Ys Lazy Overall Review

Alright look consider this just an overall "how gameplay is" and all that. It's almost 5 A.M. and this review is just a generic overall lazy review.

With that said, Ys Book 1 we start off with our fire haired friend, Adol, which is an interesting name choice. Now, what I like about this is how different and characteristic he looks, with the exception of the US covers because covers made in America are too good for in-game design. Anyways, our town is full of characters that are surprisingly detrimental to the overall plot and not just "hey I'm Error," fuck off. It's organic in a way where they're part of the overall flow of the item gaining and quest progress.

In Ys 2 that becomes more apparent as each town is still tied together. Some villagers might be missing that affect another town, or once you rescue someone the dialogue changes, almost like a progression in the town. Also, I like that some merchants can be haggled with if you deny buying the item once or twice. Reminds me of Shining Force 3 or XII. A little haggling never hurt. The bump system in 1 and 2... holy shit I hated it for a bit until the momentum shifted in my favor as I progressed through the story. I actually missed it in other games. The party system, not too bad. Most characters are pretty forgettable. I found myself missing just being a solo character. You don't see that a lot in JRPGs or action RPGs or whatever the hell technicality it is. I found myself chasing a want for something different each game and by God I got it. Every game plays differently. Spells added in one game. Now we got almost bullet hell mechanics. Bring it on. Showed up a lot in Ys 1 and especially Ys 2.

Ys Origin took things in a totally different direction in a great way by adding jump, weapon skills, the works. Crisper sprites, music still excellent, now we have a hub in this tower. Multiple characters fan-fucking-tastic. Now I have to beat the game 3 times, BUT each time the campaign is played, it's different stories. Holy shit they got me to play this 3 times? Nope! Sorry but I have more to go through.

Oath. Now that was a great game. Half way through is when it really cranked up. The second half is when the game got demolished. Once I got fast travel things were stellar. Loved the sprite work. The jump attack was kinda meh but I liked the enemy design in this one too.

Memories was pretty good. We got the flash dodge and guards. Excellent, excellent mechanics. Party members hit or miss. Didn't really care. I felt like it dragged on a little much. The music is the best quality. I caught myself listening to the soundtrack outside of the game A LOT like I do with games like FFT and Legend of Mana. I grew fatigued with the party system. Bring me back to solo!

Which is exactly what I got in Ys V. Wow what a great game. Almost felt like a throwback despite me beating Ys 1 and 2 like 3 weeks prior. The mysterious city was awesome. I really want this game remade. It also has the best item received tune with that organ. Loved it.

Onto Ys VI our hero washes up on shore once again, some KILLER backdrops and backgrounds man...that color scheme was fantastic. Beautiful game. The 3 Sword system was excellent as that meant less maintenance farming for gold...or was it? Nope because the accessories were a little more expensive but that's fine. We get a foil that stays along with not only VI but VII as well and that's all I'll say about that.

Finally we're going back to where the timeline is more consistent with Ys VII, wow what an amazing soundtrack. The party members are actually great. Aisha's bow is really fun. I caught myself playing as her more than Adol unless I had to. After the third boss in the fire Shrine I could feel my controllers buttons quiver as I would need to replace the buttons soon. I noticed they were loose. Probably because they've been slammed against seven Ys games back to back. Anyways, holy shit I got warp. Same fire type area just like in Ys VI and I believe Oath it was similar. Now the steamrolling begins. I literally came back to this review later on because after warp, Ys VII got deleted so fast and I started on Ys VIII.

Let me tell ya, Ys 8 is one of the best action RPGs I've ever played. Not only is the gameplay excellent but the soundtrack!! Oh my God the soundtrack is dope! So this game has just about every RPG box on the checklist: you have your hub, you have your NPC side quests with your serious and sassy characters that build up based on progression, you have a village to raise, invasions to protect your part of the island, I mean there's a lot that flows so well together. I'm bored of typing so long story short here are my ratings Ys 1 to 8 plus Origin:

Ys VIII

Ys Origin

Ys 2

Ys Oath

Ys VII

Ys V

Ys VI

Ys Memories