Okay, naturally I played this one right after Ys I and I'm happy to say this was a stark improvement, bump was tweaked a bit, you have magic now and more places that count as a 'town' so your return magic and wings make you backtrack less.

Bosses are way better now though I think too many of them rely on the new magic mechanic so you're kinda just playing a glorified shoot-em-up with rpg elements in those. +1 point for letting you fucking heal during them this time though what the hell was that about before?

Areas are more varied this time and the music is amazing no matter which version you listen to. Though the final dungeon is full of backtracking (I counted having to return to the town outside like at least 7 times, and that's just for progressing the story, restoring health and MP there's even more.)

It's better than the first as you'd expect, but still got its issues. Gonna miss bumping into things though.

Review súbita nada mas acabar el juego a las 3 de la mañana.

Coge la primera entrega y mejora todo. Eso es Ys II. La progresión es mucho mas satisfactoria, ya no hay tope de 10 niveles, que cada nivel tome su tiempo, que a mitad del juego ya hayas llegado al máximo y que una diferencia de un nivel sea la diferencia entre oneshotear un enemigo o que sea imposible tratar contra el. Ahora hay 55 niveles, leveleas de forma constante y satisfactoriamente hasta el final del juego (de hecho yo no llegue al limite) y tampoco sientes que para estar en una zona tienes que subir exactamente un nivel porque si no es injugable, tienes un margen bastante grande de nivel, cosa que se ve respaldada por un sistema de bump mas pulido que te permite tener mas control. Hablando del bump system, que bueno. Es increíble como cambiando puliendo las cosas un poco acabas con una experiencia tan sustancialmente superior. Ahora tienes mucho mas control con como golpeas a los enemigos y como que golpean ellos a ti. Un problema que tenia con el sistema de Ys I es que, si, era satisfactorio, pero con el anillo de doble daño que te dan al principio del juego todo combate se resuelve con oneshotear al enemigo si tienes el nivel de la zona o perder un trillón de vida, como mencione anteriormente. Ahora los enemigos duran mas, tienes que golpearles mas veces, que, sumado a la mejoría del control, hace el destrozar enemigos mientras exploras algo muy satisfactorio, a la par que algo mas desafiante ya que, si hay varios enemigos, golpear repetidamente a uno hace que estés vulnerable a otros ataques. También se añaden mecánicas de magia que, aunque tengo mis quejas que no voy a comentar por no alargar mas de lo necesario esta review, son divertidas y añaden variedad a la aventura. En cuanto a bosses, es una mejora enorme en comparación a los de Ys I. Mucho mejor pensados y diseñados. Ya no son bosses directamente injustos y prácticamente basados en suerte o habilidad inhumana como podían ser los peores bosses de Ys I, en especial en dificultades elevadas, en parte gracias a una de las magias, que hace que se deje de lado un poco el bump system para recordar a algo mas como un bullet hell, cosa por la que he visto quejas, pero a mi me han parecido muy divertidas, de hecho, los dos ultimos bosses, en los que tienes que golpearles físicamente, me parecen los peores del juego ya que tienes tanta vida/armadura que prácticamente solo tienes que avanzar hacia adelante sin esquivar ningún proyectil ni esperar a que se exponga un momento de vulnerabilidad, simplemente te estampas y se juega solo, y no es porque yo tuviera un nivel alto, ya que en la boss rush que se desbloquea al final del juego pasa exactamente lo mismo. La exploración es divertida aunque a veces quizás demasiado laberintistica para mi gusto, mas específicamente la ultima parte del juego, pero la curiosidad siempre es recompensada. Pocas veces exploras para simplemente encontrar algún consumible de poco valor, casi siempre que encuentras algo es algún tipo de magia, mejora, item que cambia tu forma de jugar o item clave, haciéndome sentir que si que hay punto en explorar, que si merece la pena. En general es un juego plagado de detalles, como Ys I, y lo aprecio bastante, le da mucha vida al juego. En cuanto a narrativa, una historia bastante simplona la verdad, espero que esto mejore en otras entregas de Ys ya que estoy jugando la saga por esa narrativa global, ese lore común entre todos los juegos. Esta bien como primea piedra en el camino pero nada mas que eso.

os bosses desse jogo são bem melhores que o do primeiro, o que já é um grande avanço. a adição de habilidades mágicas conseguem deixar o o jogo mais complexo mas sem perder a simplicidade que tornou a série tão interessante para começo de conversa, além de todas elas serem bem utilizadas e criativas. eu gosto de virar um roo e ficar pulando por aí e ver as interações que os monstros tem comigo. as dungeons logo no começo são estupidamente elaboradas mas a progressão delas não é tão sofrida (apesar que eu pesquisei mapas online). foi divertido jogar os dois primeiros ys. eu provavelmente não vou jogar nenhum outro ys. (talvez ys origins? talvez.)

more refined,and good sequel to Ys 1. not much has changed in terms of how the story play out(i feel this time it has more problems)but i love exploring the areas in this game some of the environments are just really cool and the ost fits really well,while the story may not changed as much but the gameplay sure does with the addition of magic system and bit more tweaked bump makes the game more varied and fun,but this is also where my biggest problem with this game come,the new bosses are "fun" but why almost all of them needs you to use magic instead of combining both and why you can get yourself out from the battle if you close or run to the door,also i don't mind backtracking as everyone else did but i can understand since the latter half does needs you to backtrack a lot of times.

I think this game is an overall improvement to the first one. Things it lacked was that I need to check a guide often or I'd get completely stuck on some parts. Magic was a plus but the only offensive magic being fire kinda sucked. The bosses were made around being killed with only magic until the last 2 which is cool but since you only had fire magic that did get to homing upgrades it was a bit of a let down and the homing sometimes was not reliable so I would just manual aim instead. Overall this game felt like more of a complete package then I did and had a better story that connects with the first at the end and great characters as well. If I didn't mention it for Ys I I'll say it here but the music in this game is way better then it should be, the composers did a great job on it to make so many song that just sound so good.

A continuation of the story from Ys I, and well... the story is a fair bit better. There's a lot more content as well, and it's a longer game. Still a short game though.

But man, that final dungeon. Even with a walkthrough it's so cryptic and annoying. It's like, half the game too.

The bump system is basically just as fun as the first game, which is nice. The music is just as good too. But ultimately, I ended up having less fun with this game than I did the first. I think this is probably the better game though.

Being a direct sequel to Ys I, and being the late 80s, I came into this not expecting much. While content-wise it's completely new, with new locales, new characters, new weapons, and armor, otherwise it looks the exact same and plays the same way. You still play as Adol Christin trying to save the world of Ys from another evil source and rescue the Goddesses Reah and Freena.

The game even starts out the exact same way. You wake up in a house in a quiet village and must start your adventure in a green forest area like before. Sadly, the game is just as cryptic and obscure when it comes to figuring out what to do. I followed a guide through my entire playthrough, but if I hadn't there would be so much backtracking and aimless wondering. Some of the dungeons are more improved layout-wise, but the final two dungeons are a labyrinthine mess, more so than anything in the first game. I had to resort to a map online to figure out where to go, especially when I had to backtrack and start learning shortcuts.

The bump system still exists but seems a little easier and more forgiving this time around. You don't need to hit enemies off center, but it's still not a fun combat system. It makes the game fast-paced and I like the lack of random battles, but it's still not engaging in any way. Thankfully, this time around, you don't need to rely on hidden obscure equipment and can just buy stuff as you can afford it. Only the short sword, in the beginning, can be had for free in the first dungeon, but everything is to be purchased. I liked the addition of magic wands in this game. It helps add a layer to combat, but sadly it's abused with boss fights. All but the final boss need to be beaten with the magic only, and the only offensive magic is fire. Which I found a bit weird. Everything else is passive magic such as being able to turn into a Roo to talk to enemies to pass certain areas, Light Magic which is used to see secret doorways and light dark areas, and Time Magic which slows enemies down. Unfortunately, a lot of items, required or not, are hidden in obscure areas and can be easily missed without thorough exploration or a guide.

I did find the boss fights more manageable this time around and less frustrating. The leveling system is also improved, but only slightly. While the cap this time around went from 10 to 55 you can easily reach the first 30 levels in the first two hours of the game. Before the first boss, I was already almost level 20. Bosses are a lot more reasonable and I only struggled with a couple of them, but once you learn their attack patterns it becomes much more manageable.

Overall, Ys II is a good sequel to the first game. With enough new content to explore and an interesting story and fun characters. While I wouldn't say the story itself is memorable, the adventure itself is fun I just wish the magic system was more expanded and there was less backtracking. Most of the game's fault comes from the cryptic items and confusing dungeon layouts, but it's manageable with a guide. It's a fine Ys game to send out with the 80s and still remains a solid RPG today.

For a game this old, the bump combat system is so fun, and the plot is interesting enough to set the base for the series!

Im playing this saga in numerical order so its exciting watching how it develops throught the years!

Can’t wait to play Oath in Felghana next!

I didn't enjoy this game as much as I did Ys I for a few reasons. The small changes to the bump system made it hard to get to grips with again, and I personally find this version a lot less enjoyable because it tries to create the illusion of a complex battle system where there is none, rather than embracing its simplicity like the previous title. Additionally, the layout of the world and the puzzles made it almost impossible to get through without a guide, so I found myself pressing Shift+Tab after every other event.

I also had to look up how to get the Bestiary Potion in this game, which was very easy to find in Ys I. It's hidden in a place I wouldn't have even thought to check, so I'm glad I'd done my research or I would've gone through the entire game never finding it. Not to mention the fact that now each monster has to be defeated thirty times rather than the original game's 25, making the 'Demon Duster' achievement even more of a pain to get than it was before. Thankfully, the notebook does log your kills before you find it, so even if you do end up backtracking to pick up the potion in the endgame you won't have to farm every enemy from 0. However, due to the way they changed the level system, grinding pretty much becomes mandatory and VERY tedious. Once I reached the lava area it just became a chore to play the game at all because all of the enemies have a ridiculous amount of health, and not getting hit is extremely difficult. This led to me defeating 1-2 enemies, standing still for a full minute to regenerate my health (PAINFULLY slowly compared to Ys I), saving just in case, and then killing two more enemies. Rinse and repeat. Not my idea of a good time, personally.

None of the bosses I've fought so far have been remotely fun and I even had to use cheat engine to get past the 2nd boss Tyalmath because it barely took any damage and had a tendency to one-shot me randomly halfway through the painfully long fight (I'm playing on nightmare mode). For reference, I beat every boss in Ys I legit, including Vagullion and Dark Fact. I have no idea why people consider those two bosses the worst in the series when Tyalmath exists. At least Vagullion was fun enough mechanically to fight repeatedly.

I know it's unfair to compare the two games so heavily, but it's just such a massive quality-of-life downgrade between the two titles, especially after expecting them to be so similar—which they really are in a lot of ways.

For now, I've decided to shelve this game. I'm not having any fun anymore, and I want to continue the series. I'm aiming to get 100% in every main-series Ys game eventually though, so I will come back and continue this playthrough eventually... probably after I've beaten the rest of the series.

I don't know how falcom did it, they had what could have been actually interesting idea and worked with it more, but didn't.

Bump combat is weird to get used to, but I actually enjoyed it... in ys 1. Ys 2 felt boring, at least for the short time I played it because I had a big issue occur for me. My saves not actually saving.

That coupled with the fact that grinding sooooooo much more boring, ys 1 only having up to iirc 10 levels to grab over the course of the game, with each one making a large meaningful difference. Cause ys 2 decided to have a more normal jrpg leveling system aka a hella boring one.