Ys: The Ark of Napishtim

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Review

By, Aaron Slater

Looking back on the year 2005, it has been a great year for old series to reappear on western shores with new installments. Dragon Quest VIII, with its large advertisement campaign, has been generally well received, especially when compared to the rather lukewarm reception that Dragon Warrior VII received. The Shining series returned to consoles with two installments this year, the lackluster Shining Tears and significantly better Shining Force Neo. And of course, who could forget the triumphant return of the Ys series with its PlayStation 2 installment Ys: The Ark of Napishtim.

Wait! Oh yeah, that’s right. Apparently quite a few people forgot about the return of the Ys series, which is rather sad considering that Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is a great game that suffers from a few problems that keep it from being a classic.

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is actually the sixth entry in the long-running Ys series. While the series has mainly stayed in Japan, gamers outside have received a few entries here and there in the form of the first three games. The Ys series chronicles Adol Christin (also known as Adol the Red for those in the know) and his many adventures and misadventures in a typical action RPG form. This particular installment reunites us with Adol while he is on the run from the Romun Navy. In order to escape them he boards a ship belonging to a familiar face from one of his past adventures, and they set sail. Unfortunately, this voyage is ill-fated, and the ship is sucked into an inescapable sea oddity known as the Great Vortex of Canaan. When he comes to he finds that he has been rescued by an elf-like people known as the Rehdan. When he hears of their plight and how no one has been able to escape from the Great Vortex, he sets out on a quest to find the cause of this anomaly. Little does he know that this quest will involve tremendous bosses, cunning monsters, mountain climbing, ancient deities, fairies, and many other conventions. The story is easily one of the game’s strong points, as it is handled in a simple enough manner that what might have been considered trite instead comes off as charming. The characters are all developed just enough so that the player will enjoy interacting with them and seeing how they are involved in the mysteries of the Great Vortex.

Uncovering the mysteries of the Great Vortex is as fun as it is interesting. The Ys games have always been rather simple games with only the basic moves, and this entry is no different. Adol moves around with the left analog stick, jumps with X, uses items with the triangle button, and attacks or interacts with the environment by using the square button. Nothing in the basic moves is too confusing, and combinations of the above-mentioned actions can result in different types of attacks which can be useful against any of the many enemies Adol encounters in the course of his adventure.

Adding to the simple nostalgia of the Ys series is the fact that Adol only has two stats to worry about, Strength and Defense. Both of these stats increase as Adol levels up, and can be further enhanced through equipping Adol with different shields, armor, and any of the three swords at his disposal. Yes, in this adventure, Adol will encounter three swords, each with their own elemental alignment, attack animation, and spell accompanying them. Each of the three swords can also be leveled up by using the collectible resource known as Emel that enemies will drop. Leveling up the swords increases their strength and at some points will level up the magic associated with each sword. This system is great because it keeps the fighting mechanic and the weapon system streamlined, but it cheapens the boss battles as all the player has to do is level up the correct sword enough to do large amounts of damage.

As has always been the way with the Ys series, bosses are large and seemingly insurmountable foes that have many different attacks that must be memorized, and weaknesses that must be exploited. Unfortunately, one trait of the series that did not carry over in the eight-year hiatus between Ys V (Japan only) and Ys VI was the challenge that the bosses have almost always presented. The bosses are no cakewalk, but they are much easier than they should be. Instead of having to exploit a boss’s weakness or learn specific patterns, most encounters boil down to having the correct sword leveled up high enough to do a lot of damage, and having Adol leveled up enough so that his HP will not run out in the midst of a fray. While most of the bosses are susceptible to this strategy, some bosses offer an insane amount of challenge regardless of how well prepared Adol is. Since there are very few bosses that walk the line between easy and insanely tough, the difficulty of these encounters seems a bit out of sync, especially when the dungeons and areas leading up to the bosses almost always pose a challenge to the player.

Yet another shortcoming regarding gameplay comes in the form of a specific move that has gained a bit of notoriety, the dash jump. With most of the moves in the game being so easy to utilize in the heat of a battle or at a whim, one would think that the dash jump would be just as simple to pull off. The move is basically a combination of the “dash slash,” a simple move to pull off, and a jump. Unfortunately, the move is nowhere near as easy as it is to pull off, as it requires more luck than talent. The dash jump works selectively, which makes utilizing it much more of a hassle than it should be. In my experience with the game, playing through the normal storyline, I may have used the dash jump once, but in order to get some of the secret chests which can make the game easier and the experience a bit more rewarding, the dash jump is vital. If the problem with the dash jump was simply limited to the dash jump, it would be understandable, but at times activating the regular jump can be a little tricky, especially when a series of jumps must be used. One way around this problem is to wait a second in between jumps instead of creating a long chain of jumps, but even this does not entirely alleviate the problem. While the jumping mechanism does not detract from the overall gaming experience, it is an annoyance that will irk some players who try to get the most out of their gaming experience.

In spite of the gameplay, the audio and visual aspects of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim are equally great. The Ark of Napishtim is the first Ys game to step into a fully 3D world, and it makes this transition without a hitch. The worlds are lush and detailed, dungeons are foreboding, the backgrounds are vibrant in color, and the character designs as well as the enemy designs are very pleasing. The introductory cinematic is gorgeous to look at as well. While the game certainly will not win any awards, the graphics hold true to the Ys series and are a pleasure to look at. The characters are also enhanced by the beautiful anime portraits that are used for the major characters in the game. The anime portraits for each of the characters are beautiful, and help to bring each character to life. The audio is on par for an action RPG, the music is fitting, and the sound effects sound realistic enough. There is voice acting, and for the most part the voice acting works for each of the characters. It certainly is not the best voice acting, but I had few problems with it, and found that the voices tended to fit the characters that they were pinned with.

All in all, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim marks the return of the Ys series to US shores with a solid RPG experience that suffers from just a few problems. Had the jumping mechanism been tightened up, and the challenge of the game been enhanced a bit more so that the strategy for bosses did not become power-leveling, the game would have been just as great as its predecessors. However, in spite of the shortcomings, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim has a charming story, engaging characters, nice audio and pretty graphics, and is an RPG experience that is wrapped in nostalgia. If you enjoy simpler adventures, or just action RPGs in general, you should find much to enjoy with Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, but if you are looking for a more complex RPG you’d best look elsewhere. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is a solid throwback to classic gaming and a worthy successor to the Ys line, with just a few problems that hold it back from being more than just a great game.

Final Verdict: 86%

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Screenshots

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Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Videos

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Original Opening Cutscene

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVGc9VeLl4o[/youtube]

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Official Trailer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9orSa4r_Guc[/youtube]

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Guides / Links

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim Wikipedia Entry

FAQ/Walkthrough