I started my first attempt at Ys 1 & 2 on Friday night. I was having some beers and wanted to just check out the presentation and gameplay, but we had other music on and I wasn't giving the game my full attention.
The animations were rad, the control was crisp and I really got somewhat addicted to just running around killing stuff then pause to heal, and I did that until I had all of the level 2 gear and adol was leveled to 8. I got a bit confused once I got to the thieves den and shrine, not able to progress so I saved and shut down.
This morning was a bit quieter and I had about an hour to spare and relax. I cranked that stereo up and let those sweet tunes blast l, and hell yeah that music makes a huge difference! I decided to restart and pay attention to the story and got a much better feel for the setting and what to do in the game, so I loaded my leveled up character save and hit the shrine hard.
I'm not sure how to describe my time in the shrine other than it just made so much sense why this game is such a cornerstone for the platform, genre, and media.
I had a blast right until the minute my fiance was ready for Sunday plans, but man I certainly regret not experiencing this earlier, and can't wait to get back to it tonight.
Edit:
I got home and jumped right back in and ran through the rest of book 1. I stumbled a few times; first I didn't have the silver sword when I got to the mine boss, took me a good while to find that. I then got smacked down by the same mantis boss mentioned before but after re-aquiring the silver shield and gaining a couple levels he was a pushover. I don't think it's avoidable but it felt like it could have been avoided when I had to go get the blue amulet from level 11 and then go back up to level 21; I do think that was the worst part of that first "book".
My CD-R skipped and f*cked up during the cutscene, and it made me wish I didn't have a burned copy hahaha - I just re-wached the scene on YouTube and then took a break. I'm looking forward to starting this second game - I am level 33, wondering if I am too low of level, the mobs rock me now hahah