Ys series

So I've always been interested in Ys, but I haven't played any of them. I do have Ys 1+2 Chronicles and the one on Vita now, but I haven't had a chance to get into them. Let's talk this series though!

What are your favorite games? What do you like about them?

I love them, but I can't call myself a fan. Not when compared to people who have been enjoying the series as they grew up. I played one game in the series when I was little as I had no access to a TurboGrafx-16 or CD. But Ys 3 was ported to a ton of consoles and I got to play it on the SEGA Channel when I was young. Myself and a couple of my friends beat it that way. It was really fun, but sadly it was a huge divergence from the series. Basically it was the Zelda 2 of the series since they were overhead and this one was side-scrolling. But it was really fun

All the games have a chronology and almost all of them use the same character(s). But they managed to make it so that you don't usually have to have previous knowledge of other games in the series to enjoy one

One thing I would highly recommend is watching a show on YouTube called GameSack. They have pretty long episodes but they're awesome. And one in particular, retrospective on Ys is really well made and informative and fun to watch. It rekindled my love of the series and I went out and accomplished the hurculean task of not only getting Ys I & II emulated, but I managed to emulate them on my hacked Wii. Which is kinda a waste of time since I guess both games are on the eShop? I can't remember. But its probably an option. But then either Ys IV or V got botched and there's a fan translation patch with voiced dialog and stuff that ridiculously cool. I guess in some of the games they hired professional cartoon voice actors from the era from things like He-Man, and Transformers, which adds a nice flair of legitimacy to the voice acting, and puts it head-and-shoulders above any other game with video or voice acting of the age, and for a long time to come

All-in-all I really want to enjoy this series. It constantly comes up on PSP lists, people saying Ys 7 is a must have. Which is why I haven't downloaded it. And Ys: Memories of Calceta is always a thorn in my side, as they can't get it to work on Playstation TV and it's one of the many reasons I will eventually have to get a real Vita console

There's also a lot of these games available on Steam, which is super nice for anyone who wants to support the company but has no access to the consoles they're available on

Play Ys, you won't regret it. You can pick up any in the series without having to have played the others.

I got Pumpkin to try a few, and they're not her favorite, but she enjoyed them.

I played Ys: origin until my eyes bled awesome, and haven't looked back. Playing Oath of Felghana now, and it's alright, although the music is not as good.

Play Ys: Origin, if only for the awesome music.

I've only played Origin and Oath in Felghana so far. Origin was far superior, but I liked them both.

I like Ys 7 a lot!

They're releasing a PS4 game later this year and that's definitely something I want to support, so I'm looking to get into this franchise myself. PC and Vita are my two main platforms right now and it looks like they each have plenty of options for entry points. Do people generally agree Ys Origin is the ideal gateway into the series.

I haven't played it. But I can say its one of the most different. Like its name suggests, its set in the past, and has none of the characters the other games use. Though most of the games simply use Adol. Seven, and I believe (though unsure) Calceta uses Adol and friends. This is actually the first time I've seen Origins so heavily lauded. Most of the time people are setting Seven up on the pedestal. I guess that means the last few new games are probably pretty much all good. Though I guess if you want the history lesson, Origin is a good place to start. I personally don't see much connection between the games, and even still, the mystery of the world was kinda interesting, though mostly left unexplained. So that could either add or detract from enjoyment. If you want the mystery, start somewhere else, if you want the chronology, start with Origins. But I can say I was surprised at how well the original two games held up. I got distracted and never went back, but I was enjoying the first game more than I ever enjoyed Dragon Quest or Legend of Zelda. I'd probably put it on par with FFI I guess. Though a bit less annoying and more straightforward