Imagine Earth, but not really Earth. There are places and continents you recognize, but not. There are people and nations from our history, but not quite. This is the world of Ys.
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is the 6th in the Ys series. I haven’t actually played any of the previous titles, so I have no clue what the history of the game is. Fortunately, that really isn’t a prerequisite to get into this one.
Ys 6 starts out in an alternative reality Europe with a fellow named Adol, who has apparently gotten himself a name as a meddling do-gooder on a level that would make the Mystery Gang jealous. He is minding his own business in some tavern with his buddy, chowing down on ham hocks, when he is interrupted by this pirate who offers him a great adventure. Adol accepts, since he is the kind of guy who can’t keep his legs in one place. They decide to hit up the Great Vortex, a place that no one has ever come out of. So they set sail and the next thing you know, Adol wakes up to this girl that is this cross between an elf and a fox (the animal, you weirdos) and a new adventure begins.
Ys plays a lot like your basic hack and slash game. You go out in the world, the enemies come, and you beat them over the head with your sword. It also has a few RPG elements as well such as level gaining and finding new equipment as you go along. Money is gained in the exact same way as your experience. Apparently, Konami didn’t want you to run around wasting time picking up coins, so you just kill things and you get money. Yes, it isn’t all that realistic, but it does cut a lot of tedium. The game revolves itself around the use of three swords. Each of these swords can be updated by gathering Emel, the local magic rock. Each successive level gives extra damage to the weapon, opens up new magical attacks, and other abilities like magic regeneration.
Running around is actually quite smooth. Attacks and magical attacks are highly responsive and I’ve never gotten myself in hot water due to poor controls. Unfortunately, there are jumping puzzles, and as it is, the jump is not as responsive as the rest of the game. You have to give the game about a half-second notice before jumping to avoid falling into a pit. It is worse when you have to mess with the dash jump, but fortunately, that maneuver is completely optional (though a necessity if you want to find everything there is to find). Ys also suffers a bit of tedium. The world is rather small and you do have to spend a lot of time going through the same area. That offers a bit more realism, but unfortunately, that is a realism I don’t want to deal with.
The difficulty is just right; nothing is ever easy nor is it frustratingly hard. A downside is you do have to spend a lot of time gaining levels and collecting Emel to upgrade your weapon to be able to hold your own against the various bosses that show up in the game. That does get a bit tedious as you can spend a few hours bouncing back and forth between two rooms. One room holds a healing stone and the other a bunch of enemies. Still, it is a necessary evil. Nightmare: now THERE is some tough gaming. It will make even the most dry-mouthed gamer salivate with pride that there is something out there that can challenge you like that.
Audio is an incredible issue. The music is straight out of the SNES days, but we are talking about the best of the SNES days though. The game is also voiced over, each and every line of it. This is both a blessing and a curse. The game comes out of the box with an absolutely horrible English voice over. Every last voice is terrible; they are either irritating or they get drowned out by the ambient music (or both). Ys 6 does have a hidden secret to make the voices not suck so much. Here is a bit of a trick to use: RBYRBY then down thrust the center platform then YYRRRRB and down thrust center platform again.
That changes all the voices into Japanese, which are infinitely better than the English crap we are shoveled with at default and also offers a better opening cinematic. It’s amazing that you have to enter a code into the cheat menu to get Japanese voices. Add two points to the sound score if you play it in the Japanese mode. Otherwise, the number at the top represents what the sound score is in the English language track.
Other sounds are done well, and again, in the old 16 bit tradition. Konami did a good job of changing around the effect sounds for each attack and each sword. In addition, there are about 10 or so different surfaces you can walk over that have their own unique footstep sound on. The attention to little details is nice.
Visually, the game is just like the sound: reminiscent of the SNES days. The game won’t exactly make anyone’s eyes bug out in amazement, but the game is very artfully done. Texture work is good and each of the characters has the SNES stylized anime feel to it. Effects are good, such as water, lightning, fire, and wind effects. Character portraits are also very well done as are the anime cutscenes if you use the above code before playing the game.
Replay, now there is a bit of an issue. The first run through on hard mode will rack in about 8 hours, and that is with opening every treasure chest, completing Alma’s Trials, and laying the smack down to each optional mini boss. A rush through will rack in about 6 hours. There is the Nightmare mode, but it is cheap to try to extend the gameplay by simply offering a harder mode. There are other modes, like time attacks, but those aren’t really worth the time. Ultimately, being able to blast through the game this fast was a bit of a letdown.
Ys: Ark of Napishtim has its flaws, yet it still turns out to be a very entertaining game. What’s more, the game comes out at a $39.99 price tag, which would make Alkaiser happy, as well as anyone out there who would like to buy a good game for $10 less than the average title. Even with its little quirks, Ys is still worthwhile as a purchase. It is action packed, artfully done, and has a wonderful story. Give it a shot.
