The amount of times these games have been redone is truly mindblowing, but then again Ys has been around since 1987. What we have here is an enhanced port of a PSP port of an enhanced edition of a windows remake of a combined turbografx-16/pc-engine remake of a pair of games on an ancient japanese pc. Rolls right off the tongue and I'm not even gonna get into how many ports the original games themselves got. I'm fairly certain this won't be the last remake either.

Now that I got that bit of nonsence out of the way let's move on to the review.


The island of Esteria which is known for its trade in silver has been cut off from mainland Europe by a phenomenon called the stormwall for the last six months. Enter Adol Christin, a 17 year old young man with a passion for adventure and measuring women and little boys. He sails to Esteria from the port town of Promarock (or Promalock depending on the translation) but his boat gets caught in the stormwall and he shipwrecks off the coast of the island. He is found by villagers and taken to the nearby town's clinic. This is where the game starts. From here on cue battles with monsters, ancient civilizations, saving the world and the usual business when it comes to JRPGs.

Overall the story is not a groundbreaking epic that will shock you with amazing plot twists, but it is really well written and will suck you in if you take your time with it. Even the most trivial NPCs usually have something new and interesting to say as the story moves forward (this is something Nihon Falcom does a lot). Ys II takes place immediately after Ys I, so my recommendation is to play both games in one go. There's also a bit of humour added by XSEED which fits quite well since it's put in the right places and doesn't feel forced.


If you've read the nonsence at the top or looked at the screenshots you should already know what to expect in terms of graphics. Enhancements or not you're looking at slightly improved visuals from a 1997 Windows game. That said Chronicles does have a nifty feature where you can pick from the original PC interface or the PSP one as well as picking between the original late 90s anime artstyle or the more modern artstyle for the character portraits. That's all there is to be said about the graphics, wether you like them or not is up to you, but I wouldn't judge the game based on looks alone.

PS: There is no FPS lock, so stop whining, you babies.


INCREDIBLY BIASED OPINION INCOMING
As far as I'm concerned Falcom Sound Team JDK are musical gods and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

With that out of the way, you have the option to pick from three different renditions of the soundtrack in the options menu (or just mod in whatever the hell you want because PC). The original PC-88 soundtrack from 1987, the PC Complete soundtrack from 2001 or the new Chronicles soundtrack from 2009. All three are great, though which one you go with depends on you. My personal recommendation is to mod the turbografx-16 audio in and enjoy one of the best versions of the soundtrack (why they never bothered to use it again is beyond me), some dude posted a mod for both games on the forums, you can find it if you look around.

Long story short: Music is 11/10.


While the rest of the games in the series are more traditional in terms of combat, Ys I & II are more of an acquired taste. The reason for this is because unlike most action RPGs at the time here you don't press a button to attack enemies. Instead you ram into them (slightly off center), that's it. In Ys II you get some spells which allow you to attack at range but the meat of the combat is once again dryhumping things with your sword (hence why a lot of people call it the bumper cars system).

Personally I wouldn't call the lack of an attack button a bad thing since in this case it makes the combat LIGHTNING FAST. I'm not even joking, you'll be murdering masses of monsters with such rapid speed it'll make someone like Guts look like a pansy in comparison (you don't mess with Adol Christin, the guy's a walking apocalypse). It also makes the usual grinding in JRPGs almost nonexistant which for me is a plus. I don't hate it mind you, but it gets stale fast if the game relies on it too much. Anyway on normal difficulty you'll be swimming in cash and exp before you know it.

The boss battles are the highlight of the series. In Ys I they are mostly hit and miss. Some are really good and there are others like Vagullion aka THAT !@(*$^ BAT and Dark Fact known as Dalk ♥♥♥♥ in Japan (if you manage beat him on nightmare mode you have the full right to rub that in everyone's faces because you earned it). Things get much better in Ys II, but it's also the better game. Ys I is essentially a glorified prologue but you shouldn't skip it since you'll miss half the story.


This is where the Ys series started from. The games are great but they are not for everyone. However if you do try them out and end up liking them you'll be in for one hell of a ride you won't soon forget.


I've started a slow project of making as many versions of Ys I & II's soundtracks as possible usable ingame. Download links for the ones I've done are in my profile description. If you have any specific requests feel free to let me know.

[h1] Useless bit of trivia first. [/h1] The amount of times these games have been redone is truly mindblowing, but then again Ys has been around since 1987. What we have here is an enhanced port of a PSP port of an enhanced edition of a windows remake of a combined turbografx-16/pc-engine remake of a pair of games on an ancient japanese pc. Rolls right off the tongue and I'm not even gonna get into how many ports the original games themselves got. I'm fairly certain this won't be the last remake either. Now that I got that bit of nonsence out of the way let's move on to the review. [h1] Story [/h1] The island of Esteria which is known for its trade in silver has been cut off from mainland Europe by a phenomenon called the stormwall for the last six months. Enter Adol Christin, a 17 year old young man with a passion for adventure and measuring women [spoiler]and little boys[/spoiler]. He sails to Esteria from the port town of Promarock (or Promalock depending on the translation) but his boat gets caught in the stormwall and he shipwrecks off the coast of the island. He is found by villagers and taken to the nearby town's clinic. This is where the game starts. From here on cue battles with monsters, ancient civilizations, saving the world and the usual business when it comes to JRPGs. Overall the story is not a groundbreaking epic that will shock you with amazing plot twists, but it is really well written and will suck you in if you take your time with it. Even the most trivial NPCs usually have something new and interesting to say as the story moves forward (this is something Nihon Falcom does a lot). Ys II takes place immediately after Ys I, so my recommendation is to play both games in one go. There's also a bit of humour added by XSEED which fits quite well since it's put in the right places and doesn't feel forced. [h1] muh grafix [/h1] If you've read the nonsence at the top or looked at the screenshots you should already know what to expect in terms of graphics. Enhancements or not you're looking at slightly improved visuals from a 1997 Windows game. That said Chronicles does have a nifty feature where you can pick from the original PC interface or the PSP one as well as picking between the original late 90s anime artstyle or the more modern artstyle for the character portraits. That's all there is to be said about the graphics, wether you like them or not is up to you, but I wouldn't judge the game based on looks alone. PS: There is no FPS lock, so stop whining, you babies. [h1] Music [/h1] [b] INCREDIBLY BIASED OPINION INCOMING [/b] As far as I'm concerned Falcom Sound Team JDK are musical gods and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. With that out of the way, you have the option to pick from three different renditions of the soundtrack in the options menu (or just mod in whatever the hell you want because PC). The original PC-88 soundtrack from 1987, the PC Complete soundtrack from 2001 or the new Chronicles soundtrack from 2009. All three are great, though which one you go with depends on you. My personal recommendation is to mod the turbografx-16 audio in and enjoy one of the best versions of the soundtrack (why they never bothered to use it again is beyond me), some dude posted a mod for both games on the forums, you can find it if you look around. Long story short: Music is 11/10. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] While the rest of the games in the series are more traditional in terms of combat, Ys I & II are more of an acquired taste. The reason for this is because unlike most action RPGs at the time here you don't press a button to attack enemies. Instead you ram into them (slightly off center), that's it. In Ys II you get some spells which allow you to attack at range but the meat of the combat is once again dryhumping things with your sword (hence why a lot of people call it the bumper cars system). Personally I wouldn't call the lack of an attack button a bad thing since in this case it makes the combat LIGHTNING FAST. I'm not even joking, you'll be murdering masses of monsters with such rapid speed it'll make someone like Guts look like a pansy in comparison (you don't mess with Adol Christin, the guy's a walking apocalypse). It also makes the usual grinding in JRPGs almost nonexistant which for me is a plus. I don't hate it mind you, but it gets stale fast if the game relies on it too much. Anyway on normal difficulty you'll be swimming in cash and exp before you know it. The boss battles are the highlight of the series. In Ys I they are mostly hit and miss. Some are really good and there are others like Vagullion aka THAT !@(*$^ BAT and Dark Fact known as Dalk Fukt in Japan (if you manage beat him on nightmare mode you have the full right to rub that in everyone's faces because you earned it). Things get much better in Ys II, but it's also the better game. Ys I is essentially a glorified prologue but you shouldn't skip it since you'll miss half the story. [h1] TL;DR [/h1] This is where the Ys series started from. The games are great but they are not for everyone. However if you do try them out and end up liking them you'll be in for one hell of a ride you won't soon forget. [h1] PS [/h1] I've started a slow project of making as many versions of Ys I & II's soundtracks as possible usable ingame. Download links for the ones I've done are in my profile description. If you have any specific requests feel free to let me know.