Ys

"How long have I been running around?"

The mysterious land of Ys, which has spawned 5 games and an anime series. Ys, like many of the other games has about a billion other versions for other systems, various asian pcs, the turbo duo, and other that I've probably never heard off. Odds are however, that the nes version, is the one that most english speaking players will have to play. Due to the fact that the games for the asian pcs are in asian languages, and that the Turbo Duo and the Ys games for them have been resigned to a hole somewhere. So odds are, people are going to be playing the nes version (you'll have to apply makoknight's patch).

STORY 6/10
It's got a bare-bones story. You're a red-headed swordsman (Adol) who must go off to save the world by collecting the 6 books of Ys. On top of that, you've got the obligatory side-quests. Get this, do that. But those aren't as annoying as some Playstation games, which send you out on so many half-baked dungeons that you forgot what you're supposed to be doing in the first place.

GAMEPLAY 3/10
Gameplay in this game is fairly unique. To attack, you run into enemies. The goal is to run into them from the side or behind them. If you run into from the front, you'll need some serious defense and power to survive. And if the enemy gets you from the side or behind, well you'll be facing divine judgement. So you can't just randomly run around. You'll need to concentrate on the game. This is the basic of combat in the land of Ys. You'll be doing this for hours, as this is the gist of the game. Unless of course, you decide to cheat. The bosses, are also unique, like the legend of zelda, instead of Final Fantasy. Bosses have a certain pattern in their movement and attacks, and you have to dodge and catch on to those movements. You definitely need strategy here.

The other part of gameplay involves trying to figure what to do. This isn't, pull this lever to move somewhere else to pull the switch to open the door. This involves finding items hidden around the world, and using the right items in the right place. This can extremely difficult as the clues given can be cryptic. If you enjoy a challenge, then go ahead and play the game. Of course you can always consult a walkthrough.

GRAPHICS 6/10
If you want graphics, why are you playing an 8-bit system? The graphics aren't terribly great for the nintendo. But it is passable, and as long as don't try to make out any details, you wont strain your eyes.

MUSIC 9/10
Surprising, the music is quite good, especially for nintendo. The music is varied and suits the location. I enjoyed quite a few of the
pieces, whether this was due to nostalgia I really can't say.

CONTROL 9/10
There is little need for control here. The only thing you need to do is to move up, down, left and right. But surviving on only that can difficult. This game will test your control, because you'll need to make split-second moves and decisions. If you cannot exercise complete control over Adol, you'll be dead.

OVERALL 6/10
The are three camps on this one. If you don't like running into things for hours and detest cheating, then you should avoid this game. If however you start running into things and say ''Hey I like this.'' Then play the game. The only other reasons, to play this game is for the bragging rights, the sparse story, or to play all of Ys series. So if you decide to play Ys, make sure to take plenty of breaks, as prolonged playing might cause carpal tunnel syndrome. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Rent or Buy?
Good luck renting it. Odds are, you'll either play about $50 bucks more than you should to get it off some import site, or get it some other semi-legal way.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/02, Updated 06/23/02