So I just finished this and I had a blast

So I just finished this and I had a blast.

What now? Are 1 and 2 worth doing? did they age well?

Yes

I played I and II last year and I enjoyed them. They're both quite short so they don't overstay their welcome.

The combat (and by extent gameplay) is extremely outdated. If you want more of the story just play them.
If not then play ark or oath.

Ys 1 and 2 are different. They don't have an attack button, opting for a simple "bump" system where you ram enemies from a certain angle to kill them. You'll find it hard to get used to, but once you do, they're really fun games.

I recently played Origin on normal, doing yunica's route. How much more fun are the higher difficulties and do they involve a lot of grinding?

Also why is yunica such a hick despite coming from a prestigious family?

well I started playing first time on hard and bosses take forever to kill
the chick with the trident was a massive pain

I'm finishing Toals path now and have a lot of the other games on deck. Probably won't go back for the EX mode stuff but it's nice to know its there. Haven't played many Ys games but this one was great

I have 1 and 2 on PSP, is that a passable way to play the series. Considering I play Origins on Vita i'd prefer to stay handheld

>Are 1 and 2 worth doing?

I think the only grinding involved is for SP, i think nightmare makes it drop less. I played Toal on hard and the rate seems the same as normal, even after getting the blessing/boost that doubles SP

Yes, 1+2 on PSP is great, it fits really well. Only downside is no PCE soundtrack but some songs are better in the modern version anyway

Dunno about main game but the arena on high difficulties is a blast.

please play on nightmare

I still haven't beaten him on Nightmare.
Worst boss in the fucking series.

I can manage, I'll just look for the OST's later anyways.
I think the only games I need now for a complete modern set are 7 on PSP and Ark of Napishtem (spelling), that was the first ever Ys game I tried at a friends house on his PS2 so I might opt for that version. Was considering PSP but i've heard it doesn't run as well, where as the rest of the Ys handheld games were better optimized

Well, you can play adol so why bother with anyone else? He costs a bunch of grind to unlock tho.

Because I like Yunica and Extra Toal is defacto the best character to use for times.
Having Adol is awesome though.

I just finished Ys 1. The game is shit but it's short so it's ok if you play it just for the sake of getting more into the series.

pleb.

>game is shit
You're allowed your opinions but most "hardcore" Ys fans I've seen seem to universally love 1 and 2. Not saying you are wrong to feel how you feel but I'm curious as to why (without plot spoils if possible)

I like Ys 1, but he has a point. It's marred by eclectic (and in one case, unforgivably bad) boss fights, the story isn't very good and the progression and RPG elements aren't very well implemented. Pretty much needing to hit max level by midgame is fairly questionable design.
I think it's a good game but I can see why anyone would hate it.

I love Ys, but I is definitely one of the worst games in the series. I don’t think it’s bad by any means, but it’s an awkward game.

This, pretty much. Liked Oath, Ark, and Origin a ton and felt like the initial games were okay.

I wouldn't say grindy, Origins is probably the best balanced game in terms of needing to grind shit out or not. Really, I loved Origin.

>crying about a 1989 game thats 5 hours long

The thing with Ys1+2 is that its pretty short and the music is amazing, so it makes the outdated elements more bearable.
pus it does get better in 2 once you get projectiles and the last boss, while a bitch to beat, was pretty hype

Every enemy is the same, only their stats are different. Pretty much every boss is bad, especially the final boss which is 80% luck. The game has a lot of backtracking for no reason. Pretty much all of the dungeons feel more like they were designed for a JRPG than for an action game. All the equipment just gives stat upgrades even though the description makes them out to be more than that. There is a lot of pointless game design in it like the strongest equipment in the game being useless and side quest tier quests being mandatory for the game like obtaining the silver equipment or the misleading door after the bat boss.

The health items are awful, more frequent potion placement would be much preferred to using the shitty ring.

I'm pretty sure my attempts at Vagullion on Nightmare would add up to more than the rest of my playthrough times combined.

Ys I and II don't particularly feel balanced around Nightmare and it's really obvious if you play one of the pre-Eternal versions of the game.

I've seen one of the early ports of Ys I where Vagullion is bizarrely easy. I think it was the Master System version? Like the outer bats basically didn't exist and only direct collision did damage anyway, or something.

yup, saw dark fact boss fights on old versions where the fireballs were WAY easier to dodge while it felt like it was impossible to do so on the steam version i played

IMO "hard" is the perfect difficulty for a good/experienced player. Making a mistake here and there won't result in an instant game over and it's quite challenging without being frustrating.

Nightmare is COMPLETELY different with some utter bullshit moments, I guess they didn't playtest this diffifulty at all. The teleport trap and Demon's corridor in Toal's route are good examples of things that will make you tear your hair out. The 3 glowing sand enemies after the annex you need to defeat for the gate to open are way above your level, kill you in 1 or 2 hits and receive only 1 or 2 damage from any of your attacks. Bosses and levels range from relatively easy to making you scream, depending on the character you play as. Some bosses have reaction times in the milliseconds and leave almost no openings. The harder bosses may take hundreds of attempts and you need to play 100% perfect, not just not getting a scratch but also putting out mad pressure against bosses with respawns/heals. You can realistically grind to 3 levels higher than bosses which will make many of them much easier, but some bosses remain fucking ridiculous.

This reminds me of more things about the awful game design. Nothing was really thought trough. Money is useless after a third into the game. This also makes the items useless that have only the purpose of being sold. This makes the side quests useless that merely bring a bit of money.

Like what was the fucking point of buying the ring back from the jewish merchant just to give it back to the guy for another valuable that is just worth a 500 gold more than you spent. It's a pointless reward. By the time you get your first level up every enemy on the overworld becomes piss easy to kill. Man I could go on and on about the awful game design.

>play ys1+2
>have a blast

>start ys origin
>2 hours in
>last played: 2 weeks ago

and thats when i stopped playing ys games

if you do the ring quest at the beginning of the game (like you're supposed to) you get enough money to buy all the basic equipment without grinding. you also get bunch of experience. not pointless at all

Who would give literally all their money in the beginning of a game they know nothing about to buy a ring back for a side quest instead of buying a bit of equipment? What you say only makes sense if you already played the game.

you can buy the ring at a discount

A discount? This changes everything.

I don't know what you want me to say. You don't have to do it, its a sidequest. But if you do it you get a reward that isn't pointless at all