Ys
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Two classic RPGs are being ported to a 1980s Sharp PC
'Ys I' and 'Ys II' are getting their ultimate ports: to a PC platform from 1987, complete with 3.5-inch floppies.
New Ys RPG announced for PS4, Vita
A new game in the Ys series was announced during Sony's pre-Tokyo Game Show 2014 press event today. The role-playing game is being created by Nihon Falcom, the series' longtime developers. It will launch in 2015 for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita.
Ys 5 fan translation released, full series now available in English
Falcom's 16-bit action-RPG Ys 5 has been localized and patched by the team of fan translators at Aeon Genesis, ending its long reign as the sole entry in the Ys series to never see an English-language release. Ys 5 debuted as a somewhat controversial game in 1995, arriving exclusively on the Super Famicom after a string of multiplatform releases. Ys 5 ditches the simplified enemy-ramming combat of earlier Ys games in favor of more traditional, Zelda-like fare, giving players more control over sword strikes and defensive maneuvers. Series enthusiasts previously localized the PC Engine version of Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys and its Super Famicom counterpart Ys 4: Mask of the Sun, and many other entries in the series were officially translated and released in North America. Ys 5 was never officially localized and a revised edition, Ys 5 Expert, also remained exclusive to Japan. A translation patch for Ys 5 is available at Aeon Genesis' website, and requires either an emulator or a Super NES flash cartridge to play. Falcom's most recent series entry, Ys: Memories of Celceta, was released last week for the PlayStation Vita in North America.
XSEED also releasing Ys: Memories of Celceta, Rune Factory 4, more this year
Killer is Dead isn't the only new game announcement out of XSEED. The company randomly decided to reveal a bunch of 2013 releases at once, including the welcome localization of Ys: Memories of Celceta, the first Vita iteration of the long-lived action RPG series. That's coming this fall.The Vita will also see Valhalla Knights 3 sometime this fall, an action RPG with twenty different job classes for players to equip as they take their parties of seven out on quests.XSEED is following the successful Steam release of its Ys games with a PC version of Ys I & II Chronicles + in February, a remake of the very first two Ys games. Finally, Rune Factory 4 is due on 3DS this summer, allowing players to choose a male or female protagonist for the first time.All this is in addition to Pandora's Tower, which was just announced for Wii. XSEED is an industrious little company!
Ys: The Oath in Felghana in stores and on PSN Nov. 2
XSEED has clarified the announced "November" release date for Ys: The Oath in Felghana -- and it's about as early in November as it can possibly be. If you're up for a classic top-down action RPG for your PSP, you can grab this remake on November 2. The special edition version (pictured) will be available from Amazon, GameStop, Videogamesplus.ca and "other fine retailers," and will include a soundtrack and desk calendar. The regular edition will be available in both UMD and download forms for $30.
Ys Seven eases onto retail and PSN August 17
Finally, that 12.5" x 34" space in the "cloth map" area of your room can be filled. XSEED has announced the release date for the beautiful collector's edition of Falcom's action RPG Ys Seven -- as well as the PSN version, for those of you whose walls are already completely occupied by cloth maps.
Preview: Ys Seven
XSEED's recent deal with Nihon Falcom means a truckload of role-playing games on PSP for us. The flagship product of the partnership is Ys Seven, the latest game in the long-running action RPG series and the first to be designed specifically for PSP. As someone whose experience with the Ys series can be described as "casual" at best -- I played the original Ys on a few different platforms -- I was pleasantly surprised to see the game evolve from the clumsy bumping-into-monsters adventure I remembered into an action RPG game that seems more than competent in the action department. %Gallery-96423%
Ys Online soundtrack now free download
If you're anything like some of us at Massively, the music in your games really adds something to the experience. While Ys Online may not snag the headlines here very much, it's an MMO based off of a series of Japanese RPGs that reaches back into the 1980s. The Ys IP has also been spun off into two anime series produced in the late 80's and early 90s. Ys Online is still in open beta in Europe, but they're already making the game's soundtrack available for free download. You can preview the tracks on the Ys Online Europe site and download each track individually, or just grab the whole soundtrack as a zip file. The Ys Online soundtrack is composed by the same people behind the score of the various Ys titles in the past -- Yuzo Koshiro; Mieko Ishikawa and Hideya Nagata.
Ys Online heads into open beta
Ys Online has entered its open beta phase of testing, but for now, the game is still only available to European countries (The full list can be found here. Countries not found on the list are IP blocked). This open beta is a little different to most in that there won't be a character wipe when testing comes to a close, meaning that characters will carry over to the game's launch. Those interested in playing just need to create a Key to Play account, download the client, and log in -- no special key necessary, despite any confusion caused by the name of the game's portal.According to the Ys Online forums, Key to Play is working on opening up access for more countries to play. Perhaps another publisher will come to the rescue and bring the game to the rest of the Ys-starved world?
YS Online wants you to bomb botters
Botters can be a hassle. Trust us, we know. We too have felt the sting of automatic programming when waiting for that quest monster to spawn, or for that rare monster pops up on the battlefield. Sure, we can report the problem to Game Masters for them to fix, but that's not even a full guarantee that the problem will be taken care of. Plus, don't you always love the satisifaction of dealing with botters yourself?Now you can take matters into your own hands in YS Online, the currently Europe only MMO based off of the popular YS series of RPGs. YS offers all players the ability to carry items known as Auto Bombs, which are available from all vendors for 1 copper a piece. All one has to do is simply take the bomb and throw it at the supposed botter. Once it hits, they'll have a small window to complete a simple captcha -- a word shown in picture format that they have to type into the box below the picture. If they fail to complete the captcha, they'll gain a debuff where they can't do anything for 30 minutes. Painful, no?
Ys sequel and remakes coming to PSP
Falcom loves the PSP. So much, in fact, that it announced two games for the PSP. The first is yet another remake of Ys I & II, subtitled Chronicles. According to andriasang, he PSP version will be based off the 2001 PC remake but will include new visuals and music.In addition to a revival of these classic RPGs, Falcom is also planning a brand new Ys game, Ys VII, which continues the story set in the PSP game Ark of Napishtim. Both Adol and Dogi will return, with a twist, in this first Ys game to feature a party system. Perhaps the game will take some inspiration from Monster Hunter?
Ys Seven might be coming to PSP, PS2
Falcom announced two new games at a fan event in Tokyo over the weekend: Ys Seven and Ys I & II Chronicles. According to Dengeki Online, Ys Seven will feature series hero Adol again, and will follow the story of the "Five Great Dragons of Altago." It's expected to hit Japan sometime this fall. As for Ys I & II Chronicles, not much is known about it, but it could be another remake like the recent Legacy of Ys: Books I & II for DS. That one will be out in Japan by summer. IGN suspects that Ys Seven might be a game for Sony platforms, seeing as the title will be featured in an upcoming issue of Dengeki PlayStation magazine. Falcom did release Ys: The Ark of Nephistim on PSP and PS2 back in 2006, so it's not too much of a long shot to see the next in the series appear on either system (or both).
Legacy of Ys: Books I & II delayed, soundtrack bundled
The hike up to Darm Tower is taking longer than expected. Atlus has bumped the release of Legacy of Ys: Books I & II for the Nintendo DS back two weeks from its originally announced February 10 ship date. Now set for release on February 24, the publisher notes that the entire first printing of the upcoming RPG will now come packaged with the game's soundtrack CD, originally intended just for those who reserved the game. The bundling is part of a "fan appreciation" effort called Atlus Spoils, which according to Atlus is intended to "give a little extra something to the company's faithful followers." The announcement follows yesterday's reveal of Devil Summoner 2, which will come stuffed with a free Raiho plushie. Now here, take this hankie and wipe those silver tears from your eyes.
Ys to return in MMO form
According to a press release picked up on Neoseeker, there's a brand new Ys game on the way -- and we're not talking about the Nintendo DS remake that is coming out next month. In a move that we can't help but compare to the evolution of the Final Fantasy series and FFXI, an upcoming Ys' title will stray from series' classic JRPG roots into the MMO world. The full name for the game looks to be Ys Online: Call of Solum at this time. The embedded Youtube video was posted back in May of last year so there's probably a lot more information already out there in Japanese, but this is really the first we've heard of it.From what Neoseeker translated of the press release, Ys Online is going to be free-to-play, and will be published by Key To Play and developed by Nihon Falcom, the creators of the original Ys games. Nihon Falcom has been in the business of making games for over two decades, but as far as we know, this will be their first crack at an MMO. We should be able to see how it's coming along shortly with a closed beta that is scheduled to begin this month -- we'll be keeping an eye on the game's website for sign-up information.
A fitting legacy for your Legacy of Ys preorder
Preorder perk ahoy! For the February 10 launch of Legacy of Ys Books I & II, Atlus will be offering jammy U.S. and Canada-based gamers a sweet preorder bonus: a limited edition soundtrack CD, featuring tracks from both Ys I and Ys II. As far as we know, this will be available at Amazon and GameStop. The revised translation for this DS remake had already roped us in, but now we're counting down the days hours minutes. As the press release we received notes, the Ys series is renowned for having wonderful music. If you're new to the series, you can head to this part of Atlus' website to listen to a few samples for yourself. %Gallery-9296%[Via press release]
A new Legacy of Ys translation
Atlus may have just given us another reason to buy the DS Legacy of Ys Books I & II instead of (or in addition to) just dropping $8 for the Virtual Console version: for the first time since that release, the games will have a new official translation. Given that Atlus does better localizations than most companies now, they are almost guaranteed to do a better job than circa-1990 NEC.In a press release, project lead Sam Mullen said "We're not taking this lightly, but we also see this as an opportunity to give the game a 21st-century localization, a new script to match the game's remade features."We rather like the idea of carefully-considered text in the classic action RPG! Wander into our gallery for new screens of this new-ish game.%Gallery-9296%
DS Daily: Ys or no
Atlus will publish Interchannel's DS remakes of the endlessly remade first two Ys games to North America next year. Japanese gamers are pretty familiar with Falcom and their venerable ARPG series, but it never really caught on outside of Japan, despite a decent number of releases making it over here on the Sega Master System, Turbografx-16 CD-Rom, Super NES, and other systems.How familiar are you with Ys? Did you pass over the Virtual Console release in anticipation of the announcement of this DS game? Did that recent release pique your curiosity about the series? Or has Atlus's involvement gotten your attention? Alternately, you love these two games so much that you'll pick them up on every available system?[Wallpaper found here]
Atlus bringing Ys on DS to North America
Fans of Ys are in for a treat: Atlus is bringing Legacy of Ys: Books I & II to North America in February, 2009. The game is a remake of Ys Eternal, which was released on the PC back in 1997 in Japan. Ys Eternal is actually a remake of Turbo Duo classic, Ys Book I & II. That's a lot of remaking!After watching the video above, check out VC Monday Madness over at Wii Fanboy, where the original Ys Book I and II was featured recently.%Gallery-9296%[Via Joystiq]
Atlus eyes Ys for DS in North America
Ys-y for you to say, eh? Eh? Atlus will bring the recent DS remakes of Nihon Falcom's flagship Ys role-playing series to North America on February 10, 2009. Even better, instead of releasing the two titles individually as they were sold in Japan, the publisher plans to bundle the games together as Legacy of Ys: Books I & II. Samuel Mullen, project lead for Legacy of Ys, tells Joystiq that the team "worked closely with the developer to offer both games, Books I and II, on a single DS cartridge." The package is a pint-sized version of Ys Eternal, which was released on the PC in Japan in 1997, and was itself a rehash of Turbo Duo classic, Ys Book I & II. The series has never garnered the same sort of cult status that it's enjoyed in Japan, but we nonetheless welcome the addition to our DS library, if only for the music (some of which can be heard in the video above) alone.
VC Friday: 250
People, say hello to the 250th title on the combined PAL Virtual Consoles: it's ... one of the below. Woohoo! Let's say Ys Book I and II, as that's the one this blogger is most looking forward to trying out. On a sadder note, this is the last week of the current Hanabi Festival; we shall remember it fondly! Mainly because of, you know. Ys Book I & II -- Turbografx-16 -- 800 Wii Points Spelunker -- NES -- 600 Wii Points Chase H.Q. -- Turbografx-16 -- 600 Wii Points DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure -- SNES -- 900 Wii Points Make the jump for videos of all four.
