I played the entire modernized Ys series this year starting from Ys I & II Chronicles and ending with Ys IX. It was impressive to me how fast and fluid these games were, especially for their time. I loved how they managed to pack a nice self-contained fast-paced adventure full of exploring and leveling up, but always with a little room to hang out and talk to other characters, all into an 8-10 hour experience. It feels like this balance has been lost though once they hit Ys VIII, started focusing on story and cutscenes more, and ballooning out playtime to 50+ hours. I normally like big meaty RPGs, like I'm about to start Cold Steel IV soon, but I think Ys had hit a very special niche in its earlier titles, with Ys Seven's satisfying sweet spot at around 30 hours... One thing I love about the series is how they keep experimenting and refining aspects to make combat faster and more aggressive. Whether it's adding a charge attack, or an exp multiplier if you can keep up an attack streak, or revising the charge attack so that you can do it without even holding a button, then onward with flash guards and flash moves, there are so many little iterations. Right when I think they can't possibly get much more out of their combat system they do something wild like using Ys IX's Crimson Line to warpstrike enemies! I think one of the biggest downsides to the games getting more ambitious is how absolutely noisy combat has gotten, with everyone's fully voiced attacks screaming all over the music. Let me enjoy those amazing field themes, damn! I guess my takeaway is that the series is great but it feels like it's losing focus, or maybe focusing on things I didn't think needed attention, instead of what makes Ys unique and appealing.
I’ve been slowly working my way through the Ys games catalogue since the start of this year and I love them all so far. The music is just phenomenal and i find myself listening to the soundtracks in my truck or at the gym all the time.
One small correction the original YS was developed for the PC-8801, it was part of a computer line created by NEC, the same company that produced the TG16. The NES version actually came out a year later.
After playing through most of them, I would rank them as: 1. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana 2. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox 3. Ys Memories of Celceta 4. Ys Origins 5. Ys Seven I have played most of the older ones except for Dawn of Ys. A great series.
DEFINITELY check out Dawn of Ys, it's amazing. The visuals for the time are breathtaking (particularly the portraits and cutscenes), and the music is genuinely one of the top 5 best game soundtracks of all time. Top it off with the fact that it's the best the bump combat ever was in the franchise and some really well designed areas and dungeons and you have a certified classic masterpiece. Plus, the fan translators completely re-did the voice acting in English, and it sounds really good!
ys 7 was such an amazing experience at the time, will always remember that first playthrough, up there with memories of playing half life and hl2 for the first time
I'm just so happy and glad that not only the Ys series is still going so strong for almost 40 years, but it's finally getting known as a great JRPG series as it is. It's such an underrated series in my opinion, cause it get so passed up by other series like Final Fantasy, The Tales of series, and the like. Ys 8 is my absolute favorite out of the all. 2nd is Ys Seven and 3rd is The Oath to Felgahna. I've played the original Ys 3, but I just prefer this one more. I'm definitely gonna play Ys IX once I have the chance. Hopefully if Falcom makes another remake, I hope soon enough.
Oh yes Ys III was quite good ! ... But it was so much not supposed to be an Ys that the entire staff that made Ys I & II escaped from Falcom and made Quintet which made stuff like ActRaiser Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
@@KaskelotenZebbe Yeah i somewhat simplified it. They also wanted a better paid according to the Untold History of Game Developpers and was fed up with the PC-88 ! They still didn't wanted Ys III to be a Ys game since it was imposed but if i'm honest we don't REALLY know if it played a part into why they left Falcom.
Thanks, also my favorite game in the series is Ys IX. I love the characters, mechanics and the exploration. My top 3 are: 1. Ys IX, 2. Ys VIII, 3. Ys M. of celceta.
You clearly read my mind, because a few weeks ago I was thinking of getting into Ys and thought I'd look to see if you'd made a ranking video for the series to get an idea of where to start!
That thumbnail is pristine Edit: I played through the whole series in the last past years. One of my favorite gaming series ever. Love how they made wanderers from one of the worst to one of the best with the remake.
Great video! I've been working through the Ys games for my channel, and I'm kind of heartened to see that the two best games are also the two latest ones. I'm especially looking forward to getting to Ys 9, the mobility Adol has just looks like so much fun.
They're certainly fantastic, but his opinion that they're the "best in the whole series" is just his own opinion, other Ys fans put some of the older games over the newest ones.
I recently got into the Ys series with Ys Origin and I'm hooked! Definitely going to pick up Ys VIII and IX for the Switch. Loved the video and had to drop a sub. Thank you!
Great list, I actually got into the Ys series last year based on your videos and have now beaten all of them. I am now working my way through the Trails series and am wondering why I had never heard of Falcom before as they have quickly become one of my favorite developers.
I have to admit I was a late adopter to the Ys series. It really wasn't until VIII that I really took notice. Only a few Action RPG's really got my attention and for a long time I lumped this series with the Arc of the Lad series in what I thought of was B roll RPG's. I still can't get myself to go back to the "bump" era of Ys games but I'm game for the modern versions. I kick myself for not buying the ones on PSP that were cheap back at GameExchange in the early 2000's. Thanks for the great video that really broke down the timeline / remake order.
I LOVE this series SO MUCH I only played 3 games 1&2,Felgahna and Seven All On PSP And that's Enough for me to say that the series was just wholesome. for me experiencing the 3 main combat systems. bump System,Ark of Napishtim System and Party System was just the best thing I EVER Grinding was Actually Fun They were short adventures that Were Just So awesome I Hope I Get To Play 8&9 Someday Love This Franchise So much
Let's get this party bumpin'! There's never Adol moment with the Ys series! Okay, okay, I'll stop xD But ye, I remember being blown away when downloaded Ys Book I&II on Wii Virtual Console. I wasn't expecting a 16 bit game from 1990 to have a fully voiced intro or excellent, crystal clear sound quality! That really kick-started my love of the series, and while I haven't played them all (I really need to pick up IX, especially) that just means I have a lot to look forward to!
Your favorites among the Ys series are pretty much identical to my own. Earlier this year I binged on the entire Ys series and it was one of the best experiences I've had in gaming. I had previously only played Ys I on the Master System, Ys Books I & II on the Turbo CD, and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys on the Genesis and I got curious about the rest of the series when seeing announcements about Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. This brought back some fond memories of those games and inspired me to investigate the rest of the series, which is one of the best gaming decisions I have ever made. Now I am a huge fan of the entire series and consider it to be among my all time favorites. Ys IX is also one of the best games released this year and it is a shame that it is not getting the praise and publicity that it deserves.
ys viii is a very funny entry imo as a jrpg it's probably the best of the series even by a margin but as an ys (the ys atmosphere) it's pretty close from (if not in) the bottom.
As for Ys IV, there are 4 released versions of it. Dawn of Ys(which ranks up there as one of my favorite in the entire series), Mask of the Sun(which ranks somewhere at the bottom with Ys V), Memories of Celceta(which is a good fun game, but disapointing as a remake), and Mask of the Sun: A New Theory for PS2 by Taito(who also did III and V on PS2). There was almost a 5th Ys IV game on Mega CD, called Mask of the Sun, but it went unreleased and no known prototype exists yet.
Definitely love the bulk of the entries for this series. I did play ys3 for super nes and I had a strategy for beating the final boss using the mirror as a death blow. Looking forward to Wednesday night stream and final fantasy 6 romhack. Have a great day David and Ken.
Ys IX is definitely my fave as well. I never paid much attention to the series until I bought Ys VIII and Memories of Celceta on a whim. And now? I've finished pretty much every single one of the modern games barring Ys I and II. It is up there as one of my all-time favorites, and Ys IX is within my top ten favorite games ever, if not top 5 or even 3.
The only problem I have with this is that I'd put YS I&II Chronicles at number 4. The rest of the ranking is basically the same way as mine with only YS VIII as number 1 and IX as 2.
I'm really not a fan of I & II Chronicles. The music arrangements suck, the visuals look cheap, and it's removed so many things from the PC Engine versions like the voice acting and the beautifully animated cutscenes. There's literally not a single thing that Chronicles does better than the PC Engine CD versions, which is sad considering they came out over a decade apart.
@@Jordan3DS Yeah but this is the only one that is available and people are going to play. Even if the PC Engine CD is better, this is a pretty good YS game and I prefer it over other "modern" YS. Anyways, I think it's possible to create a mod to add all the things you mentioned.
The Ys game that use the YS VI engine were actually developed for Micrsoft Windows first. Falcom was the few developers making retail game for the PC Market in Japan until they started porting their title to console and PSP(From 1998 to 2008 everything they developed was released for Windows first). IIRC YS VII was when Falcom started developing exclusively for handhelds before XSeed published their titles on Steam. YS IV was developed by Tonkin House for the Super Famicom and Hudson for the PC Engine CD. Until Memories of Celceta was releaseed the Super Famicom game considered the Canon version due to following the outline Falcom gave the devs much more closely which was about how much work Falcom actually did for YS IV in the 90s.
Been playing the games recently and I’m having tons of fun. Only played the first 4 so far (4 as in Mask of the Sun) but I’m hyped for the others. My rank so far 4. Mask of the Sun 3. Ys 2: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter 2. Wanderers from Ys 1. Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished
Great video :) I've played (and therefore rank) only 6 of them: 1. Ys VIII 2. Ys Memories of Celceta 3. Ys Origin 4 Ys IX 5. Ark of Napishtim 6. Ys III
Hey David. Love the Ys series, been one of my favourites for about 10 years now. Great list. I had a question for you. I recently watched 2 of your let's plays, Chrono Trigger and the modded FF4. I was curios what is your favourite let's play you have done?
I would say that Ys VIII is my favorite in the series. The story and characters were so memorable, especially Dana (pronounced like Mana btw). I still listen to Ys VIII soundtracks every now and then, that's how much this game means to me.
Ys is a series I've had my eye on and was already set on venturing through it more soon once I clear more of my backlog! (already own origins & 8) Played a bit of the first and like it
i wanna give a shotout to all 4 pc engine cd games. they may not have gameplay that hold up today but the soundtrack still does. I still can honestly say that Wanderers of Ys for the pc engine cd is the best soundtrack in the whole series. Dawn of Ys also holds up extremely well. 'be careful' from wanderers of ys and 'a great ordeal' from dawn of ys are the best representations, i highly implore you to listen
Ys III on SNES was the first one I ever played as a kid. It traumatized me so I never played another one again. Looks like I need to give the series another try!
Do it! I was the same (I "played" Wanderers because I know how to do the cheat). I started early this year with a copy of VII that I bought many years ago. Now I only have the I&II, Felgana and Origin left to play to complete the current chronology 😆.
Hey David as a newcomer to the series I have a question about Ys 6 As you said it was released on PS2, PSP, PC Aside from graphics is there any significant difference in the version you play? Also in regard to Ys 5 was it ever released here in the west?
Since YS Seven was my first game this is my top Ys game :D second is Ys vs Trails in the Sky : Alternative Saga ~ will play the other series when not busy and stream it here on YT and also thank you David on ur Ys Seven Walkthrough i am using ur videos make through on the hardest dungeons and also sidequests on the game :D
Fantastic list of games and I do agree with number 1 for sure! Tales of Arise is a masterpiece of a game. I did want to give a quick shout out to a couple of Koei Tecmo entries for this year: Atelier Ryza 2 and Blue Reflection: Second Light. They are not everyone’s cup of tea but they are great RPGs as well.
So I have a question, I’ve been wanting to play the series. The question is, do I need to play them in numerical order? Or is it like the Final fantasy series? Where you can just pick up a random one and enjoy it to the fullest?
Never got into the series before. I bought most of them on GOG because they go on sale frequently. I tried playing ys origins earlier this year and couldnt really get into it! I figured it would be the best place to start because the timeline starts there. Maybe I should give ys 1 and 2 a shot first.
I'm on of those strange people that like Ys 3 but I prefer the Genesis version as the SNES version has hit detection issues. It's also on the TB16 but apparently it runs at 15FPS and it really looks like a slide show but that version has incredible music. My top 3 are probably 1. Lacrimosa Of Dana 2. Monstrum Nox 3. Memories Of Celceta If you can get Celceta on PC you can run at an uncapped frame rate and it's so amazing playing it at 240FPS.
I'm also in the Ys IX > Ys VIII camp, but Oath in Felghana and Origin beat out both of them on my list. So my ranking is a little like: Oath in Felghana > Origin > Monstrum Nox > Lacrimosa of Dana > Ark of Napishtim > Seven > Memories of Celceta > I & II
Let me say this straight out... I never played any of the Ys-games at all. The first Ys game to released in Europe was Ys: Memories of Celceta, otherwise the earlier titles weren't released in Europe. It could also be due to the fact that Ys was an obscure series that not everyone have heard of
I have been an Ys fan since the Turbografx-16 CD which was basically a pioneer for cutscenes, voice acting, and music well beyond the chip tune music that was all that really existed before it. Ys Book1 and 2 on the TG-16 always be my favorite. Only Ys 4 I played was Memories of Celceta as I don't think there was an official western release of Ys 4 for SNES or TG-16. Also not sure Ys 5 ever got an official western release either. Ys 3 on TG-16 CD has some of the best music in any Ys game, it had choppy parallex and was a short sidescroller adventure, but I found it fun.
I got a top 10 for you. Top 10 RPGs that take forever to get to the point of the the story. Example. Final Fantasy IX, Dragon Quest VII, Kingdom Hearts II. These games can take hours before you even start to get into the story. Like FFIX does not get into the story until Lindenblum, DQVII takes almost untill 1/3 into the game before you even know what is going on with the broken world and KHII take 4 hours just before you get the story started with after all that Roxas stuff.
Starting to love the ys series and adol!! Lol. I decided to play them backwards so I completed monstrum nox and now on ys 8.. such a fantastic soundtrack..
The only problem I got with Memories of Celceta is that it brought back very few tracks from the SNES/PC-Engine versions, and a few of those aren't great remixes (like Battle #58). Doesn't help there are actually new tracks. My favorite pieces were Karna's theme, or A Great Ordeal, and those weren't even included.
Yeah, I really wasn't a fan of the arrangements. They took one of the best soundtracks ever made and turned it into "generic modern Falcom style". Now I like a lot of modern Falcom music, but you can't just take an OST made in one style and translate it into a completely different style like that without the quality dropping.
@@Jordan3DS I didn't like how some of the returning tracks were used either. For instance, Battle #58 was the main boss theme in the SNES version, and the major boss theme in the PC-Engine version (and I liked to associate that track with Gruda). and in Celceta it was reduced to being the mini-boss theme. Such an epic track shouldn't have been used like that.
I'm sorry and I know this is irrelevant to this video but I'm getting a ps3 soon for the first time ever and I was hoping you could suggest what RPG games I should get that are similar to Final Fantasy/Tales series. Hope to hear from you and sorry again.
Ys III is my favorite, largely for the story and how it continued the series in a believable way after the intense drama of the first two games. There was an obvious background romance between Elena and Adol, and it's disappointing but similarly believable that story would be lost in the series. If you give it a bit of time in the beginning, you can beat the game in only a couple hours and leave the second dungeon at max level. When you find the cave with the endless free medical herb and the fire birds you can reach max level in no time. The Steam remake of Ys III is superb and I loved that version as well. Steam and Falcom are on great terms with each other, with Steam having expressed a desire for all of Falcom's games. We'll see Ys for years to come. :)
I don't understand why you specifically only mentioned the SNES version of Ys 3 when, like Ys 1&2 it was released on many, many different platforms. Also, this is just a nitpick, but it's "Eeess", not "Ease". Other than that, nice video!
I will say I picked up Y's VIII and Y's IX after playing through a LOT of the trails games. While the y's games stories are more self contained, and doesn't interconnect as much as the trails series, i admit they were a breath of fresh air after so many Trails games with reoccurring characters who we would just see over and over and it felt like after several games, that the story doesn't progress (Trails of cold steel kind of fixed this but by IV it felt too......self congratulatory?) I really liked VIII (though felt the ending was a bit lacking) and I really have liked IX so far!
You know, I really like the “Y’s” series, having played the originals as a child and then got back into the series with “Oath in Felghana”. But “Y’s 8”, I have just not been able to get into so far. Now, I’m still very early in the game, I’ve only had one brief vision of Dana. But I’ve been so frustrated with the maps and areas and constantly getting lost. But I’m going to give it another chance based on your praise! (My lukewarm feelings toward “Y’s 8” are why I haven’t picked up “Y’s 9” yet)
@@davidvincI finally picked back up 8 and am giving it another shot! 9 looks really good, but I’m worried about is performance on Switch. May have to get it on console instead.
My ranking of the cannon games except V: 1. Lacrimosa of DANA 2. Origin 3. The Oath in Felghana 4. Monstrum Nox 5. Memories of Celceta 6. The Ark of Napishtim 7. Seven 8. I & II Chronicles
The first Ys I play was Ys origin. It was on sale, I had never heard of the Ys series but it looked nice. Boy, did that sell me into the series right away. The thing I think Ys does exceptionally right is that the ai of your party members feel so good. You always feel like they are party if the fight and not just to die or heal you, *cough kingdom hearts cough* Also what are the odds of us getting a Ys character ranked list?
Origin was the worst in the series, to me. The portraits look incredibly amateurish, there's no invincibility frames after getting hit, and the bosses are all just "wait until you can hit them" affairs that bored me to tears. Top it off with a terrible story and unlikeable characters mixed with how far apart save points are and the legion of enemies it constantly throws at you, it's just a really poorly designed game.
Yeah, I agree, but if you pick it blindly it’s pretty good. It’s not the best game, but if you are looking for a short hack and slash game with some pixel nostalgia, it does the job.
out of the ys games ive played this is how I would rank em: 1. ys 8 2. memories in celceta 3. ys 7 4. ys chronicles: i&ii 5. dawn of ys 6. ys 9 7. ys orgin 8. oath in felghana 9. ys 6
I'm kinda shocked that MoC is #2, that game was so insanely generic that I felt like my brain was melting, and this is coming from a massive Ys fan. The story was generic, the characters were generic, the combat was generic, the visuals were generic. the level design was generic... it was just a mess of meh-ness. Dawn of Ys kicked so much ass, everything is so beautifully done in that game, especially the incredible portraits and music and the super fun gameplay and memorable locations.
My ranking is very similar to yours, but I still like VIII more than IX. Might be because VIII's OST is so. damned. good. Also, I find it really hard to enjoy the 'bump' Ys nowadays, even if some are classics. Very satisfied with the current direction they are going. Feels like the series is really close to a modern smash hit.
Isn't there a rumor that at one of the game shows Falcom is going to announce the next Ys game because it's the anniversary? If they are making an anniversary game, I hope it's a remake of Ys 5.
Only games I've played were 3 and the PS2 one. And yes the 3rd game is difficult so much that it wasn't until I played it on my phone's emulator with cheats that I was finally able to beat the last boss. 😜
Unlike turn based RPGs , my taste for action RPGs is more difficult to satisfy . Games like Crystalis , Star Ocean series , Zelda ( if you count it ) series and the Mana series failed to impress me despite how popular they are . Even when Final Fantasy tried to be an action RPG , I wasn't impressed . The only action RPGs I managed to get into are Kingdom hearts and the Tales series , and Odin Sphere. I still haven't gotten around to try Ys , so I hope this video shows me where I could start
Oath is the best IMO, but 7, 8, 9, and Celceta are all fantastic as well. I grew up on Ys 3 so I do enjoy it a lot despite it being pretty awful. The SNES version is the hardest version as well. The PS2 remake is pretty neat for weirdos like me.
I'm a weirdo, it seems. My first Ys game was #3 on the SNES, and I liked it. I'd never go back and play it. Too much jank to work around. Hey, I was a kid and didn't know any better! Cut me some slack! Can't really comment on the rest of the series until 8 and 9. I liked 8, but the switching between the past and present segments kinda put me off. It felt like padding with how you had to level up Dana in two eras and explore a whole separate dungeon. 9, however, managed to take everything I disliked about 8 and make it fun. The separate hero segments were short and you didnt have to level your character to get through them (in fact, you couldn't as they were more stealth akin to missions). I know this would kinda sour the experience for some people, but my brother (a massive Ys fan) and I have been hoping for some grand sendoff for the series at some point (not now; the series is just gaining a lot of traction). All these adventures, and all these different characters Adol and Dogi encounter; there's a lot of support they could call on, should a worldwide situation occur. How fun would it be to play an Ys game where every character they met along the way joined up to take on some cataclysmic evil? A Musou/Warriors style game could work, but that might be a bit cheap as a final game. I dunno... Just a wayward thought.
It's so great that one of the ogs of rpgs is not only still going, but constantly evolving and improving
It really is, other series are devolving, but Ys just gets better and better!
I played the entire modernized Ys series this year starting from Ys I & II Chronicles and ending with Ys IX. It was impressive to me how fast and fluid these games were, especially for their time. I loved how they managed to pack a nice self-contained fast-paced adventure full of exploring and leveling up, but always with a little room to hang out and talk to other characters, all into an 8-10 hour experience. It feels like this balance has been lost though once they hit Ys VIII, started focusing on story and cutscenes more, and ballooning out playtime to 50+ hours. I normally like big meaty RPGs, like I'm about to start Cold Steel IV soon, but I think Ys had hit a very special niche in its earlier titles, with Ys Seven's satisfying sweet spot at around 30 hours...
One thing I love about the series is how they keep experimenting and refining aspects to make combat faster and more aggressive. Whether it's adding a charge attack, or an exp multiplier if you can keep up an attack streak, or revising the charge attack so that you can do it without even holding a button, then onward with flash guards and flash moves, there are so many little iterations. Right when I think they can't possibly get much more out of their combat system they do something wild like using Ys IX's Crimson Line to warpstrike enemies!
I think one of the biggest downsides to the games getting more ambitious is how absolutely noisy combat has gotten, with everyone's fully voiced attacks screaming all over the music. Let me enjoy those amazing field themes, damn!
I guess my takeaway is that the series is great but it feels like it's losing focus, or maybe focusing on things I didn't think needed attention, instead of what makes Ys unique and appealing.
It's strange to play as a soulless protagonist, what with Adol being a red-head and all...
I’ve been slowly working my way through the Ys games catalogue since the start of this year and I love them all so far. The music is just phenomenal and i find myself listening to the soundtracks in my truck or at the gym all the time.
One small correction the original YS was developed for the PC-8801, it was part of a computer line created by NEC, the same company that produced the TG16. The NES version actually came out a year later.
great vid man! Glad i subbed
Hey man, awesome! I’m glad you enjoyed it! If you ever want to get together and chat about the series I’m game! Huge fan!
Yes! Love these ranked videos! Never played a Ys game, but it’s good to hear that you think all but one of them is good! Keep it up my dude!
After playing through most of them, I would rank them as:
1. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
2. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
3. Ys Memories of Celceta
4. Ys Origins
5. Ys Seven
I have played most of the older ones except for Dawn of Ys. A great series.
DEFINITELY check out Dawn of Ys, it's amazing. The visuals for the time are breathtaking (particularly the portraits and cutscenes), and the music is genuinely one of the top 5 best game soundtracks of all time. Top it off with the fact that it's the best the bump combat ever was in the franchise and some really well designed areas and dungeons and you have a certified classic masterpiece. Plus, the fan translators completely re-did the voice acting in English, and it sounds really good!
ys 7 was such an amazing experience at the time, will always remember that first playthrough, up there with memories of playing half life and hl2 for the first time
I'm just so happy and glad that not only the Ys series is still going so strong for almost 40 years, but it's finally getting known as a great JRPG series as it is. It's such an underrated series in my opinion, cause it get so passed up by other series like Final Fantasy, The Tales of series, and the like.
Ys 8 is my absolute favorite out of the all. 2nd is Ys Seven and 3rd is The Oath to Felgahna. I've played the original Ys 3, but I just prefer this one more. I'm definitely gonna play Ys IX once I have the chance. Hopefully if Falcom makes another remake, I hope soon enough.
Ys III was actually pretty good on other systems like TurboGrafx CD and Genesis. I enjoyed it for what it is despite not being like other Ys games.
Yeah, the SNES version just sucks due to the awful hit detection, but other than that the game is solid
Oh yes Ys III was quite good !
... But it was so much not supposed to be an Ys that the entire staff that made Ys I & II escaped from Falcom and made Quintet which made stuff like ActRaiser Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
@@Haganeren From what I remember reading somewhere, I think it was on Time Extension, they left Falcom after Ys III actually.
@@KaskelotenZebbe Yeah i somewhat simplified it. They also wanted a better paid according to the Untold History of Game Developpers and was fed up with the PC-88 ! They still didn't wanted Ys III to be a Ys game since it was imposed but if i'm honest we don't REALLY know if it played a part into why they left Falcom.
Spot-on, yes. Even the FC version is good. But it's unbalanced at the beginning. Then you're over leveled later.
Love this video. And I’m so glad I gave Y’s a chance and I hope other people play some of the series’ games too!!
Thanks, also my favorite game in the series is Ys IX. I love the characters, mechanics and the exploration. My top 3 are: 1. Ys IX, 2. Ys VIII, 3. Ys M. of celceta.
You clearly read my mind, because a few weeks ago I was thinking of getting into Ys and thought I'd look to see if you'd made a ranking video for the series to get an idea of where to start!
Played Celceta and Lacrimosa and liked both. You convinced me to give Monstrum a go! Thanks David!!!
That thumbnail is pristine
Edit: I played through the whole series in the last past years. One of my favorite gaming series ever.
Love how they made wanderers from one of the worst to one of the best with the remake.
I just started messing with this series. I beat Origin with all characters and now I’m playing Ys I and II Chronicles. Probably finish part 1 today.
You're in for a treat mate
Ys origin was my first from the series i played back when i was a sophmore in college. I loved everything about it.
Great video! I've been working through the Ys games for my channel, and I'm kind of heartened to see that the two best games are also the two latest ones. I'm especially looking forward to getting to Ys 9, the mobility Adol has just looks like so much fun.
They're certainly fantastic, but his opinion that they're the "best in the whole series" is just his own opinion, other Ys fans put some of the older games over the newest ones.
Oath in Felghana, Ys 8 and Dawn of Ys are my favorites.
I did a ranking of the ones on steam and am refreshed to see IX as number 1. Great vid!
I recently got into the Ys series with Ys Origin and I'm hooked! Definitely going to pick up Ys VIII and IX for the Switch. Loved the video and had to drop a sub. Thank you!
Thank you!
Solid ranking! I've played all of the games and Ys IX is also my favourite. It just feels amazing to move around in that game.
we need more of this than those dungeon ranking videos.
Why not both? Variety is the spice of life after all.
Great list, I actually got into the Ys series last year based on your videos and have now beaten all of them. I am now working my way through the Trails series and am wondering why I had never heard of Falcom before as they have quickly become one of my favorite developers.
I absolutely love the Ys series. This video is just what I needed today.
Glad I could help!
I have to admit I was a late adopter to the Ys series. It really wasn't until VIII that I really took notice. Only a few Action RPG's really got my attention and for a long time I lumped this series with the Arc of the Lad series in what I thought of was B roll RPG's. I still can't get myself to go back to the "bump" era of Ys games but I'm game for the modern versions. I kick myself for not buying the ones on PSP that were cheap back at GameExchange in the early 2000's. Thanks for the great video that really broke down the timeline / remake order.
What's the best entry point? I’ve been looking at Ys 8.
I LOVE this series SO MUCH
I only played 3 games
1&2,Felgahna and Seven All On PSP And that's Enough for me to say that the series was just wholesome. for me experiencing the 3 main combat systems. bump System,Ark of Napishtim System and Party System was just the best thing I EVER
Grinding was Actually Fun
They were short adventures that Were Just So awesome
I Hope I Get To Play 8&9 Someday
Love This Franchise So much
Let's get this party bumpin'! There's never Adol moment with the Ys series!
Okay, okay, I'll stop xD
But ye, I remember being blown away when downloaded Ys Book I&II on Wii Virtual Console. I wasn't expecting a 16 bit game from 1990 to have a fully voiced intro or excellent, crystal clear sound quality!
That really kick-started my love of the series, and while I haven't played them all (I really need to pick up IX, especially) that just means I have a lot to look forward to!
Your favorites among the Ys series are pretty much identical to my own. Earlier this year I binged on the entire Ys series and it was one of the best experiences I've had in gaming. I had previously only played Ys I on the Master System, Ys Books I & II on the Turbo CD, and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys on the Genesis and I got curious about the rest of the series when seeing announcements about Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. This brought back some fond memories of those games and inspired me to investigate the rest of the series, which is one of the best gaming decisions I have ever made. Now I am a huge fan of the entire series and consider it to be among my all time favorites. Ys IX is also one of the best games released this year and it is a shame that it is not getting the praise and publicity that it deserves.
ys viii is a very funny entry imo
as a jrpg it's probably the best of the series even by a margin
but as an ys (the ys atmosphere) it's pretty close from (if not in) the bottom.
As for Ys IV, there are 4 released versions of it. Dawn of Ys(which ranks up there as one of my favorite in the entire series), Mask of the Sun(which ranks somewhere at the bottom with Ys V), Memories of Celceta(which is a good fun game, but disapointing as a remake), and Mask of the Sun: A New Theory for PS2 by Taito(who also did III and V on PS2). There was almost a 5th Ys IV game on Mega CD, called Mask of the Sun, but it went unreleased and no known prototype exists yet.
Definitely love the bulk of the entries for this series. I did play ys3 for super nes and I had a strategy for beating the final boss using the mirror as a death blow. Looking forward to Wednesday night stream and final fantasy 6 romhack. Have a great day David and Ken.
Ys IX is definitely my fave as well. I never paid much attention to the series until I bought Ys VIII and Memories of Celceta on a whim. And now? I've finished pretty much every single one of the modern games barring Ys I and II. It is up there as one of my all-time favorites, and Ys IX is within my top ten favorite games ever, if not top 5 or even 3.
Bro, Ys 3 was amazing man. I remember it on the SNES, and it had an amazing soundtrack.
Plot Summary of Ys Games: Adol falls off a boat and has to fight monsters until someone comes to pick him up
I absolutely loved Ys 8, if you're saying Monstrum Nox is even better I am positively thrilled to actually go through it!
The only problem I have with this is that I'd put YS I&II Chronicles at number 4. The rest of the ranking is basically the same way as mine with only YS VIII as number 1 and IX as 2.
I'm really not a fan of I & II Chronicles. The music arrangements suck, the visuals look cheap, and it's removed so many things from the PC Engine versions like the voice acting and the beautifully animated cutscenes. There's literally not a single thing that Chronicles does better than the PC Engine CD versions, which is sad considering they came out over a decade apart.
@@Jordan3DS Yeah but this is the only one that is available and people are going to play. Even if the PC Engine CD is better, this is a pretty good YS game and I prefer it over other "modern" YS. Anyways, I think it's possible to create a mod to add all the things you mentioned.
The Ys game that use the YS VI engine were actually developed for Micrsoft Windows first. Falcom was the few developers making retail game for the PC Market in Japan until they started porting their title to console and PSP(From 1998 to 2008 everything they developed was released for Windows first). IIRC YS VII was when Falcom started developing exclusively for handhelds before XSeed published their titles on Steam. YS IV was developed by Tonkin House for the Super Famicom and Hudson for the PC Engine CD. Until Memories of Celceta was releaseed the Super Famicom game considered the Canon version due to following the outline Falcom gave the devs much more closely which was about how much work Falcom actually did for YS IV in the 90s.
Funny thing, I found out about the Ys universe through Wanderers of Ys III lmao, and I loved it as a kid!
Thank god for Oath in Felghana though
I can’t believe it’s 2024 and I actually never heard of this game ever 😫 I’m definitely buying it for my switch and going to try it out
Oh they’re great!!
Been playing the games recently and I’m having tons of fun. Only played the first 4 so far (4 as in Mask of the Sun) but I’m hyped for the others. My rank so far
4. Mask of the Sun
3. Ys 2: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter
2. Wanderers from Ys
1. Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished
Great video :)
I've played (and therefore rank) only 6 of them: 1. Ys VIII 2. Ys Memories of Celceta 3. Ys Origin 4 Ys IX 5. Ark of Napishtim 6. Ys III
Hey David. Love the Ys series, been one of my favourites for about 10 years now. Great list. I had a question for you. I recently watched 2 of your let's plays, Chrono Trigger and the modded FF4. I was curios what is your favourite let's play you have done?
I would say that Ys VIII is my favorite in the series. The story and characters were so memorable, especially Dana (pronounced like Mana btw).
I still listen to Ys VIII soundtracks every now and then, that's how much this game means to me.
Ys is a series I've had my eye on and was already set on venturing through it more soon once I clear more of my backlog! (already own origins & 8) Played a bit of the first and like it
Ys VI was my first game in the series on psp and have loved it ever since.
Hi David, nice video as always. Did you play Monstrum nox on the Switch? I'm kinda worried about those performance issues...
No I played it on the PS4
I started it on the switch and it was very choppy. But it ran great on my ps5
@@davidvinc thanks anyway, enjoy your Sunday!
@@isaacconner8622 I do have a ps4 but it's noisy as hell so I almost never turn it on. I'll get a ps5 as soon as it'll be available.
i wanna give a shotout to all 4 pc engine cd games. they may not have gameplay that hold up today but the soundtrack still does. I still can honestly say that Wanderers of Ys for the pc engine cd is the best soundtrack in the whole series. Dawn of Ys also holds up extremely well. 'be careful' from wanderers of ys and 'a great ordeal' from dawn of ys are the best representations, i highly implore you to listen
Ys III on SNES was the first one I ever played as a kid. It traumatized me so I never played another one again. Looks like I need to give the series another try!
Do it! I was the same (I "played" Wanderers because I know how to do the cheat).
I started early this year with a copy of VII that I bought many years ago. Now I only have the I&II, Felgana and Origin left to play to complete the current chronology 😆.
Hey David as a newcomer to the series I have a question about Ys 6 As you said it was released on PS2, PSP, PC Aside from graphics is there any significant difference in the version you play? Also in regard to Ys 5 was it ever released here in the west?
Nice list. Adol would be proud.
I've only played Seven, Celceta, Dana and Nox. And out of those 4, Nox is the worst. It bored me to no end.
Now this is a video I'm happy to wake up to!
Since YS Seven was my first game this is my top Ys game :D second is Ys vs Trails in the Sky : Alternative Saga ~ will play the other series when not busy and stream it here on YT and also thank you David on ur Ys Seven Walkthrough i am using ur videos make through on the hardest dungeons and also sidequests on the game :D
You’re welcome!
@@davidvinc hope you next the Trails game ranking :D
@@yonesobi you’re in luck then, because I already made that exact video about a year ago!
@@davidvinc oh will browse later then. thanks
I'm watching/listening to this while unboxing the PS Vita physical copy of Ys Origin (and Dragon's Crown) I got recently.
Fantastic list of games and I do agree with number 1 for sure! Tales of Arise is a masterpiece of a game.
I did want to give a quick shout out to a couple of Koei Tecmo entries for this year: Atelier Ryza 2 and Blue Reflection: Second Light. They are not everyone’s cup of tea but they are great RPGs as well.
So I have a question, I’ve been wanting to play the series. The question is, do I need to play them in numerical order? Or is it like the Final fantasy series? Where you can just pick up a random one and enjoy it to the fullest?
Start wherever you want!
@@davidvinc excellent! Thanks.
Never got into the series before. I bought most of them on GOG because they go on sale frequently. I tried playing ys origins earlier this year and couldnt really get into it! I figured it would be the best place to start because the timeline starts there. Maybe I should give ys 1 and 2 a shot first.
I'm on of those strange people that like Ys 3 but I prefer the Genesis version as the SNES version has hit detection issues. It's also on the TB16 but apparently it runs at 15FPS and it really looks like a slide show but that version has incredible music. My top 3 are probably
1. Lacrimosa Of Dana
2. Monstrum Nox
3. Memories Of Celceta
If you can get Celceta on PC you can run at an uncapped frame rate and it's so amazing playing it at 240FPS.
I'm also in the Ys IX > Ys VIII camp, but Oath in Felghana and Origin beat out both of them on my list. So my ranking is a little like:
Oath in Felghana > Origin > Monstrum Nox > Lacrimosa of Dana > Ark of Napishtim > Seven > Memories of Celceta > I & II
Agree with pretty much everything except Lacrimos, which is my #1 by far and one of my top 10 fav games of all time
Let me say this straight out... I never played any of the Ys-games at all.
The first Ys game to released in Europe was Ys: Memories of Celceta, otherwise the earlier titles weren't released in Europe.
It could also be due to the fact that Ys was an obscure series that not everyone have heard of
I have been an Ys fan since the Turbografx-16 CD which was basically a pioneer for cutscenes, voice acting, and music well beyond the chip tune music that was all that really existed before it. Ys Book1 and 2 on the TG-16 always be my favorite. Only Ys 4 I played was Memories of Celceta as I don't think there was an official western release of Ys 4 for SNES or TG-16. Also not sure Ys 5 ever got an official western release either. Ys 3 on TG-16 CD has some of the best music in any Ys game, it had choppy parallex and was a short sidescroller adventure, but I found it fun.
in all this time, Ys V is still the only one that never got an official localization of any version be it the original or remakes.
Dogi being sexy one game to a mess the next is a hate crime
I got a top 10 for you. Top 10 RPGs that take forever to get to the point of the the story. Example. Final Fantasy IX, Dragon Quest VII, Kingdom Hearts II.
These games can take hours before you even start to get into the story. Like FFIX does not get into the story until Lindenblum, DQVII takes almost untill 1/3 into the game before you even know what is going on with the broken world and KHII take 4 hours just before you get the story started with after all that Roxas stuff.
Ys Seven is still one of my favorite PSP games to date.
Starting to love the ys series and adol!! Lol. I decided to play them backwards so I completed monstrum nox and now on ys 8.. such a fantastic soundtrack..
The only problem I got with Memories of Celceta is that it brought back very few tracks from the SNES/PC-Engine versions, and a few of those aren't great remixes (like Battle #58). Doesn't help there are actually new tracks. My favorite pieces were Karna's theme, or A Great Ordeal, and those weren't even included.
Yeah, I really wasn't a fan of the arrangements. They took one of the best soundtracks ever made and turned it into "generic modern Falcom style". Now I like a lot of modern Falcom music, but you can't just take an OST made in one style and translate it into a completely different style like that without the quality dropping.
@@Jordan3DS I didn't like how some of the returning tracks were used either. For instance, Battle #58 was the main boss theme in the SNES version, and the major boss theme in the PC-Engine version (and I liked to associate that track with Gruda). and in Celceta it was reduced to being the mini-boss theme. Such an epic track shouldn't have been used like that.
I'm sorry and I know this is irrelevant to this video but I'm getting a ps3 soon for the first time ever and I was hoping you could suggest what RPG games I should get that are similar to Final Fantasy/Tales series. Hope to hear from you and sorry again.
Personally feel like Ys 1 and 2 should be a TAD higher because they've aged pretty well this is still a damn good list
1. Ys 8
2. Ys 9
3. Ys: Memories of Celceta
4. Ys 7
5. Ys: Oath in Felghana
6. Ys: Origin
7. Ys: Ark of Napishtim
8. Ys 5
9. Ys Chronicles: 1 & 2
Ys III is my favorite, largely for the story and how it continued the series in a believable way after the intense drama of the first two games. There was an obvious background romance between Elena and Adol, and it's disappointing but similarly believable that story would be lost in the series.
If you give it a bit of time in the beginning, you can beat the game in only a couple hours and leave the second dungeon at max level. When you find the cave with the endless free medical herb and the fire birds you can reach max level in no time.
The Steam remake of Ys III is superb and I loved that version as well.
Steam and Falcom are on great terms with each other, with Steam having expressed a desire for all of Falcom's games. We'll see Ys for years to come. :)
I enjoyed both versions of the game, but I think I like the PC Engine version more just because it's more infinitely replayable to me.
I don't understand why you specifically only mentioned the SNES version of Ys 3 when, like Ys 1&2 it was released on many, many different platforms. Also, this is just a nitpick, but it's "Eeess", not "Ease". Other than that, nice video!
I will say I picked up Y's VIII and Y's IX after playing through a LOT of the trails games. While the y's games stories are more self contained, and doesn't interconnect as much as the trails series, i admit they were a breath of fresh air after so many Trails games with reoccurring characters who we would just see over and over and it felt like after several games, that the story doesn't progress (Trails of cold steel kind of fixed this but by IV it felt too......self congratulatory?) I really liked VIII (though felt the ending was a bit lacking) and I really have liked IX so far!
You know, I really like the “Y’s” series, having played the originals as a child and then got back into the series with “Oath in Felghana”. But “Y’s 8”, I have just not been able to get into so far. Now, I’m still very early in the game, I’ve only had one brief vision of Dana. But I’ve been so frustrated with the maps and areas and constantly getting lost. But I’m going to give it another chance based on your praise! (My lukewarm feelings toward “Y’s 8” are why I haven’t picked up “Y’s 9” yet)
8 is great, but 9 is superb!
@@davidvincI finally picked back up 8 and am giving it another shot! 9 looks really good, but I’m worried about is performance on Switch. May have to get it on console instead.
I'd switch VIII with IX and MoC with VII
those automatic chapters.. Ele 9 Monster Knocks
Ys 8 my fave ❤❤❤
My ranking of the cannon games except V:
1. Lacrimosa of DANA
2. Origin
3. The Oath in Felghana
4. Monstrum Nox
5. Memories of Celceta
6. The Ark of Napishtim
7. Seven
8. I & II Chronicles
The first Ys I play was Ys origin. It was on sale, I had never heard of the Ys series but it looked nice. Boy, did that sell me into the series right away.
The thing I think Ys does exceptionally right is that the ai of your party members feel so good. You always feel like they are party if the fight and not just to die or heal you, *cough kingdom hearts cough*
Also what are the odds of us getting a Ys character ranked list?
Origin was the worst in the series, to me. The portraits look incredibly amateurish, there's no invincibility frames after getting hit, and the bosses are all just "wait until you can hit them" affairs that bored me to tears. Top it off with a terrible story and unlikeable characters mixed with how far apart save points are and the legion of enemies it constantly throws at you, it's just a really poorly designed game.
Yeah, I agree, but if you pick it blindly it’s pretty good. It’s not the best game, but if you are looking for a short hack and slash game with some pixel nostalgia, it does the job.
out of the ys games ive played this is how I would rank em:
1. ys 8
2. memories in celceta
3. ys 7
4. ys chronicles: i&ii
5. dawn of ys
6. ys 9
7. ys orgin
8. oath in felghana
9. ys 6
I'm kinda shocked that MoC is #2, that game was so insanely generic that I felt like my brain was melting, and this is coming from a massive Ys fan. The story was generic, the characters were generic, the combat was generic, the visuals were generic. the level design was generic... it was just a mess of meh-ness.
Dawn of Ys kicked so much ass, everything is so beautifully done in that game, especially the incredible portraits and music and the super fun gameplay and memorable locations.
@@Jordan3DS agree but moc is my first ys game so it holds a special place in my heart
You did this in the bathroom while in the Caribbean while ken was snoozing, didn't you?
My ranking is very similar to yours, but I still like VIII more than IX. Might be because VIII's OST is so. damned. good.
Also, I find it really hard to enjoy the 'bump' Ys nowadays, even if some are classics. Very satisfied with the current direction they are going. Feels like the series is really close to a modern smash hit.
Isn't there a rumor that at one of the game shows Falcom is going to announce the next Ys game because it's the anniversary? If they are making an anniversary game, I hope it's a remake of Ys 5.
I’m pretty sure they did a remake of the 5th game for the PS2, but it would be nice to get an official English release
YS VI is my first and best YS game so far lol
I liked Oath more than Orgin. Imo it has better exploration (since you arent stuck in a tower) and harder difficulty.
Off topic, but damn you look great with facial hair! ❤️
Only games I've played were 3 and the PS2 one. And yes the 3rd game is difficult so much that it wasn't until I played it on my phone's emulator with cheats that I was finally able to beat the last boss. 😜
Your ability to not make a joke after the "longer is not always better" comment proves that you have more self control that I do.
Unlike turn based RPGs , my taste for action RPGs is more difficult to satisfy . Games like Crystalis , Star Ocean series , Zelda ( if you count it ) series and the Mana series failed to impress me despite how popular they are . Even when Final Fantasy tried to be an action RPG , I wasn't impressed . The only action RPGs I managed to get into are Kingdom hearts and the Tales series , and Odin Sphere. I still haven't gotten around to try Ys , so I hope this video shows me where I could start
I’m fairly certain none came out for the NES - Famicom yes. Ys III was released for the SNES but nothing else released for SNES. Dana ftw
Genesis version of y’s 3 is pretty dope
Ys Origins was my first Ys game.
Oath is the best IMO, but 7, 8, 9, and Celceta are all fantastic as well.
I grew up on Ys 3 so I do enjoy it a lot despite it being pretty awful. The SNES version is the hardest version as well. The PS2 remake is pretty neat for weirdos like me.
I'm a weirdo, it seems. My first Ys game was #3 on the SNES, and I liked it. I'd never go back and play it. Too much jank to work around. Hey, I was a kid and didn't know any better! Cut me some slack!
Can't really comment on the rest of the series until 8 and 9. I liked 8, but the switching between the past and present segments kinda put me off. It felt like padding with how you had to level up Dana in two eras and explore a whole separate dungeon. 9, however, managed to take everything I disliked about 8 and make it fun. The separate hero segments were short and you didnt have to level your character to get through them (in fact, you couldn't as they were more stealth akin to missions).
I know this would kinda sour the experience for some people, but my brother (a massive Ys fan) and I have been hoping for some grand sendoff for the series at some point (not now; the series is just gaining a lot of traction). All these adventures, and all these different characters Adol and Dogi encounter; there's a lot of support they could call on, should a worldwide situation occur. How fun would it be to play an Ys game where every character they met along the way joined up to take on some cataclysmic evil? A Musou/Warriors style game could work, but that might be a bit cheap as a final game. I dunno... Just a wayward thought.
I've been trying to do the series in order, and holy shit are the first two games hard.
Lmao stop nox was not better then Dana great vid and review but I cannot agree with you Dana was absolutely one of the best games I've ever played
Half way through this all I'm thinking is, okay so what you're saying is that each title is better than it's predecessor