Ys Origin

Great prequel of the Ys series.

Last Month the fan translation of the Ys Origin is finally released which is a blessing for Ys fans. This is because non english fans finally able to enjoy the storyline of Ys Origin which answer lots of the questions in Ys series especially for Ys 1 and 2. This is the only Ys game that does not feature Adol Christin as the main character as the game take 700 years before Ys 1. This time the adventure revolve around the Darm Tower, the same tower that Adol will climb in the first Ys Series.

Ys Origin story started 700 years before Ys 1, shortly after land of Ys being lifted to the air to avoid demon invasion, the Twin Goddess of Ys suddenly disappear. The 6 Priests dispatch a search party consist of Knights and Mages hand picked by the priests themselves and they are tasked to return to the land of Esteria, climbing the Tower of Darm in order to search and rescue the Goddess unaware of the great conspiracy awaits for them. There are 3 playable characters for the story mode where each characters have their own reasons to climb the Darm Tower.

 The first playable character is Yunica Tovah, the grandaughter of Priest Tovah who is one of the 6 priests. She joins the search party despite still being an apprentice knight since she begs her commander to join the search party. Yunica has really close relationship with the Twin Goddess which treat her as their younger sister. She climbed the tower because she is really worried with the Twin Goddess and apparently she wants to find out the fate of his father who was the leader of knight who stays on the surface to prevent demons disrupt the ritual to raise the Ys to the sky. Probably she is the most naive character out of the 3 playable characters due to her innocence and i find her route the most boring one out of the three character.

Out of the 3 character she is the most easiest character to play as her moveset is the most similar to Adol. Once you got her fire skill and upgrade it, you will easily defeat most of your opponents as the charged skill got really big coverage.

 

 The 2nd character is Hugo Fact, the successor of the prestigious House of Fact and a prodigy in  magic. He had a cold personality and prefer to work alone since he believes other people will just slow him down. Apparently he is given a task by his father apart from rescuing the goddess which he needs to kill a traitor which is no other than his older brother which is presumed to be dead 6 months ago. At first his character is unlikeable however Hugo has the best character development out of 3 main characters in my opinion as he faces lots of trials during his climb to Darm Tower. He is the ancestor of the tragic villain DarkFact as Dark inherits Hugo's eyes

His playing style completely differ with other character as Hugo attacks the opponents from distance with his magic and Eyes of Fact, a powerful artifact from the House of fact. His wind barrier is the best skill since it provides temporary invicibililty and unlike other skills, it doesn't use the Eyes of Fact which are the best in normal configuration.

 

After you finished Yunica's and Hugo's story you will unlock Toal's route which is the canon route of the Ys Origin and makes him the true hero of the game. Toal was the vice commander of the Holy Knight who remain on the surface when Ys being raised to the sky to fend off the demons along with his commander, Yunica's father. He was defeated but somehow he was spared and given the power of Demon instead granting him more power. He seems to be villain at first as he fought the rescue party sent from Ys which were his former comrades though in the end he help them to save the Twin Goddess.

Gameplay wise Toal is probably is the hardest character to use as he is purely close combat character which would pose some issues in Nightmare mode. Moreover he will fight 2 final boss at the same time which is quite hard.

The gameplay of Ys Origin is similar with Oath in Felghana or Ark of Napishtim as it uses same engine and probably the best out of three as the gameplay is improvised from the former 2 titles. If you played Ys 1 before probably you will feel amazed the Darm Tower version that you see in Ys Origin. If the Darm tower in Ys 1 feels like a maze, the one in Ys Origin are more like a Dungeon as the tower is really big place in Origin.

 Once again you will feel nostalgic if you played Ys 1&2 before as you will face the same bosses that you fought in Origin(though not all). Some of them are easier but mostly they are harder especially the earluer bosses and they look more fearsome compared to its classic counterpart. I also didn't expect Zava was human because her appearance was monster like in Ys 2.

Just like other Ys series, each protagonist have love interest though they are not damsel in distress. Toal himself is the love interest of Goddess Reah as they became close during their time in Ys and the Silver Harmonica was Toal's gift to Reah. No wonder in Ys 1&2 only Feena was smitten by Adol as Reah had someone she loved already. Apparently the twin goddess decided to descend to Esteria as they try to seal the Black Pearl after figuring out it is the root of the Demons while making Ys prosper at the same time.

The main villain of Ys Origin is no other than Dalles who is the master of lady Zava. While he is the Right Hand of the BBEG in Ys 2, In Ys Origin his background is more fleshed out as he is the Leader of the Dark Tribe, the humans who tried to gain power surpassing the Eldeens and apparently he is responsible for releasing the Ark of Napishtim causing it running amok. he came to Esteria as he is seeking the Demonic essence, the power comes from the Black Pearl which grant its user great power but require White Emelas to control which is no other than the Goddess wing. However he is not the true main villain....

However the true final boss is one of the 6 Priests, Cain Fact who are no other than Toal and Hugo's father which can be only fought in Toal's playthrough. Apparently he is the mastermind of all things that set up the events in origin. Cain is being obsessive of getting the power that surpass Eldeen which is the reason why he wants to get the Demonic Essence himself. After fusing with the Black Pearl he transform into Darm which is relatively hard fight. I wonder if the Darm that Adol fought in Ys 2 is Cain himself.

 While there is no story mode for Adol, apparently he is one of the secret character for Arena and Boss rush mode which was added in the recent version of Ys Origin. In Ys Origin there are 2 different version of Adol  that you can play which are from Napishtim or Felghana.

Just like other Ys Series the music in Ys origin is awesome and there are several remixes of the classic bgm of the series. After Darm was defeated, the twin goddess sealed the black pearl with their own power which makes them sleep until Ys 1 event takes place. Some of the search party members decided to stay on Esteria watching over the goddess which sets up the settings in Ys 1 as Adol will meet some of the descendants in his quest. I am also quite surprised that the Silver Sword that Adol used in Ys 1 belongs to Toal himself which is quite a tragedy with its circumstances in Ys 1. 

For non Ys fans, Origin might seems to be a regular Action RPG that has great music but definitely a worthy game for Ys Fans. With this only Ys 4 and 5 left untouched by me yet but i definitely looking forward for the rerelease of Ys 4 for Vita.Definitely this game must not be missed if you are a diehard fans of Ys as it fills lots of blanks in the main Ys Series.