This is a remake of Ys III and is another product of its time, like Ys I and II really. The gameplay is exceedingly basic, fitting for the PSP game it was, the music is okay, the bosses are god awful, and the story is mediocre and predictable.
I would not recommend you play this. There are no redeeming qualities, unless you just want Ys lore, which... YouTube can do for you far better, and it's not that captivating in any event.
[h1]Story[/h1]
As stated, it's pretty bad. Adol and Dogi arrive on an island, Dogi's "home turf" if you will. There's a definitely "evil" childhood friend, definitely not "some other evil guy" pulling the strings behind the scenes, etc.
This remake added voice acting! Some voices are fairly decent, but most voices sound like the director said, "You should try WAY TOO hard." So imagine your friend doing an over-the-top voice for the lols. Now imagine your friend doing that for EVERY. SINGLE. LINE. Some voices are like that, and it is entirely obnoxious.
Characters in general don't really have any depth. They all behave predictably, have bland personalities, and they're all in service of giving you a quest or pushing the story along into whatever contrived story point is next.
There is not much else to say. It is forgettable.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Coming from Ys I and II gameplay of rubbing sprites together at certain angles to deal damage, Ys III is a massive improvement! Instead, you can now swing your sword to hit things. [i]Real gameplay.[/i] You also have some basic spells: a fireball, wind spin, and dash. Not the most creative, but they get the job done.
Much like Ys I and II, your level, weapon, and armour dictate the entire difficulty. I played on Inferno for reference. Depending on your level, you die in seconds to bosses or regular enemies, which means there is required grinding at points. It also leads to frustrating scenarios where, if you enter an area under-levelled, you die and lose all progress since your last save.
Racking up a "combo" gives you an XP multiplier, which can speed up grinding if you find a screen where you can easily kill a set of high-XP enemies. It can be somewhat fun to find these spots and do it on a loop. The most tedious part is not knowing what level you [i]should[/i] be. There's no way to tell, except by going into a boss or area and getting rumbled.
Bosses range from okay to awful. Large, vague hitboxes, massive damage, highly repetitive patterns, and damage sponges. Most bosses rely on dodging a flurry of attacks and waiting for the [i]one[/i] opening they have. Better bosses have many openings, which is great! But most do not. They look fairly decent. Some bosses just seem almost impossible because of how massive their hitboxes are and how rapidly they attack. I'm pretty sure some bosses cannot have all their damage avoided, hence why some hits do 1/20 of your HP and some do 1/3.
The Chester rematch is the pinnacle of bad boss fights in this game. For some reason, he is immune to all your spells, which otherwise added some depth to boss fights. He rapidly attacks you, and you can ONLY deal damage with your sword. He has a counter that can RANDOMLY occur while you're attacking, dealing damage back to you. You can't stay close, because he'll do a massive AOE. If you're far away, he'll fire rapid projectiles that have very tight windows to dodge.
He does have a pattern he follows and ONE opening, with an attack that is a 360 tracking stab that goes across the screen and does massive damage. This leaves him "open", but ONLY if you approach him from the side or back???? If you approach from the front, he'll counter with his backflip slash, a slash that goes INTO THE AIR AND HITS YOU ON THE GROUND. In-air projectiles hitting you on the ground is not an uncommon occurrence either.
This makes the boss hard to even parse [i]how[/i] to fight. There's literally zero safe openings other than that one. The only [i]hint[/i] at this is that he stands still after it for a while. Otherwise, he's all the ham, all the time. On lower difficulty modes, your only option is face tank. It is THE WORST.
Almost all bosses have these sorts of problems to minor degrees, but Chester is the worst one.
The upgrade system is quite boring. Linear upgrades to attack and defence that you must grind money for.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
Don't.
