Update One Hundred and Fifty-Nine: 23 April 2018
Ys I
9.8 hours, 17 of 17 achievements
6.5/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I think this is, at its core, one of the oldest video games I’ve ever played.
I know that this is a remaster of a remastered remaster, but the original game came out in 1987. That’s before I was born. And I can feel it, a piece of peculiar games history, for good and for ill. I’ve never played a JRPG like this.
In fact, it’s not very much like what we think of JRPGs today. There’s no party, just you. It’s not turn-based combat or numbers-based at all - the games system is a ‘bump system’ where you… literally bump into enemies to damage them, aiming to hit them off-center and not let them run into you. (It’s.. probably good this combat system was left behind, I only stomached it through cheating) It’s not very long - four or five major areas before the final dungeon. You can’t even grind for items or levels - it caps out at level 10, and you can only carry one of each item, of which there are maybe less than three dozen.
There’s a handful of major characters who get their own insert art (which you can pick a 2001 or 2009 version, whether you want more 90s or 00s anime style. I picked 90s) and the story is very… very basic. I felt like I was playing through a world’s origin story or rather re-origin story, that’s how simple and straightforward everything was. It was different and while I do prefer the kind of JRPG that eventually flourished, I’m glad that this offshoot has been preserved and remastered.
Next up:
See you soon!
I’m weeping internally for being older than Ys and therefore ancient :P
Congrats on the 100 percent though! I didn’t even attempt the Nightmare and Time Attack achievements so I’m impressed, even with the outside assistance. Timed modes are my Achilles heel, I’m just too darn slow. Maybe if I enjoyed the game a tiny bit more then I would put the time into it trying, but the thought of having to replay it over and over again if I’m too slow terrifies me.
Good luck at the bank tomorrow (today?), I hope it gets sorted easily enough :)
You’re only old for a video game! Not for a person!
Normally I don’t attempt them, but this mode isn’t a full speedrun - those I can never ever do. It’s too much pressure, and I don’t like pressure in my fun times.
Thank you! I hope so, too. I am nearly 100% sure it was a bank processing error, so I’m hoping that they can refund me the 12 dollars, and that my paycheck goes through this time. It was my biggest paycheck yet so it’s doubly stressing!
[…] 1987. That’s before I was born
*cries*
You’ll always be young at heart!
Noo!!!! A handsome, fresh, with-it cryptkeeper!
I like how most of the comments here are crying over the fact that you proclaim 1987 to be ‘before you were born’. I’ll pretend I wasn’t coming here to do the exact same thing and congratulate you for beating a classic I guess?
I know!!! I feel so bad that I struck such a nerve!
Your comment made me laugh really hard, Formidolosus. I’ll accept your congratulations wholeheartedly c:
Nice job getting all the achievements, though. I gave up without trying on the Nightmare and Time Attack achievements because they sounded hard. I remember the last boss kicking my ass and me almost giving up already on the normal difficulty.
Your next game looks interesting…
Don’t give me too much credit - I had some cheatengine help. There’s no way my slow ass would ever beat Time Attacks on my own. I had a real #stressed day today and blitzing through shit like a pinball made of white-hot vibranium made me feel better.
And it is! It’s also very short. Review incoming…