44. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PC Engine CD)I presume most "everyone" knows this by now, but there were two different games called Ys IV released about a month apart in late 1993. Short version: an understaffed Falcom outsourced its development to various studios, resulting in Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (Super Famicom) by Tonkin House followed closely by Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PC Engine CD) by Hudson Soft. To muddy the waters further, Falcom themselves created the Ys IV storyline and characters, so both games have some striking similarities. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun was remade by Taito in 2005 (bearing the subsubtitle -a new theory-), while Falcom eventually took the reigns and released the canonical "fourth" installment Ys: Memories of Celceta for the PlayStation Vita in 2012.
Out of that cluster of "four fours" only one was destined for action-RPG royalty: The Dawn of Ys. Released exclusively in Japan for the unstoppable PC Engine CD, I've had the distinct pleasure of playing the game to completion both in its original Japanese and with two fan translation patches applied simultaneously. The first, from 2004, translates all in-game text to English (save for the credit roll, which uses a different font). The second, from 2012, is actually a fandub which removes all Japanese cutscene dialogue replacing it with English voice-acting. It's an unbelievable labor of love, and I have no doubt that the combined power of these two fan translations results in a localization package vastly superior to most official ones from those early days.
Now, it's come to my attention that there are some heretics out there that dislike Ys III. Well, those folks are in luck as The Dawn of Ys picks up directly where Book I & II left off, both in terms of story and (2D top-down) gameplay. Prepare for waves of déjà vu as our protagonist, the red-haired adventurer Adol Christin, once again begins his journey by docking at a port town, which is then followed by a quick jaunt to meet a fortune teller. Key NPCs are also back for another round, including Adol's best bud Dogi and the chronically-kidnapped cutie pie Lilia. The Ys mythology is greatly expanded upon in this installment, which dives deeply into the origin of the two goddesses as well as their winged kin. Unfortunately, much of the story is an absolute mess. The writers were clearly in love with this tale, but it's overly verbose, confusing, and contradictory. As with all the worst JRPG storylines, the simple act of "paying attention" soon begins to feel like a chore.
Much like the other "part fours" the game primarily takes place within the land of Celceta, a lush verdant region teeming with ancient ruins. Adol is tasked with exploring Celceta, searching for a couple of mystical masks, all while fending off the aggressive "Romun Empire." There are plenty of new towns to visit, and a plethora of NPCs making their debut. Some, like the tough female warrior Karna, occasionally join up as AI allies. While the benevolent NPCs of Celceta range from agreeable to downright lovable, the villains in this game are absolute garbage. The leader of the Romun Empire, General Leo (no not that General Leo), perpetually saunters about, endlessly whining. There's a trio of "comic relief" villains who behave in the most cliché ways possible: periodically "teleporting" in front of Adol, cracking a few jokes, and then leaving one behind to fight while the other two scurry away. And of course the primary antagonist is some "all-powerful evil" thing with no reasoned motivations whatsoever.
The Ys IV experience is peppered with frequent cutscenes, all of which are gorgeous. There are also large "pop-in" anime portraits that appear during lengthy dialogue exchanges. The artwork is extremely competent, especially in regards to the female characters. Though, once again, I'm a bit irked by those villains, whose ridiculous face and body proportions make them appear more like SNK fighting game rejects than occupants of a medieval fantasy world. The voice-acting, of which there is an insane amount, is executed well, both in Japanese and English. The English fandub team took great pains to ensure that their voices matched the overall cadence and emotional depth of the original Japanese squad, and executed brilliantly. Truth be told, I think the English dub is actually superior. The text-based fan translation job is additionally stellar -- straightforward and mercifully lacking any "jokes" or unneeded "references."
The Dawn of Ys showcases what is the best implementation of the best video game combat system ever devised: the bump system. Yes, once again, Adol damages enemies (and vice versa) by making direct contact with them. There is no action button. There's a level of strategy to this, as foes need to be hit from an off-center position, or else Adol risks taking mega damage. Damage taken and received is also level-dependent and the game prevents egregious power-leveling by scaling (and limiting) experience received from slaying "easier" foes. The game's not tremendously grindy, and ample exploration of any given locale should grant Adol a sufficient amount of XP. The speed of Adol's movements feels "just right" in The Dawn of Ys. Not too slow, or too "slidey" and quick, with the newfound diagonal movement providing an additional perk.
The magic system of the second game returns, with the fire and transform spells being the most useful. While fire magic was completely broken in Ys II (in the player's favor) it's been tweaked here, with many enemies being outright immune to the flames. Sadly, the transform magic, which changes Adol into an adorable "Roo" type of monster, is underutilized. While it is fun to see how humans and beasts alike react to Adol's Roo form, this spell is primarily used to navigate waterways. Yeah, apparently human Adol is incapable of swimming. And this is a guy who always arrives to town by boat. Contrast this to Ys II which frequently required the player to deploy the Roo in the craftiest of ways, like using the spell to sneak past enemy guards and infiltrate meetings for intel.
There are additional unique aspects that add some complexity. There's a bird Adol can summon to the various poop-encrusted tree stumps, should he need some guidance and direction. There's a very rudimentary crafting system, courtesy of a witch NPC. This gives birth to one of the earliest Ys side quests: Adol can obtain an invisibility potion that lets him sneak into an enemy encampment, snagging the game's ultimate set of armor. Though, in a throwback to the first Ys, the second-best gear needs to be equipped to damage the final boss. There's also a really neat, and well-hidden, item called the Samson's Shoes. These slow Adol's movements to a crawl, but he is able to defeat any non-boss enemy with a single hit. For those playing on an emulator (and let's be real, who isn't?) a great "cheat" is to equip the shoes and then turn on the fast-forward function. Adol will now move at a "normal" speed, and will essentially be unstoppable. The resulting garbled chipmunk music is perhaps a small price to pay.
The Dawn of Ys features some of the best bosses the series has to offer. No longer is the player required to simply level up and hope for the best. Here, one must strategize, learn patterns, and exploit weak points. And there's a lot of bosses too -- not simply one per dungeon, but others scattered about the overworld, halfway through a dungeon, and so forth. Some are only damaged by fire, others by bumps. Besting one of these fiends typically takes five or ten tries, but the save-anywhere system eliminates any tedious backtracking.
Graphically, the game makes no attempt to reinvent the wheel. It bears a smooth soft look, very much like Book I & II but with the benefit of four extra years of technological progress. The character portraits are much sharper here, lacking that grainy pixel look. Though this is a PC Engine CD exclusive, the developers deemed it necessary to include those throwback PC-88 borders, which is always appreciated. The game environments are quite pretty to look at, especially all the outdoor forest greenery. Dungeons are detailed and quite fun, growing gradually more complex as the game progresses. There are some rather intriguing puzzles in the latter ones, including an area where Adol continually gets flipped upside down. Navigation outside is a tad odd. The overworld isn't exactly cohesive, as completed dungeons tend to dump Adol out into fresh virgin territory. The game relies heavily on warp spells, which will instantly summon Adol back to a given town.
The soundtrack, arranged by Ryo Yonemitsu, is an intriguing mixture of old and new tunes. The new tracks are quite good, and clearly modeled off the Ys songs of old. There's even a dungeon track with water drip percussion! As for the throwback tracks, they are remixed, with mixed results. The moody "Tears of Sylph" for instance has been only subtly altered and retains its fantastic melancholy atmosphere. Then you have something like the Darm Tower theme, which has been "enhanced" by the addition of these jazzy saxophone sections. It sounds awful. Overall, though, a pretty strong effort by some of the best composers in the business.
As mentioned, Ys IV is overindulgent. It just doesn't quite know when to quit. Not only is there an excessive amount of exposition, but the game itself drags on towards the end. It's about five hours longer than it needs to be. What feels like a proper "final dungeon" ends up leading to another dungeon. And another. And another. The classic Ys games were more about streamlined action than being "epic" and The Dawn of Ys should have stuck to conventions. While the game never exactly feels annoying or miserable, that "too much of a good thing" feeling really strikes around hour ten.
The Dawn of Ys occupies a weird spot in the series (and ARPG) history. It's undeniably the worst of the PCE Ys games, but that's simply a testament to how good its predecessors are. As it stands, The Dawn of Ys is among the strongest ARPGs of the best era of the genre, owing much of its success to the utterly blissful combat and stunning visual presentation. Don't let the obscurity of the game (and its accompanying hardware) scare you, this is not to be missed by fans of RPGs and retro games.