Info

One of the most heralded action RPG franchises of all time, Legacy of Ys: Books I & II delivers the first two epic adventures of the famed saga on one cartridge, presented with a series of never-before-seen enhancements. [Atlus USA]

Review

I was always interested in playing the Ys series, but I never tried them because the first games were originally released in 1987-1988 - before I was born. If I were to play the Books I & II in their original form, I probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much due to their outdated graphics and etc. Luckily, Falcom remakes Ys I and II for the DS, and Atlus brings the game to us all in one cartridge. Atlus has a great reputation for their excellent translation and goodies included in their games (Legacy of Ys: Book I & II come with a soundtrack).

Legacy of Ys: Book I & II is a remake of the first two installments of the Ys series. This remake includes a new translation, recreated 3-D graphics, animated scenes, new music and multiplayer. This isn’t the first time Falcom rereleases the first two Ys; the instruction booklet tells you the ridiculous amount of times the first two Ys were released, but Atlus is dubbing Legacy of Ys as the ‘definitive’ version. If you’re like me who always wanted to get into the Ys series but never did, then Legacy of Ys is a perfect way to start.

For Book I, the story begins with Adol, a red-headed swordsman, who is washed ashore to the island of Esteria after his ship is wrecked by the Veil of Storms. Once Adol wakes up in the clinic, he learns about Esteria being cut off from the rest of the world because of the Veil of Storms. He also learns about monsters appearing at Esteria, silver being stolen and the books of Ys. Adol is the foreseen swordsman, and his journey begins as he tries to collect all 6 books of Ys. Without trying to spoil Book II too much, Book II picks up where Book II left off where Adol finds himself in the land of Ys. 

What I noticed is the story isn’t told by fancy CGI cutscenes or anything we see today. Instead the story folds as you talk with villagers; they tell you what happened to Esteria, and what the next thing for you to do is. One frustrating thing about the villagers is if you bump into them, they’ll automatically talk to you. It becomes frustrating when they get in front of you or if they’re blocking your path. The story isn’t deep which is to be expected given the game’s original release, but it’s pretty interesting and worth a look.



Having looked at some old screens and videos, the new animated cutscenes are a nice addition to the game. Still-screen character shots have been redone and look better than the old ones. Legacy of Ys isn’t the most impressive looking game on the handheld, but the game shines through its style. The soundtrack has also been redone and keeps the old school feel. The music is nice to listen, and if you want to hear it again, the game comes with a CD with some selected songs of the game, or you can access the music mode after you beat the game.

Legacy of Ys: Book I & II is an action RPG. There are two types of controls for Ys: the stylus and normal. In the stylus style control, you basically use the stylus for the whole game. Adol will automatically attack an enemy when he comes in contact with one. As boring as it may sound, it is actually this boring. Luckily, the normal style control provides a little more entertainment because you can smash a button to attack an enemy. The only time I used the stylus control was when fighting bosses because it guaranteed a hit to the boss and made boss fights easier. Book II introduces magic and pretty much makes the sword obsolete.

For the better or worse, enemies respawn quickly. Once you take a few steps forward and then come back, the enemy will reappear. It’s a great and easy way to level up when you need to go up a few levels, but when you’re stuck in a dungeon almost dead, this could be troublesome. Speaking of levels, Ys has a weird leveling up system and not weird as in unique or anything in that form. Let’s say you have difficulty defeating a boss because he can kill you in five hits or less. Your weapons deal little damage, and it would be near impossible to defeat him at your current level. You go out there and go two levels up to face the boss again. When you face the boss, you actually beat him with ease; it’s rarely in between. The same can be applied when visiting new places. One moment, the enemies are easy to defeat, but on the next area, they can withstand a lot of hits and can kill you easily.



The whole game can be summarized as visiting person A, going to place B, and coming back to visit person A. Dungeons are nothing but mazes filled with monsters. They are well designed and fun to crawl in, but one dungeon in particular is easy to get lost in. You’ll never be lost on what to do or where to go because your objective will be shown on the screen.

Books I and II are short and shouldn’t take more than 10 hours to finish each, but there are a few things to keep you occupied after beating the game. In time modes, you battle against different bosses and try to defeat them in the fastest way. Multiplayer has been included in Ys II where you battle up to 4 players, but sadly I couldn’t find anyone around here who had the game. If those two features don’t hold your interest, you can always replay the game under one out of the 4 difficulty modes.

If you’re into classic RPGs, then Legacy of Ys shouldn’t be missed. The story is interesting, dungeon crawling through mazes is fun and combat is so-so, depending on the control setting you have. Legacy of Ys is nothing new and may not appeal to the new generation of RPG gamers, but this is old school RPG at its finest.

Overall: 7/10