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Message: [QUOTE="Aziamuth, post: 264480, member: 16"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1752510112081.jpeg"]90081[/ATTACH] Third article in the series! I already had this one cooked a while ago, reason I can post it now instead of in two months. Read the previous ones to keep up with the narrative: [LIST] [*][URL='https://retrogametalk.com/threads/a-retrospective-on-the-ys-series-parts-1-to-4-the-beginnings-of-nihon-falcom-and-adol-christin.9248/']The Beginnings of Nihon Falcom and Adol Christin[/URL] [*][URL='https://retrogametalk.com/threads/a-retrospective-on-the-ys-series-parts-5-to-8-the-dark-ages.11931/']The Dark Ages[/URL] [/LIST] [HEADING=1]PART 9: THE GOLDEN AGES[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full" width="1201px" alt="1752510255934.jpeg"]90082[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]Xanadu Next is a game that I cannot recommend enough if you are into Diablo-likes. Featuring exhilarating dungeon gameplay![/I][/CENTER] In 1996, Nihon Falcom finally woke up and started releasing games on Windows (ironic, considering the reason why one of their key members left because of them not doing that) . In fact, for a while, most of their games came out only on Windows. Maybe it’s because Falcom finally found new blood to be creative, but they started releasing some very interesting games. Not all of these games were good, but you could tell there was at least some passion and philosophy with their creations. Although they were mostly Action RPGs, there was a bit of variety in genres as well, such as Lord Monarch Original, which is an RTS game, and Vantage Master, which is an SRPG. A certain number of these games would be remade and/or released for the PSP, such as Brandish, The Legend of Heroes IV and Zwei: The Arges Adventure. Because of this, I like to call this “the PSP era of Nihon Falcom”, even if not all games even touched this console, such as Xanadu Next (which was released on the N-Gage, for some reason) and Ys Origin, one of the subjects of this article. For simplicity and consistency, we'll just call this era "The Golden Ages". It might seem biased, but I think that their best games came from this time. Among this hybrid of PSP/PC releases, two games stand out. One of them is The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which would become one of their most important IPs eventually. The other one is the sixth entry of the Ys series, which is the focus of the next part. [HEADING=1]PART 10: THE ADOL ENDGAME – YS VI[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full" width="1201px" alt="1752565710366.jpeg"]90362[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]This tiny, undescribable creature is the toughest boss in the game, but at least it's optional.[/I][/CENTER] Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is, in terms of lore, the most important game in the series, because it serves as a culmination of all of the events of previous games. As for Ys IV, it takes into account the events of Mask of the Sun, with it being more canon. After being attacked by ships from the Romun Empire, Adol lands, against his will, in an island inside the Canaan Vortex, a permanent storm that doesn’t let anyone in or out. There, Adol meets two girls with big, pointy ears, who take him to their village. After learning of the situation, Adol sets out on an adventure that ties with everything he has experienced up to that point. Ys VI is the first game to use the unofficially called Napishtim combat system, which is, pretty much, the combat system used in Ys V but well executed. You can attack, jump, jump attack, dash attack and use magic. Magic is represented through elemental swords, and each sword provides a unique spell: the wind sword creates a whirlwind that can hits nearby Adol and allows him to stay in the air for a bit, the fire sword throws a fireball and the earth sword (which is lightning here, for some reason) throws lightning bolts. The magic is simple to use, but very fun and rewarding. Certain enemies are weak to specific types of magic, so discovering which one is the best for each situation is crucial in order to succeed, especially because specific enemies have extremely high defense against the rest of elements. There's also the Boost Mode, which is a temporary power-up that increases Adol's speed, strength, defense and grants him health regen. This combat system is peak Ys, much better than whatever we had before (not dissing the bump system, but the Napishtim system is something else). It controls really great, is satisfying, absurdly fun and easy to grasp but with a certain depth that makes it very dynamic. They nailed it on the first try, but on later iterations, Falcom would make it even better. Whenever I think of Napishtim, the first thing that comes to mind is the exploration. Exploration is something to be expected in these games, but Napishtim takes it to a whole new level. On the Canaan Island there are lots of secrets to discover, and rarely are they something useless. The most noticeable secret is the optional bosses, who can kick your ass if you face them ASAP. Some are so hidden that I didn’t even know they exist after beating the game. Dungeons are quite well done, with plenty of good exploration and some secrets as well. Coming from Ys V, they are a breath of fresh air, because they are really well realized. The only problem, however, is that, for some reason, some of them feature platforming, and let me tell you, Adol’s jump is NOT suited for platforming in this game, so you’ll have to repeat annoying jumps a lot of time. Aside from that, the dungeons are good. Not my favorite, but still good. [ATTACH type="full" alt="1752519099183.jpeg"]90139[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]This character is one of the few throwbacks to Ys V in the series, for whatever reason.[/I][/CENTER] With all of that into account, I have to get a bit negative now. Ark of Napishtim pisses me off because it had the potential of being the best game in the series, thanks to its combination of combat, dungeons, story, characters and music. Unfortunately, the game is held back by some atrocious hitboxes on the bosses' attacks. I don’t know, maybe I’m just bad, but never before have the bosses felt so bad before, and I played most of the games before this one. It’s really annoying and warrants a lot of frustrating deaths, which is particularly egregious in harder difficulties. To be fair, it's their first game with this system, so some rough patches were expected. Despite that, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is a really good Action RPG that serves as the start of the golden era of Ys, because the rest of its qualities are real. It is something very special, despite its flaws. The best way of playing this game is the Steam version. The PSP version is fine, but the Steam version comes with the Catastrophe mode, which makes changes so that it plays similar to Oath in Felghana and Origin, making it even more fun, in my opinion. [HEADING=1]PART 11: THE FAITHFUL REMAKE – THE OATH IN FELGHANA[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1752520083725.webp"]90147[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="1201px" alt="1752520203209.png"]90149[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]One of the most impressive parts of this game is how well it translated the scenarios from the original.[/I][/CENTER] The Oath in Felghana was the next attempt by Nihon Falcom to bring the series into the PSP. Originally, it was released for the PC, but it didn’t release out of Japan. No, non-Gaijin would have to wait until 2010 for that. This is the second game with the Napishtim system, so the combat system is the same, albeit more polished, with no more pesky hitboxes from the bosses. The Boost Mode is also improved, now having access to Burst, which is a very powerful attack that deals a lot of damage at the cost of your remaining Boost, so it's a good idea using it near the end of Boost. In truth, Burst MAY have already been in Ark, but I don't really remember right now. There’s not much to say about it: if you liked the combat there, you’ll like it here. The main “difference” (and I say difference between quotation marks because it’s not a real difference) is that elemental swords are changed for accessories. It’s mostly cosmetical, but if you cared about that, it could be a deal breaker. Nah, I don’t think it could. Or could it? It’s important to mention that The Oath in Felghana [B]is a remake of Wanderers from Ys[/B], with the same story but expanded (which, in my opinion, was necessary, as the original's was very lackluster), both in the storytelling, writing and characters. As a remake, it’s pretty good. The transition from 2D to 3D is amazing. You have to look no further than the scenarios: they are replicated with great success. The dungeons themselves are very good, with the right amount of exploration but without being overwhelming like in Ys II. I’d say these are the best dungeons in the series, or at least my favorite ones. The music has also been translated amazingly. It was already good in Wanderers of Ys, but here… my goodness! In fact, I’d go as far as say that this is my favorite soundtrack in the series. The sense of adventure is constantly present with the music, and constantly pushes you forward towards the next mystery. One thing I find particularly funny is that the world map, unlike Napishtim, is less of a world map and more of a corridor, which makes sense if you remember how you get to the dungeons in the original. [ATTACH type="full" width="1201px" alt="1752519999081.jpeg"]90145[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" alt="1752520005175.jpeg"]90146[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]The 2023 remaster features some QoL and updated portraits, but it's virtually the same game.[/I][/CENTER] The bosses, for the most part, are very good. Wanderers of Ys had mediocre and unremarkable bosses, so they are definitely improved here. However, after playing this game a second time (in Nightmare, the second hardest difficulty), I noticed that they were not as fun as the first time, and most importantly, in comparison to Origin. Not sure if it’s because they weren't that well designed or because of the shift in difficulty, but I didn’t appreciate them as muchs I'd like it. The final boss, in particular, is absolutely brutal, and it could kill your run, right near the end. It’s still a great final boss, but it’s so hard that it’s exasperating. The Oath in Felghana is easily one of the best entries in the franchise simply because of how well rounded it is, with an amazing mixture of great music, great gameplay, great dungeons, good bosses and good story. If it had astory at the level of Napishtim and/or bosses at the level of Origin, it could be the best entry, period. If you want to play it, you have three options: [LIST] [*]The Steam version is the most accessible because it’s cheap and runs on any computer. [*]The PSP version is more complete, having a few features that are not present in the Steam version (unless they were patched in recently), but it lacks the voice acting of the Steam version. [*]The Switch remake is the most complete, featuring some QoL features such as turbo, as well as updated portraits (which feel generic to me and affect the art direction). If you don’t mind playing on the Switch, this version is the greatest. [/LIST] [HEADING=1]PART 12: THE BEGINNING OF THE END – YS ORIGIN[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1752520506820.jpeg"]90151[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]All of the bosses are absolutely amazing, some of the best in the genre. Woo![/I][/CENTER] Ys Origin is the last of the Napishtim trilogy, and what a way to send off the PSP era! The game was originally released in 2006 for PC, in Japan. For PC, huh? Weird. It wouldn’t be seen outside there until 2012… on PC again. What, so this game wasn’t released for PSP, yet it belongs on the PSP era? Curses! My nomenclature has been ruined! Ys Origin is set in the past. How past, you ask? 700 years ago from Ys I! The goddesses Feenah and Reah govern the land of Ys, but all of that would change when the demon nation attacked. A lot of them start appearing from somewhere, attacking the people. Even worse, they erect a tower that serves as headquarters for their evil operations. This can’t be allowed, so a group of soldiers who follow the goddesses storm the tower to take the demons down. But inside, numerous evils await them… including the Clan of Darkness… In case it wasn't clear, there’s no Adol present in this game. Instead, we have two protagonists: Yunica Tovah, a spunky and well-meaning girl who carries an axe, and Hugo Toal, a brooding, pretty boy with a staff that can cast magic. After beating the game with any of the two characters, you unlock The Claw, a mysterious character with his own agenda. His identity stops being a mystery after playing a bit of Hugo’s route, but I’ll keep it a secret just in case. The story is very different for each character, and although all of them share bosses, each one has unique bosses, so it's worth revisiting After several games that could be "the best in the franchise", we finally arrive at the actual best in the franchise. All of the mechanics previously introduced are refined to the max here. From the controls to the attacks you can do, everything is designed to be as fluid, dynamic and fun as possible. To complement this, we have… the best bosses in the whole franchise! Seriously, I’m not exaggerating. Origin’s bosses are so good that you feel like a new person after beating each one. These bosses only get better in Nightmare, the highest difficulty. It’s accomplishing and, as the youngsters like to say, peak. The game is worth it just for the bosses alone, even if the narrative and characters aren't particularly exciting. [ATTACH type="full" alt="1752520492771.jpeg"]90150[/ATTACH] [CENTER][I]...Except this one, WHICH INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH WAS ALSO THE WORST BOSS IN YS I.[/I][/CENTER] Each playable character is also a lot of fun to play. They control very well and are very different from one another. Yunica is a well-rounded, melee character who plays similar to Adol. Hugo, on the other hand, is a ranged character who can attack from far away. The Claw, finally, is another melee character, which is noticeably faster than Yunica while also having less range. He’s considered the more difficult out of the three, but I haven’t played him yet so I can’t attest to that. All characters are equally powerful, but I found Hugo to be easier overall. Good presentation, good graphics (the same as Ark and Oath but with more polish) and full of bangers, business as usual. Not much to say here. What is worth of mention is the dungeons, or rather the dungeon. Remember Tartarus from Persona 3? It’s back, and it doesn’t suck this time! Throughout all of Ys Origin, the only location you’ll be visiting is the Tower of Darm, the construction erected by demons, so you’ll be doing a lot of climbing. The Tower of Darm is the final dungeon in the first Ys game, and in there it was always the same. Luckily, it’s not the case here. Each set of floors is divided in sections, and each section is its own biome. The first section is standard Tower of Darm, but the third section is a flooded area and the fourth one is full of fire and lava. As a result, if you immerse yourself in the environments, you’ll easily forget that you’re all of the time in the same dungeon. Unfortunately, the areas, save for a few exceptions, are a bit linear and very straightforward. It’s not a big deal when the rest of the game is this good. There are a lot of things I want to say about this game, because I love it a lot, but I intend on writing a fully-fledged review once I’m done with Claw’s route. For now, just know that the best version is on Steam. It’s also the only version with multiple translated languages! It’s also available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, if you care about that. If you want a portable experience, you can also try the Switch version. It's probably not bad. We’re halfway there! Not many games left, but there’s plenty to say. Trust me on that. ¡Hasta luego! [/QUOTE]

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