Completed: Ys Origins as Toal

right off the bat... there probably will be spoilers since... well... when you first start the game only Yunica and Hugo are playable ( This is my review on their story ) and you get Toal/Thor [from here on out i will call him Toal simply cause that is what i'm used to calling him] route after beating one of those two. In the original you had to beat both before you got Toal route and i think thats a beter way to handle it since Toal should be played last... technically... i'll get into that...

so yeah... i will try to keep spoilers to a minimum but no promises.

So... this game could have only been Toal's story... and that would have been fine... i understand why they make you play the other characters since it's the best way to get you to know the backstory to them but still... Yunica's story doesn't have too much effect on the overall plot... just her connections to other characters.... Hugo's is quite interesting but thing felt unresolved...

However Toal is without a doubt the games 'true ending' The game starts off differently with him... aka no french prologue (I had no idea that Ys is based on a french legend until about an hour before i started playing this game... i was just searching which order the games were in and bam.... i learned something that day) and you get a new cutscene almost every time you enter a major area which explains who Toal is and how he has come to this particular time... also he has way different items then the other two... more on that later.

so yeah... even though it really is the same(ish) game 3 times... Toal's story made it all worth it... also it technically has the fewest casualties.... so that's fun... He's also the fastest character to play but he has really short range even with his magic.... then again his magic is insanely powerful and kind of broken...
Wind when hit near enemies sents you speeding towards them and if you spame it you go back and orth relly fast...
thunder draws enemies closer to you like a magnet and breaks through most defense...
fire surrounds you with a fire tornado and gives you a few invincibility frames.
then again he is supposed to be the hardest game to play... so i guess this is there way to throw you a bone?

what else makes his ending the true end? the real final boss.... now you probably can somehow fight the real final boss and Hugo or Yunica but the fact that it has to be Toal (at least the first time) is so good... plus the epilogue is the best....
makes me laugh that it said flat out "ok this story continues in Ys book 1"

so let me get the straight.... if we are just going by the order in which the recent north American releases are .... (and i know i'm going to get this wrong)

ys 6 (ps2)> ys 1&2(ds/psp) > ys 3 oath (psp)>ys 7 (psp/steam) ys Origin (steam) > ys 4 (it's been announced in japan so i hope it comes out here)

now granted those are all remakes... the game (other then origins) were originally released in chronological order.... kinda... it gets really confusing... but my point is Steam tells you to Go play book 1 even though it isn't on steam (yet) and the ds version is broken and the psp one is probably out of print.... cruel cruel steam....

On a side note.... other then 6 (an 4 when it comes out) i've played the ys games chronologically (origin doesn't count since it's a prequil)

oh i'm supposed to talk about toal... sorry it's just... Falcom has the oddest/worst/most chronologically confused release scheduled in north america... and this goes for all their games.... and i just feel like venting every time i get the chance.

THE POINT IS.... if you like Action based roleplaying games that are fun and challenging with a great score then go buy this game right now.... if you buy it then more will come out.
if you don't like Action based roleplaying games give this series a try... it may chaneg you mind [it changed mine after all]

so is there anything negative i can say?
hm.... sure... toal's face in the sprite form looks odd... i dunno i always see a little gremlin looking back at me....
and some attacks have really tricky hit boxes.... nothing game breaking but a little annoying if the move doesn't let you move around...
otherwise no this game is a lot of fun and i wish people would stop saying that the JRPG genre is dead cause to me this game... these series of games prove that it is alive and well... people just need to look a little deeper then the surface.
also  as i mentioned before... it's the same game 3 times with slight changes... but  do feel the payoff was worth it.

oh... i mentioned that i would talk about different items... okay... really quick... due to toals ability some of the items the others get he doesn't need.... and when the others get a 'this will revive you once if you die' item... toal just gets higher attack and defense... yeah makes the final final boss a little tricky... but yeah i love how this ending explains everything for Ys book 1... but even if you haven't touched another Ys game this one is really enjoyable.

so go buy it on steam! right now! go!
if you want of course...

side note: unless i can cheat it... i may not get Adol... he's too expensive in the area shop... hm... who knows...

Completed: Y’s III: The Oath in Felghana

Originally published October 30, 2011

So just this past Tuesday i was at EB games so my brother could buy the latest FPS Battlefield 3… i hadn’t had the time to look for games to play in awhile so i looked around and spotted a game called Y’s: the oath of Felghana on the psp… i had earlier this year beaten the DS port for Y’s 1 and 2… the story was good and even though i am terrible at Action RPGs i decided to give it a shot…. because honestly the game gets a little easier the closer you are to the end…. or at least the first two did.

So yeah first thing first… the psp made a better port of these games… hands down… i love the DS but book 1 and 2 were so glitchy it was almost unplayable.

You start off the game by picking your difficulty, very easy through to nightmare… i go for normal cause i have too much pride to play on easy but not enough skill to play any harder.
boy were there times i wished i had just picked easy. This game… just like the other two… are freaking hard as hell. This game gets rid of the 0 recovery time glitch a little as every hit knocks you back… but if you get cornered you are pretty screwed… at least in this game you don’t take damage by simply touching the enemies.

Then you meet the main character Adol Christin, a young boy of 19 with fiery red hair. Despite his young age he has already been on two large adventures and saved the world a few times. You are traveling with your friend Dogi, your friend and battle companion… well… he’s you companion but you never fight as him or ever with him… this game is completely devoid of a party system… it’s just you the entire time.

Anyways you make it to the peaceful island of Felghana only to find it overrun with monsters, you save a young girl named Elena who happens to be Dogi’s childhood friend… of course not everything is the same as it was 8 years ago when dogi left. Elena’s brother chester has vanished and a nearby count is trying to take over the island… of course as an adventurer you decide to figure out why all these strange things have happened and the story go on from there.

it starts of simple… saving miners from monsters… to exceedingly complex when your trying to get all these mythical statues that hold back a dark god before the white knight beats you to it.

as far as fantasy plots go… it’s nothing that hasn’t been seen before…. get muggufin(s) have it stolen by person your trying to keep it from… find out more about characters as shocking twists occur… and eventually destroy the dark god and save world…. for the third time….. in a year… since i think Adol hasn’t had a birthday yet. hell according to the games progression… saving the world happens in exactly 1 day… ok i think were supposed to assume it takes longer then that but you only get night at the start of the game and the end.

but despite the overall plot being the same as every fantasy story ever written it is really well done, the characters are likeable and since there aren’t too many you get to know their individual personalities.

oh and the game is fairly unique… as i mentioned before it’s an action rpg meaning all battles happen real time, no battle screens and you have to physically dodge attacks… but it’s more then JUST an rpg…

It’s also a platformer…. ok not unheard of in an action rpg but still not completely common….
oh and it’s also a bullet hell game at times…. i would call it a shoot em up but you so rarely use the fireball that bullet hell works better. this adds depth and a huge amount of difficulty… if you lose boss fights enough the game pities you and askes if you want to drop the difficulty of the fight… which i did a few times… cause again…. i suck at those kinds of games…. theres a reason i can’t get past the 3rd or 4th stage of touhou… they are too damn hard!

anyways the story is cute, the port is really good… gunna get the port for 6 and 7 soon… 4 and 5 haven’t come out here yet but are supposed to be on ps vita…. which i may or may not get… we’ll see…

so yeah…. if you like rpgs, platformers and bullet hell then you will love this game…
also… the music is amazing… some of the best rpg music ever in my opinion