Ys: Book 1 & 2

I spent some time this evening exploring the mines on the north side of the main field. I had to level up a few times to keep from being squashed. The mines are dark, confusing and full of weird monsters that like the deflect my attacks. For stages like this, I try to hug a wall and ride it in one direction until that area has been exhausted. The first branch I came to I decided to head south and to the right, after a few minutes I managed to get to my first dead end and was rewarded with the silver armor! From there I started to work my way back and through the rest of the mine, uncovering chests and secrets along the way. During this venture I would continue to head outside because in the field, your health regenerates! This is useful if the whole “staying alive” thing is part of your primary objective.

The fun thing about the Ys series, even up through the more modern games, is that you can go about your business adventuring and then pop back into town to talk to people and you’ll start clearing sidequests. I wound up going back to both towns after getting into the second floor of the dungeon to grab some supplies, in doing so I found out I had a few things people in town were looking for. I also went by the Roda tree’s and found the silver sword!

I haven’t clicked with a game this old this quick in a long time. I’m not adverse to playing old games but sometimes, especially after a longer stint of modern games, it can be hard to get back to the conventions of older games. But something about this game! If this had random, turn based battles I can’t imagine I would be this excited about it.

After the mines I cleaned up some side stories, equipped all of my shining new *silver gear* and got the OK to head towards *Darm Tower*! I wanted to investigate the entrance to this and see what it was all about but in doing so, I got pushed in and you can't go back! The tower was built with a one way door so once you are in... you're in.

CYBERBUFFALO SAYS:

Be sure to buy the gear one-step below the silver! You don't know it now, but you'll need it later!

The tower is exactly what you’d expect - it’s cold, full of strong monsters and confusing. There are floors with exits and entrances and an outdoor balcony that lets you rotate around the tower, often with doors on the opposite side. And surprise! some evil force set a trap for us and dropped us in the dungeon and - oh no! My silver gear is gone! This part starts to get progressively harder because I did not! follow my own tip, since I found the silver shield and armor pretty early on… I’m stuck using pretty crappy stuff during this part. If I can manage to level up high enough, I should be able to get through and hopefully get my gear back? But that’s a task for tomorrow.

I had some time this morning and decided to spend it trapsing through Darn tower! I was right, I did in fact get my gear back - 2/3rds of it, anyway. I’m currently on the hunt for the silver armor. I had a run-in with a particularly fickle boss, a praying mantis looking thing that required me to level up twice in order to walk away victorious. I don’t mind grinding out levels in this game because it never takes too long and it isn’t so mindless that it shuts my brain down. You still have to pay attention, I’m still swapping between rings (power -> armor -> healing) and saving. And the levels really do make a difference so its worth doing!

There was one obtuse puzzle that I didn’t quite understand. After beating the mantis it rewarded me with another Book of Ys and a hammer! I had no idea what to do with the hammer since there hasn’t been any indication that something could be done with it. No cracks in the walls or floors, nobody said anything about it. I found a hallway that drained my health and something called the evil ring - which, according the og manual “Helps Adol to get through certain areas” … but not this area apparently. Equipping the evil ring did nothing. One of the prisoners I met in the tower mentioned a special broach but I didn’t have that at the time. I walked around hitting random things and after a while of that… I looked it up. Apparently there is a guy that is supposed to mention something about a pilar and an evil song that drains your life, but I never found him (worrying). But the solution to this is to bash an evil pilar on the balcony of the 11th floor and that stops the music. Who knew! Hey, if this is the first thing I’ve had to look up in a game this old, I think we’re doing great.

I’m now stuck in a maze of mirrors with the aforementioned broach, but I’m not sure what to do or how to do it, I keep teleporting through the mirrors but can’t figure out if the broach is helping or not. I’m going to put this down and come back to it tonight and see if I can’t figure it out.

So…… a very annoying thing happened to me during my ascent to the tower! I’ve been traipsing around this damned place and in the back of my mind I’m remember some of the lore that’s been said. At some point one of the guys in the tower talks about a “magical blue amulet” that will “break the curse” of evil - or something like that. And a while ago, like 10 floors ago, I found a “blue necklace” - I had assumed this was the blue amulet! But apparently it. is. not. So here I am, on the top of the tower, in front of the door to a room that probably contains the final boss… and I can’t open it. I need that blue amulet! I think what I need to do is go back to talk to one of those guys, maybe Luta, now that I’ve got the glasses that translate the Books of Ys. I have to go back down from the top of the tower, through two different mirror maze rooms.. it’s going to be like an hour of going down… if you know what I mean. I’ll get to it tomorrow, and I’ll share more of exploits from today then.

Okay. Back through the 9 floors, the catwalks, the mirror mazes and through the tunnel-that-kills-you and down the stairs I reached the right side of the 11th floor where the famed, supposed somnambulist - Luta - was hanging out. SHOCKED! He was, to see that I’ve unearthed yet another book of Ys, so surprised in fact, he gave me a family heriloom, the goddamned blue amulet. Thanks, my friend, I hope your leg gets better.

Now that I’m standing in front of this previously locked door, ready to go in, I’m nervous! What if I’m not high enough level? What’s waiting for me in there? I think the evil guy’s name is Dark Fact - which is such a cool name, by the by - and he wears a shining cape.

Wish me luck.

… Dark Fact is dead, he’s been vanquished! His hubris was no match for my silver equipment (thanks for the tip Lair!) plus I imagine my grinding on the way back from the quest for the elusive Blue Amulet left me at an advantageous level. His fight had a cool conceit - He flies around the void, shooting out round projectiles that then explode into a starburst pattern, making more round projectiles. If you make contact with the boss, a square of energy removes a tile of the floor. I don’t know if he had any other tricks because I was very strong and killed him … fast.

The next 3-4 minutes are so fucking cool that it made me sit back and swear out loud. These were two games and they managed to bridge them with some of the sickest animation, pixel graphics and music I’ve ever seen in a game. It was an incredible feat that puts you right back in the action. I’m now on the top of a floating island, having been rescued by a doe-eyed beauty who ran across a grassy field to save me! I’m going to keep going with this to see how the series developed from the first to second game.