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Attack buttons are overrated.
Here is another game I bought on a whim, and thought I may or may not like it. I played a little bit of the original release of the first Ys game on the Sega Master System, and did not really care for it. Flash forward twenty years (and nearly 20 re-releases) later, I tried it again on the PSP, and instantly fell in love. It has been a long time since I've had a game capture my attention as much as Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles.
I will review the games as a whole, since they are pretty much one continuing story. Ys 2 picks up right where the first game ends. Ys 1 almost feels more like a prologue than a full game. The story doesn't really pick up until the second game. As far as story goes, however...it won't win any awards, and seems a little dated and cliche by today's standards, but it still has enough twists to keep you interested. After all, these games were made in the late 80's, games were a lot simpler then. For the most part, the entire Ys series follows the exploits of Adol Christin, a young swordsman basically just looking for adventure. That's the basic plot anyway, there is more to it than that.
The one thing that turned me off of the original game is strangely the thing that drew me into the remake: the battle system. At first Ys looks like it might be similar to the original Legend of Zelda, a top down view adventure game. However unlike Zelda, you don't press any buttons to attack enemies, instead you just run into them.
This sounds like a terrible idea at first, because that's also how enemies damage you, but the trick is to hit them off center, or (in the case of Ys 2) diagonally. Ys 2 also introduces the ability to use magic, which is what you will use for most boss encounters. This bump battle system keeps the action and level grinding at a quick pace, however death also comes fast if you're not careful. A few times I found my character dead after looking away from the screen, forgetting to hit pause, and some enemy spawned and killed Adol.
One thing that does also amuses me, when you defeat a normal enemy you slice them to pieces and chunks of them fly everywhere. Also there is a big bloody grease spot where they died, which is made even more funny by the graphical style of the game. The characters are all short and squat and cute looking, pretty standard Japanese RPG fair, and I wouldn't have it any other way. There are also a few anime cut scenes sprinkled throughout the games. I'm always a sucker for these as well; they are fairly short, but still beautifully animated.
Now on to one of my favorite parts of the game, which is the music. I'm really glad that the game comes with a music CD, cause Ys has a rockin' soundtrack. There are times where I would just find a safe spot and listen to the music. Sounds like they gave most of the game a metal remix, which I am totally fine with. No part of the game is voiced, however. Not even the anime cut scenes. Which is okay, it doesn't really need it. Helps retain some of the old school feel in my opinion.
I suppose I own Falcom, the makers of the Ys series an apology. For years I thought these games were terrible, turns out I just hadn't played the right version yet. So I'm sorry Falcom, your games are actually really good. So good, in fact, that I bought the rest of the series, or at least what was published in the US. I look forward to playing and reviewing them, especially if they're even half as good as Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles was.
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System: |
Sony PSP
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| Genre: |
RPG |
| Experience: |
Finished the main story on both games
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