Ys III: Wanderers from Ys

"An interesting, and overly difficult platformer/RPG."

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys is a 2D side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements for the SNES, ans as I understand, deviates quite a bit from it's first two predecessor's (I've heard it is called the "Zelda 2" of the series). Here's what I think about Ys III:

Story: 7/10

Basically, our hero (and the hero of every Ys game) Adol and his good friend Dogi travel away from Ys to return to Dogi's hometown of Redmont after hearing of troubles there. They soon learn that the local quarry has been infested by monsters, so Adol must go save them of course! Howver, while he is doing so he uncovers that he is in the middle of a greater plot by the neighboring kingdom of Valestein and must figure out what is going on to save his best friends how town.

The story is actually OK. I liked the pacing of it, as the game itself could be considered level by level, and it's surprising to see the characters show way more depth than I'm used to seeing an such an old game. However, most of the high points are flawed, for example: you won't play the game level by level since it is HARD and will require power-leveling in lower leveled area's to beat, which also messes up the pacing of the game. And while the characters have depth, you gain no insight into how they think, so their "depth" is sprung upon you with no sense of character development. Overall, it was interesting to see what happened.

Gameplay: 6/10

The gameplay, besides being a 2D side-scroller, is HARD. This is the major downfall of the game, really, as even the very first dungeon is very hard and will require power-leveling to beat. Thankfully, that is a choice, because as you defeat enemies you gain experience adn gold, eventually leveling up and gaining more hit, attack, and defense points. You'll also need to buy the best equipment you can from town (as well as find upgrades through levels as you play).

If you can power past the difficulty (emulation or power-leveling help a ton), than you'll get into the meat of the game. Here you'll explore dungeons trying to find the boss monsters and defeat them. You do this by swinging a SMALL sword directly in front of you, directly above you, or if you jump you can even swing it below you (you'll rarely use that one, though). This is part of the reason the game is hard: the small sword which never improves. Combine that with the enemies habits of trying to ram you and than you'll need the power-leveling. You can carry some items with you as you fight, including herbs and special rings which preform a variety of fantastic functions, such as doubling your attack or defense, or slowing down time. However, these rings are powered by ring points that you obtain when you kill an enemy and run out rather fast for the better abilities. Bosses are a mixed bag, some are blindingly difficult while other's are laughably easy, it all depends on their pattern. Overall, Ys III is a very challenging title, and offers minor rewards for its frustratingly hard difficulty.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics in Ys III look pretty good for their time. The characters look like enhanced versions of town-folk from Zelda II, and the enemies are fairly generic (they have some good designs, especially the bosses), however the real treat are the 2-3 animated cut scenes in the game. These are mainly focused in on Adol, but they still are the visual highlight of the game. The environments are varied level to level, taking you through a couple caves, a volcano, a mountaintop, clock tower, and castle, but are repetitive throughout the level that you're in. Overall, fairly average, with some pretty nifty cut scenes in the beginning and end of the game.

Music/Sound Effects: 7/10

The music surprised me at first with how catch it was, especially in town (which is your central hub, so you'll hear it alot), and actually overrides the sound effects as you play (which consists of sword swooshes and bleeps). However, as I played I only found 2-3 catch songs in the entire game, the rest are merely there. These tracks are mostly synthesized string pieces with 2-piece melodies, which do reflect the mood nicely, but the great majority of them can't rise above being background noise.

Re-playability: 6/10

Ys III, once you become able to power through it, is actually fairly short. On top of that there's not much of a reason to play through it more than once. You could play around with equipment a bit, but there's really only one way to beat the game. Thankfully, there is an AWESOME save system in the game, which you'll need to use in order to prevail.

Overall: 7/10

Overall: 7. A low 7. Ys III eventually falls due to how unnecessarily hard even the beginning areas are. The RPG aspects and rings are fun, but nowadays Wanderer's of Ys is little more than a nostalgic trip into a little-known series. Even if you are looking for a SNES title to play, many other titles come to mind before Ys. Have fun and keep playing!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09

Game Release: Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (US, January 1992)