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Post by toei on Dec 6, 2022 21:31:21 GMT -5
bonesnapdeez Have you ever played that Korean Ys II game? That's the one I'm most curious about.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Dec 6, 2022 21:41:32 GMT -5
bonesnapdeez Have you ever played that Korean Ys II game? That's the one I'm most curious about. The DOS Ys II Special? Sadly, no. It does look awesome though. And seems to be available on abandonware sites. There was actually a DOS Ys I released in North America under the title of "Ancient Land of Ys." It was a Kyodai release, alongside the C64 port of Xtalsoft's Babylon, and the DOS ports of Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War and J.B. Harold Murder Club. All this stuff is, sadly, really rare.
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Post by Ex on Dec 7, 2022 4:28:56 GMT -5
I've been curious about that one, but Falcom didn't make it (Future Creates did) so probably not good. the DS versions of I & II could be my least favorite, since I've heard they play very badly You heard correctly. I'd be interested in replaying Ys V two more times. Once via its "Expert" version, and the other via its PS2 polygonal remake. Unfortunately neither of those versions have English fan translations yet (to my knowledge). I hope to play those someday. Unfortunately they fall into what I call "give up on life RPGs", meaning I don't have the kind of free time to throw at them right now. Beating 80+ hour long RPGs takes me months man. Eventually I'll carve out time though (which would require giving up other hobbies I guess, or just playing each one piecemeal for six+ months). Still wouldn't mind running through the Duo/SNES versions of Ys IV, though. I have played both of them. I'd be interested in your opinions of those upon beating them (ergo fully informed opinion). The SFC and PCECD versions of Ys IV often are lauded... and I just can't figure out why. I mean sure, both versions have decent graphics and good music. But that doesn't make up for their asinine game design, with crap difficulty balancing, and ridiculous amounts of bump grinding required through ultra bland stages/dungeons. I just don't get it. To me it's blatantly obvious Falcom didn't make those games.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 7, 2022 12:33:21 GMT -5
I dunno, I see a lot of hate on Mask of the Sun. The PCE version does get a lot more praise, though.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Dec 7, 2022 13:45:40 GMT -5
Well, Hudson made The Dawn of Ys and I think they understood the series quite well. It kind of reminds me of A Link to the Past, as we see the newfangled Metroidvania design abandoned and a return to the series roots, albeit with a much more complex and expanded game world.
The fan translation (x2) is pretty amazing too, considering the fact that the game was dubbed in English.
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Post by Ex on Dec 7, 2022 16:09:09 GMT -5
I dunno, I see a lot of hate on Mask of the Sun. Well Mask seems to run the gamut on opinions: But Dawn is definitely lauded: The fan translation (x2) is pretty amazing too, considering the fact that the game was dubbed in English. The Dawn fan translation is very well done I agree. I also think Dawn has nice graphics and good audio. But the actual moment to moment gameplay, scenario and level designs, enemy balancing, required grinding, all that stuff is not good. Or at least, it wasn't good to me.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Dec 7, 2022 16:29:00 GMT -5
"ImperialScrolls" is me of course.
That 2002 review ends with my favorite paragraph ever: New games suck! These use polygons, which suck! 2-D sprites forever! Why can't these new crappy compainies make excellent 2-D games like SNK (The god of 2-D) and NEC can!? Anyone who is reading this review and owns either a PS2 or X-Box (Dreamcast is acceptable since it had good games. Gamecube is also acceptable since I see it's like their older games) should throw it on the ground, burn it, and buy a Neo Geo and Turbo Duo!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 7, 2022 17:04:14 GMT -5
Heh. I should consider posting more reviews in places. Bully on y'all for doing so.
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Post by Moulinoski on Dec 9, 2022 21:27:22 GMT -5
As I’ve mentioned in the “now playing” thread, I’ve been on an Ys kick since the middle of the year, playing through each game (at least up to 8 since I don’t have 9 yet).
The first Ys game I played was Oath in Felghana for PSP way back in the day. I’d heard of Ys before then but didn’t really know anything about it. Oath got me interested in trying the other games but I made the unfortunate choice to try playing Ys 1 on Windows (likely in Japanese) and… well, the bump system does require some instruction.
Fast forward to like 2019 or 2020, and I received Ys 1, 2, and Origin (and Oath?) for Steam for Christmas. A very generous gift indeed! So, I learned How to play Ys 1. This version is also very user friendly and gives you a lot of extra feedback to let you know you’re hitting things (and makes it more fun to play). Actually, I also got Ys 1 and 2 for my phone because… I don’t know, reasons I guess. Something that also helped was Basement Brothers on YouTube. Their review of Ys 1 and Ys 2 for PC88 is great (as are the other PC88 and PC98 videos; they also have a series of Neo Geo videos).
So, Ys 1 is fun after all but I prefer the Steam version about all other versions. The PC Engine version is good too but I dislike the lack of visual feedback. Yeah, there’s a little feedback but I prefer seeing a wide sword swing even if Adol doesn’t move his arm at all. I’ve tried the Famicom one as well as the Master System version (although I didn’t do much on the MS version). The Famicom version is… something… I have essentially quit it at the mines. I just realized that I wasn’t really enjoying it. The phone version is fine if you only use touch controls but it can get tricky moving Adol around. It’s much better to just use a controller.
Ys 2 is more fun, in my opinion, than Ys 1. I prefer the Steam version (of course). The PC Engine version is alright and I’ve made it to Solomon Shrine and… I’m struggling to bother to keep going. I should, though. I mean, I’m practically at the finish line. I have sampled the Famicom version but only slightly and I’m not exactly a fan still.
I’ve given Ys 3 a try on several platforms. I hear that the Genesis version is the best and the SNES version is the worst but I rather like what I played of the SNES version. At least, I was able to make it somewhere. I’m not sure I can stomach the voice acting in the PC Engine version. I also sampled the Famicom version and I don’t think I’ll bother with it too much either. I tried Ys 3 after playing Oath so it’s probably that I got spoiled as well.
I’ve played and beaten Ys 4 on Super Famicom. I liked it but the same criticism I have about the early bump system are here as well. Plus, I didn’t know you could use magic with certain swords as the game never brought it up as far as I’m aware. It’s likely that it was information available on the manual, however. I have sampled the PC Engine version and I’m looking forward to giving it a serious try later on but since I’ve already gotten through Ys 4 on SFC and Memories of Celceta just recently, I’m in no hurry to return to Celceta anytime soon.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Ys 5 considering what I heard about it. I was pleasantly surprised. I had a lot of fun with it even if it was pretty easy. It’s easily one of the best looking games on the Super Famicom / SNES. I even grinded my magic stats a bit. I did struggle with the “ring-like” menu system but it still manages to be more intuitive than the menu system from Secret of Mana. I gave Ys 5 a shot on PS2 and it’s… okay. I read that it can take up to 50 hours to beat which seems exaggerated. I didn’t get too far into it; I only made it to the woman you meet early on who teaches you magic. There’s something about the way Adol moves that bugs me, like he’s not overly enthusiastic about his adventure or something. This is probably only apparent because I played it after playing the Ys games on the Napishtim system.
Ys 6 is wonderful! I wonder how I would have reacted to it if I played it back in the day. I actually knew it was a PS2 game back in the day but never really thought much about it. Ys games have a sort of “generic modern style” that sometimes works against them. Anyway. Despite getting into Ys 6 after Oath and Origin, I still found it highly enjoyable. Could be that it’s because I played it after 5 on SFC, giving me a break from Oath and Origin, or because I played the enhanced Steam version which adds fast travel. I really like this one. I think the Napishtim system may be my favorite Ys system so far.
Oath in Felghana is likely still my favorite of the bunch, if only because of nostalgia. I like how Adol’s sprite changes if you wear matching equipment and his final set makes him look powerful. I like the speed at which he runs. I did dislike that I had to stop to level grind a bit in the volcano section but it’s not too bad. I like the story (what there is of it, in any case). I’m struggling to find anything to say about it other than that it’s fantastic!
I like Ys Origin but I only got through Yunica’s story. I tried Hugh’s but quit early on because it felt like it was just the same thing as Yunica’s and I was getting a little sick of it. I had just previously replayed Oath, after all, and too much of a good thing can still be bad. I do plan on revisiting it if only to play through the third scenario. On Steam, this scenario is unlocked after finishing just one scenario so I don’t actually have to play through Hugh’s story anyway. I did miss running around on a field. I wonder what the land of Esteria looked like 700 years before Adol.
I didn’t think I would like having a party system but Memories of Celceta turned me around on it. I’m not in love with it but it’s not terrible and it works better than in something like Secret of Mana (not exactly fair since Memories of Celceta is more recent). I’m not sure of Memories of Celceta is old enough to be considered retro yet so I’ll stop here and just leave it at “it’s actually good”.
Finally, Ys 7 is the one I’m currently playing. I’m enjoying it so far but I miss the flash dodge mechanic from MoC. Of course, Ys 7 came before MoC so that kind of enhancement isn’t there yet. I do like the ability to change Adol’s attack type. I prefer to play as Adol so I appreciate not being stuck to one attack type with him (contrary to MoC, didn’t annoy me there but now I see that it could’ve been a feature in there too and it wasn’t in it). The story has been interesting so far although I’m at the point where most things are likely not going to be too surprising anymore. I don’t know who the actual assassin is yet, however.
I already have Ys 8 on my Steam library and am planning on getting into it once I’m through with 7. We’ll see how I like that one before I try 9. Either way, these two are too recent to be discussed in the retro section.
Ys has been a bit like my Zelda-when-I-am-tired-with-Zelda. I still love the Zelda series but it doesn’t really hold anything new for me. It’s like going to the same restaurant I’ve loved since I was a kid. I still love it, it’s still delicious, but it’s a familiar taste. It’s comfortable and I’ll be there when a new item is released. Until then, however, I’m trying out other dishes and that new dish has been served by the Ys restaurant at the moment.
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bosh
HRG Enthusiast
Posts: 207
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Post by bosh on Dec 10, 2022 3:31:17 GMT -5
Only played through book 1 on TG16. Enjoyed it (bump attack and all). I actually do have a majority of the series and have been meaning to get into it.
It's pretty nice the Vita covers almost the entire series with it's psp counterparts
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