Posted on: December 7, 2021

Ingwer_Chris

Games: 28 Reviews: 18

The Ark of Beginnings

And so, Ingwer the Green's journey through the 2.5D-ish era of YS Games from the early 2000s comes to an end - by having played them in completely reversed release order. After some pause between the last released YS game (also called "that one" apparently), Falcom made its comeback with 'The Ark of Napishtim'. While some like it less than its successors, Felghana and Origin, for the sole reason of them having refined the formula, this is where it all started for said trilogy - and not too shabby for a beginning I might add. The controls are more limiting, and anyone who knows this game might roll their eyes when reading the words 'Jump' and 'Dash'. The way magic is handled is also different, as well as progression through equipment and accessories (meaning a bit less... systematic?) All of it feels like the first try handling those things, making them work but not as smooth. But they fit the game, especially as it feels more adventurous in general. The same goes for the difficulty - the game is a lot easier, especially with item usage, then the titles afterwards - however the level balance forces you more into grinding a few levels within a new area instead of an eased progression all the way through it. The bosses are also less extreme in their abilities. Note though, that the game does not have a designated 'Easy' Mode - so making the game easier for yourself by those aspects is a must in that regard. The music is...different. Again, it feels more adventurous - and while it wasn't as memorable for me personally, all of the tracks were great while hearing them. Same as with Felghana, I had to switch off Anti-Aliasing, V-Sync and Z-Sort Polygons to make the game run smooth, even though it should anyways. (See into the config.exe which comes with the game) Overall an awesome game like the other two. While more focused on an adventure and less feeling like a round game, it was very enjoyable through the whole 10+ hours. - And with that, I close my travel diary!

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Posted on: December 19, 2020

terry309

Verified owner

Games: 175 Reviews: 5

For people who like grinding only

YS VI is a very short game but it certainly won't feel short. Expect to spend most of your time grinding in a single location for a considerable amount of time or prepare to get your ass whooped. YS VI has no dodge button like the modern games, you can only jump to avoid attacks and since your jump is more vertical than it is horizontal, this means you can't move around very easily. Also the enemy hitboxes can be massive and since there are no I frames, you have to perfectly time your jumps to avoid many attacks. For this reason, I highly recommend taking your time to grind. Fortunately the game has a pretty good soundtrack so you'll be able to hear some nice tunes as you kill the same enemies over and over again and the music doesn't get old. The story ties things together pretty well from the other YS games and even though it's on the shorter side, it has some pretty cool sections. In a way it kinda plays like an interlude chapter to the YS games as opposed to a huge journey but the feeling of adventure is still there. The game as a whole feels very tight... albeit a bit too tight. Still its short length warrants a try if you don't mind grinding or are willing to suffer a challenging ordeal. Fortunately there are healing items you can use in this game, unlike later games that used the same engine which makes the game a tab more forgiving and more accessible than Oath In Felghana but you will still want to grind if you are used to the more modern games and I mean a lot. Always take some time to gain as much xp as possible the first time you enter an area before fighting a boss (usually indicated via a save statue). If you want an experience that plays a bit more closer to Oath In Felghana then there's catastrophe mode but if you're not experienced with the older YS games it may be quite overwhelming.

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Posted on: March 29, 2025

Kalechip

Verified owner

Games: 124 Reviews: 2

Plays Well with Keyboard Only

Unique action RPG style Good music, likeable characters, good pacing, cool bosses, decent dialogue, short-ish but includes optional content and basically 0 fluff like fetch quests (unless you think fighting through the same room of enemies a couple times to level up is fluff; I think its just having fun playing the game. Grinding is overblown, its a game design decision.). Fun adventure with good PC options and very playable with keyboard only or gamepad (prefer keyboard since you get dedicated buttons for all 8 directions of movement; gamepad does give you analogue movement though. I like to switch on the fly when I get tired of one.) Only one thing wrong with the game really. The enemy AI is too unforgiving and clearly balanced around the regular difficulties. Many enemies seem to have only one weakness, the plunging attack, and several others in the latter half of the game seem to have no real consistent openings to exploit, even if they are alone. This leads to plunge attack spam, since jumping in usually avoids their attacks and you can run away after the plunge hits them and hopefully stuns them. Think twice about Catastrophe mode if you want the highest difficulty. Not really much different, except there are many more Capla Waters than you can carry. You can sell or use the ones you have, but they are limited in quantity per game, so if you want to save them you will have a bunch of unopened chests everywhere. It might even be easier than regular since you can buy seemingly unlimited stat upgrade seeds in the endgame.

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Posted on: April 11, 2025

ATravelingMan

Verified owner

Games: 108 Reviews: 15

Classsic 2nd GEN YS

I love the Ys series this like i said in title its 2nd gen for me that meant that 2nd time they changed the look of the graphics frrom the beginning Ys book 1 an 2 from TURBODUO\TURBOCDROM. GREAT GAME

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Posted on: November 18, 2024

FrozenZeroLight

Verified owner

Games: 486 Reviews: 5

Great sense of progress!

It gets progressively difficult but with a bit of grind you get more powerful and it feels great, it is really good as all Ys games!

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Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim

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