Edited on: October 27, 2025

Posted on: October 27, 2025

Eglaios

Games: 91 Reviews: 8

Mint-fresh concepts to this day

- Ys 1 & 2 feature some concepts that go against modern standards. Though, because it's split in 2 games Ys 1 serves as the sandbox to stumble and learn, then you'll enter Ys 2 with all the lessons learned from Ys 1, and will be able to enjoy a level of riddles that modern games wouldn't dare trying (I only had to check online once in my first playthrough of Ys 2, yet stumbled every way possible in Ys 1). - Thanks to their scope, Ys 1&2 can afford to make the world feel exceptionally alive : Each human in the land is a character with their own lore, a journal entry, and there's been a charming attention to link everyone to plot-relevant stuff in a way or another. -Most impressively, each NPC has dialogues for many different cases. Even if you choose to not engage to it, this makes the world feel that much more alive and coherent. Ys 2 pushes this to the extreme by featuring a huge amount of situational dialogues, implementing an individual affection level for each NPC that grows as you offer them gifts (or decreases if you hit them, up to negative levels) where everyone has their own dialogue for each of their affection level. Every normal enemy also has dialogue as well because why being the king at something when you can be the emperor instead. -Ys 2 improves on Ys 1 in many striking ways, which kept getting me amazed in my Ys 2 playthrough, despite still looking like an RPG maker project.

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Posted on: February 17, 2023

RedTechKnight

Verified owner

Games: 378 Reviews: 32

Still pretty fun

For both games, their combat system is interesting, mostly has you attack by running into enemies at an angle. Progression is pretty linear, not much in the way of side quests and side content outside of optional character interactions. Characters aren't deep and the plot is basic but it all still has a lot of charm to it. Nice pixel art all around and really awesome music (in 3 variants too!) that could still grow tiring from how often you hear it, the most often heard battle track usually. They're very classic RPG in that your only way to find out where to go is to talk to different characters for more information and hints, can feel rewarding if you're successful, frustrating if you're lost. You also have to make it through without a map and areas get increasingly complex and hard to navigate, but they aren't completely impenetrable at least. Even played together their runtime is pretty short for a JRPG, and it always feels like you're making rapid progress. Ys I has its flaws but Ys II makes definite improvements on the first game. In terms of bosses, they all feel like entertaining challenges, and the game also gives you additional tools to play with, such as offensive and utility magic. You can also at least use your equipped item during a boss fight but still can't change it. Regular enemies can now also perform an attack apart from just bumping into you, so there's something else to watch out for. You don't have a massive boost in power from each level and upgrade anymore but you do still feel like you're gaining power at a decent pace. The plot is more involved and there's a bit more to the character interactions, especially with the simple gifting system, and now talking to enemies is also possible after a certain point. It's basically improved on the first game in important ways and is even more enjoyable to play through. I recommend these if you're into older JRPGs overall.

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Posted on: May 21, 2024

kingcronos

Verified owner

Games: 80 Reviews: 1

It's not great.

My review is specifically of the first game since that's the one played. The good: The game has a pleasantly appealing anime art style. The controls are intuitive with combat being simple and fun. I used my arcade stick to play the game and it worked great, but the game does allow you to play with a mouse and/or keyboard. The music also sounds great with some tracks sounding like they were pulled from a Dynasty Warriors game and other have a Game of Thrones feel to them. The Bad: The game is very dated and it shows. The balance is all over the place with random difficulty spikes that appear out of nowhere. Most of the game is spent collecting items, some mandatory and some optional. The game doesn't tell you whats mandatory, so your better off just collecting everything or reference a guide. This is especially true in the final dungeon, a massive 16 floor maze tower. Once I made it towards the top I realized that I missed a ring on one of the lower floors that's required to move forward. The game never mentioned anything about a ring being mandatory, or where to find it. I only found out after I referenced a guide. At this point I lost interest, since I had no desire to backtrack to the beginning of the dungeon. Overall: Not my cup of tea. I was looking for a nice slow RPG to relax to after work. The random difficulty spikes and convoluted item collecting and constant backtracking made me lose interest in the game. I don't think I'll bother with the second one.

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Posted on: February 19, 2023

Megabyte

Games: 565 Reviews: 112

A flawed classic and it's correction.

Ys I is regarded as a classic retro game by most who have been able to play it. And it earns this title with ease. However, due to the game’s most common versions being on systems that didn’t really make it in the US, it is also a lost classic… but a flawed one. There is a lot of good to be had here, but some baffling decisions hold it back from being one of the best classic games you have never had the chance to play... And Ys II is basically the game I wish Ys I was. The original was a classic title and made it obvious to see why, but it also made mistakes that could never be overlooked and prevented the game from being possibly one of the best of it’s time. Ys II seems to have been made to fix that, and is overall a much better game because of it.

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Posted on: July 1, 2022

GameZard

Verified owner

Games: 1053 Reviews: 52

Bump everyone.

Remake of the original YS and YS 2. Classic JRPGs where you bump into enemies in order to damage them. The graphics, music, and story are as good as you can expect from such an old game. Interesting to see where YS started.

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