Ys I Complete (PC, 2001)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8.5 Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Some innovative mechanics (gradually learn enemy stats by killing more of them (need to drink the bestiary potion first)
Bargain with the pawn shop clerk (refuse to buy/sell 9 times)
Interactive dialogue - choose the subject to ask about
Teleport back to town (Wing)
Quickly regenerating health if you stand still in the overworld (not in dungeons))
Fast movement
Pretty good gear variation
Nice intro (second version)
Character stills and portraits during important or interactive dialogue
Difficulty options
Time attack mode
Choose between midi or chip music
Some neat effects (like the sunshine in the first town, the clouds and how enemies die, text displaying the name of the current location,)
Free movement (instead of four- or eight-way)
Can speed up individual message boxes
Somewhat easier to spot the golden pedestal/vase in the Field area
Mini-bosses
Somewhat non-linear structure (though you need to grind or do sidequest stuff to be able to do things out of order)
Some good bosses (two face)
+/-
Save anywhere except during dialogue or boss battles (tons of slots, slots show the location and time spent)
No exp or gold losses after death and there are checkpoints where you entered each area
Simplistic battle system which takes some getting used to (move into enemies from off center or the side or back to hit them or they'll hit you back, can't manually swing your weapon or use ranged attacks)
Semi-silent protagonist (a narrator kicks in telling the player roughly what Adol talks about instead of him talking directly)
No clear quest early on
Walking actually helps with combat at times since you can get more hits in without moving towards other enemies
Can't hold more than one of any (?) item
Off screen enemy respawning (generally a good thing except for some cases in the dungeons)
The 'get item' sound rips off Metroid
No jumping
Can't use consumable items during boss fights, rings have no effect during boss fights,
Doesn't make much sense that you learn enemy names by killing enough of each one
-
The backtracking for the blue amulet in the final dungeon
Plenty of dead space in the final dungeon
No maps (plus outdoors areas are overly large and your field of vision is pretty small in dungeons - doesn't become a big problem until Darm Tower though)
Can't sell weapons or armor
First two enemy types give very little exp and gold
Poor joypad control config
Some trial & error (only one of the pipe organ pillars is affected when using the hammer on it, don't go into the room before Darm Tower dungeon before preparing because you'll automatically enter and won't be able to exit again for a while, fairly easy to miss sleepwalking Luta in Barbado due to how the triggers work, also easy to miss the free swords in Barbado, bargaining mechanic, can't ask the first town's villagers about essentials like where to buy gear (first armory is locked in the beginning so you need to venture out and find the second town to buy gear) - actually need to talk to everyone in town and then about all available topics with Slaghf (militia building) and then you'll get a sword (should've been triggered by investigating the locked armory and then talking to him about the four topics), you can attack without a weapon early on, you should buy a sword before other stuff as you'll have to grind for some time to afford one otherwise)
Some control/interface issues (can't regenerate while checking your inventory/equipment or talking to people, no gear stats in shops and exiting them is somewhat slow, in-game menu doesn't wrap around and is missing the Use and Status options (need to access the pop up menu at the lower edge of the screen using the mouse), Adol auto-talks to NPCs when you moved close to them, can't skip repeated dialogue (annoying since you'll want to talk to many people more than once but there's still a lot of them with only one thing to say), separate armor and weapon shops, )
Poor environment interaction (lots of eye candy in houses but nothing you can pick up or investigate - bad since you'll want to pay attention to the environment in the Field area a little later so as to spot the golden pedestal)
Somewhat generic art style (minues the character stills and portraits)
No journal/log feature
You'll encounter a few locked chests long before being able to open them
So-so allied NPC pathfinding
Somewhat uneven difficulty (easy first main boss, vagullion/vampire bat is pretty tough and requires either the silver sword or a high enough level to damage, easy pictimos/bug boss in the tower, very tough final boss)
Can't use the wing to teleport to whichever visited town you want (only Minea)
Pretty short (can easily be finished in under two hours if you know what to do)
So-so enemy AI variation
Low max level (10) which you'll reach quite long before the game is over during normal playthroughs
Rock boss is pretty much a battle of attrition
Cliché story with mostly shallow characters (especially the villain and hero)
So-so ending (plain text over some artwork, cliffhanger, can't skip the staff roll)
No alternate weapons
Adol doesn't occasionally block enemy attacks like in the SMS version
Notes:
-Original game was released in 1987
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Some innovative mechanics (gradually learn enemy stats by killing more of them (need to drink the bestiary potion first)
Bargain with the pawn shop clerk (refuse to buy/sell 9 times)
Interactive dialogue - choose the subject to ask about
Teleport back to town (Wing)
Quickly regenerating health if you stand still in the overworld (not in dungeons))
Fast movement
Pretty good gear variation
Nice intro (second version)
Character stills and portraits during important or interactive dialogue
Difficulty options
Time attack mode
Choose between midi or chip music
Some neat effects (like the sunshine in the first town, the clouds and how enemies die, text displaying the name of the current location,)
Free movement (instead of four- or eight-way)
Can speed up individual message boxes
Somewhat easier to spot the golden pedestal/vase in the Field area
Mini-bosses
Somewhat non-linear structure (though you need to grind or do sidequest stuff to be able to do things out of order)
Some good bosses (two face)
+/-
Save anywhere except during dialogue or boss battles (tons of slots, slots show the location and time spent)
No exp or gold losses after death and there are checkpoints where you entered each area
Simplistic battle system which takes some getting used to (move into enemies from off center or the side or back to hit them or they'll hit you back, can't manually swing your weapon or use ranged attacks)
Semi-silent protagonist (a narrator kicks in telling the player roughly what Adol talks about instead of him talking directly)
No clear quest early on
Walking actually helps with combat at times since you can get more hits in without moving towards other enemies
Can't hold more than one of any (?) item
Off screen enemy respawning (generally a good thing except for some cases in the dungeons)
The 'get item' sound rips off Metroid
No jumping
Can't use consumable items during boss fights, rings have no effect during boss fights,
Doesn't make much sense that you learn enemy names by killing enough of each one
-
The backtracking for the blue amulet in the final dungeon
Plenty of dead space in the final dungeon
No maps (plus outdoors areas are overly large and your field of vision is pretty small in dungeons - doesn't become a big problem until Darm Tower though)
Can't sell weapons or armor
First two enemy types give very little exp and gold
Poor joypad control config
Some trial & error (only one of the pipe organ pillars is affected when using the hammer on it, don't go into the room before Darm Tower dungeon before preparing because you'll automatically enter and won't be able to exit again for a while, fairly easy to miss sleepwalking Luta in Barbado due to how the triggers work, also easy to miss the free swords in Barbado, bargaining mechanic, can't ask the first town's villagers about essentials like where to buy gear (first armory is locked in the beginning so you need to venture out and find the second town to buy gear) - actually need to talk to everyone in town and then about all available topics with Slaghf (militia building) and then you'll get a sword (should've been triggered by investigating the locked armory and then talking to him about the four topics), you can attack without a weapon early on, you should buy a sword before other stuff as you'll have to grind for some time to afford one otherwise)
Some control/interface issues (can't regenerate while checking your inventory/equipment or talking to people, no gear stats in shops and exiting them is somewhat slow, in-game menu doesn't wrap around and is missing the Use and Status options (need to access the pop up menu at the lower edge of the screen using the mouse), Adol auto-talks to NPCs when you moved close to them, can't skip repeated dialogue (annoying since you'll want to talk to many people more than once but there's still a lot of them with only one thing to say), separate armor and weapon shops, )
Poor environment interaction (lots of eye candy in houses but nothing you can pick up or investigate - bad since you'll want to pay attention to the environment in the Field area a little later so as to spot the golden pedestal)
Somewhat generic art style (minues the character stills and portraits)
No journal/log feature
You'll encounter a few locked chests long before being able to open them
So-so allied NPC pathfinding
Somewhat uneven difficulty (easy first main boss, vagullion/vampire bat is pretty tough and requires either the silver sword or a high enough level to damage, easy pictimos/bug boss in the tower, very tough final boss)
Can't use the wing to teleport to whichever visited town you want (only Minea)
Pretty short (can easily be finished in under two hours if you know what to do)
So-so enemy AI variation
Low max level (10) which you'll reach quite long before the game is over during normal playthroughs
Rock boss is pretty much a battle of attrition
Cliché story with mostly shallow characters (especially the villain and hero)
So-so ending (plain text over some artwork, cliffhanger, can't skip the staff roll)
No alternate weapons
Adol doesn't occasionally block enemy attacks like in the SMS version
Notes:
-Original game was released in 1987