Ys Series

[Leb]

Okay, so, anyone who knows me (read: no one) knows that I love Ys. From Eternal to Origin, I play these games with the greatest of fervor. The games have changed over the years, particularly with combat, but Ys always seems to maintain a strong following. I'm wondering if any of these people are here.

If so, what have you played? What ones did you like? Playing any now? For myself...

Favorite - Ys Origin (PC)
The latest game in the main series, and a prequel to the original Ys. Tweaked into a dungeon crawler with multiple playable-characters, you get to visit a completely reimagined Tower of Darm. Really cool stuff.

Runner-Up - Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (PS2)
Taito remake, the predecessor of Ark of Napishtim (the port town seen in the opening of the latter is Xandria, the main city of this game). Adol explores Afroka in search of the fabled city of Kefin. The game isn't particularly great, but for some reason some of the short-comings (no 'guided' attacks into enemies, abusable leveling and money-making) meld together into something satisfying. Weird, I know.

I've been thinking about replaying Oath in Felghana since there's supposed to be an english patch now, but. Heard there was a virus in it.

Discuss this beloved series, fellow Ysians.

[Vextor]

It's a great series for sure. When it came out in Japan back when I was still a kid, it was massively popular among the PC using crowd. I've gone through Ys 1, 2, and 3. I havn't touched the series for years though, but I like the whole story (and mythology) and the characters are nice.

[Dew Dust]

I love Ys. I played Ys Books I and II on Turbo Graphix. I loved the story, the music was incredible and even the graphics were amazing for its time. Here are just a couple images of it since not many people know of it through Turbo Graphix. I believe the images are the same for the PC, but I am not sure.



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[Falcon Critical]

I have only played Ark of Naphistim, and upon finding out what kind of game it was I gave up shortly after. The only adventure-platform game like that which I have actually played right through is the original Alundra.
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[Luceit]

When I first heard of this game, I was wondering what in the world was it about.

Like Falcon Critical, the only Ys game I've ever played was Ys: Ark of Naphistim. I picked this game up last year after stumbling on it in a comic magazine I read and deciding that the game would be worth playing. I'd say that this was one of the only action RPGs I've really played and I enjoyed it a lot. Although the storyline was riddled with cliches at best and I ended up dying a lot, I liked the characters, the music and the gameplay. One of my best (or most bitter) memory of this game was my struggle against this furry beast that I fought after I beat the game.

I'd like to be able to try out the rest of the games as well, but the other remakes of the games here all appear to be in Japanese. I'll try and look out for Ys: Origin though, since I'm currently experiencing a dearth of games to play.
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[Leb]

As a warning, the only games in English are the first three titles and VI for PS2 and PSP. Konami's sitting on the publishing rights, and I don't think there'll be any new titles coming out in the US anytime soon.

Ys Origin doesn't require much knowledge in Japanese. Puzzles are never dependent on words or reading comprehension, and where to go is always linear because of the entire game taking place inside the Tower of Darm. You have nowhere to go but up.

I've been replaying it lately and forgot about how fun it was. There are four characters to play as (two secret), with three of them having their own story modes. Yunica Tovah is probably my favorite as she's the most similar to Adol and has really enjoyable attacks and skills. Her cyclone spin thing does good damage and lets her jump over great distances, so it's particularly enjoyable to use. Thor Fukt/Fact is pretty interesting as well, if only because his story is so different from Yunica's and Hugo's.

[Leb]

Sweet, they announced Ys VII today. Didn't say much else, but I was kind of wondering what the status of the series was after three years or so without a direct sequel to Ark of Napishtim.