Ys Beginner’s Guide — Where to Get Started

Ys IV is a mess. Nihon Falcom stepped away from development at this point, allowing others to take the reigns of its franchise, and this decision led to two competing companies working with the same title on two different platforms. To make matters worse, neither of these games have been officially translated into English, so if you want an opinion, you’ll have to seek out a fan translation.

Ys IV: Dawn of Ys was developed by Hudson for the TuboGraphx1-16 CD, and it is the more loyal to the classic formula of the two. In fact, the differences between this and the first two games on TurbGraphx-16 CD are barely noticeable with Adol returning to his “bumper car” combat roots. The sweet soundtracks and cutscenes of the TurboGraphx-16 CD make an important comeback, but the biggest change to the formula is that Adol was finally able to walk diagonally!

Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, on the other hand, is generally regarded as the inferior of the two Ys IV games. It was developed by a now defunct studio called Tonkin House, and while it follows a somewhat similar story, it suffers in terms of performance.

This is thanks to the Super Famicom, and while Nintendo’s console is one of the greatest ever made, it couldn’t compete with the TuboGraphx1-16 CD in terms of power. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun’s graphics might be better on the surface than Dawn of Ys’, but they do little to distinguish themselves from the other 16-bit JRPGs of the era.

Mask of the Sun’s music takes a hit with the limited sound channels, the ultimate sin for an Ys game. Combat and level design also fall way behind Dawn of Ys with sluggish controls, no diagonal walking, and the need to be absolutely precise with Adol’s sword.

Thankfully, Ys IV also got the full-on remake treatment that its predecessor got, leading to the release of Ys: Memories of Celceta. This PS Vita exclusive takes bits and pieces from both versions of Ys IV and retells it in a manner that is actually understandable. It also gives the game a nice, modern-day shining.

Ys: Memories of Celceta scored a lot of praise upon release thanks to its music, story, and most importantly, its fast combat. While it fails to live up to Oath in Felghana in terms of how smart you have to be with it, the mindless hacking and slashing you’ll do in this game feel so great that you’ll barely notice.

To date, Ys: Memories of Celceta is actually the last “new” game made for the series, preceding Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/09/17/ys-beginners-guide-where-to-get-started/