Thursday 21 June 2012

Completed: Ys Origins as Toal

right off the bat... there probably will be spoilers since... well... when you first start the game only Yunica and Hugo are playable ( This is my review on their story ) and you get Toal/Thor [from here on out i will call him Toal simply cause that is what i'm used to calling him] route after beating one of those two. In the original you had to beat both before you got Toal route and i think thats a beter way to handle it since Toal should be played last... technically... i'll get into that...

so yeah... i will try to keep spoilers to a minimum but no promises.

So... this game could have only been Toal's story... and that would have been fine... i understand why they make you play the other characters since it's the best way to get you to know the backstory to them but still... Yunica's story doesn't have too much effect on the overall plot... just her connections to other characters.... Hugo's is quite interesting but thing felt unresolved...

However Toal is without a doubt the games 'true ending' The game starts off differently with him... aka no french prologue (I had no idea that Ys is based on a french legend until about an hour before i started playing this game... i was just searching which order the games were in and bam.... i learned something that day) and you get a new cutscene almost every time you enter a major area which explains who Toal is and how he has come to this particular time... also he has way different items then the other two... more on that later.

so yeah... even though it really is the same(ish) game 3 times... Toal's story made it all worth it... also it technically has the fewest casualties.... so that's fun... He's also the fastest character to play but he has really short range even with his magic.... then again his magic is insanely powerful and kind of broken...
Wind when hit near enemies sents you speeding towards them and if you spame it you go back and orth relly fast...
thunder draws enemies closer to you like a magnet and breaks through most defense...
fire surrounds you with a fire tornado and gives you a few invincibility frames.
then again he is supposed to be the hardest game to play... so i guess this is there way to throw you a bone?

what else makes his ending the true end? the real final boss.... now you probably can somehow fight the real final boss and Hugo or Yunica but the fact that it has to be Toal (at least the first time) is so good... plus the epilogue is the best....
makes me laugh that it said flat out "ok this story continues in Ys book 1"

so let me get the straight.... if we are just going by the order in which the recent north American releases are .... (and i know i'm going to get this wrong)

ys 6 (ps2)> ys 1&2(ds/psp) > ys 3 oath (psp)>ys 7 (psp/steam) ys Origin (steam) > ys 4 (it's been announced in japan so i hope it comes out here)

now granted those are all remakes... the game (other then origins) were originally released in chronological order.... kinda... it gets really confusing... but my point is Steam tells you to Go play book 1 even though it isn't on steam (yet) and the ds version is broken and the psp one is probably out of print.... cruel cruel steam....

On a side note.... other then 6 (an 4 when it comes out) i've played the ys games chronologically (origin doesn't count since it's a prequil)

oh i'm supposed to talk about toal... sorry it's just... Falcom has the oddest/worst/most chronologically confused release scheduled in north america... and this goes for all their games.... and i just feel like venting every time i get the chance.

THE POINT IS.... if you like Action based roleplaying games that are fun and challenging with a great score then go buy this game right now.... if you buy it then more will come out.
if you don't like Action based roleplaying games give this series a try... it may chaneg you mind [it changed mine after all]

so is there anything negative i can say?
hm.... sure... toal's face in the sprite form looks odd... i dunno i always see a little gremlin looking back at me....
and some attacks have really tricky hit boxes.... nothing game breaking but a little annoying if the move doesn't let you move around...
otherwise no this game is a lot of fun and i wish people would stop saying that the JRPG genre is dead cause to me this game... these series of games prove that it is alive and well... people just need to look a little deeper then the surface.
also  as i mentioned before... it's the same game 3 times with slight changes... but  do feel the payoff was worth it.

oh... i mentioned that i would talk about different items... okay... really quick... due to toals ability some of the items the others get he doesn't need.... and when the others get a 'this will revive you once if you die' item... toal just gets higher attack and defense... yeah makes the final final boss a little tricky... but yeah i love how this ending explains everything for Ys book 1... but even if you haven't touched another Ys game this one is really enjoyable.

so go buy it on steam! right now! go!
if you want of course...

side note: unless i can cheat it... i may not get Adol... he's too expensive in the area shop... hm... who knows...

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