Ys Origins
Aug. 16th, 2015 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroWhen demons attacked the great civilization of Ys, they raised the Solomon Shrine high into the air to protect it. The demons reacted by building a great tower. Now, Reah and Feena, the twin goddesses of Ys, have mysteriously disappeared, and the search party sent to the surface has tracked them to the demon’s tower…
I think this is the only Ys game that doesn’t star Adol. It takes place centuries before the rest of the series. It ties in mostly to the first two games (though I got the impression that the Vita remake of Ys 4 tied in more, as well), and the fact that I last played those in 2009 perhaps limits my ability to appreciate references and twists.
The basic setup is like the other recent Ys games: ¾-view semi-3D action-rpg with emphasis on the “action”. The platforming is generally not too bad and the bosses often have interesting tricks to them. Slain enemies explode into power-ups and money-drop kibble. Money is used to “buy” blessings from the save point goddess statues, and most of the major upgrades are found in chests. Keys and plot artifacts are rife, and the magic powers you acquire serve double-duty as puzzle-solvers. Unlike a typical Metroidvania game, the action is pretty linear except for doubling back to retrieve things. There’s only one setting: The tower. No “world map” for towns, but at least there’s easy teleporting to any save point. (Also, the tower has several segments, including the sand area, the lava area, the organic area, etc.) And of course, a bunch of “what the heck do I do now?” puzzles, reminiscent of the earlier Ys games. (One of Hugo’s puzzles is, in fact, directly lifted from the first game!)
You have the choice between two characters: A warrior named Yunica and a wizard named Hugo. Their stories are different (though the main sequence of the gameplay is the same), and their playstyle is similar but varied enough to be interesting. Yunica wields an axe and plays pretty much like Adol in the other games. Hugo plays like you’re playing Gradius on a Ys map! He fires triple beams from his staff and his “Eyes of Fact” that reach really far and can be spammed as fast as you can hit the attack button. (Also, Yunica’s magic powers are attacks like Adol typically gets; Hugo’s are defensive shields and time bombs, again like in a shoot-em-up game.)
It’s actually interesting, in that I had expected the characters’ stories to interweave, but they don’t really. Instead, they’ll like two different tellings of the same story, but in each version of history the main character did everything of note and the plot revolved around their quest. (They’re also incompatible in that a character who dies in Yunica’s story survives in Hugo’s!) They do a good job of making the characters’ stories thematically different in addition to playing differently: Hugo is a terse, overconfident loaner; Yunica is an uncertain novice who constantly seeks out and relies on others. Hugo’s story is about the price of seeking power; Yunica’s is standard coming-of-age.
When you beat the game once, a third character referred to as “the Claw” is unlocked. Eventually I’ll play his story, but three times through the game in one go is a bit much for me.
Five different difficulty modes, ranging from “Very Easy” to “Nightmare”, plus the Steam version of the game gives you the option of putting “No Fall” mode on, which adds edge gravity. I think that’s fantastic. The Steam version also has a host of achievements, which are always fun.
Overall: More of the same for folks who enjoy the Ys series in general; I’d recommend playing your favorite version of Ys I & II before tackling this so you get the references, though. And the bullet-hell insanity of Hugo’s mode makes a nice change of pace.
I think this is the only Ys game that doesn’t star Adol. It takes place centuries before the rest of the series. It ties in mostly to the first two games (though I got the impression that the Vita remake of Ys 4 tied in more, as well), and the fact that I last played those in 2009 perhaps limits my ability to appreciate references and twists.
The basic setup is like the other recent Ys games: ¾-view semi-3D action-rpg with emphasis on the “action”. The platforming is generally not too bad and the bosses often have interesting tricks to them. Slain enemies explode into power-ups and money-drop kibble. Money is used to “buy” blessings from the save point goddess statues, and most of the major upgrades are found in chests. Keys and plot artifacts are rife, and the magic powers you acquire serve double-duty as puzzle-solvers. Unlike a typical Metroidvania game, the action is pretty linear except for doubling back to retrieve things. There’s only one setting: The tower. No “world map” for towns, but at least there’s easy teleporting to any save point. (Also, the tower has several segments, including the sand area, the lava area, the organic area, etc.) And of course, a bunch of “what the heck do I do now?” puzzles, reminiscent of the earlier Ys games. (One of Hugo’s puzzles is, in fact, directly lifted from the first game!)
You have the choice between two characters: A warrior named Yunica and a wizard named Hugo. Their stories are different (though the main sequence of the gameplay is the same), and their playstyle is similar but varied enough to be interesting. Yunica wields an axe and plays pretty much like Adol in the other games. Hugo plays like you’re playing Gradius on a Ys map! He fires triple beams from his staff and his “Eyes of Fact” that reach really far and can be spammed as fast as you can hit the attack button. (Also, Yunica’s magic powers are attacks like Adol typically gets; Hugo’s are defensive shields and time bombs, again like in a shoot-em-up game.)
It’s actually interesting, in that I had expected the characters’ stories to interweave, but they don’t really. Instead, they’ll like two different tellings of the same story, but in each version of history the main character did everything of note and the plot revolved around their quest. (They’re also incompatible in that a character who dies in Yunica’s story survives in Hugo’s!) They do a good job of making the characters’ stories thematically different in addition to playing differently: Hugo is a terse, overconfident loaner; Yunica is an uncertain novice who constantly seeks out and relies on others. Hugo’s story is about the price of seeking power; Yunica’s is standard coming-of-age.
When you beat the game once, a third character referred to as “the Claw” is unlocked. Eventually I’ll play his story, but three times through the game in one go is a bit much for me.
Five different difficulty modes, ranging from “Very Easy” to “Nightmare”, plus the Steam version of the game gives you the option of putting “No Fall” mode on, which adds edge gravity. I think that’s fantastic. The Steam version also has a host of achievements, which are always fun.
Overall: More of the same for folks who enjoy the Ys series in general; I’d recommend playing your favorite version of Ys I & II before tackling this so you get the references, though. And the bullet-hell insanity of Hugo’s mode makes a nice change of pace.
