Well, here we are. 99 posts into this blog and I’ve finally got around to covering a game for the second time. In September 2020, Ys Book I & II for PC Engine was only the third game I ever covered. I’ve been slowly working my way through the series in a non-linear order ever since and though that journey isn’t quite complete, I thought it was a good time to go back and re-cover the very first entry in the series.
Category Archives: Nihon Falcom
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails – An Ys game in disguise
Without the influence and impact of Nihon Falcom, it’s entirely possible this blog would not exist. When I played Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of DANA in 2020, I loved it so much I just had to put it down in words, and from there an obsession with its veteran developer began. I’ve burned through several Ys games since and checked out some early Falcom classics, like Dragon Slayer, Legacy Of The Wizard and Popful Mail. But there’s one major Falcom series that’s so far eluded me…
Ys: The Oath In Felghana – Late to the party
2010 is the first time I can recall anyone outside of my own bubble talking about the Ys series. Yes, I’d played the original game on Master System many years earlier but as virtually none of the sequels (save Ys VI) had since released in the UK, I’d remained almost oblivious to the rest of the series and had no idea I what I was missing. Why 2010? That was the year that Ys: The Oath In Felghana released in the US, and a wave of influential podcasts – like 1UP.com’s excellent Active Time Babble – began talking about this strangely named game with a level of reverence that suggested I was missing out on something truly special.
Legacy Of The Wizard – The family that slays together…
The first Dragon Slayer game to be released in the west, Falcom’s Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family reached US shores in 1989 when Broderbund localised the Famicom port for NES, renaming it Legacy Of The Wizard. It’s largely forgotten now, especially here in Europe where the game was never released. But it does seem to have achieved a cult status in the US where those who did play it have praised it as a hidden gem and an early example of the burgeoning Metroidvania genre.
Popful Mail – Feel good design
If the Mega CD port of Popful Mail is well known for anything in the west, it’s the localisation and voice acting provided by infamous publisher Working Designs. Victor’s Ireland’s penchant for tongue-in-cheek scripts places the US version of Popful Mail in a very specific context when the mere inclusion of voices was a sheer novelty. As nostalgic recollections centre on the fun of the story and characters, they threaten to overshadow the game itself. So how exactly does Popful Mail hold up when you take away its voice? That’s the question I ask myself now having played through the Japanese release of the Mega CD game. Not out of some grand experiment but simply because the US version was a little too expensive for my taste!
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox – An RPG with a secret identity
After falling for Falcom with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of DANA, and subsequently working my way through a number of the best entries in the series, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox was my first time playing a brand new entry at launch. Exciting, right? This instantly made it a different experience to the others, with relatively little historical context to go on, and largely free of any critical consensus. Except of course, informed by my now EXPERT opinion on what makes a great Ys game.
Ys: Memories Of Celceta – Adol’s Origin
In what order should you play a series like Ys? For Falcom’s other RPG series, Trails In The Sky/Trails Of Cold Steel, the advice from fans is relatively straightforward… Start at the beginning. Or at least the beginning of one of the two sub-series. But with Ys the answer can be way more complicated, depending on your priorities.
Dragon Slayer – A vintage RPG, or just too retro?
We all have our favourite era of retro games, right? For me it’s definitely the mid to late Nineties. The arcade thrills and technological polish of the Mega Drive and Saturn eras really appeal to my specific tastes, almost certainly because I was a teenager, prime age for formative game liking, at the time. Of course, I also love 8-bit games, and every era since, but is it possible for a game to be… too retro? Can a game be so mechanically old fashioned; so arcane that it impedes enjoyment no matter how popular it was at release? For the longest time, I’ve definitely thought of a certain era of games, particularly early Eighties computer games, as “too retro”. Which makes the prospect of playing Dragon Slayer, arguably the first action RPG ever made, a pretty daunting one.
Ys Origin – When low budget feels high quality
In my ongoing quest to discover, understand and play both the Ys series and the works of Nihon Falcom, I remarked in my Ys III blog that Falcom is a games company that exudes a feeling of luxury. That’s certainly true in the company’s early boom years when it was pumping out truly remarkable Japanese computer games that stood head and shoulders above their peers, and it feels true today with modern works like the lavish Ys VIII or the sprawling Trails series. But what of the middle part, the darker second act of Falcom history, when Ys Origin was made?
Ys III: Wanderers From Ys – Side-Scrolling Luxury
I have a feeling that in each of my Ys write-ups so far, I’ve used the word “luxurious”, and I think I initially got that impression from the amazing packaging to Wanderers From Ys on the MSX. Japanese computer games generally had great packaging, at least compared to their UK equivalents. Your average Amiga release was typically presented with about the same level of care as your local chip shop might wrap a battered cod. Less greasy perhaps, but a generic cardboard box with a printed sleeve, a black & white photocopied manual and a single floppy disk rattling around inside, doesn’t exactly scream quality.
Games From The Black Hole 