Words can't express how much we needed this, after Tannin Suffering Wonder Boy, we were brought to brink of "Maybe side scrolling RPGs were a mistake on the way to Metroidvania" and this game reminded me that nawh, there's still some aspects of these kind of games that absolutely rip, actually.
So we've decided to get into Nihon Falcom, normally this would just be as simple as working your way up from Game 1 to Game Now and see how a development studio evolved. But due to barrier of entry with old PC's and spotty translations of Japan only titles, it's not that easy. As an English speaker your experience of Falcom's early catalogue will be distorted and all that's left is to gather every available version of a title, throw a dart on the board and pray
I seemingly lucked up with the Trubografix-CD version of Ys III, it's the gameplay of the console ports with absolutely charming PC Engine energy. Huge pixel art animations, voice acting where it absolutely does not belong and an OST that can flip from lush CD quality 80's sound to a soundfont that makes the NES sound like a sleeping aid. Such a cursed vibe and I love it, it's part of what makes games like Rondo of Blood my favourite Castlevania for example.
Okay let's stop beating around the bush: Game absolutely slaps. Ys III manages to keep the allure of a grand RPG adventure while just like... Not taking the piss lol. Areas are quite linear with very telegraphed divergent points to come back to later, destinations and quests are very clearly laid out and the world is segmented via a world map. For an RPG this might seem... Bad. Like with such a railroaded path there's less chances to explore or place side quests and that's not untrue. But that's the entire thing, I feel like as a 'Critic' I can sit here and type out paragraph after paragraph that convinces myself I didn't have fun, that this was a vapid and shallow experience. But the thing is; I played the thing and the feeling you come to these sidescrolling games for, the Good Feel of traversing a world and whacking things with stick is just immaculate here. Maybe it's all style and no substance under scrutiny but like... Mate it's fun lol so there it is.
Ys III uses a system from it's previous two top-down iterations, which utilized an auto-battle system where the game calculates the results of your encounters when you collide with an enemy, making it a game all about the numbers and spacing. That's kind of true here too despite the perspective change.. You ever seen that one Simpsons episode where Bart and Lisa do the "I'm gonna swing my arms and walk forward and if you just happen to be in the way, that's you're fault" bit? That's the entire game lol
Dungeon crawling amounts to walking forward or staying idle and swinging or ducking and stabbing or jumping and Zelda 2 Sword Down, as the enemy aproaches you to die. You just do that until you're health goes down. Then you walk out of that cave and let God's Eye heal your wounds and you go back and do it again, until your HP and defense can cover you to the boss fight.
And look when I type it out like that... It sounds like shit! lol And I know that! It looks so manipulative and the bare minimum a game has to be to BE a game. But like I can't deny I was having fun, it just GOES. For it's 5 little dungeons, it just goes and it feels fun. Sometimes games, even RPGs can just be that. Some games are digital masterpieces ready to immerses you in their worlds, some games are a paddle and ball. The high fantasy RPG can be a paddle and ball as little a treat.
