Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

The Ys series has been around since 1986, appearing on many platforms.  However, the series has never gained the popularity of games like Final Fantasy here in the United States.  In Japan, however, the Ys series has gained quite a following.  Now Konami has decided to bring the latest in the Ys series, The Ark of Napishtim, not only to the PS2, but to its portable cousin the PSP.

In Ys, you play Adol Christin, a young red-haired man with an appetite for adventure.  In The Ark of Napishtim, Adol is riding on a pirate ship and ends up flying overboard.  He finds himself washed up on the shore of Rehda in the Caanan Islands, befriended by two elven natives of the island.  From there Adol explores the island and tries to get off the island.  A red fairy appears and Adol's adventure involves solving a mystery behind the red fairy.

While the graphics in Ys are 3D, the game has a 2D feel to it.  Most of the game takes place on the island, so most of the time you traverse over tropical flora.  Sometimes you do travel over stone, sand, wood structures, and dirt, and the textures match accordingly.  Your path is laid out by raised areas in the environments.  While the paths branch out and you have several areas to explore, the environments feel static, with no movement except for the enemies on the screen.  The textures are muddy without much detail, especially in the jungle environments. 

Adol isn’t the most well-animated character, but his animations are done well enough.  While running, you basically watch his legs move, while his upper body stays in the same position.  Attacks with the sword are swift and look well done.  The creatures are animated fine, but aren’t as smooth as Adol.

While the graphics are average, some nice lighting effects show off in Ys.  When performing certain attacks, lighting effects highlight the blade.  Enemies swoop down with the beaks lit to show their force.  The save points glow with the lighting effects.  These touches do add a little flash to the graphics.

The score in Ys is excellent.  A nice flowing melody highlights the music, with chimes adding accents.  It gives the game a joyful, playful mood.  It never overshadows the gameplay though.  A flourish of music plays when you open a chest and find an item or when you level up.  However, the sound effects could be better.  You get the typical sword-slashing sound when attacking, and most enemies are fairly silent, although some shriek when they are defeated.

It’s disappointing that there aren’t any voices for any of the characters at all.  The dialogue is interesting and adding good voice acting for the characters would have really brought them to life.

The controls for Ys are simple enough, but there are some issues.  Moving Adol is done by using the D-pad or analog nub.  Jumps are made with the X button.  The Square button is case sensitive.  Most of the time the Square button attacks, and hitting the Square button three times performs a combo attack or uses a Sword Skill.  At other times, hitting Square activates a conversation with a person or examines an item.  Tools are used by hitting the Triangle button.  These are items for healing or temporarily increasing stats.  Switching swords is done with the L and R buttons.  Sword magic is activated by using the Circle button.

Attacking and movement at the same time causes different kinds of attacks.  Jumping and attacking while jumping up performs an upward thrust, while a downward thrust is done while hitting attack on the way down from a jump.  Moving, then releasing the movement and hitting attack at the right time performs a Dash Slash, while hitting attack and jump at the same time after releasing the movement does a Dash Jump.  These are tricky to do because the timing needs to be just right, but it gets easier with time.  You can’t button mash your way to success.

Ys is a game you’ll appreciate if you are an old-school gamer.  I would almost compare the game to the original Zelda.  You run around from map to map, combating enemies, finding items, and talking to characters to continue the storyline.

The combat is simple, and most of the moves have been described in the controls section.  However, there is some depth created with use of the Emelas Swords.  You acquire three Emelas Swords in the game, the Wind Sword, the Flame Sword, and the Thunder Sword.  Each of these swords has skills that perform special attacks.  For example, the Wind Sword creates a small whirlwind, while the Flame Sword shoots out flames at the enemies.  Each of these attacks is better against different types of enemies, so knowing when to know which sword to attack is helpful to get through the game.  The swords can also be upgraded by collecting Emel from conquered monsters and bringing it to an Emelas Studio.  Once you have upgraded your Emelas Sword enough times you gain Sword Magic based on the sword you have upgraded.

While the storyline of Ys is nothing original, the characters of Ys are interesting enough to make you care about the story.  Each of the characters has personality that really shines through the dialogue.  You can almost hear the attitude of every character just by reading what they have to say.  This is one of the best aspects of the game.

There are a few boss battles in the game, and these are one of the highlights of the game.  However, some of them can be very tough.  They are a nice diversion from the main action of the game though.

One issue with the game is that you start out very weak, and you have to battle a lot of enemies to get stronger.  This means you’ll travel over the same areas over and over again to level up Adol.  Once you get Adol strong enough though, progress through the game is relatively easy.  It also takes a little while to get into the story and sometimes it doesn’t feel like there is a lot of direction to help you know how to get through the story.

Another issue that kills Ys is that the load times are horrendous.  It wouldn’t be so bad if the areas that loaded were expansive, but the areas loaded are rather small.  Because of this, the game really drags.

Ys can be completed in a relatively short time.  If you are an active RPG player, getting through Ys could take you less than fifteen or so hours.  This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for all of the loading screens.

A few other enhancements to the game are available.  You can unlock an area with various mini-games available to you.  A media player unlocks music from previous Ys games.  You also have a character database available as well, giving you a description of all the characters you’ve met in the game.

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is an enjoyable RPG game that is hampered by issues that bring down the score.  Some will get bored with the RPG combat elements because of their simplicity.  Some will get frustrated by the balance issues.  Others will be disappointed at the length.  If you are looking for an old-school RPG, then you might want to give Ys: The Ark of Napishtim a rental.  Otherwise, you’d best look at taking your money elsewhere.

Gaming Trend Score

76

1. Graphics: 76
2. Audio: 78
3. Controls: 82
4. Gameplay: 72
5. Value/Replay: 74
6. OVERALL:76