Game Club #18 - Ys: Book I & II

Ys, the ideal utopia. Once a country so peaceful and prosperous, a country where children were as free as the wind. A country where harmony blew through the hearts of all men.Ys, a kingdom ruled by the wisdom and charity of its six powerful priests. An empire watched over and blessed by the enchanting aura of its two beautiful goddesses.Ys, the seemingly tranquil paradise, suddenly pulled from the height of its civilization to the empty abyss of infinite isolation.How could such a land of promise simply vanish from the face of the planet? How could such prosperity be forgotten?The legend has been silenced for over seven hundred years. And now the mystery unfolds.

After our Beyond Oasis Game Club, we've decided to keep the action-RPG train going with Ys: Book I & II (for the record, it's pronounced "ease," not "whys"). This was one of the very first console games to be released on CD in the U.S. back when it came out for the TurboGrafx-16. The series has earned a lot of fans over the years, but will newcomers to the series enjoy the simplistic "run into enemies to damage them" combat system? That's what we wanna find out. Since most of you probably don't have a TurboGrafx to play the original on, your best best is to get the game through the Wii's Virtual Console (only 800 Wii Points, and you can now play it straight off an SD card!). Atlus also recently released a graphically updated version of the game(s) for the Nintendo DS under the title Legacy of Ys: Book I & II. You won't get the true old school Ys experience playing this version, but if that's all you got, then go for it.

We'll be discussing this game in episode 131. In the meantime, get playing and get us your comments and/or memories. As always, you can post them on this blog, in the forums, drop us an email, or leave a voicemail (713-893-8069). Ye Olde YouTube Links:Intro SequenceGameplay Footage