Ys II

Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter is a direct sequel to Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - Omen. The game continues to use the action role-playing combat style of the first installment, which requires the player to have the protagonist run into the enemy to deal damage, without needing to press an attack button. The player should carefully choose the angles and the degree of contact with the enemy; otherwise, the hero will be killed. The player character can (and should) level up, perform quests for village people, gather money, and upgrade weapons and inventory, like in most other RPGs.

Released: 24 June 1988
Platforms: Android FM-7 MSX MSX 2 NEC PC-8800 series NEC PC-9800 series NES PC-8800 Series PC-9800 Series Sharp X1 Sharp X68000 TurboGrafx-16 Windows i-αppli
Genres: Action role-playing Adventure Role-playing
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Fantasy
Country: Japan
Composers: Yuzo Koshiro, Mieko Ishikawa, Hideya Nagata

About

Ys II, titled on-screen as Ancient Ys Vanished: The Final Chapter, is a 1988 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. It is a sequel to Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished and takes place immediately following it. The game was first released for the PC-8801 and PC-9801 and has seen several ports and remakes since.

Picking up almost immediately after the events of the first game, the story opens with Adol being transported to the titular civilization, which is now a floating island in the heavens. There, Adol learns the truth behind the first game's events, being part of a larger conspiracy orchestrated by a greater evil, as well as the kingdom of Ys itself.

›Story

A bright light shot up from Darm Tower at the end of the first Ys, and Adol Christin is awakened by a young girl who finds him lying on the ground. She introduces herself as Lilia and tells Adol he is in the land of Ys. Finally, he was able to establish a connection between his world and this mysterious land! But finding the gateway to Ys is not enough; Adol must stop an evil entity that his archenemy, Dark Fact, served. And his foes already know where he is.

Keywords

anime
wizards
magic
backtracking
pixel art
amnesia
heavy metal
good vs evil
sword & sorcery
gods
ogres
love triangle

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls Adol as he battles his way across the land of Ys. As in the first game, Adol's strength is measured in a typical RPG fashion: he has numerical statistics such as HP, attack power, and defense power that determine his strength. These stats are increased by raising his experience level through battling.

Also returning from the first game is the 'bump' combat system. The player attacks enemies by running into them, and the enemy takes damage according to Adol's stats, the enemy's stats, Adol's position, and the enemy's position. A new addition to Ys II is the magic system: Adol can acquire several different spells he can use throughout the course of play, such as a fire spell for attack and a time spell which can stop enemies as long as it is active. The use of magic consumes Adol's MP stat.

Story

Ys II picks up immediately where Ys I left off. Adol Christin is transported to the floating island of Ys, where he meets a young woman named Lilia. She takes Adol to her home, Lance Village. It is here that he will begin his quest to unravel the secrets of Ys, and finally, rid it and Esteria of evil.

Reception

Japanese game magazine Famitsu gave the Famicom (NES) version a score of 27 out of 40. Famitsu gave the PCE-CD (TurboGrafx-CD) version a score of 35 out of 40.