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Lacking in Options and Lackluster Gameplay

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: January 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This review was written by my son, James Shea

The sixth game in the interconnected Ys series of games, the Ark of Napishtim is the first English release of a Ys game since Ys III. However, that doesn't stop the story from being connected to many older games fairly directly.

The opening cutscene shows Adol, the series' hero, being helped out of a troubling situation with local guards by an unknown person. The person turns out to be an old friend of Adol's from an older game. This is not made clear, however, and new players are pretty much kept in the dark about specifics other than "they know each other". The group escapes on a boat, which crashes, leaving Adol to drift ashore onto an island. He is discovered by the elf-eared, tailed inhabitants of the island, who fear him. With the help of his new acquaintances, he must discover the secret of the island.

Gameplay is really simplistic. Similar to the Legend of Zelda, Olan runs around on a map slashing the little critters that get in his way. He can equip a weapon, a shield, a suit of armor, an accessory, and a tool. Besides the use of tools, the entire game is played with the square button (attack) and, rarely, the X button (jump). Olan can level up after killing enough monsters, which raises his maximum HP. Finally, Olan can cast magic using his sword, if it's upgraded properly. There isn't a lot besides those things that can be done, and the game becomes monotonous fairly quickly.

The PS2 version of the game changes several graphic types from the PC version - namely, the de-Anime-ization of the game. The portraits are still anime-styled, but the animated cutscenes are replaced with CG ones, and the in-game sprites are replaced with similarly shaped 3d models. The cutscenes, at least, can be fixed by using a cheat, so if you'd prefer the better-looking animations to the slapped-on computer generated scenes, feel free to use it. The music and voice acting isn't really notable, good or bad.

As a whole, the game is boring, lacking most of the options and excitement of its contemporaries in the field. The story isn't exciting enough to be worth the boring gameplay, and the gameplay isn't engaging enough to support the drab story.

Rating: 4/10.

Great fun!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Although Y's didn't receive a lot of acclaim from the gaming community, I found it to be a very enjoyable experience. It's an action RPG that puts you in the shoes of Adol, a redheaded adventurer. You find yourself trapped on an island with no contact with your companions who you lose while in a sea fight with the empire of the time (the Romuns).

The RPG elements are great! You not only level up your character, but you also must level up your swords. You command three swords, which are a staple of the game. In other RPGs, you focus more on leveling up your character, but in Y's, you really want to work hard at getting your swords to the highest level possible. I found this to be challenging but very attainable feet.

The story isn't too bad, but you most likely would get more out of it if you had played the other Y's (this is a long running series in Japan). You get your standard love triangle as in other Japan RPGs and anime, but I really wish there were more development from Adol.

Pros
-Tons of fun! The game is just fun to pick up and play, and you'll find that the story seems small in scope at first, but you'll quickly find out that there is much more out there to do. The story opens up after a couple of hours of play.

-I really enjoyed the music of this game. The tunes really fit the situations in the game and they're not too repetitive.

-The bosses are pretty hard right off the bat. They get a little easier as you level up the three swords, but they are still pretty tough.

-Great story!

Cons
-The voice acting was pretty bad, but you can look past this easy or you can also turn it off in the options menu.

-The graphics were not up to PS2 quality, but again, it doesn't take away from this game's fun.

-Some of the platforming stuff in the game I thought was not necessary. There is a dash-jump that is very hard to do, but you only need to do it to get certain optional items.

This title should be a little cheaper now, and now it's actually coming out for PSP. I would highly recommend!

A brilliant return to the world of Y's

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This RPG title comprises of 10 massive stages that are broken down into several chapters. The game's visuals are displayed in isometric perspective, which keeps in line with it's cartoon-style them and has allowed the developers to focus on creating beautiful worlds with its graphic engine. Essentially it is platform title that looks and plays like the original Zelda series.

The control layout is simple yet effective and the primary buttons are the square and X buttons. The square buttons is Adol's attack maneuver, while X button is used for jumping. There are many goodies to be found throughout the game that help Adol complete his missions. Adol is able to upgrade his sword for a more powerful attack and obtain new shields and armour. This helps Adol in defeating some of the gigantic bosses that he may come across who progressively become stronger the further you progress in the game.. There are also additional accessories and tools to be found. All these options are accessed from the settings menu while in game and once Adol has found other swords
he is able to alternate between them by pressing the R1 button consecutively. The swords can also incorporate a powerful force attack that is performed by pressing the circle button. These attacks can eliminate multiple enemies at one time and include some remarkable special graphic effects. Once a force attack has been preformed, it will use quite a bit of energy that needs to be restored and it may take a couple of moments before you can perform the attack again. In addition the jump button can be used in combination with the main slash attack for upward and downward thrusting strikes. Throughout the game Adol has access to 3 different types of swords, each with powerful after attacks. Using the shoulder buttons to switch between them at any time, you have the fire sword (leaves flaming opponents), the Thunder sword (lighting after attack) and the Wind Sword (creates little whirlwinds) and all are extremely cool weapons that are very fun to use. There is no map onscreen to direct Adol but there is a health meter in the bottom right corner that can be easily refilled throughout the game.

The environments are rich and full of life. Details in the surrounding fauna look great and the hard surfaced environments are also well detailed. But it's the shadows and real time lighting that make the YS stand out. During the many cut scenes, the characters take up half the screen and are designed like the traditional anime characters, very fearsome looking and often quite grotesque. All the characters have voiceovers and they have also added onscreen dialogue.

Overall YS: The Arc of Napishtim is a fun challenging RPG that will appeal to almost everyone. This title reminds me of all the old school classic RPG's that once consumed our lives and couldn't get enough of.

Pretty good RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

To me this game felt like a mix of Zelda and Final Fantasy. The cutscenes are very well done (too bad there are only a couple of them) and the music is actually very good. The graphics not the greatest, but I think that ads to the charm of it. The only fault that I could find with it is that it took less than twenty hours to finish. If you're looking for an old school RPG, than this is it.

Excellent Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The return of Ys. This game feels a lot like Zelda. It is a kind of cross between zelda and final fantasy. The only complaint I had with the game is that it was so short. You can beat it in about twenty hours. The battle system is pure hack and slash and it looks like the old nes game Wonders from Ys ( I think that was the name).

It's good to see classic gameplay survive and it does in this game.

First-Time Ys Player

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is the first Ys game I have ever played, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. However, for a veteran gamer, it went so fast that I wish it could've been a bit longer, with more detail to the story. Regardless, Adol the red-haired hero has won a new fan.

Ys Victorious Return

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: March 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Finally, after years of waiting, the Ys series has come back to the US. Before I jump into the gameplay, let me state that if you like the anime, youll love the game...plain and simple. As far as gameplay goes, the control is flawless. While there is some backtracking, for the most part this game is straight forward, story driven, hack and slash action. While leveling up (mainly the swords) can be a real chore, the hack and slash battles are so much fun that its easy to ignore the time it takes to level up. The games music is excellent and I can honestly say that this is the first game in quite some time that Id like to own the soundtrack for. Each song is well orchestrated and fits smoothly into its portion of the game. The story, while not the best story ever told, is interesting enough to keep you playing all the way through. The character development is phenomenal, with numerous characters growing more and more important to the story as the game progresses. As far as graphics go, they fit this game perfectly. Sure they are not the jaw dropping graphics of some of the other Action games and Rpgs of the big name consoles (ex. Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy X, DMC3, Tales of Symphonia), but they grow on you rather quickly. Overall, this game is defintely a must own. However, due to this series not having a huge following here in the states, it is sure to get EXTREMELY RARE. My EB only had 3 copies and thats all they plan on getting! Buy it now before its too late!

ys is back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After a long delay, the Ys series has made it to the PS2. The Ark of Napishtim is really fun. The graphics are nice and the story line you can actually follow. Adios and happy gaming.

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