[Video game music]

 

 

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

12 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Glad VIII is coming to the Switch. I've been meaning to get around to it, but I've been waiting for the new translation to really jump in. It also seems to have brought way more attention to VIII than the original release did, which is nice for a franchise that has constantly gone overlooked by a workhorse developer that deserves more credit. Damn if Falcom hasn't made some damn good games that have their own identities.

Back to Ys specifically, this has inspired me to go back and go through the games again. I started with Oath of Felghana, really liked it, and never played anything else for whatever reason.

Any standouts I should check out next?

I'd recommend playing I and II or Ark of Napishtim next, personally, and then Origin after both of those.

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

There is a DS remake of 1 & 2 called Legacy of Ys: Books I & II, and I know it gives the choice between running into your enemies and actually slashing them via a button press from an old Nintendo Power review I read.

I don't know how good or bad it is. I've never played it nor any Ys game, so a connoisseur such as yourself may spit it out and throw in my napkin. But hey, this is an FE fansite, so virtually everyone here should have access to a DS/3DS to play it.

That's generally regarded as one of the worse versions of Ys I and II.

Ys I and II Chronicles (Steam, GOG, PSP) is widely regarded as the best, which I agree with.

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

38 minutes ago, Jedi said:

The games aren't generally too intensive for computers either, so you should be pretty fine.

That's putting it mildly. Ark of Napishtim, Oath in Felghana, and Origin in particular could run on a toaster. They came out in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and were not remotely graphically intensive even for the time.

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

1 minute ago, Stopwatch said:

can't really agree more with this- I played the ones I've played in chronological order and was extremely confused by the Bump system.

"Which button attacks!? I keep dying to the first guy, what the hell..."

Not only did I not understand the bump system, I also forgot to equip the sword. I laugh about it now.

To clarify, the particular order I'd recommend is I and II Chronicles > Ark of Napishtim (VI) > Oath in Felghana > Origin > Seven > Memories of Celceta > Lacrimosa of Dana (VIII).

I didn't include V because there's been a fair bit of hinting from Falcom that a remake may be coming at some point - and it definitely does need one.

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

How much hours of content does Ys 8 have? 

Also, i skimmed over the Ys article on Wikipidea and it turns out that there's actually two versions of Ys 4. Which one do i play? 

 

My playthrough of 8, including postgame content, took me 53 hours, which is much, much longer than average for the series - most of the games are no more than 20.

There are actually four versions of Ys IV - Mask of the Sun for SNES, The Dawn of Ys for PC-Engine, Mask of the Sun -A New Theory- for PS2, and Memories of Celceta for Vita/PC. Memories of Celceta is the modern, canon one, but The Dawn of Ys also has its own unique charms and is still worth playing today.

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

VIII is very much an evolution of the Ys Seven/Celceta formula, but the reintroduction of jumping and verticality in level design does a lot to make it feel more like Felghana/Origin than those two games. I would definitely give it a try.

Also, take what Digital Emelas says with a grain of salt, particularly when it comes to play order. That site authoritatively makes a lot of statements that the vast majority of the Ys fanbase would disagree with - the generally accepted best play order is release order, but definitely not chronological order. At the very least, play I and II before Origin. Ark of Napishtim is also frequently referenced in games made later, so his suggestion to play it after those games is most baffling.

For the most part, though, the main plots are standalone. VIII's, in particular, is actually one of the most standalone, and it's a perfectly good starting point.

[Ys General: 8 launches June, Celceta PC in summer]

21 minutes ago, Ether said:

How much will I regret trying to solo the game with Dana

This isn't possible.

You can't technically solo the game with anyone on your first playthrough - you don't unlock the ability to decrease party size below 3 until the postgame/NG+.

That said, a substantial portion of the game has you playing as Dana solo anyway.

[FE16 "leaks"]

I'm expecting a reveal in the Direct and a Japanese release probably somewhere between August and November.