Ys (series) . It started on the NEC PC- 8. Masaya Hashimoto (director, programmer, designer) and Tomoyoshi Miyazaki (scenario writer). In terms of the number of game releases, Ys is second only to Final Fantasy as the largest eastern role- playing game franchise. Ys is particularly popular in Japan and Korea. Gameplay usually revolves around Adol, though his comrade, Dogi, is a frequent companion in his travels. Thus far, Adol has visited the regions of Esteria, Celceta, Felghana, Xandria, the Canaan Islands, and Altago. The player must literally run Adol into enemies, hitting them on the side, back or slightly off- center of the front.

This was created with accessibility in mind; while other RPGs at the time had either turn- based combat or a manually- activated sword, Ys had Adol automatically attack when walking into enemies off- center, furthering the accessibility concept that Falcom had in mind. Arcsoft Web Camera Software Download. While not every Ys title has used the 'bump attack' system, this has become one of the series' defining features. Falcom staff have compared this style of gameplay to the enjoyment of popping air bubble sheets, in the sense that it took the tedious task of level- grinding and turned it into something similar to a high- score- based arcade game.

These additions include magic spells, such as shooting fireballs, and the unique ability to transform into a monster, which allows the player to both scare human non- player characters for unique dialogues as well as interact with all the monsters, many of whom often mention . This is a recurring highlight in the series, offering the player insight into the enemies, to an extent that very few other games allow to this day. The classic control scheme returned in Ys IV: Mask of the Sun.

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With Ys V: Kefin, the Lost City of Sand, the game adopted a top- down viewpoint. Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim graphically departed from its predecessors, using three- dimensional graphics and hack- and- slash gameplay. Each of the first three games was released on that platform first. Ports of the game series to console platforms have usually been handled by various other licensee companies, such as Hudson Soft, Tonkin House and Konami. They were later re- released together as an early enhanced remake Ys I & II (1. It was one of the first video games to use CD- ROM, which was utilized to provide enhanced graphics, animated cut scenes, a Red Book CD soundtrack, and voice acting.

Its English localization was also one of the first to use voice dubbing. The Sharp X6. 80. Ys I released in 1.

D pre- rendering for the boss sprites. An MS- DOS remake called Ys II Special was also released exclusively for the South Korean market in 1. Ys II with the anime Ys II: Castle in the Heavens (1. Two particular versions of the fourth game were released, and Falcom licensed both versions out: the Super Famicom version to Tonkin House (who had handled the Super NES port for Ys III), titled Ys IV: Mask of the Sun; and the PC Engine version to Hudson Soft (who had ported all three previous games to that platform), titled Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys. Hudson Soft took certain liberties with the latter, and as a result, the two games are very different. They share the same setting, cast, and much of the basic plot, but the actual structure of the story plays out in a completely different manner, as do the game's levels and enemies.

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Despite being non- canonical, Hudson Soft's Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys is considered one of the best entries in the series. The Dawn of Ys takes several different turns, plot- wise, including some significant inconsistencies with the canonical storyline. For this reason, The Dawn of Ys is essentially an .

A PS2 remake of Mask of the Sun was released in May 2. As a stand alone title, it was one of many late generation games that took advantage of the true abilities of the SNES, partially due to the liberties it took with the gameplay (in particular, giving Adol a jump and making him swing his sword). It was considered very easy; in response to this, Falcom soon put out Ys V Expert, a harder version of the game.

A PS2 remake of Ys V by Taito was released March 3. Japan. Out of nowhere, they announced a new game in the series, entitled Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, which was released on September 2. It took what Ys V had done and refined it, turning it into a very fast- paced action- RPG, which was generally well- received. It could be considered a retcon, but a rather minor one, as it basically clarifies and expands on events in Ys III, rather than overwriting them entirely. In spite of how much has changed, it is not . Unlike the rest of the series, this game is a real- time strategy game instead of an action- RPG. It received lackluster reviews and general disdain from fans.

It takes place 7. Ys from Esteria. The two initial playable characters are Yunica Tovah and Hugo Fact. The two characters' stories play out somewhat differently during character interactions. Adol does not appear aside from being a hidden bonus character.

Falcom has since released a new version of the game that required a copy's registration serial number sent to Falcom along with shipping charges to get an extra enhancement disc for the game. With this disc the player would be able to play as Adol, along with various other new features. The original PC- 8. PC- 9. 80. 1, X1 and MSX2 versions, as well as the Famicom ports remain exclusive to Japan. English ports of the Japanese PC game Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim for the PS2 and PSP were released by Konami in 2. English release of the series in thirteen years.

Many of these problems are associated with the game being quickly ported and released as Digicube was partially going out of business. Later, there was a compiled re- release, which bumped up Ys Eternal's visuals to Ys II Eternal's level (more color depth, primarily) and made the soundtrack sound more cohesive between the two. This was released as Ys I & II Complete. Later, once this was out of print, Falcom began selling the two separately again, as Ys I Complete and Ys II Complete.

Falcom complicated the issue by changing the . In one of the English patches, the internal bitmaps are edited to reflect the external change for the packages. The Virtual Console allows owners of the Nintendo Wii to download classic games. This marks the first release of the Ys series on a 7th Generation home console.

Atlus released the games in one package entitled Legacy of Ys: Books I & II on 2. February 2. 00. 9 on the Nintendo DS. As of 2. 01. 1, all games have been released. The setting is centuries after Adol Christin's adventures. The first anime expands on the relatively thin storyline of Ys I including a retelling of the prologue, previously only told in text in the original Japanese manuals. They can be purchased separately, or in a three- disc box set, entitled Ys Legacy.

The dubbed/audio tracks have changes to some character names (. Pronunciations of various names are inconsistent, sometimes within the same scene. This was created by Falcom as a .

They had no takers, however, so this trailer is all that exists of the rumored Ys IV anime. The composers' works have been remixed for each subsequent release of Ys I and II, most memorably by Japanese computer musician Ryo Yonemitsu for Hudson Soft's Ys I & II and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys releases for the PC Engine CD- ROM. Combining Yuzo's composition and Ryo's arrangement abilities, this arrangement found itself introducing video gamers, for the first time, to video game soundtracks that can stand on their own as full orchestral pieces of music.

The Turbo. Grafx versions are also notable for their very early use of Red Book audio in video games. The Ys soundtracks are today regarded as some of the best video game music ever composed. The only other series with similar impact on the video game music industry at the time were Dragon Quest and Falcom's own Dragon Slayer action RPGs (also composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa).