Workmanlike and unambitious, Ys V abandons the identity the series has built over the course of four games in favor of a relatively generic 7 hour SNES action RPG dominated by a sense of ennui. The combat is competent-but-flat, the boss fights are easy and uninteresting, the dungeon design is very basic and the desert setting is distressingly underutilized. In many ways it’s more polished and better constructed than, say, Ys III. But unlike Ys III, it’s a game devoid of passion and excitement, of any elements to make it really “pop” and stand out from the many other action RPGs on the SNES.