Ys Book I & II - Ys III: Wanderers From Ys reviews from VG&CE

[Siskan]

Ys III has one of the most remarkable soundtracks to this day in my opinion, it also beats Book I&II which already set the bar high. It cannot match the introduction though, Ys I manages to deliver a certain mood, feeling and also initial hype through the three parts (background, title screen and kick-off intro) which few games have managed to do (its sequels failed at it too, but Book II does it better than Ys III).
The Ys III soundtrack also sounds way better than any other version of the same game, even the newer ones. The added violins of the PC/PSP version were a nice try, but it doesn't get close to beating the PCE arrangement.

I've shared the ridiculously poor American dub with a couple of friends and they both asked for the title of The Boy's Got Wings. I've also discovered this game in recent years, so no notalgia involved.

Other aspects of both of these games are good but not astounding. Gameplay is solid, story is basic, graphics are good but unimpressive, except for the intros. These were also made in an era when artwork was amazing in general, but again in Ys's case it was decent but not up there with the best. And yes, I belive that external artwork (box art, manual illustrations etc.) were important parts of the games themselves back then.

[NightWolve]

Ys III has one of the most remarkable soundtracks to this day in my opinion, it also beats Book I&II which already set the bar high. It cannot match the introduction though, Ys I manages to deliver a certain mood, feeling and also initial hype through the three parts (background, title screen and kick-off intro) which few games have managed to do (its sequels failed at it too, but Book II does it better than Ys III).
The Ys III soundtrack also sounds way better than any other version of the same game, even the newer ones. The added violins of the PC/PSP version were a nice try, but it doesn't get close to beating the PCE arrangement.

Yeah, I agree. http://www.ysutopia.net/audio/YsIII-07-The-Boy-Who-Had-Wings.mp3
is probably still my favorite track of them all, with http://www.ysutopia.net/audio/YsIII-17-Seal-of-Time.mp3
next. The Windows PC soundtrack for Ys I & II Eternal/Complete was horrible, but when Felghana came around, they put a lot more effort into it, and while it comes close in quality to Ryo Yonemitsu's magic and is respectable, I would also characterize it as a "nice try" effort. It's a "respectable" soundtrack, but yeah, I still much prefer to patch-in the Ys III PC Engine soundtrack for the definitive or "complete" experience. I was trying to think of a good marketing title for the patcher for when I release it some time, current candidates are: "The Ryo Yonemitsu Epic BGM/Soundtrack Mod" or "Epic Soundtrack Mod: The Ryo Yonemitsu cut."

[seieienbu]

"A Searing Struggle" is far and away my favorite track from any Ys game as well as one of my favorite songs from any game ever.  How Ys 3 got a 7 for it's soundtrack in this review I'll never understand.

It's always neat to read reviews from games I loved back when they were relevant.  My favorite line was "No one can ever claim that CD-ROM games are just a gimmick ever again!"  Moreso than the rest of the piece I feel that encapsulates both the time period as well as the affect that Ys had on games and gaming technology.

[esteban]

OFFICIAL:

Ys III has a fantastic soundtrack.

However, if you think it is *superior* to that of Ys I & II, then you can suck my left one.

Because it isn't.

They are both on equal footing.

/TRUTH






P.S. Don't worry, folks have been trying to claim that Ys III is the best soundtrack for a long time. They are delusional.

[seieienbu]

I'm not saying that it's superior.  I'm only saying that it's better than any sad 7.