I have always been fascinated by the world of Ys I & II and how intimate it feels. You only have 3 towns and 3 dungeons, the third of which feels like half the length of the game.

Every line of dialogue from the NPCs gives you insight into the world of Esteria and the lives of the townspeople, and you gain an understanding of the relationships between all of them; an elderly woman in the first town will tell you how she wishes to be reunited with her son's family in the second town; an NPC will tell you of a mysterious artifact in a town that helps them fight against the monsters. The world our hero travels in may be small, but it's more than lively.

The first time you step out of the first town, you are greeted with epic instrumentals that will accompany your adventure throughout your travels in the forests of Esteria. Each town has a calm and serene soundtrack that makes going around talking to NPCs and managing equipment not feel like a boring task, and each dungeon has the epic and adventrous feel that adds further momentum to the game's bump system.

The combat takes a little bit to get used to and it feels good to mow down enemies, espcially at higher levels.
The bosses were the main downside of the game, as they range from completely luck-based, being frustrating more than difficult, and being complete pushovers.

The game has many charms, including the beautiful spritework, the radiant character portraits and the fairly rich lore. A pretty solid foundation for the Ys franchise and a great prelude to the much more polished Ys II.

Petro Log

Hour 1: I have finally gotten used to the bump system, it's so cool that you walk into an enemy and it explodes!

Hour 2: I hate mages

Hour 3: I hate bats a bit more

Hour 7: When are we done getting up this tower?

Hour 10: I have finally mastered VSync and frame perfect bump combat. Dark Fact? More like Dark Opinion.

I enjoyed playing through YS I a lot and XSEED's attempts at polishing the formula and the presentation, from godlike music to addicting combat, feel genuine and well thought. The experience feels modern despite being at least 30 years old, barring some odd game design decisions and the very grindy and infuriating boss fights (if you know, you know).

What I found so charming about YS is how simple it is: you don't need any real reason to go into danger, Adol represents the thirst for adventure and the spirit of justice. A character so straightforward that it comes back as an example of how to make a silent character feel like a real character AND the mirror for the player.

If you can stomach replaying some fights over and over and find the combat addicting, the game is definitely for you, but there are many reasons why this game isn't perfect: it's extremely dependent on exploration and trying things out, so sometimes a guide is required unless you enjoy hitting a wall from time to time. It's also very dependent on your enjoyment of the bump system: if the game doesn't click in the first hour or two, you're not going to change your mind.

Ремейк первой игры в серии Ys с очень специфичной боевкой.

Сюжет присутствует, в целом даже не настолько плох, учитывая, когда был выпущен оригинал, хоть и включает многие клише — избранный герой, злодей без какой-либо адекватной мотивации кроме того, что он злой, непонятно откуда взявшиеся монстры, все по канонам раннего сторителлинга, однако и небольшие твисты имеются.

Геймплейно это экшн-рпг с видом сверху, но атаковать врагов нужно не совсем привычным способом — их нужно таранить. Причем таранить особым способом, чтобы не получить урон в ответ. Все, больше боевка предложить ничего не может. Есть уникальное снаряжение, которое замедляет врагов, или уменьшает входящий урон, но сама боевка при этом не меняется. Видишь врага — тарань, а не то он затаранит тебя. В целом если играть на самой легкой сложности, то за время прохождения боевка не сильно успевает надоесть.

Отдельно стоит отметить боссов, это одновременно и лучшая, и худшая часть игры. Все боссы уникальны по своим механикам, к каждому нужен свой подход, и как только его найдешь, почти все боссы ощущаются честными. Следуешь выработанной тактике — босса сможешь убить даже не получив урона. Но это не касается финального босса. Финальный босс это просто рандомный буллетхэлл, и его прохождение в большей степени зависит от удачи.

Поначалу игра мне нравилась, и я даже уже был настроен на отличное завершение, но финальный данж, который в итоге занял времени столько же, сколько вся игра до него (и это я еще плюнул и открыл гайд где-то после первой его трети), и не совсем честный финальный босс испортили все положительное впечатление.

So I start playing this and I think to myself "hey, this is pretty straightforward for such an old jrpg!". I needed a few minutes to get used to the bump system, but this is a series where just one extra level means you now demolish the enemies in the current area, a design choice I find damn satisfying, so it's hella fun running around destroying everything, and this remake has a very pleasing aesthetic and great music.

Once you get to the mines though, progression gets weird. The last two dungeons have teeeeeerrible layouts, I looked up online maps and never looked back, so that's one problem solved. But the progression itself is unintuitive, requiring you to backtrack all over the place to get this item and talk to this tree (?) to give you a sword so you can kill the boss, now you talk to this person who tells you nothing of value, oh but you have to go talk to another person then wait for her to go back to her house, now talk to her again to tell you to go to this place... I sure as hell was reminded that this is an 80s JRPG.

The final boss, Dark Fact, is infamous among all who have played this.

Once you know what you're doing though, it has decent replay value as it's a very chill game to play. Dark Fact notwithstanding, but you can always stop before his fight and just say you've beaten it anyway wink wink