Better than its reputation would suggest, at least in this version, Ys III starts as a total banger thanks to its fast paced combat and incredible soundtrack. But the game turns frustrating whenever any friction or level of difficulty is introduced, which starts to happen after the second stage or so. Boss fights are horribly awkward, vascillating wildly between “extremely difficult” to “dies in 5 seconds if you stand in the right spot”, and don’t get me started on the platforming. Combat can be snappy but especially in the later stages turns into “stand in a spot and swing your sword really fast while an enemy walks into it so you don’t lose 15% of your health per hit”.

And the plot! They decided to give Adol a voice here and hey it turns out he’s a rampant misogynist, committing micro and macro-aggressions against Elena left and right. Mistake

Still there are things to enjoy here. The fundamental concept is sound, and you can see the bones of a fun side scroller, one that could have been realized with some more polish. The stage backgrounds are ambitious and exciting, and the combat can be snappy thanks to the absurd speed at which Adol swings his sword. And once again the soundtrack is top-tier, especially with the CD quality in this port. The game is at least playable and has its charms if you’re interested in seeing the evolution of the whole series