Ark of Napishtim serves as a bit of a transition period between the top-down classic Ys games and the more modern isometric 3D action adventure games of Falcom during the 2000s. As is, it definitely has a few rough edges and doesn't have a lot of the features that make its followups Oath in Felghana and Origin so beloved by fans, but it's still a pretty fun game at its core.
Firstly, Ark of Napishtim's atmosphere feels quite a bit different than the other Ark era games, in that Oath in Felghana and Origin tend to have very energetic, sweeping tracks to suit the high intensity, frenzied combat and exploration while Ark focuses more on chill, tranquil melodies. It differs from my other point of comparison here, Ys VIII, in that Ys VIII strands you on an unexplored and untamed island, filling you with this sense of optimism and adventure as you traverse new grounds and fight off dinosaurs, while this game gives off this more ambient and nostalgic feeling of a mystical island held together by a fragile peace. In a sense, while the other Ys games of this time tend to be tightly constructed and fairly linear (with narrative hints heavily pointing you in the right direction), Ark of Napishtim almost feels like a quasi-open world; a lot more of the island's exploration tends to be very player-driven to find out everything that's changed after big events, and while the NPCs can give you hints as to where to dig next, those pointers are usually more subtle and there are often tasks that must be accomplished before you can progress the story. These tasks are generally signified alongside the right level range that Adol has to hit before he can safely traverse certain areas as a form of "gatekeeping"; it's fairly obvious in this game because while it is possible to enter some areas early, his sword will clank off of enemies if he's underleveled and he'll have to level up elsewhere (usually getting certain items or story checkpoints along the way) before returning. This all contributes to this feeling that you have to be a bit more patient for this installment, since grinding often feels necessary to overcome the level gaps and there's no EXP multiplier from chaining hits this time around, but honestly, I found the laid-back feeling of this game compared to its peers to be refreshing once I got more into it.
Some quick notes regarding the gameplay: combat's still pretty fun despite not having the EXP multiplier, though I do have a couple of minor gripes. There are a few enemies that absolutely have to be hit by jump thrust (they'll clank otherwise) or are optimally hit by jump thrust, and because you'll find plenty of them both due to grinding and abundance throughout the island, repeating this action over and over can feel a little overused. There are also a lot of optional (but fairly useful) items that have to be retrieved via the dash jump (using the forward momentum of the thrust and chaining that immediately to a jump), and Falcom does not do a great job explaining this mechanic; I recommend using this guide or from my own words, making sure you're facing in the direction you want to dash jump before tapping briefly in the right direction, and then waiting about a quarter of a second before tapping the slash button and the jump button in quick succession. It definitely can take some practice, but I eventually got this working consistently; nevertheless, I think Falcom got the idea that this mechanic wasn't working so well and eventually replaced this with the standard double jump. Finally, I've been told that Ark tends to be one of the harder games in the series, but I actually think it wasn't too bad; granted, this is partly due to how I felt obligated to grind throughout the run, but you'll also build up a nice little side inventory of healing items on the go and plenty of held-items to help you out with effects such as healing a little bit after slaying an enemy. I liked most of the boss fights as well; even though they weren't quite as flashy as many of the fights from Oath and Origin, they at least felt quite engaging since there was almost always some way to interact with the boss due to few "invincibility/intangibility" phases (which was one of my gripes with Oath).
While Ark's game-feel seemed a bit different than many of the other Ys games I've played, it was still an enjoyable experience at the end of the day relaxing to peaceful lulling tunes while slashing monsters on the mysterious island, helping out the villagers as best as I could. I do think some of the side characters as well as the main villains could have used some more screen time to enhance their character development/backstory, but at least Isha and Olha were pretty convincing and thoughtfully written characters, and the story/lore provides some excellent build-up if you're willing to talk to the villagers often for your fill. It's another classic Ys adventure with an ancient evil to thwart by Adol the Red himself, and though it's definitely not the best entry point to Ys, it's more than worth a look if you want more Ys in your life.
PS: If you decide to buy Ark of Napishtim on Steam as I did, you may have more success running the DX9 version that's included; the standard version of the game didn't have functional v-sync for some reason, and as a result had this incessant background buzzing due to the frame rate running in the thousands.
Firstly, Ark of Napishtim's atmosphere feels quite a bit different than the other Ark era games, in that Oath in Felghana and Origin tend to have very energetic, sweeping tracks to suit the high intensity, frenzied combat and exploration while Ark focuses more on chill, tranquil melodies. It differs from my other point of comparison here, Ys VIII, in that Ys VIII strands you on an unexplored and untamed island, filling you with this sense of optimism and adventure as you traverse new grounds and fight off dinosaurs, while this game gives off this more ambient and nostalgic feeling of a mystical island held together by a fragile peace. In a sense, while the other Ys games of this time tend to be tightly constructed and fairly linear (with narrative hints heavily pointing you in the right direction), Ark of Napishtim almost feels like a quasi-open world; a lot more of the island's exploration tends to be very player-driven to find out everything that's changed after big events, and while the NPCs can give you hints as to where to dig next, those pointers are usually more subtle and there are often tasks that must be accomplished before you can progress the story. These tasks are generally signified alongside the right level range that Adol has to hit before he can safely traverse certain areas as a form of "gatekeeping"; it's fairly obvious in this game because while it is possible to enter some areas early, his sword will clank off of enemies if he's underleveled and he'll have to level up elsewhere (usually getting certain items or story checkpoints along the way) before returning. This all contributes to this feeling that you have to be a bit more patient for this installment, since grinding often feels necessary to overcome the level gaps and there's no EXP multiplier from chaining hits this time around, but honestly, I found the laid-back feeling of this game compared to its peers to be refreshing once I got more into it.
Some quick notes regarding the gameplay: combat's still pretty fun despite not having the EXP multiplier, though I do have a couple of minor gripes. There are a few enemies that absolutely have to be hit by jump thrust (they'll clank otherwise) or are optimally hit by jump thrust, and because you'll find plenty of them both due to grinding and abundance throughout the island, repeating this action over and over can feel a little overused. There are also a lot of optional (but fairly useful) items that have to be retrieved via the dash jump (using the forward momentum of the thrust and chaining that immediately to a jump), and Falcom does not do a great job explaining this mechanic; I recommend using this guide or from my own words, making sure you're facing in the direction you want to dash jump before tapping briefly in the right direction, and then waiting about a quarter of a second before tapping the slash button and the jump button in quick succession. It definitely can take some practice, but I eventually got this working consistently; nevertheless, I think Falcom got the idea that this mechanic wasn't working so well and eventually replaced this with the standard double jump. Finally, I've been told that Ark tends to be one of the harder games in the series, but I actually think it wasn't too bad; granted, this is partly due to how I felt obligated to grind throughout the run, but you'll also build up a nice little side inventory of healing items on the go and plenty of held-items to help you out with effects such as healing a little bit after slaying an enemy. I liked most of the boss fights as well; even though they weren't quite as flashy as many of the fights from Oath and Origin, they at least felt quite engaging since there was almost always some way to interact with the boss due to few "invincibility/intangibility" phases (which was one of my gripes with Oath).
While Ark's game-feel seemed a bit different than many of the other Ys games I've played, it was still an enjoyable experience at the end of the day relaxing to peaceful lulling tunes while slashing monsters on the mysterious island, helping out the villagers as best as I could. I do think some of the side characters as well as the main villains could have used some more screen time to enhance their character development/backstory, but at least Isha and Olha were pretty convincing and thoughtfully written characters, and the story/lore provides some excellent build-up if you're willing to talk to the villagers often for your fill. It's another classic Ys adventure with an ancient evil to thwart by Adol the Red himself, and though it's definitely not the best entry point to Ys, it's more than worth a look if you want more Ys in your life.
PS: If you decide to buy Ark of Napishtim on Steam as I did, you may have more success running the DX9 version that's included; the standard version of the game didn't have functional v-sync for some reason, and as a result had this incessant background buzzing due to the frame rate running in the thousands.