Ys: Book I & II
God-tier soundtrack, bug-tier gameplayGenre: adventure - overhead
Publisher: NEC
Year: 1989
System: TG-16 CD
Gameplay Score: 1
Gameplay Notes:
The Ys formula of bump-attacking sucks, and no one can convince me otherwise. It's terrible. Victory in a battle has far more to do with luck than skill. And it's only mitigted by an insane amount of grinding which may as well be done in the first area of the game because no matter where you are, all enemies give a single point of XP. Maybe this changes later on, but I got several areas into the game and it was always true so I'm calling it.
Level Design Score: 2
Level Design Notes:
Directions and objectives are cryptic at best. The lack of a map hurts and the gates don't seem to have a corresponding key that's obvious to find. I got stuck several times and only got unstuck after non-intuitive backtracking. Enemies constantly respawn, making backtracking pinful, especially in dungeons. Paint me unimpressed.
Theme Score: 3
Theme Notes:
Bland as can be. Go get a sword and save us, please. NPCs have nothign useful to say or do.
Art Style Score: 2
Art Style Notes:
Tiny sprites. I didn't expect much for such an early title and I wasn't wrong.
Audio Score: 5
Audio Notes:
Unquestionably a god-tier soundtrack. I came in having heard that its OST was epic, but I was blown away all the same. After turning off this disappointment of a game I went straight to YouTube to find and play then entire soundtrack. The tracks have range, emotion, spunk, and conviction. It doesn't top the Final Fantasy or Zelda soundtracks, for me, but it's way up there for this generation. Believe the hype.
Overall Score: 37
Review ID: 10043
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