There are certain games that you play just at the right time in your life that they emotionally kick you in the head and leave a lasting impression forever. Ys I & II is the BEST GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING, EVER. To me, it is THE action RPG, and the one by which all are judged afterwards. The gameplay is from an overhead viewpoint and involved running into enemies to kill them, buying weapons, exploring and gaining experience. All the usual RPG stuff without tedious lists of stats. But where Ys comes into its own is the utterly absorbing storyline. Many years ago, the land of Ys was raised into the sky by its two beautiful Goddesses to protect it from evil. But now the evil is returning. Hideous creatures are wandering the land and the young travelling swordsman, Adol, finds himself gradually entangled in the legend. As the game progresses, Adol visits ancient temples, dark mines in the attempt to recover the six books written by the priests of Ys, that contain the history of the land. Finally, he reaches a showdown with the evil being in Darm Tower - Dark Fact. But it doesn’t end here. After defeating Fact, he is shot into the sky by a bolt of energy to the source of all that is good and evil - the floating land of Ys.

OK, because I’m obviously so passionate about this game, I’ll take each of its features in turn:
Graphics: Nothing amazing here. Small sprites and all, but the character to the designs and the atmosphere created by them are second to none.
Music: Possibly the finest music to ever grace a video game, the soundtrack arranged by Ryo Yonemitsu is perfectly suited to the game, giving just the right emotional signals and the right times. Timeless.
Intros: Although a little static by today’s standards, they are directed with such skill that nothing I have seen since has had the equivalent effect on me. Superb. Also, the actors chosen for the English language version are excellent, giving just the right amount of feeling or over-the-top aggression that you’d expect from pure evil.

So there you go. This is a game you MUST HAVE, and surprisingly for an RPG, it is so enjoyable that you’ll keep coming back to complete it time and time again. In fact, despite all the advances in technology, I cant imagine a time where I won’t want to play it again.

Note on pronunciation: Ys is pronounced like EEsss. That is as the letter E followed by the s as in snake. It is not pronounced ‘ease’.

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WHY NOT CHECK OUT... YS III - YS IV

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