The sixth game in the Ys series, except not really because these games have been remade and re-released a dozen times each, but I digress.
For those who know nothing about Ys, it's a long running fast paced action RPG with beautiful aesthetics and excellent music. You can probably start with any game in the series except 2, but in order to understand the story it's better to play them in a certain order. They are generally hard, grindy and a lot of fun. Good old Ys.
On that note, I don't think this is the best starting place for a newcomer because there are numerous references to past titles and characters. Not to mention that many mechanics are poorly explained, almost like they expected players to know them in advance. As an example, I don't think I ever saw a mention that magic attacks have invincibility frames, even though I would consider that extremely important to know.
The Ark of Napishtim follows the "one playable character, three kinds of magic" style of gameplay and it's not as good as the masterpiece known as Ys Origin, but it's still really good. The worst part about it is probably the damage scaling.
This is because attributes in Ys have a non-linear effect which means that a single point of defense could be the difference between taking 30 or 1 point of damage from the same attack. As a result, sometimes it can feel like you are horribly underpowered, but grinding a single level can turn the tables.
There's also the bosses, many of which spawn enemies indefinitely in nightmare difficulty and their weak spots aren't exactly intuitive which can lead to some frustration. The gameplay remains largely skill based, but I did feel like the game expected me to grind at times which is kind of lame for an action game.
Overall, I would say Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is a great action game, and only bested by Ys: Origin for this gameplay style in the series.
For those who know nothing about Ys, it's a long running fast paced action RPG with beautiful aesthetics and excellent music. You can probably start with any game in the series except 2, but in order to understand the story it's better to play them in a certain order. They are generally hard, grindy and a lot of fun. Good old Ys.
On that note, I don't think this is the best starting place for a newcomer because there are numerous references to past titles and characters. Not to mention that many mechanics are poorly explained, almost like they expected players to know them in advance. As an example, I don't think I ever saw a mention that magic attacks have invincibility frames, even though I would consider that extremely important to know.
The Ark of Napishtim follows the "one playable character, three kinds of magic" style of gameplay and it's not as good as the masterpiece known as Ys Origin, but it's still really good. The worst part about it is probably the damage scaling.
This is because attributes in Ys have a non-linear effect which means that a single point of defense could be the difference between taking 30 or 1 point of damage from the same attack. As a result, sometimes it can feel like you are horribly underpowered, but grinding a single level can turn the tables.
There's also the bosses, many of which spawn enemies indefinitely in nightmare difficulty and their weak spots aren't exactly intuitive which can lead to some frustration. The gameplay remains largely skill based, but I did feel like the game expected me to grind at times which is kind of lame for an action game.
Overall, I would say Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is a great action game, and only bested by Ys: Origin for this gameplay style in the series.