Ys I Chronicles (PSP, 2009)

Rating: 9.5/10
The Ys series of games is probably one that you’ve never heard of. Made by Nihon Falcom, the same company behind the The Legend of Heroes games. Ys I & II Chronicles is a remake compilation of the first two Ys games, originally made for the PC Engine in 1989. Due to it being a compilation, I will be reviewing Ys I and Ys II separately.


After Adol Christin, the main protagonist of the Ys series, sails to the island of Esteria, his boat gets destroyed and he washes up on the beach of Barbado. A “Stormwall” appeared recently and monsters spawned from it, terrorizing the island. So in regular video game fashion, it’s up to us (Adol) to save the day! You get a weapon from Barbado’s militia and your adventure begins.


Combat in Ys I is interesting, to say the least. To quote the box, it has “unique motionless combat”, which is true. Allow me to elaborate. Adol attacks by ramming into the enemies. If you attack an enemy head-on, Adol loses a little bit of health. There are ways to hit them without losing health, but to be honest it’s kind of random that you will. I’ve seen fans refer to the mechanic as “bumper cars” and it’s not far off.


The main objective of the game is to collect the six Books of Ys. The books are hidden inside labyrinth-like dungeons. They aren’t too hard to navigate through, except for some parts in Darm Tower. Each dungeon has a boss protecting the books, and they were pretty fun. Challenging, but fun. In the first dungeon, you find an amnesiac girl named Feena. She may or may not have a bigger role in the story. This isn’t me being sarcastic, I really don’t know yet.

Pros:
+ A light, but good story
+ A truly amazing soundtrack
+ Unique combat
+ Challenging bosses

Cons:
- The bumping mechanic can frequently backfire and you’ll lose a lot of health


Final Thoughts:
Ys I was a very great game to me. I really loved the characters, and everything was paced pretty well. Honestly your biggest enemy is the bumping mechanic, as you’ll be close to dying a lot. I guess Falcom knew this, so they implemented armors and rings to diminish the damage you take a little bit. Like Golden Sun, this is part of a duology, but unlike Golden Sun, Ys I is somewhat standalone. You even save the day and complete your quest in this half. Would I recommend Ys I? Definitely! Since my only complaint is the bumper cars mechanic, but that has its workaround and isn’t too bad.

I’m going to play Final Fantasy II for little while before playing Ys II, but I really can’t wait to jump into this game’s sequel.