L2AGO #5

The more I play Ys Origin, the more convinced I become of its greatness.

Ys Origin takes place 700 years before the events of Ys I, and deals with events of desperation and devastation; the land of Ys has been flooded with torrents of disasters, and the Goddesses have gone missing overnight, leaving Solomon Shrine in danger and its denizens fearful. A search party has descended down to the land to try and make sense of the chaos, and in its wake stumble upon Darm Tower, where demons have suspiciously gathered. If you've played Ys I & II, many of the same bosses return here in Darm Tower from Ys I, only with Darm Tower serving as the whole ecosystem. The Tower itself has been greatly expanded and varied, with a plethora of different environments and enemies to keep you on your toes. And yet it's extremely thoughtful and condensed dungeon crawling; the levels are laid out neatly with virtually no labyrinths (I guess you could argue the Hall of Mirrors is one, though it's fairly short) and I never found myself getting lost due to the fairly straightforward layouts and helpful NPCs located at key points to give you hints if needbe. It also helps that you're encouraged to partake in this aggressive fast paced combat through an EXP multiplier that stays active as long as you keep throwing out successful hitboxes against enemies in levels; time flew by so quickly when traversing Darm Tower, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Where I think Ys Origin really succeeds is allowing for extremely varied gameplay while keeping combat fast and engaging regardless of variation. You've got two starter protagonists and one unlockable "secret" protagonist, and they all play differently. Yunica's your midrange fighter; she's relatively fast and fights with an axe, but later on gains more options to expand her range such as a fast special spin attack and a fire bolt projectile, and thus balancing when to fight upfront vs fight from a distance is necessary to mastering her playstyle. Hugo's the slowest character but works by overwhelming his opponents with projectiles; his specials range from a quick shield to mines, and the key to mastering him is focusing on positioning to make sure he's always in the right place to dish out damage without becoming too susceptible to attacks. Finally, the secret character has some of the fastest and most spammable melee attacks in the game, but as a result he doesn't have much room for safety spacing; as a result, you'll need to know exactly when to go aggro on enemies and when/how to back off to dodge incoming attacks on the fly. Having completed runs with all three characters at this point, I'm happy to report that it didn't feel like there was an obvious "best" character and an obvious "worst" character; they all have their merits, and I would gladly recommend trying all of them out. You'll end up fighting some similar and some different bosses throughout each run, so it's not like the whole experience is just another character thrown into the same design after all.

Speaking of which, the bosses. One of my biggest complaints with Ys: The Oath in Felghana was that 80% of the bosses felt like an endurance test; you spend the vast majority of fights just dodging enemy attacks left and right until the boss decides that they're okay with letting you attack them, with the boss out of range or in an invulnerable state until then. Playing through Ys Origin is fortunately a much different experience. Almost every boss can be actively engaged with at all times; there's almost always an opportunity to deal damage or pressure to a boss to progress fights, and generally they will attempt to dissuade you from wailing on them by sending out hitboxes and dishing damage to overly aggressive players rather than entering invulnerability or leaving the arena. Even the two bosses that don't play by this rule (the centipede and the lava punchy boss) are constantly throwing themselves out there for you to strike back, giving you a stronger sense of player agency over the fight and allowing for significantly less "downtime" than many of the boss fights in Oath in Felghana. Understanding the push & pull of boss fights in Ys Origin is key to mastering the game; there's no dodge roll or shield to save you here, so you'll have to think fast on your feet and jump/dodge attacks manually while juggling in the necessary offense as your win condition.

Let's talk briefly about the story too. Ys Origin's narrative is very simply told; there's only about 10 minutes max of exposition and dialogue to set up the story near the beginning, and then you're more or less let loose to start your ascent up the tower. Throughout your run, you'll learn more about the state of affairs around you as well as the protagonist's backstory, and all three of the protagonists stand out in this regard. Yunica's dealing with the loss of her close parental figures and struggles to get through the shadow of her past. Hugo's constantly comparing himself to those around him, and wonders what more it's going to take for him to finally achieve recognition and self-actualization. And the secret character? Let's just say that he's dealing with his wavering beliefs, and he's stuck in the middle wondering what to do with those who remain. While combat remains the focus of Ys Origin, its tale told via three different timelines (of three different protagonists) definitely plays a huge part of the experience; it won't take up too much of your time, but the worldbuilding and characterization that Falcom's staked a reputation off of remains fairly solid here.

And finally, I've basically stated this with different words for every Falcom game review I've done, but the soundtrack is phenomenal. Ys Origin in particular has some of the best tunes that I think Falcom Sound Team jdk has ever produced. Just give them a listen and you'll see what I mean.

At the end of the day, Ys Origin is just a goddamn fun game to play. The combat feels so great to engage with, the controls are extremely responsive, there's tons of variety via different protagonists and different attacks, boss fights are super flashy and enthralling, the soundtrack is fire, and there's a solid story packaged with this phenomenal gameplay that doesn't feel intrusive whatsoever. If I really had to nitpick, there are some enemies near the end that can reverse your controls temporarily with confusion (that fortunately can be somewhat alleviated through buying upgrades in the statue) and you can grind to make some boss fights more trivial by dealing more damage while taking less, though it's not always necessary as long as you're constantly engaging with overworld enemies. And once you beat the game with all three protagonists, you'll also unlock an arena where you can just hack away at enemies all day to your pleasure to unlock more rewards in a bonus shop, or partake in the classic boss rush. This is one of the easiest recommendations I can give for tightly constructed action-adventure games, and in my opinion, Ys Origin should not just be known as one of the best hidden gems of the 2000s, but as one of the greatest games of all time. I keep meaning to put this down, but it just keeps getting better. For a game set at the apocalyptic beginning, Ys Origin just refuses to age.

Reviewed on Jun 11, 2022


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