Ys Origin
Let’s take a journey back. Back before Adol Christin was born. Way back. Like… centuries. This is when Ys Origin takes place.
Built on the same engine as Ys: The Ark of Napishtim and Ys: The Oath in Felghana this game runs extremely smooth and handles very well. Controls are tight and responsive, and you always feel that every input is recognized. For how fast this game moves that is a huge positive. I played the port on the Nintendo Switch and it ran very well.
Ys Origin follows the path of two residents of Ys, Hugo Fact and Yunica Tovah. Both children of influential and powerful members of the Ys governance. Yunica is a girl born of no magic power, which is rare for Ys residents. Hugo, on the other hand, is a magic prodigy. The game centers around their stories in the search for the twin goddesses of Ys which have recently disappeared and you’re on the task force to find them. There’s a twist though. You play their stories independent of each other. Which means playing through the game twice. After you do so you unlock a third character, who’s story path is the true recollection of events that lead to the events of Ys 1: Ancient Vanished Ys. This makes a third play through to get the full and proper ending.
As I mentioned this game must be played three times to get the true ending. Each play through is a linear trek up a tower consisting of 25 floors. Each play through has a couple bosses that are the same, with some that change based on the character you’re playing. My first play through was with Yunica, who played a lot like Adol from the games utilizing the same engine, and it took about 7 hours. Next I did Hugo, and my playtime for that route dropped to 6 hours. My last run on the third character only took about 5 hours. So overall, it’s not that long to go through all three. I did not find myself bored with climbing the tower because the actual scenes and events with other characters kept the play throughs fresh.
The bosses all have their own behaviors you have to examine, and subsequently exploit. Each character plays completely different as well. Yunica is an all around attacker, good for all ranges. Hugo is almost strictly long rage with magic attacks, and this was an adjustment since most Ys games are all closer range. The unlocked third character has no range and all, you need to get right up in the danger zones of bosses, which makes for a fun challenge!
TLDR: Another great addition to the Ys franchise. I’m going to definitely play Ys 1 & 2 very soon, as those are pretty much the only classic entries I have left to play.
