'It feels like I've been locked up down here for my entire life.'
The 1980s saw the advent of a new generation of JRPGs, foreshadowed by titles such as Hydlide (1984). While Dragon Quest (1986) was a variation on the traditional formula borrowed from the Ultima series, Ys stood out for its more action-oriented approach and its greater emphasis on story. These two characteristics must be understood as the fruit of Falcom's creative emulation: the choice of an action-type gameplay can be explained by Hydlide's influence, which places Ys in the wake of Falcom's own series, Dragon Slayer (1984), also inspired by The Tower of Druaga (1984). The more elaborate storytelling seems to stem from the involvement of Tomoyoshi Miyazaki and Masaya Hashimoto, whose work on Asteka (1984) and Asteka II: Templo del Sol (1986) follows in the tradition of adventure games. Ys is thus, like Dragon Quest, a transformative event in Japanese video games, which, while experimenting with new models, was on the verge of generating new standards. Although the title was originally published on PC-8801, many ports were made: the Famicom version is the one that includes the largest number of changes, both in the level design and in the quests to complete.
The player assumes the role of Adol Christin, a young man who sets out on an adventure after leaving his native region. The first steps of his adventure are described in a short story, included in the manual of the PC-8801 version. After a shipwreck, he ends up stranded on the coast of Esteria, where the adventure of Ys begins. Adol soon realises that strange events are taking place in Minea, where all the silver objects are disappearing. On his way to see Sara, he is thrust into a story of heroic dimensions: that of the books of Ys, which tell the truth about the disappearance of the eponymous continent. The game describes some fantasy Middle Ages, which makes good use of European mythology – Ys being the name of the legendary Breton island, whose disappearance is also the result of a moral dilemma. The storyline of Ys provides a refreshing quality to the game, creating a mysterious atmosphere from the very first moments.
The paucity of dialogue, in the Famicom version, does not, however, allow the player to grasp all the subtleties of the title: the books of Ys are terse and the player is likely to miss the burden of covetousness in the events surrounding Ys' demise. Similarly, the plethora of characters introduced in the final segment of the game hinders the ability to sympathise with them, especially as they are all visually similar. Every portrait used to illustrate the characters is identical, concealing their faces, so that a rather disturbing sense of homogeneity takes place. Although the lack of diversity in the graphic assets can be explained by the size of the Famicom cartridges, the title loses some of its charm, being incapable of really highlighting characters like Feena.
As mentioned, the gameplay of Ys is similar to that of Hydlide, but with a few new subtleties. The player does not have an attack button: to hurt the enemies, one must bump them, taking care to attack them from the sides. By offsetting the character, it is possible to score clean hits, which do not hurt Adol. This design allows for a more aggressive approach than in Hydlide, which mainly encouraged attacking from the flank or the back. In Ys, the player can take greater risks, although they are limited by the quality of their equipment and their level. In this respect, the game relies on farming, even though it remains relatively benign; however, even at high levels, Adol is still very fragile if he positions himself poorly against an enemy, forcing the player to be constantly vigilant. The prohibitive price of consumable items also fuels this tension in the gameplay, culminating in the Mines and especially in Darn Tower. The combat system, although simple, manages thus to fulfill its role for most of the adventure. The boss battles are more problematic, as they don't seem to exactly adhere to Ys' style. The late bosses are devious, and defeating them is more a matter of luck than a mastery of the game mechanics – especially since it is impossible to use any items.
This ruggedness of the combat system is also reflected in the progression of the main quest. If the game is fairly short, with only three dungeons, it delights in making the player go back and forth a lot, especially in the Famicom version. Backtracking is required all the time, whether to talk to an NPC or to use an item in a previously visited location. This affects the pace of the game, not least because items are rarely described to the player: it is up to them to find out what the various artefacts found in chests are for. The reliance on backtracking is rather difficult to historically explain, but reminds one of Metroid (1986); the reference is perhaps not accidental, as the jingle played when a chest is opened is astonishingly the same as the one played when Samus discovers an item. Ys appears to be a melting pot of different ideas, one that works within the framework of an adventure-driven fantasy. If the Shrine is a conventional first dungeon, the Mines seek to establish a very claustrophobic atmosphere with reduced visibility and an OST whose thick layers oppress the player, against the backdrop of a cruel ostinato. Darn Tower borrows more broadly from the puzzle tradition featured in Western RPGs, reminiscent of Wizardry and Ultima riddles, while featuring more narrative sequences – the prison passage is brilliant for its time –, even if the lack of dialogue hurts the title's worldbuilding.
The Famicom version introduces some changes, compared to the original title, that enhance those characteristics in both a bad and a good way. While the quest to get to the Mines provides a change of scenery after exploring the Shrine, its cryptic and lapidary nature leads to seeing it as a series of unwarranted back-and-forths. Inexplicably, the port removes the first appearance of Reah, whom the player only meets for the first time in the final dungeon, preventing a true appreciation of her role in the story. The technical limitations of the Famicom also necessitated alterations to some of the bosses, further emphasising their erratic movements; however, Adol's slow speed doesn't adapt well to these changes and the Famicom version naturally becomes more difficult, at the cost of feeling unfair on the majority of the fights.
Ys remains an essential title in the history of the JRPG, at the crossroads of different genres. This coalescence of ideas foreshadowed a long series, whose fantasy setting was to serve as the setting for Adol's many adventures. Not surprisingly, the end of the game is actually a direct transition to Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter (1988), to the point where the player may be confused by the closing sequence and the character's strange ascent in the final cinematic. Whilst the series standardised its gameplay under the influence of The Legend of Zelda (1986) and its sequels, the Ys franchise continues to be marked by distinctive ideas, laid down by the first title. Its scenaristic emphasis was crucial for a whole tradition of JRPGs, especially with the cutscenes of the TurboGrafx-16 port (1989). This lasting influence can be found in Lunar: The Silver Star (1992) or the Gagharv Trilogy (1994, 1996, 1999).
The 1980s saw the advent of a new generation of JRPGs, foreshadowed by titles such as Hydlide (1984). While Dragon Quest (1986) was a variation on the traditional formula borrowed from the Ultima series, Ys stood out for its more action-oriented approach and its greater emphasis on story. These two characteristics must be understood as the fruit of Falcom's creative emulation: the choice of an action-type gameplay can be explained by Hydlide's influence, which places Ys in the wake of Falcom's own series, Dragon Slayer (1984), also inspired by The Tower of Druaga (1984). The more elaborate storytelling seems to stem from the involvement of Tomoyoshi Miyazaki and Masaya Hashimoto, whose work on Asteka (1984) and Asteka II: Templo del Sol (1986) follows in the tradition of adventure games. Ys is thus, like Dragon Quest, a transformative event in Japanese video games, which, while experimenting with new models, was on the verge of generating new standards. Although the title was originally published on PC-8801, many ports were made: the Famicom version is the one that includes the largest number of changes, both in the level design and in the quests to complete.
The player assumes the role of Adol Christin, a young man who sets out on an adventure after leaving his native region. The first steps of his adventure are described in a short story, included in the manual of the PC-8801 version. After a shipwreck, he ends up stranded on the coast of Esteria, where the adventure of Ys begins. Adol soon realises that strange events are taking place in Minea, where all the silver objects are disappearing. On his way to see Sara, he is thrust into a story of heroic dimensions: that of the books of Ys, which tell the truth about the disappearance of the eponymous continent. The game describes some fantasy Middle Ages, which makes good use of European mythology – Ys being the name of the legendary Breton island, whose disappearance is also the result of a moral dilemma. The storyline of Ys provides a refreshing quality to the game, creating a mysterious atmosphere from the very first moments.
The paucity of dialogue, in the Famicom version, does not, however, allow the player to grasp all the subtleties of the title: the books of Ys are terse and the player is likely to miss the burden of covetousness in the events surrounding Ys' demise. Similarly, the plethora of characters introduced in the final segment of the game hinders the ability to sympathise with them, especially as they are all visually similar. Every portrait used to illustrate the characters is identical, concealing their faces, so that a rather disturbing sense of homogeneity takes place. Although the lack of diversity in the graphic assets can be explained by the size of the Famicom cartridges, the title loses some of its charm, being incapable of really highlighting characters like Feena.
As mentioned, the gameplay of Ys is similar to that of Hydlide, but with a few new subtleties. The player does not have an attack button: to hurt the enemies, one must bump them, taking care to attack them from the sides. By offsetting the character, it is possible to score clean hits, which do not hurt Adol. This design allows for a more aggressive approach than in Hydlide, which mainly encouraged attacking from the flank or the back. In Ys, the player can take greater risks, although they are limited by the quality of their equipment and their level. In this respect, the game relies on farming, even though it remains relatively benign; however, even at high levels, Adol is still very fragile if he positions himself poorly against an enemy, forcing the player to be constantly vigilant. The prohibitive price of consumable items also fuels this tension in the gameplay, culminating in the Mines and especially in Darn Tower. The combat system, although simple, manages thus to fulfill its role for most of the adventure. The boss battles are more problematic, as they don't seem to exactly adhere to Ys' style. The late bosses are devious, and defeating them is more a matter of luck than a mastery of the game mechanics – especially since it is impossible to use any items.
This ruggedness of the combat system is also reflected in the progression of the main quest. If the game is fairly short, with only three dungeons, it delights in making the player go back and forth a lot, especially in the Famicom version. Backtracking is required all the time, whether to talk to an NPC or to use an item in a previously visited location. This affects the pace of the game, not least because items are rarely described to the player: it is up to them to find out what the various artefacts found in chests are for. The reliance on backtracking is rather difficult to historically explain, but reminds one of Metroid (1986); the reference is perhaps not accidental, as the jingle played when a chest is opened is astonishingly the same as the one played when Samus discovers an item. Ys appears to be a melting pot of different ideas, one that works within the framework of an adventure-driven fantasy. If the Shrine is a conventional first dungeon, the Mines seek to establish a very claustrophobic atmosphere with reduced visibility and an OST whose thick layers oppress the player, against the backdrop of a cruel ostinato. Darn Tower borrows more broadly from the puzzle tradition featured in Western RPGs, reminiscent of Wizardry and Ultima riddles, while featuring more narrative sequences – the prison passage is brilliant for its time –, even if the lack of dialogue hurts the title's worldbuilding.
The Famicom version introduces some changes, compared to the original title, that enhance those characteristics in both a bad and a good way. While the quest to get to the Mines provides a change of scenery after exploring the Shrine, its cryptic and lapidary nature leads to seeing it as a series of unwarranted back-and-forths. Inexplicably, the port removes the first appearance of Reah, whom the player only meets for the first time in the final dungeon, preventing a true appreciation of her role in the story. The technical limitations of the Famicom also necessitated alterations to some of the bosses, further emphasising their erratic movements; however, Adol's slow speed doesn't adapt well to these changes and the Famicom version naturally becomes more difficult, at the cost of feeling unfair on the majority of the fights.
Ys remains an essential title in the history of the JRPG, at the crossroads of different genres. This coalescence of ideas foreshadowed a long series, whose fantasy setting was to serve as the setting for Adol's many adventures. Not surprisingly, the end of the game is actually a direct transition to Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter (1988), to the point where the player may be confused by the closing sequence and the character's strange ascent in the final cinematic. Whilst the series standardised its gameplay under the influence of The Legend of Zelda (1986) and its sequels, the Ys franchise continues to be marked by distinctive ideas, laid down by the first title. Its scenaristic emphasis was crucial for a whole tradition of JRPGs, especially with the cutscenes of the TurboGrafx-16 port (1989). This lasting influence can be found in Lunar: The Silver Star (1992) or the Gagharv Trilogy (1994, 1996, 1999).