Nihon Falcom has a long and storied history in video games, ever since the studio was founded in 1982. While The Legend of Heroes franchise may have more notoriety these days, nothing is more synonymous with Falcom than the Ys series.

The first game, Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, released in 1987, and the franchise is still going strong to this day. Despite having some of the best action-RPG gameplay in the genre, Ys simply hasn't broken into the mainstream or achieved the same level of success in the West that The Legend of Heroes has.

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There's a lot that Ys has to offer, and it's fascinating how the franchise has developed over the years. With Ys IX: Monstrum Nox releasing in February, there's never been a better time to get into the series.

Ys' Action and World-Building Is a Step Above

Ys IX Monstrum Nox Screenshot

The Ys series basically separated into three categories, the original two games that use the "bump" combat system, the later sprite-based titles that use a more responsive action system, and the modern 3D titles that implement a party-based combat system. There's one commonality that unites everything, however, and that's Ys' focus on fluid and blisteringly fast combat. Every Ys game has a sort of fluidity and rhythm to its combat, and the series is easy to pick up but difficult to master. Adol Christin's sword skills make up the basis of the series' gameplay but later entries would add different magic spells that give players different abilities to adapt to situations. The later party-based entries would, of course, introduced varied playable characters as well as the Flash Dodge and Flash Guard systems. The flash systems let players hit a button at the exact moment an enemy's attack would connect to dodge or guard, giving players extra speed or extra attack power respectively.

Ys may not be nearly as narratively complex as The Legend of Heroes, but it does delight in building interesting worlds filled with lore. Each game is technically separate, but there's an undercurrent of lore that connects everything.  The action always takes center stage, but Falcom makes sure that players always have some kind of story-related motivation to keep going. The series also delights in complex dungeons, requiring players to explore and uses various items to progress. While it's not quite the same, Ys' dungeons could easily be compared to The Legend of Zelda in how it requires players to use an item found in the dungeon to finish it. By the same token, Ys is well-known for its climactic boss fights, which really test the player's skills. Normal enemies aren't usually too difficult to take down, but boss fights are often an entirely different story. Players have to take on massive bosses that require precise dodging and timing of attacks, requiring an integrally different approach from taking on basic enemies. What it boils down to is that Ys has some of the tightest most responsive gameplay of any action-RPG series out there, and the series has only made iterative improvements over time.

How to Get Into the Ys Series

The heroes standing on the cover of Ys Origin

With a series over twenty years old, the biggest problem in attracting new players is how impenetrable it can seem. New players seeing Ys IX releasing would logically think they need to play the previous eight games first, but as previously stated that's not the case with Ys. Adol Christin is the star of every game, with the exception of Ys Origin, and the series is basically a chronicle of his adventures. That being said, each game has a contained story not entirely related to past entries. Still, there are a few different approaches to getting into Ys.

The fan-site Digital Emelas has done a painstaking job of creating a guide to the franchise, giving players multiple routes for starting Ys. There's a story path that recommends players start with Ys I, a release path that also suggests Ys I, and an action path that suggests starting with eight Ys III: Oath in Felghana or Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. There's a ton more information on Digital Emelas, including a huge primer on lore, but there isn't really a wrong answer for how to start playing Ys. Keep in mind, however, that the older titles definitely show their age, and starting with a new title may make it hard to go back to the older ones.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox launches on February 2 for PS4, and comes to Nintendo Switch and PC in Summer 2021.

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