EMail This Page - Print

Brett Elston
Pulse game critic

One thing every marketing department knows is not to alienate its core audience. If you spread your property out too thin in an attempt to mass market it, you could lose the base that would drive a lot of sales (plus good word of mouth). Also, diluting or altering a property too much may take away what made it unique in the first place. It's a tough balancing act to get right.

Konami is typically a very capable developer and publisher. Now it has the rights to the cult favorite Ys series (pronounced "Eez...or "Yeez" in some circles) and for the first time in years Adol the Red has come to America. It's as old-school an action-RPG as you'll ever see, but lots of fans are up in arms about some changes Konami made. They're ultimately trivial modifications, but chances are the masses aren't interested in a tough-as-nails 1990's style adventure, and Konami's pissed off the few who would actually line up to play PS2's Ys: The Arc of Napishtim.

First to the gameplay. It's essentially a run-of-the-mill overhead quest with monsters, dungeons and treasures. Fight enough enemies and you level up. Get gold and buy new stuff. Find hidden items and really show the creatures who's boss. Yep, that's it, just like games were 10 years ago. No big budget or busty babes in sight, just unforgiving bosses and lots of time powering up Adol.

And you will spend a lot of time leveling up. Ys isn't going to go down easy and be prepared to devote entire gaming sessions to merely fighting enemies. You can literally go through a whole labyrinth and be fine, then enter the next room only to find monsters that pound you dead.

Gotta go back and level up some more. Again, it's not for everyone, which makes Konami's decision to alter classic be prepared to devote entire gaming sessions to merely fighting enemies. You can literally go through a whole labyrinth and be fine, then enter the next room only to find monsters that pound you dead. Gotta go back and level up some more. Again, it's not for everyone, which makes Konami's decision to alter classic Ys features all the more puzzling.

If the gameplay sounds kind of repetitive, even shallow, it is. Ys is more about action and of course awesome music. Ask any fanboy around and he'll rave about the tunes. And they really are great mixes of crunching guitars and electronica, but for the US release Konami has created its own soundtrack. It's decent, better than most other games out there now, but not up to the usual glory that is Ys.

Another baffling change is the removal of the animé cut scenes, only to replace them with typical CG movies everybody and their mom has seen. They're not even done that well, and certainly are not up to Square-Enix's offerings. Why try to dress up a series that's gotten by fine for over 10 years the way it is if you can't even do something spectacular with it? Konami also released Arc of Napistim is limited numbers, so those who actually are interested may never find it.

But if you do like the sound of a simple but challenging game from yesteryear, Ys is definitely a great way to fill that void. It's not going to blow you away, but it will entertain you for many hours, and that's what a good game is all about.