Aaron1375

I enjoy most RPG games that feature turn based battles and cool stories and it is nice when you can get one with a different setting. This one features that as you are in the city of Mato and this one is a bit weird. I am pretty sure they did not have a huge budget for this as there are some issues with the sound, but overall it is very good. Nothing that comes close to breaking the game causing you to start over. Managed to win this one in just over 40 hours, so it lasted a good bit but it did not seem to take forever either. It will not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it as the story is a bit hard to grasp at times, but the characters are great.

The story sees you as a detective named Doe who is put on a case to find something called 'Handout'. During his initial search he is transported to a strange realm called a Lair and is attacked by a strange creature called a Banetide. Doe is rescued by a strange man named Gram who hunts these beasts and soob the two team up to try to find the mysteries of Mato. They are joined by a ninja girl named Butterfly, an ex soldier named Smoker, a strange girl named Mist, a crazed woman named Eloise and a young boy named Ringless as you fight through Ladies and defeat the Banetide.

The game play sees you control Doe in the city as you search for clues and Gram when you must fight through a Lair. The combat is easy and I had very few problems until the final boss. I like the leveling of skills and abilities, but it stops letting you get points for this at around level 42 which kind of sucked. Your party also shares HP which made things easy, until that last boss...

I liked the city as it had a sort of steampunk look to it. The combat takes place mainly on the Lairs reminding me a bit of Soul Hackers 2 area where you go through the characters psyche. It looks alright but it is kind of a cheap way to make a less filled world. The monsters are not the best designs either, but I will overlook it as I had fun playing through this one.

This game was very enjoyable as it switched things up going full side view kind of like the second Zelda game. I enjoyed the game play a bit more than Ys Books I and II, which I played on the same system; however, that game has a better presentation. This one did not have the cut scenes, the voice acting was not top notch and the game felt a bit choppy. Still, I had a lot of fun swinging the sword; well, until I reached the final boss. He made me appreciate the bump battles of the previous two games. My fingers got sore trying to jump up to him and swing my sword!

The story has Adol and Dogi leaving Ys to set out on even more adventures. They soon head to Dogi's hometown due to rumors of things happening there. They find a town having an emergency at the mines and a plot by the nearby kingdom to try and awaken an evil demon to gain power. Adol must get the statues needed to bring forth this peril before the king so that this evil being will not be able to rule over the land!

The game play is quite different than Ys Books I and II as it is presented in a side scrolling style. In this one you swing your sword, but a lot of things are the same like the use of items and such. Adol also returns as it is so nice to have a recurring character in an RPG game. So often you either move forward or backward in time having a totally new set of warriors or in Final Fantasy you are often in a totally different world.

So, I liked this one; however, my guess this one may have been less enjoyed by those who did not care for the change of perspective. The game is not too long, I think the main reason I took as long as I did was due to me constantly backtracking to by more herbs and such. That last battle was so BS though as a boss kept reappearing meaning I could not enter the final battle at full power. Yeah, I did not like the final battle much! I look forward to playing more Ys games, they are very entertaining.