I just realized I haven’t played a good RPG in a while, and before I begin this review, I need to clarify that I haven’t played Ys: The Ark of Napishtim for the PS2. Mostly because I was waiting for the handheld version to be released ever since I learned of it last year, so this is a stand-alone opinion and no comparison to the PS2 version will be done.
As usual, I tend to jump in on a series of games in the middle or near the end, as I have never played any of the previous Ys titles, but from the story I learn that our main character is already a veteran in adventuring.
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is the newest adventure of Adol Christin, as he washes ashore on Canaan’s islands, victim of a ship wreck caused by the Great Vortex. He is taken in by two Redhan girls, Olha and Isha, and is nursed back to health. However, he isn’t very well received and is actually frowned upon by the chief of the village and most Rhedan villagers. Adol later gains their trust by saving the chief’s niece, Isha, from certain death. What follows is Adol’s adventures to find the three elemental swords and his quest to unveil the secrets of the Great Vortex of Canaan.
The core of the game lies in some serious hack’n’slash action through the different outdoor and indoor areas of the islands. Granted, there are dozens of different enemies that try to make your life miserable, but with the help of the Emelas swords it all becomes so much easier.
There are three Emelas Swords (blue, red and yellow) imbued with elemental powers (respectively wind, fire and lightning). To upgrade the swords, you need Emel, which can drop from any creature and you will see them as tiny blue bubbles on the ground. Of course, you can?’t do it yourself, so you need to find a special type of smith to do it for you, and each level will cost you more and more Emel.
Upgrading the swords will grant you extra strength, more powerful attacks and special moves. To unleash a special move, you first have to fill the meter for a sword (the round area next to your HP bar). You do this by killing monsters. Special moves should be saved for use in boss fights, which means that at times you will have to backtrack and power up just to have that feature handy.
The ability to pick from charging, spinning, downward stabbing or a series of quick slashes makes the whole hack’n’slash mechanics customizeable and fun, so experiment with all three weapons to see what works for you. Of course, certain weapons will work better against a certain type of monsters too.
The boss fights are very well done, requiring planning and strategy. I ended up dying a few times just to figure out a pattern and what worked best for me, since once you engage a boss, you can’t change your equipped items (except your swords) or use anything directly from your inventory. You can bet every boss requires you to attack and dodge in equal amounts, and usually a wrong move means Game Over and Retry. I didn’t find them exceptionally difficult, but instead, a really good challenge in each battle.
I do have a few quirks with the game though and I’ll start with the minor ones. Sometimes my character instead of picking up an item would be kicking it away (no, the inventory wasn’t full, he just wouldn’t pick it up). The little pieces of Emel are very easy to miss, but the Emel Mallet later on balances it out, since monsters will start dropping larger pieces. Easy to miss as well are certain passageways in the mountains or the caves. I honestly lost count as to how many times I walked back and forth in the mountains trying to find a passage that lead west, and I only found it because a monster pushed me back.
On to the medium quirks. I wasn’t very fond of the limited inventory space, which allows for only nine of each item. I also don’t know why is it that we can’t sell old armor and shields, only expendable items. Gold wasn’t really a problem though, especially not after finding the Thieves Glove!
My major quirks are the wacky loading times, which sometimes were painfully long, but others quite short, and the platform jumping. I am bad at platformers, I admit it, but when you’re supposed to dash jump onto a tiny pillar that you can’t see because a staircase is in the way and you can’t even change camera angles – come on! I stopped chasing after chests that required dash jumping (and quite a bit of backtracking if I fell) and just went after the storyline, starting in the Ruins of Amnesia.
But Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is not all that bad. The music is very enjoyable, and although there is no voice acting, the manga-style character artwork and the dialogs are very well presented. The environments are detailed, and although the character sprites aren’t all that crisp, they still look good and some are extremely adorable.
There are also a few extra features to be found, some of them perfect for those who like to collect everything in a game, and another to give the title a good dose of replay value.
Raba’s Diary is an item that you will eventually come across, that is actually the character database for everyone and every monster you interact with. In it, you can view character profiles and monster details, provided you gave encountered them. To view the dirary, you need to talk to Professor Raba in Port Rimorge.
The Ancient Score is basically a media player, where every piece of music, animated sequences and movies will be stored. To play them, you talk to the bard at the inn in Port Rimorge. The bard is also whom you bring the Tabulas to.
The other extra is a series of mini-games, brought to you by the Rhedan Trials. These trials are tasks that Adol must complete in the Sealed Cavern. Completing the three initial trials will grant him access to nine other mini-games that will become available in the Trial Mode.
The first trials are quite fun. Well, two of them at least. One is like a memory game where you have a series of items on the ground, they disappear and you need to remember where they were to pick them up. The other requires you to save the villagers and catch the ones that turn into monsters (they will momentarily morph into moster form and then back to Rhedan). The third trial is a series of platform jumps that I still haven’t managed to finish.
The great thing is that finishing each trial will let you pick a “prize”, either a Gold sum, a bunch of Emel (I got 1000 from the item scaveneger hunt) or a level.
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is a solid RPG with a great story, good character development and many adventure/RPG elements that make it a worthwhile experience. With its simple interface and controls, it’s very easy to pick up and play, and since it’s on a handheld, you can hack’n’slash everywhere you go.
Special thanks to Chrystina Woody and Konami for providing a copy of this title.