Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

A knight's apprentice, a wizard, and a claw-man walk into a tower...

Nihon Falcom is a relatively small-staffed developer of RPG series such as The Legend of Heroes and Ys, with many entries, particularly in the latter pantheon, not seeing the light of day in North America. However, after the turn of the millennium, their games would release outside Japan thanks to the efforts of localization teams such as XSEED. Among the titles they localized was Ys Origin, the franchise's sole prequel thus far, for the PC, with DotEmu over a decade later handling ports to the PlayStation 4 and Vita, the former which this review covers.

When starting a new game, the player has an initial choice of one or two playable characters: Yunica Tovah, a melee weapon user, and Hugo Fact, a magician who attacks with lasers from his staff and family's Eyes of Fact. When finishing their storylines, the player unlocks a tertiary character codenamed The Claw, with all protagonists having a unique action playstyle, keeping the game from becoming too repetitive. Falcom doesn't disappoint with Origin's gameplay; except for the constant need to collect enemy drops like SP players can use to purchase "Blessings" that enhance each character and the inability to pause during boss battles, the mechanics serve the prequel well.

While Ys Origin lacks in-game maps, the game is linear enough to their being unnecessary, and should the player become lost, they can use the Lila Shell to communicate with characters at the tower's base to get hints on how to proceed (while this feature is absent in The Claw's side of the story, it's no issue). While the game has fixed save points, the player can use an item to teleport instantly to them to record their progress, and spacing is fair. There are issues such as the slow in-game clock, the mentioned lack of pausing in boss fights, and the possibility of forgetting to equip certain items necessary for advancement (when the game could have easily implemented them automatically), but otherwise, interaction is well-polished.

The prequel perhaps has the best story of the franchise, taking place seven centuries before the events of the first numbered entry, the three characters with reasonable development and backstory, with a few occasional twists, particularly towards the end of The Claw's narrative. However, mainline series protagonist Adol Christin's potential ancestry receives no mention. The translation is well-polished, although some Japanese, particularly alongside the Darm Tower segment names, remains, and a minor oddity of a female character receiving the title "Sir" occurs. Regardless, the narrative is very much a reason to play the game.

The Falcom sound team, as always, excelled with the music, among the most iconic tracks being "Tower of the Shadow of Death," which comes from the original Ys, proving as haunting and foreboding as always. The sound effects fit the various actions of the characters and enemies also. Despite some cutscenes without music, the aurals are one of the game's highlights.

The visuals are probably the weakest aspect of Ys Origin, yet bear many positives and look nice on the PlayStation 4, despite the game's original release in the first decade of the new millennium. The art direction is superb, with the anime character portraits looking nice and showing varying emotions, as do their respective well-designed sprites at many points, with the models having fluid animation. The water and illumination effects are also stunning, with the scenery appearing realistic and containing appropriate hues. One could describe the graphical style as 2.5-dimensional with its fusion of 2-D and 3-D elements. However, some texturing can appear blurry and pixilated when seen close, mostly during cutscenes, the FMVs are dated and choppy, different equipment does not affect character appearances, and there are occasional reskinned enemies. Regardless, the graphics have plenty of polish despite their flaws.

Finally, finishing all three characters' storylines can take under twenty-four hours (the in-game clock being a bit slow), with each's playtime depending upon how well the player grasps the layout of the Tower of Darm. Significant lasting appeal exists as well, given the different difficulty settings, and after finishing all three characters' storylines on Easy, I only reached a fourth of the game's PlayStation 4 Trophies. Subsequent completions of each protagonist's quests earn the player more starting SP per playthrough, alongside various other unlockables such as an arena mode.

Overall, Ys Origin is an enjoyable prequel to its respective series, being among the best, if not the best, entries of the Ys family, and shines with regards to its gameplay, control, storyline, aurals, visuals, and lasting appeal. There are a few negatives regarding certain aspects, such as control and the graphics, although the good mercifully dwarves them. DotEmu very well adapted the game for the PlayStation, and Origin consequentially serves as an excellent diving board into the series and a worthwhile experience for those that have yet to play it. Sadly, however, there haven’t been any more prequels despite plentiful territory for Nihon Falcom to explore given the game’s setting seven centuries before the main games, but one can only hope.

The reviewer played a digital copy on his PlayStation 4.