Ys: The Vanished Omens

[Stan]

Am I missing something or do I totally suck? I really like the detailed text, seems a lot more inventive than most RPGs, but where the hell do I get a sword?

[King Henry VIII]

You can buy a short and long sword and a talwarl in the shop in your home town, you can also find a silver sword if you have the roda seed and go and talk to the roda tree (the seed is in the abandoned mine and the tree is the big triangular tree is in the left hand field across the bridge and down a bit)

hope this helps, any other problems try the old strategy on gamewinners.com

[Stan]

I swear I looked through the whole town, where is the shop? All I found was a guy selling mirrors and faeces.

[Jo Musashi]

stanstepanic said:

I swear I looked through the whole town, where is the shop? All I found was a guy selling mirrors and faeces.

Bottom right of the town, there's two shops joined seling armour and swords and shields. I never did find the faeces shop ;D

If you guys want some extra cash, head out of town, cross the bridge, head south (so basically an upside-down U shape) and look around the lake for an item (can't remember what it is ATM) ..I think it's near the top right side of the lakeshore. Sell it to the guy at the mirror/faeces shop for some extra $$$, then buy the ring and take it to the guy in the bar for some more $$$. Yoy can skip the cheapest sword this way and buy the next most powerful.

[King Henry VIII]

the item in question in the lake is a Gold Pedestal ^^

[King Henry VIII]

everyone lost interest now? -_-

[rupert]

sam said:

everyone lost interest now? -_-

I cant force myself to like it I'm just not an RPG kinda guy.

It's outrunner go next week and you don't need 3 guesses to know what he's going to pick!

[outruner]

i've not played y's for a week or so but hope to complete it soon,i think i'm around half way through,i'd never of got that far without the walkthrough guide,

[grolt]

So I'm a couple months late, but I finally got around to this - great game! I really love the presentation, very colorful graphics, beautiful music and a really sincere and moving story. The battle system I thought I'd hate, but it actually takes some technique and is more involving than your usual action RPG. I can't put it down now.

Yeah, my one gripe is that you need to have a guide handy if you want to advance in the game in a reasonable amount of time without exhausting every other option. It needs a bit more focus, but other than that, amazing!

[Stan]

Hey, no posting on outdated game club games! We're on Out Run!

[grolt]

After sort of losing interest after realizing that I needed to spend a lot of time leveling up, I finally decided to give this another go. You definitely need a guide to avoid the tedium of exploring everywhere, but it's great fun. I really like how many villagers there are around, and how their text often changes as you advance in the game. While the mechanics of games like Golden Axe Warrior and Golvellius were great, the story was always as bare as you could get. Here though, it's really fleshed out, and definitely more satisfying than all the other action RPGs on the system.

I like the idea of the rings giving you different powers when equipped - it adds a fair bit of strategy to the game. When leveling up in the mine I found myself equipping the power ring to kill enemies quicker, and then the heal ring to get my life meter back to full before repeating the process again. The "run into things" attack scheme further adds strategy and technique to the game too - if you understand it well, then you can take on anyone.

I've only gotten to a few bosses, but each was quite different than the other. The way the touching fighting system goes, it makes it kind of confusing and awkward to fight larger scale bosses the same way. Still, I appreciate the variety, even if the battles themselves aren't as intuitive as button attack RPGs.

The music, of course, is really standout. Like Golvellius there's a MASSIVE score here, and a ton of really memorable tracks that are more than just a few note riffs. I'd love to hear the FM variant, but I can't seem to get the FM music to play on my Japanese system using the US game. Anyone else encounter this problem?

I'll report more once I've finished, probably today with any luck.

[grolt]

Okay, I take back what I said about the bosses. Those last two bosses were a total blast. It was a lot more than just waiting for the debris to clear and then attacking them, as is usual in these games. For these, there was some real strategy, especially the end boss. Basically, every time you hit Dark Dekt, a piece of the platform disappears where you've struck. So you have to plan to hit him along the perimeter first so you don't paint yourself into a corner. It can be quite challenging, but it's real fun trying to execute, and once you figure out the techniques killing the final boss is within reach. It's not like other games, like Golvellius, where the final boss is just like every other one, just with a mammoth amount of hit points.

The crawling through the tower that comprises the last half of the game is pretty good - it's a labyrinth in there, and even though there is some back tracking, it's reasonable. I just wish you didn't have to walk so long outside the castle walls on every floor before getting inside with all the monsters.

It's quite easy to level up - you only go to 10, and it's pretty easy to do that in the mines even before you get to the tower. In fact, I couldn't even defeat the boss in the mines until I leveled up that much, so players take note.

One thing that disappointed me in the end is that there's hardly any opportunity at all to use your top level sword, shield and armor, and, if you read the faqs, it's actually *not* as effective against the final boss as the silver equipment. What gives?

Again though, I can't stress how awesome the final boss is. It really made reaching the end worth it. The ending is cool too, the way you read the last book and then are instantly brought to the final text scroll. There's quite a bit of story there covered at the end, and then just when you think it's going to end without any picture, a really nice landscape graphic comes in shades. Like Golvellius, a sequel is promised, and like Golvellius, it never saw the light of day on the Master System. At least there actually were sequels, though.

In summary:

Pros:
-Huge selection of moving music
-The touch attack system has a fair bit of strategy to it
-The ring system allows for plenty of strategy and use of the inventory
-The final two bosses are very creative, the final boss being the exceptional standout
-A very detailed story with lots of textual development
-Lots of people running around, feels more like reality than a game

Cons:
-Aimless; it's tough to get direction on what to do or where to go without seeking a guide
-The tower is way too labyrinthine
-Touch system tough on a few bosses because of the size difference
-A lot of time spent just leveling up at the beginning

Final verdict: Deep action RPG that stands out from the pack with an innovative battle system and a fleshed out dramatic story.

[SMSCollect]

I just started playing this little gem. I love the game, thanks for the hints, i can surely use them on my way.