Ys III: Wanderers from Ys

"A decent action-rpg by itself, but probably the worst Ys game."

It's a shame that when most people on the west side of the pacific hear the name ''Ys'', this is the fiasco of a game that first comes to mind even though we *did* get Ancient Ys Vanished Omens for Sega Master System and the excellent Ys Book I&II for the much under-appreciated TurboDuo. Wanderers From Ys III isn't a particularly *bad* game or anything, it just isn't as good as the other games in the Ys series (although, arguably, it might be better than Ys I).

First of all, unlike the other gazillion Ys games that have been released and re-released over the years, Ys III is the only side-scrolling one. And unlike the other games in the series, Ys III was the only one to feature an attack button (aside from Ys V). This game takes place a couple years after the events that transpired in Ys I and II. Adol has been traveling the land with Dogi, the man who saved him from the dungeon in the bottom of Dahm Tower in the original Ys. They go to Dogi's hometown and uncover a plot to revive the evil monster, Galaban (Adol shouldn't even break a sweat, considering he's tackled both Dalk Dukt and Dahm in the previous games). He meets up with a young girl named Elena who eventually falls for him a little bit, and her older brother who has become too involved with the side of evil.

Being a side-scrolling game, progression through Ys III is very linear. Aside from a few side paths in the dungeons, your only real objective is to travel to the right as far as you can go, beat the boss, head back to the town, and go on to the next dungeon. Adol has lost the ability to use magic and now relies on his rings, which cost ring points to use.

My main gripe with Ys III is it's shoddy collision detection. It's downright horrible. Most of the time, if Adol is close enough to the enemy to actually touch him with his sword... he's too close. You have to learn to swipe at the air just in front of the enemy to take damage of them without being hurt. This makes some parts of the game needlessly difficult and frustrating. The game is actually really too short and easy (it's more of a one-sitting affair, I'm afraid) so that makes up for the collision detection slightly. An any case, the last boss is still HARD... probably one the hardest in video game history, so watch out! :)

The music in Ys is fantastic, just like the rest of the games and like most Falcom games, it is worth buying the soundtrack... and they've release, like, what? A thousand already? Anyway, it has slightly more of a rock theme than the symphonic tunes of the first two, but it's still quite good.

The graphics are pretty typical for a first-generation SNES title. Don't expect too much. Most of the game is pretty dull and flat, with only a couple environments that are bright and colorful. The full screen stills of Adol and co. are rather ugly in this version of the game. Adol's a pretty cute hero depending on what art you're looking at, but in this game he's just ugly and so are the rest of the characters. Oh well. It's what's inside that counts.

Ys III carries over much of what made Ys I & II special, but the horrible collision detection and it's short length nearly ruined it for me. It's still worth a look if you haven't played it. Die-hard Ys fans should still definitely play Ys III. In some ways, I like it better than Ys I, but for the most part... it's a pretty under whelming experience. Oh, and if you can beat the game without getting your ass whooped by that last boss a million times, let me know, haha! :)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/01, Updated 03/28/02