Easy does it: Talking Ys

[Voncaster]

I just finished a play through of Ys: Memories of Celceta. I liked it but didn't love it.

I liked the setting of the game; exploring a giant forest and finding the different cities in the forest. I like the relatively short length of the game: 30 hours with 100% of the map explored.

I've played Ys VIII and IX before this. The Ys game design is Celceta felt a bit stale to me. Every new city gives you a new character Celceta. Same as in Ys VIII with new regions and Ys IX with new parts of the city. I wish Ys games would start you off with the full adventuring party (or close to it) and let you choose which characters you want to use. The paced introduction of the characters and associated story gets a little old to me.

VIII obviously took inspiration from the Lost World. IX took inspiration from Joan of Arc. I can't pinpoint the historical inspiration for Celceta. Babylon because there is a giant tower? Atlantis because there is references to an old civilization and a sea? Maybe there is not an analogous inspiration fro Celceta.

My lukewarm reaction to Celceta maybe a result of playing too much Ys in a short time period. I played both Ys IX and Celceta this year. I think with FF games and RE games (other series I like), I try to space them out a bit more.

It feels like the primary difference between the Ys games is the setting and the story. I wish the game play would have more differences in each new entry.

 

[Sarge]

Celceta was definitely a step down for me from Ys Seven. It's still good, but yeah, not next-level stuff. And it's an odd game because it combines both aspects of Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys and Ys IV: Mask of the Sun.

 

[Regulus]

Yeah... Celceta is just kind of a mediocre Ys game. I felt this way back when it came out and there weren't even as many "party based" games to compare it to. I don't think it's just Ys burnout in your case.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, Celceta is kinda meh, but as usual for the series, it has some awesome tracks at least:

 

[Felicia]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1511770910667292680

 

[Rosewood]

Here's some threadcromancy for you! I couldn't search on Ys because it's too short, so searched on Napishtim instead and found it. Inspired by some talk on the RPG thread on Discord (iirc about a Felghana remake), I picked up a copy of Napishtim for $5. I either remembered playing it myself on PS2, or my partner playing it, or both. A handful of odd thoughts after going through about an hour of it:

1. Unlike the rather kind and indolent enemies of Legend of Mana, the enemies in this game are completely unapologetic about trying to kill you, even on Normal. Stressful!
2. I really enjoy that older-school RPG advance-and-retreat where you spend some time getting near-destroyed by basic mobs, then level up and learn a bit, and then deal with them easily.
3. Thank you for offering a retry option on the bosses, devs! Much appreciated.
4. I'm not sure if the character sprites are 3D or not (I leave that to the AV fans), but it's a euphonious look with the background. I associate this overall look with Falcom games in general, and between it and the music and the nice character portraits this is a very pleasant overall experience.
5. It reminds me of Grandia and Trails, in that you can talk to NPCs multiple times, at different parts of the story, and they say different things. Adds to a homey vibe.
6. Menu on R3? Yuck! I also seem to be turning on autorun and not knowing how to turn it off - we'll pin that on user error with the controller than anything amiss with the game.

 

[Voncaster]

Playing Ys Memoire: Oath in Felghana for PS5.

I know this is based of a portable game, but the graphics are weird!

The backgrounds are low polygon and generally look pleasing. However, the characters look like 3D models that were output to 2D like Donkey Kong country. Whatever portable system couldn't handle polygon characters? The polygon characters couldn't be re-rendered at a higher fidelity for PS5? To me its a very jarring juxtaposition of graphics. The background graphics are sharper than the character graphics.

***
I do like that the discover artifact and treasure chest jingles are the same across the Ys games that I've played (VIII, IX, and Celceta).

 

[Regulus]

The original was a PC game, actually. The prerendered sprites were just how Falcom did games in this engine at the time.

 

[Voncaster]

Interesting. I'm guessing the source 3D models are lost to time or would be too labor intensive to restore for the remaster.

Prerendered sprites aside, I'm enjoying Oath. Coming off of FFVII Rebirth and Persona 3 Reload, its nice to play a shorter RPG.

 

[Falselogic]

Ys 1 & 2 have been sitting in my steam library forever. I decided to install the first on and am giving it a shot. I don't know how far I will get. But a breezy RPG seemed nice.

Did I make a mistake? It seems kinda grindy.

 

[Kazin]

It is a bit grindy, yes - you have to be certain levels to even damage bosses, so you'll have to keep your levels up. I do think it's pretty breezy, though there is some backtracking in the final dungeon that's a bit unfortunate (though it's not so bad). I actually really like Ys 1. Ys 2 is a bit overlong imo.

 

[Lokii]

Necessary grindin just means more bumpin

 

[Voncaster]

I started playing the Ys series with Ys VIII. I'm starting to think that Ys VIII is the best game of the series.

I played and finished Ys IX, and Ys: Memories of Celceta. I have a game going of Ys: Oath in Felghana. Oath might be the first Ys game I just stop playing. A lot of bosses and jumping parts in Felghana I don't find fun.

None of the other Ys games that I have played have captured my attention like Ys VIII.

I may try Ys X when it goes on sale. But if Ys X does not connect with me, then maybe its time for me to move on from Ys.

I do like how Ys takes common mythology and Ys-ifies it. The Roman Empire is Romun Empire. Ys VIII takes inspriation from the Lost World. Ys IX takes inspriation from Joan of Arc and the 100 Years War.

However, the older I get the more discriminating I get with RPGs. I'm probably going to play the latest FF games and latest Persona games. Which means other RPGs I need to be discriminating with.

 

[Regulus]

IMO Felghana has the best boss fights in the series. But it definitely leans more 'action' than 'RPG' and if that's not what you're looking for then I can see how they would be a slog. They're designed a lot like Mega Man bosses and the limited resources force you to engage with their patterns and use all the tools at your disposal. I prefer this to the later games, where the answer to every fight in the game is essentially spamming flash guard/flash dodge.

 

[Voncaster]

To each their own, I really like the feeling to timing a flash dodge. I also happen to like Symphony of the Night more than most Castlevania games. Maybe I just like easier games. I don't like no challenge, but I also don't like the feeling of being up against a progress stopping boss or puzzle for a long time.

Felghana I'm up to the church (75% through the game) and the boss battles feel overly tough. The boss battles are fast and I feel like you are punished pretty severely for making a mistake. I haven't played it in a couple months. There is also no healing correct?

I also feel like the controls of Felghana don't feel as sharp as VIII and XI. Maybe the dodge has a lot to do with that feeling.

 

[Kazin]

For all the older Ys titles (basically, pre-Seven), leveling up even once can have a MASSIVE effect on the difficulty of bosses, both in terms of damage you deal and take. So grinding a bit may help - you definitely do not have to be perfect to beat all those bosses, because I very much am not lol. And I love Felghana/VI/Origin, which are all basically the same engine.

 

[Nodal]

Ys games were never really the same after those three. Even the ones I like past them have massive bloat that didn't really exist before.

 

[Beowulf]

For all the older Ys titles (basically, pre-Seven), leveling up even once can have a MASSIVE effect on the difficulty of bosses, both in terms of damage you deal and take. So grinding a bit may help - you definitely do not have to be perfect to beat all those bosses, because I very much am not lol. And I love Felghana/VI/Origin, which are all basically the same engine.

If you've never played Ys V, it's actually a fun precursor to that era. They were clearly not sure what to do with the series when they made 3 as a sidescroller and 4 as another "ram to attack" game, but V was where they figured out where they were going.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, I've played Ys V, and I didn't really care for it much. I actually think it's my least favorite Ys game (not counting the original version of III, which I cannot stand haha. Love Felghana though). Slow paced, easy, and dull, sadly.