Though I can't say I fully appreciate the true extent of this remake of the original 1987 title, it still holds up pretty well as the beginning of the long running series.

A rather short game (it ran me 5-6 hours), Ys I is an adventure where the main character Adol runs around fighting monsters and learns about this new land he has shipwrecked on. The combat system is a bit different than most classic RPGs where it a top-down action game that makes use of the 'Bump' system. Ideally, you try to run into enemies at an angle. This allows you to do the most damage while also avoiding the damage of a head on collision. It works pretty well, and the handful of boss fights all have their own strategies.

This release also offers a toggle between three different arrangements of the soundtrack - the original PC-98, the Complete, and the Chronicles+. While all three are pretty good, the high-quality, intense guitar soundtrack of Chronicles+ is absolutely incredible and really elevates the experience.

This is a great entry to this series and I am looking forward to continue on to the rest of them. As I mentioned before, it's really not too long so give it a go if you want to try out what an action RPG that predates even Final Fantasy feels like! Just one word of advice, if you are playing on PC ensure the refresh rate is set to 60. You will thank me by the end for not having it set to 144Hz - I found out the hard way!

i feel that time has been really kind to ys i, particularly thanks to this stellar remake. i played with the 2001 "complete" assets just due to it generally feeling and looking more suited to what i like out of this series aesthetically - so shoutout to this version for providing those options.

in returning to ys for the first time in around a decade, i was thrown back to the newgrounds-era "rpg" flash games you'd see around a lot; three towns, a dungeon, a few bosses, referential humor... it's really cozy. ys i complete is like a really, really polished version of that with some kickass tunes and memorable areas. having just come off of my first playthrough of ys origin, it was especially cool to revisit darm tower in its original state - i'd totally forgotten this connection to the original!

some backtracking and boss fights are a little nonsense, and i'd complain more about the whole level grinding thing if it didn't cap at 10. playing the steam version, i did need to fuck around with the settings to make the final boss actually palatable thanks to a still-unresolved glitch in that release... but all things considered, yeah, this was a fun ride. between this and origin, i'd consider myself a fan of ys thus far!