YS Origins, a lost gem among rpg's?

Ys Origins is a prequel to a series named Ys which I had never even heard of, which I was suprised considering my love of rpg's. Ys Origins feels a lot more like a very fast legend of Zelda title mixed with a dungeon crawler, as in you navaigate dungeons while solving puzzles and killing a lot of enemy demons rather than a Final Fantasy type game with it's turn based battle mechanics. The game consists of three characters Yunica, Hugo and Toal, the game must be completed once to unlock Toal.

The three characters have very different distinct play styles and abilities which really makes the game feel fresh even though you are revisiting the same areas each time, also each time you will see a different side to an interesting story. The entireity of the game is spent climbing a tower, with your surroundings, traps and enemies varying from floor to floor. You will solve puzzles while fighting hundreds of demons which will give you experience to level up to get stronger and sp to enhance other abilities.

Along with the three characters the game also contains a time trial mode that times your climb of the tower and an arena mode which you fight waves of monsters increasing the replay value, which you can unlock other versions of the three characters and the main character from the other Ys games.

Enemies are very varied, but every few floors you will face a gigantic boss, the boss's are very challenging needing different tactics each time and extremely rewarding when you finally finish it off.

I really enjoyed playing it as all three characters and will be purchasing the other ys games on steam and reviewing those too.

Pros
- Nice graphics feeling retro and new at the same time
- Interesting storyline and characters
- Lots of replay value
- Fun gameplay
- Very action packed
- Amazing boss fights

Cons
- No world map, entirely in the tower
- The inside of the tower barely changes for each character
- Some of the steam achievements didnt seem to unlock although im sure I met the criteria

Overall Score
9/10

Well here we are a few days into June 2012, and the gaming year couldn't be going better.. E3 is in full swing, with publishers announcing their latest and greatest titles. However quite frankly I'm finding myself distracted from all the excitement. Why, do you ask? It's because I have found my personal Game of The Year, and I don't think anything else that could come out right now could possibly top it. You can take your Diablos, your Modern Warfares, your Max Paynes, and you can file them all away for some other time and place. I'm too busy saving the ancient land of Ys from demonic hordes hellbent on the destruction of humanity!

It has been a mere three months since XSEED made their Steam debut with the smash hit Ys: The Oath in Felghana. In that short time their crack squad of programming gurus and translation wizards have been working overtime to bring us more Ys goodness, and this time they've takes us back to the beginning with Ys Origin. This entry in the series is actually a prequel, taking place 700 years before the events of the first Ys games. This of course means that Adol Christin has to sit this round out, however do not despair! This time around we have THREE playable characters to fill out the roster, and each of them brings their own story and unique gameplay style to the table.

If you have played a Ys game before (and I'm sure you have) then you should feel right at home with Yunica Tovah, our first playable character. She's a tough but compassionate young girl who has dedicated her life to protecting the goddesses. Do not underestimate her abilities because although she cannot use magic, she can swing around a massive battle axe as if it were a feather duster. Players new to the series should start with Yunica, as she is very easy to handle in combat. Once players feel comfortable they can tackle Hugo Fact, a magic user who plays out like a bullet hell shooter. The third (and secret) character will unlock once you finish the game as either Yunica or Hugo, and suffice it to say he's only for experienced players.

Of course it would not be an Ys game if it didn't have big badass boss fights, and Ys Origin delivers in spades! As usual each boss has it's weak point and a pattern that you can exploit, and half the fun is figuring out how! Unlike other games that have impossibly punishing bosses, in Ys Origin if you're dying frequently you can simply level up and try again. Also be sure to check out the upgrade menu at save points, though they may seem minor, the right enhancement can save your life. Also be on the lookout for rare cleria ore, as it can be used to temper your weapons.

The music and graphics are of course as stunning as you would expect from a series of such a high caliber as Ys. From the stirring violin strains of the opening theme which give way to choral chants and guitar riffs, you can guess from just that track alone that the soundtrack is something special. And it truly is, with a wildly diverse soundscape of orchestral music inlaid with the finest hair metal that Falcom Sound Team J.D.K. has to offer. Just ad rich are the gorgeously rendered 3d backgrounds and lush sprites that make up the visuals.

After you finish the main quest in Ys Origin there's still plenty to do. A host of unlockables including Time Attack, Boss Rush, and Arena modes round out the package, offering hours of gameplay beyond the main story. If you yearn for an epic story with brutal bosses, complex character development, and a truly hardcore soundtrack, look no further than Ys Origin. Newcomers will find an engaging start to a new series, and Ys veterans will find plenty of references to their beloved series, and even answers to some burning questions that they may have. At a solid asking price of $20, Ys Origin is an unbeatable value. Pick it up today!

Plays like an old Zelda or Castlevania game from he NES days but a bit more polished. If you like retro/RPG games you should check this game out.

Superior soundtrack, dazzling animated cutscenes, excellent art and level design, solid writing, and a really fun combat system that feels good and intuitive. Definite recommendations, this sold me on the Ys franchise and it should sell you too. If you can hook up a USB controller, the old school RPG experience is flawless.

I recently reviewed this game for my game review blog, Five Penny Review. If you enjoy this review, please visit my page:
http://fivepennyreview.blogspot.com/2013/07/ys-origin.html

What sets this game apart?
The Ys series has been a popular action RPG franchise since 1987, but has only had limited release in the US. Ys Origin serves as a prequel to the rest of the series chronologically, but is one of the most recent releases in the series. While the combat sometimes seems more like a hack-and-slash action game than an RPG, there is a sense of strategy and patience required in some areas, especially boss fights, which maintains a more cerebral element in the game. In addition, there are some good platforming sequences and simple puzzle elements that add enough variety to keep the game from feeling monotonous by breaking up the combat sequences.

What is the difficulty factor?
This game is extremely simple to pick up and play. It features the choice of mouse and keyboard controls featuring point and click movement, or you can control your character with just the keyboard when more precision is needed. Personally, I only use the mouse when I have a slice of pizza in my left hand. When new powers are unlocked, brief tutorial screens pop-up to explain their use, and most of them feel fairly intuitive anyway. The game also does a fairly good job of offering direction, feeling fairly linear except for a few brief moments, often due to dialogue from the NPCs.

With that being said, this game is not without its challenging points. The bosses tend to be extremely powerful, at least until you master the patterns of their attacks. Even then, they require some precision movement and possibly some level grinding to survive. For those familiar with the bullet-hell genre, you may find yourselves following a familiar strategy of focusing on not getting hit, only taking attacks when you have the rare opportunity. The rest of the game is fairly tame, although if you let yourself get impatient or careless you will likely end up dying. Save often.

Does it use media effectively?
I feel a bit torn regarding the visuals of this game. The cut scenes use a great mix of 3-D and anime style graphics and are usually gorgeous to look at. The hand drawn character art used during dialogue is on par with many other games, although the character designs feel a bit stale, like you’ve seen them all used before. The sprites for the characters have an odd, compressed feel to them, looking more like dwarves than the anime style drawings used outside of gameplay. The game also uses an odd semi-locked camera at three-quarter view, but the level designs do a good job accounting for this.

The music in this game is phenomenal, playing on both the classical and rock aspects of traditional game music to keep every fight intense. One thing that struck me was the lack of voice acting in the game, which I feel could have done a lot to enhance the overall experience of the game, especially during some of the longer cut scenes that can break the momentum of the game.

Best moment in the game?
Without a doubt, the star of Ys Origin is the boss fight experience. Every boss fight seems bigger and more epic than the last, and each one requires better timing and more complex movement to follow its pattern. Off hand, I really enjoyed the giant centipede boss, Nygtilger, playing as Yunica. It wasn’t necessarily the hardest boss, but the amount of movement and explosions, coupled with the amount of time you spend climbing on it made it a really fun experience.

Who needs to play this game?
While it doesn’t have as many exploration or story elements as many other games of this genre, Ys Origin’s saving grace are its gameplay and music. Each character has a very different feeling to its playthrough, including some alteration of the level design and especially the bosses, greatly increasing the playtime on this game. With scalable difficulty and already difficult bosses, it can also prove a suitable challenge for players seeking it, or to encourage subsequent playthroughs. Personally, while I enjoyed the game, I am glad I picked it up while it was on sale. If it sounds like your cup of tea, I would wait for the next Steam sale to roll around to pick it up.