this is without a doubt my favorite ys game ive played so far (im currently playing through 6 so this might change) i dont even care this game isnt canon i love this game a LOT
im a huge sucker for games with 90s anime-style cutscenes and this game delivers that in spades, the spritework done in this game is probs straight up my favorite in a game from this console generation, the portraits and cutscenes are a HUGE stepup from 1&2
i know this game isnt canon but the way the story was presented in this game is just superb (which just made mask of the sun so much worse when i played that after this one), unlike in that game the sages and villains are ACTUALLY REOCCURING CHARACTERS and FEEL SIGNIFICANT and the way this game introduces characters feels so much less forced than in mask of the sun (MASK OF THE SUN MINIRANT OVER)
this game is a blast to play, unlike 1&2 i pretty much never felt lost in this game until i got to the teleport maze near the end of the game, the dungeons arent too simple to mindlessly walk through them but theyre not too obsurd to work your brain around and it makes for a really fun experience
bump combat was PERFECTED in this game, you have no idea how good it felt first time i found out this game lets you move DIAGONALLY :OOO (unironically), the combat in this game just flows so beautifully and this game offers up super fun boss fights too
just like 1&2 this game also has a killer ost (which is pretty much what ive come to expect from the pc engine at this point (SHOUTOUTS TO RONDO OF BLOOD)) and even remixes a few songs from 1&2
UNFORTUNATELY i couldnt get the english fandub patch to work so i cant comment on the voice acting in this game, but id assume its rly good :)
i dont even care that this game isnt considered canon anymore (or ever rly) this game is so great its STILL worth playing and im so glad i did <3

this game is SUPER fun and an instant recommendation for anyone whos looking to get into more jrpgs
its not a very long game at only around 12-ish hours in total (6 for book 1 and 6 for book 2) but in my opinion that just makes this (or any version of the remake ¯\(ツ)/¯) easier to get into as a firsttimer
bump combat in these games (except mask of the sun nothing works in that game) works way better than youd expect to and the first time you go out into the field and kill monsters is so much fun
the bosses are a fun time (except the bat fucker in the abandoned mine who you literally cant touch without the silver sword) but some of the dungeons (cough cough SOLOMON SHRINE cough cough) are easy to get lost in
the games story is pretty simple but works, especially ys 2 has some really cool moments (esp the part where youre running up the tower with the bell ringing)
this games soundtrack goes SO hard yuzo koshiro did such a good job composing the tracks for this game (first step towards war is pretty much the reason i decided to check out this game in the first place)
super easy recommendation for anyone whos looking for a short but fun jrpg :)

this games pretty meh imo, the general gameplay didnt really hook me in
nearly every boss fight was very easy and felt very mindless with not a whole lot of strategy involved other than "hit them and dont get hit"
also the whole ring system really annoyed me, especially in later dungeons where i would run low on hp and id have no ring power left so i couldnt heal, leaving me with the option of either killing endless monsters to get it back or have to backtrack ALL THE WAY to the entrance in order to stand to heal
the story and characters were pretty meh, felt like they were just kinda there (heard this is way better in the remake, which i havent played yet :o hoping for the best)
also the final boss theme is the best song in the entire game dont @ me

as of me writing this im the only person who has rated this game at all and i think that speaks great lengths to this games overall blandness and forgetableness
tbh i didnt mind the combat and thought some of the early bosses were fun (until i could just spam attack them and win, what a fun final boss fight heh) but now that its been a week since i beat it i literally remember like two of the characters names and none of the music
also falcom were trying REALLY hard to make this game as much like a square game as possible and it shows
its alright, nothing thatll scar you for life but nothing thatll stick around for very long in your mind either