzzle" BS in the latter dungeon. The reason I haven't played Ys2 yet, is because it has even more of those kind of "puzzles". Someday I'll do Ys2 via the PSP Chronicles version. But I'm more interested in Ys9/10 than Ys2 by miles. |
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Post by Xeogred on May 18, 2024 23:33:29 GMT -5
The Eternal versions look pretty similar to Chronicles+ here from what I'm seeing.
Kind of love when this happened with older games, that means for the 20 remakes of Y's 1-2 out there, there's like 20 some awesome OST variants too.  |
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Post by bonesnapdeez on May 19, 2024 7:59:23 GMT -5
In the old Ys games, you need to powerlevel in each area until you basically aren't gaining XP anymore. Ignore that and you're asking for trouble.
Ys II is amazing. I'd say it's as good as The Legend of Zelda. So, two of the best games ever made. EVER.
The "Eternal" Windows variants are the first two true remakes of Ys I and II. Everything that follows is an enhanced port, based off Eternal.
Chronicles is great. I ran through it multiple times, even imported a physical PC version from Japan.
I'd play Ys II immediately. Oh, and enjoy dat OST.
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Post by toei on May 19, 2024 8:17:03 GMT -5
Yeah I & II are basically always packaged together ever since the PCE-CD version, so they're fine to play back-to-back as they directly follow each other and they're real short.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on May 19, 2024 8:24:36 GMT -5
Yeah I & II are basically always packaged together ever since the PCE-CD version, so they're fine to play back-to-back as they directly follow each other and they're real short. Fine? More like MANDATORY. |
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Post by Xeogred on May 23, 2024 21:08:44 GMT -5
Ys II is complete.
2024... Ys I-II and Xeo have now jointly seen the light.
Had a blast playing these games and aside from that one key item moment in the final dungeon requiring a one time weird use of some magic, this was an improvement over the first game in every way to me. I wouldn't have even minded if it kept going more, since the variety and pacing was immaculate. Yet with how brief this was (~7 hours for me on this version) combined with the first game, the ending still felt pretty melancholic. Dat emotional Ys music kicking in doing its work, with a lot of fun characters I got to know along the way. Not as intimately as Ys8 and I shouldn't ever expect that level of engagement, but seems like Ys has always had some good NPC/storytelling along the way since the very beginning of the series. The visuals and atmosphere of the final stretch here was tremendous. Now unfortunately... contrast to the Ys1 final boss being insane, I beat Ys2's on my first attempt haha. Was close though and not like it was an easy fight, but yeah. Would have liked something in the middle between the difficulty challenge of these two final bosses. It was easy and fun to grind a bit at the end of YsII though, I wanted to hit level 50 at least and then realized it wasn't the level cap! Not sure what it was, but I think I was level 54 by the end.
Now I've been stoked to check out YsIII soon, but honestly, I guess I won't be super surprised if it doesn't surpass YsII for me. The bar is higher than I could have predicted. I think I'll be glad that YsIV gets back to this overhead kind of style.
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Post by Sarge on May 23, 2024 22:40:09 GMT -5
Good beat! I wonder if I'd have enjoyed them more if I'd played this version instead. Dunno! Probably something to do eventually with all this free time that I have.   |
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Post by Xeogred on May 23, 2024 23:15:25 GMT -5
I definitely can't stress enough how much I LOVED the pixel work in these versions. So yeah maybe I got spoiled. |
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