Since the Wii came out and motion gaming became the new rage, I have run out of good games to play for the first time in my existence. I don’t like motion games in general and I will avoid them if I can. It’s like how some people just can’t stand 3D movies and no matter how much they earnestly tried to get used to them, it just doesn’t do it for them. I am squarely against the idea of a game forcing people to employ a semi-functional rehash of the old powerglove concept (it’s the same technology). I am against using a controller that has a high chance of failing when doing precise, split-second commands. I am also against the existence of a controller that makes the lives of left-handed people harder and that removes from their sentiment on immersion for the apparent sake of “market expansion”. I’m also against removing complexity from gaming to render games idiot-proof, making the experience mind-numbing for highly-skilled players when game companies could just put difficulty settings.
Yes, that recycled idea from the Nintendo Entertainment System era that was supposed to be a Nintendo Gamecube accessory add-on became the driving force of the highly successful Wii console and has dragged Sony and Microsoft with it too. The first effect was me waking up from my Nintendo fanboyism and trying to find games elsewhere. I’ve ventured on the Sony consoles, which I always had a negative bias against, but found out that some really good games are on them. I often searched through the used games bins and tried games at random. My fun was to ask the store clerks if they had any idea what the game was, and if they said no, I’d try it out. This is when I realized the obscure titles can be very, very good and deserve to be known better. Smaller companies don’t necessarily have the budget to attempt to conquer the more fickle casual market, and thus, many aim for niche markets. And because their market is generally constituted of hardcore gamers, they are not scared of adding complexity to their games. I played lots of titles from companies like Treasure, Atlus and Falcom and some of their series became personal favourites. I also played a few PC games and revisited the libraries of old Nintendo and Sega consoles to play Japanese-only titles, or games that just flew under the radar for most of us. We all that that Final Fantasy VI is good, but that’s not interesting to hear.It’s much more interesting to hear someone talk about Romancing Sa Ga 3 or The Treasure of The Rudras. So today, I’d like to share my impressions of one of these hidden gems from a niche series that I generally enjoy: Ys VI: The Ark of Naphitism.
I’m sure most of you have no idea what Ys is. Ys is a franchise that is owned by the much underrated company Falcom, which is also responsible for other games such as Dragon Slayer and The Legend of heroes. Ys games have been released on many systems including PC, and only a select portion of the games have been translated in English. However, fan translations exist for most of the unreleased ones.
Originally, Ys titles were played using only the directional pad and walking into enemies. Damage was dealt based on statistical variables, but one was much more likely to damage without being damaged by hitting from the front but a little off-center (So that your sword arm would touch the enemies but theirs would not touch you), from the side or from behind. The game was very simple to manoeuvre, but it one was not careful, it was possible for enemies to swarm the player. The difficulty was great at first, but players could get EXP, better equipment, and many helpful items and spells. Nevertheless, the difficulty changed from moderate to very hard once the player engaged a boss. These battles required precision, quick thinking and preparation. Indeed, difficulties ranged from encountering a boss without heeding the advice of villagers and getting the necessary item to end up being stuck in a hopeless battle to having to navigate through a bullet hell to hit the boss. End game bosses were difficult and no amount of grinding could save you. You needed the top level to stand a chance (although if one played normally, one would be very close to maximum level at the end of the game).
The classic feel of the game and the refreshing difficulty was welcomed, and when I first tried Ys I & II on the virtual console, I was surprised to compare the game to Zelda if it had more Japanese action RPG undertones.
The character art was simply gorgeous on the Turbo Graphix 16, the setting could involve the player without being too heavy on dialogue, the puzzles were difficult and sometimes downright sadistic, but the clues were readily available and you had only yourself to blame for not taking your time, the characters were very memorable, and the gameplay was a bit rough, but classic. It was a positive experience overall.
The series stars Adol, the red-haired adventurer who becomes known throughout the world for his adventures, his fame growing ever since his ascent of the Tower of Darm in Ys I. The silent protagonist is brave and reckless, but also a kind gentleman who wishes to aid those in need. Certainly, his character is stereotypical, but the growth of his fame is what makes him somewhat of a fun hero. When you are playing as Adol, you are building his legend, people remember his previous adventures, old friends can be encountered when one least expects it. Adol himself seems to be pretty popular with the ladies, but following his heart as an adventurer, he chooses travel over love. Later episodes introduce a cast of support characters that help drive the storyline, including Dogi the wall crusher and Terra the ex-bandit who seems sweet on Adol and seems like she will accompany him in his future adventures. Ys VII: The Oath in Felghana is a remake of Ys III, so we will have to wait for a bit to see if she becomes a truly recurrent character.
The franchise changed as it grew and became its own genre, now a happy marriage between The Legend of Zelda and Secret of Mana. In The Ark of Naphitism, Origins, The Oath in Felghana and other recent titles, the player now has much more control over Adol, and is able to control when Adol attacks, jump, and use special skills and much more. This game is a typical hack and slash-type RPG, but when boss battles come, it is a ruthless puzzle. You are not expected to charge in the fray. Rather, you are expected to employ a wait and see tactic, find the boss’ moment of weakness and capitalize on it. In Ys, waiting means dodging relentless attacks. If that’s too hardcore for you, you’re free to go home and become a family man. That’s how we played video games in my days.
In Ark of Naphitism, Adol fights using three different elemental swords. The first is the wind blade, that allows Adol to summon tornadoes or to spin into tornado slashes repeatedly, the second is a flame blade that allows Adol to charge fire magic or throw a fireball for example. The third is the lightning rapier that allows Adol to skewer foes with electricity when the button is pressed fast enough, or send a lightning bolt. The blades each have different properties and have limited magic each (one can unleash a powerful move from a fully-charged sword) and must recharge when a special attack is unleashed. The key is to carefully manage the three swords while effectively using the special skills of each blade in real-time combat. This combat system is unique to Ys VI, but shares the puzzle experience of boss combat that defines the series. An easier difficulty level is there for beginners, but easy mode is pretty much what the hard mode for a regular game would be like.
Unlike a Zelda game, however, finding the weakness does not guarantee you a win. All it does is giving you a chance to win. The story is simple, yet interesting, the characters are likeable and interact with you, old faces return, developed from previous games, and new NPCs also seem to have a life of their own considering that their dialogue changes fairly frequently throughout the game. Since events occur at a fairly rapid and steady rate, the NPCs often have new things to tell you, are found in different locations and seem to change their perceptions of you as time flows by. While not a fully interactive experience, it reduces some of the repetition found in some games. The music is simply breathtaking, ranging from epic overworld themes to fast-paced power metal combat music for boss battles. The graphics on the PC version that I played look like top of the line PS2 quality, which makes sense given that the game was released during the PS2 era. The game shares a feature with Baten Kaitos, in that camera angles are static, but water effects, animations, lighting effects and textures are well done and richly detailed.
The story is the usual epic journey through the unknown, and the introduction of the rival character “Geis” and new allies is fairly welcomed. The game avoids stereotypical JRPG character arcs and fanservice and settles for “less is more”. A large portion of the storytelling is dependent on the player being the hero. Adol Christin never says a single word, unless it comes from a choice selection, which is again reminiscent of Zelda. Unlike Zelda, however, allies and villains have much more dialogue and the story tends to be told through their interactions with you.
The gameplay as I’ve said above is simple and a happy mixture between The Legend of Zelda and Secret of Mana. While I have stated that boss battles are very interesting, there are some gameplay flaws in the overworld. In order to get stronger, you need EXP and emel pieces, which you must gather to power up your swords. If you neglect either of these tasks, the bosses will demolish you. Thus, depending on your skills, you may find yourself mowing through weak overworld monsters for hours to gather EXP and collect the emel because you don’t want to be stuck losing repeatedly. You also need gold to buy the best equipment, but you will soon find gold to be next to useless once you acquire everything, so I propose you waste the rest on buying vitality seeds to boost your HP. This is rendered even more troublesome if you end up in a boss room and forgot to prepare. One cannot change their held items during a boss fight. At the same time, you can stack up to nine of any recovery item, which is eight more than you could carry in any early Ys games. If you are rich enough, you can potentially make a fight much easier by stacking on really good items. The game is hard but if you’re not someone with fast reflexes, there are ways to advance, so it’s not that bad. The overworld monsters can murder you at the beginning of the game, but it will not take long until you think of them as no more threatening as minor background fighters in a bad Kung fu movie. Using the tornado slashes from the wind sword should get rid of most of them.
The overworld is mostly entirely opened up for you, and you may try to venture in places that you were not meant to access. You will then promptly get your bottom handed to you. There are sidequests, but there are few. Still, when you do complete them, the rewards are generally worth it. That extra bit of damage from that Seed of Strenght that NPC will give you will come in handy.
I like Ys, it is one of the great obscure titles out there that most North Americans never even heard of. While many once great games series are being ruined by their attempts at expanding their audience (more precisely speaking, dumping one smaller but stable market for another bigger fad-dependent market), Ys kept in line with the things that made games so dang good back then and still managed to innovate and become its own style. I wouldn’t say Ys VI: Ark of Naphitism is original, but it is fun, and it fills a need; the need for old school action that has become scarce and that some of us crave. Sure, the game came out before the Wii and the casual movement took over the industry, but it’s most likely that most of you have never played this game series before, and can enjoy seven high quality games. The trend seems to continue with Ys VII The Oath in Felghana and apparently even lets you control more than just Adol, but I’ve not gotten to it and I don’t want to talk about a game I didn’t finish.
I would recommend this title and series for anyone longing for an old-style action RPG, and it is for PC, PS2 and PSP. A fan translation for the PC version exists and can easily be found on the Internet.
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