Ys: Book 1&2

The first time I popped Ys Book I & II into my Turbo Duo, I knew I was in for the greatest videogame experience of my life.

I had never played a CD-ROM game before, so I was completely amazed when I heard an actual narrator (Alan Oppenheimer) telling me the story of a hopeless world oppressed by evil forces. The complete awe I felt watching the introduction never once dimmed as I made my way through the adventure.

The story may sound like countless others you've heard in you life, but Ys tells it with so much quality. A young man, Adol Christin, must gather the books of Ys in order to bring down the megalomaniac, Dark Fact (beautifully voiced by veteran cartoon man, Michael Bell). Once he recovers the books, Adol is then transported to the land of Ys where he must face the most powerful and frightening of foes - Boss Darm.

Without giving the entire story away, I must say that Ys presents one of the most sweeping adventures of all time; this includes movies, books and radio. I was absolutely mesmerized as I made my way through this enormous quest, never once wanting to put the controller down. When I finally beat the game, I was left speechless. The ending was moving and uplifting all at once. The game beautifully wrapped everything the player experienced throughout the adventure into an unforgettable denouement.

I can't begin to say how much this game moved me. It developed the characters into people you cared about, it swept you through a land filled with challenge and excitement, and at the end, it made you beg on your hands and knees for more. This is by far the greatest game I have ever played, and I can safely say that no game since has touched me the way this one has. The music and voice acting are second to none, and although the graphics appear dated, they still retain much of their charm to this day. If you love RPGs, videogames, or love epic tales, then by any means necessary, dig up a Turbo Grafx CD player and this disc. You will never look at videogames the same way again.

"Ys Book I & II" in many ways is your standard RPG (Role-Playing Game) about a boy who would be hero (Adol), out to destroy the "great ancient evil" (Dark Fact) which has blighted his homeland for generations from atop Darm Tower. The story is as strait forward a cliché as it sounds and the graphics are standard late 80's simplicity, but as one of the earliest CD-ROM games it blazed some brilliant new trails in its use of fill in cinematic story telling and true voice narrations. It also shocks the first time player with the revelation that just when you think it's over, that's only "Book I". In a stylish revolution stolen by every "Zelda" game since, the first challenge (Book I) is followed immediately by a longer, harder challenge (Book II).

Mere words cannot describe a game with such a great story. Tears of nostalgia come to my eyes, whenever I hear the opening song, or any song for that matter. It's unfortunate, that America has never really expierienced this game, because, the Turbo Grafx, although the BEST system of the 3 16-bitters, didn't generate enough popularity. But, this game, is worth buying a Turbo for it! There are ofcoarse loads of other great games, but, this is deffinitly one of the masterpieces! I highly recomend it.

...and I am wondering what took me so long. Okay, I do know, it was not exactly something that was heavily advertised for the NES and I am not one hundred percent sure it came out in the United States on the NES. Another reason I did not play it is because while it was released here on the Turbo Duo CD this system flew under the radar here. Not sure why, as playing the system it blows both the NES and Master System out of the water and holds up well against the Genesis and SNES. I mean, look at Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and is better than the version released on the SNES (I like the SNES version btw) and looks better than Bloodlines on the Genesis. I am sure Ys looks immensely better on this system than the NES and the music is amazing and it has animated cut scenes!

The story has an adventurer named Adol arriving at a port and immediately being thrust into an adventure which will have him collecting the books of Ys, saving the people of the land and learning the mysteries of the land! There are many dungeons to explore and a good amount of people to talk to and who offer you help as an evil plan unfolds.

This game consist of the first two Ys games. The game play for each game has about the same mechanics with the addition of magic during the second game being the main difference. The combat consists of bump combat which you get used to and solving some mysteries. The first game is pretty straightforward; however, book II was a bit harder as the dungeons were very large and some of the clues vague. Still, very winnable without help and rewarding when I finished the game.

So it looks pretty good and the music is outstanding. The voices during some of the cut scenes is sometimes hard to hear due to the music, but overall understandable. Thankful for emulation so I could play the Turbo Graphics version as I am finding so many of the games on it super fun. This one is one of the best ones I've played and I am looking forward to playing part 3!

Some of you may have played the original Ys on the Sega Master System, or Ys 3 on the Genesis, SNES, or The Ark of Napishtim on the PS2, PSP (technically the 6th in the series), but the best - and sadly underplayed - release in the West was Ys Book I & II on the first console to use a CD-ROM - the TurboGrafx-16/CD. Ys originally appeared as a 2 part/2 game story for Japanese PC back in the 80s. The game itself is actually a remake of those first two Ys games merged into one narrative (it works well, since the first game basically ends "to be continued") While at its heart, the game is basically a Zelda-style game, what set this particular version apart was its groundbreaking presentation.

Strange as it sounds, what defines Ys more then anything is the music, but not because the rest of it isn't up to par - the music actually enhances the whole experience - it TELLS the game's story and gives the whole quest this evocative quality. Perhaps it was the shock of going from NES music to REAL music that made such an impression on me, but even many latter-day J-RPG soundtracks don't even compare (as good as the compositions in Final Fantasy VII are, for example, the sound quality still sounds like a goofy wavetable set for Sound Blaster 16 by comparison). The only music in Ys that could be called "ordinary" would be the town music. To fit both games on one CD-ROM, the designers opted to give the towns standard TG synth music. It actually works well, strangely, enough, since you feel safe when you are not being bombarded with violins and electric guitars. The original music was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, of Actraiser and Streets of Rage fame. His original compositions were re-arranged for this version, but you can still hear his style in the pieces. Ys music is so popular in Japan, that the amount of arranged soundtracks and OSTs for the games easily rivals Final Fantasy's catalog.

On top of the epic music, you get a voice cast consisting of Alan Oppenheimer, Jim Cummings, and Michael Bell - all of whom have done voice acting for countless cartoons, video games, and movies (He-Man, Neverending Story, Lost Odyssey, you name it) - and even Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, Spider-Man 3). Story-wise, don't expect the bloated philosophical pondering of Xenogears, but it does go beyond the standard kill-the-evil-demon plot. You essentially play part hero/part archaeologist as you investigate the legends surrounding an Atlantis-esqe civilization known as Ys (pronounced "ease"). The "uncovering" part actually gives the game some of its mystique (captured greatly by the music as well) since you feel like you are doing much more then simply killing a bad guy.

The only part of the game that might considered detracting to some is the combat system. It's real-time like Zelda, but what sets apart is its lack of an attack button. Basically, you equip a sword and you literally ram into the enemies. Depending on the your stats, equipment, and the angle of attack, you will either damage the enemy and send it reeling back or it will do the same to you. While I've noticed its been an initial turn-off to some gamers since we're all weened to strike our sword with an attack button, it actually feels very succinct and intuitive once you get used to it. The boss battles usually require trickier strategies and you'll eventually be introduced to magic attacks, but the combat system is rather unique. The actual in-game graphics stray somewhere between 8-bit and 16-bit. They're effective and do the job, but I get the impression the designers let the cut-scenes and music "tell the story". Its effective in that it you really don't "notice" the in-game graphics being rather mundane.

To those who have never played Ys in 1990 and were to do so now, I imagine it may not instill the same amount of awe and wonder that it did for a 12 year old gamer just weened off of the NES. Even the series' contemporary remakes and sequels can only add so much more polish to a formula that looks pretty run-of-the-mill by today's standards. However, to those who download it, I think most can appreciate that it represented something unique back in 1990, at least. Today's games may have pushed cinematic quality and narration far beyond Ys, but when I experienced this game for the first time, it was a shocking revelation. It was a fortune-teller showing me that games would soon no longer consist of contrived settings and mindless hand-eye coordination tests. You could convey emotion and grandeur in a video game on a level every bit as good as cinema. To me, many aspects of modern games - certainly Japanese games - owe a debt paved by Ys on the Turbo. Seeing it re-emerge after so many years of obscurity has really helped me appreciate what it showed me all those years ago.

(Small Note: One reviewer mentioned that "Book II" is actually a more challenging version of "Book I". This incorrect. II is a direct sequel to I.)