YS I & II English PC versions headed to Steam

Last year we reported on the release of Ys Origin and Ys Oath in Felghana in English. Both games were released on PC and available through Steam, Ys Origin being a prequel to Ys 1 and Ys Oath in Felghana being a remake of the Falcom classic Wanderers from Ys.

Of course this means that the Ys saga is far complete. This has now been remedied with the release of Ys 1 and Ys 2 for PC. Both Ys 1 and Ys 2 have been remade a bit over a decade ago, featuring crisp pixeled graphics, an updated soundtrack and smooth gameplay. Titled Ys 1 Eternal and Ys 2 Eternal, they saw the light on a myriad of platforms such as the PC, the PS2 and most recently the PSP. The PSP version of these games have been optimized for PC and are bundled together as Ys I & II Chronicles+.

The bundle is available in English and will be available from Steam starting February 14, the price is € 11,98.

Relevant link: Ys I & II Chronicles+

Comments (17)

By fondacio

Master (155)

09-02-2013, 18:25

Excellent news. I played the Windows versions of Ys Eternal a few years ago with the English language patch by Nightwolve, but it seems from the description that this version has a few enhancements compared to that one.

By fondacio

Master (155)

09-02-2013, 19:46

Ok, I meant Ys Complete. No edit function here?

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

09-02-2013, 20:10

Ys Chronicles was the last Ys game that Falcom released for PC in Japan. It's was essentially a port of the PSP version of the same name that had some significant flaws once it was ported to PC such as loss of framerate. The main difference between this version of Ys I & II and that Ys I & II Complete is that there is a completely new and improved soundtrack arrangement (mostly rock guitar as the main instrument used) by Falcom JDK Band. Personally, I love the new soundtrack and I think it's be best version of the Ys I & II soundtrack to date.

What XSEED has done in their release of Ys Chronicles+ is enhance the game completely so that there are no more graphical hiccups or framerate issues, making this the definitive version of Ys I & II. This will also allow you to select soundtracks from Complete (I believe) and the original PC-8801 soundtrack at any time.

Definitely have mine pre-ordered!

-Thomas

By Manuel

Ascended (19677)

09-02-2013, 20:10

SO, um, does it run on Linux?

By fondacio

Master (155)

09-02-2013, 20:18

Ys Complete runs fine in Wine on OS X...

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

09-02-2013, 20:35

Manuel wrote:

SO, um, does it run on Linux?

Not sure, it would be through the Steam client though.
Steam on Linux

-Thomas

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

10-02-2013, 18:23

Yes, I bought Origin and Felghana from steam and also pre-ordered Ys Chronicles.

There are also rumours, on the steam/xseed forums, that Ys Seven and the Legend of Heroes series will be available via steam.

The games are fantastic. I own the originals from Japan with fan translations from the internet but these xseed versions are a lot better. The latest updates, support, better translations etc.

A bit sad for Nightwolve's, he put a lot of hours in translating the Ys series!

Well, support xseed and buy those titles. I would definitatly like to play the Legend of Heroes series via steam.

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

11-02-2013, 18:23

Interesting rumors Evulopah you've been hearing on the XSEED forums. I hope you are right about the Ys Seven and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky being offered on Steam. As far as I know the only PC version of Ys Seven was the Chinese version which I've more or less taken upon myself to try and work with a few others to see if we can insert the PSP script from the English version into the game. So far, we've been able to change the entire script into English, but sadly no character names, maps, or in-game menus/tables. Mostly this is due to the fact that the game uses Securom to protect it's files so any edits to the executable file will freeze the game. It's certainly playable though, especially if you've played the XSEED PSP release. It's just a lot nicer looking with HD graphics. If XSEED releases it, that would be fantastic, and it might be less buggy too!

The Chinese version comes in a several nice Limited Edtion sets too! This is the Amazon.cn LE version.

I'm a huge Ys / Falcom fan so I tend to collect a lot of their series as originals. : )

-Thomas

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

12-02-2013, 16:34

I would recommend to read a bit on the xseed forums SkyeWelse, there is a lot of Ys / Falcom talk.

Check @ http://xseedgames.com/forums/

And I also love those original limited editions from Falcom. Found some nice stuff on e-bay @ japanese shops.

Well, we have to wait two days before xseed launches Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles+ via Steam. Looking forward to it!

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

12-02-2013, 23:34

I am as well. I am a member of the XSEED forums, I just don't visit that often. I did look for some information to see if there was talks of Ys Seven coming out on Steam, but didn't quite find anything. Great to see some love happening over there for Brandish: The Dark Revenant though.

Such a fantastic game and one of my top 10 games of all time. Definitely wouldn't mind seeing that get released in English and to a wider audience. The level design and complexity of some of the puzzles and how they work together in some levels is truly amazing, especially in the extra mode where you play as the scantily clad clumsy Sorceress, Dela Delon. I feel like the game makes you finish it with Ares first just to train you in the basic rudimentary concepts of the game only to make you master them in Dela's extra campaign. Level design at it's finest!

-Thomas

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5684)

12-02-2013, 23:59

Brandish sounds like fun! I didn't know the game, listening to the soundtrack now, which is pretty cool.

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

13-02-2013, 00:48

Oh yeah, Brandish has some nice and pretty wild music!

I didn't get into Brandish at first when I played it for Super Famicom back in the day. I found the rotation of the camera funky to deal with and I thought it was a bit too slow moving for my tastes. So when Brandish: TDR was released for PSP I decided to just give it a try again and see what happens and I was blown away by it. All the secrets, all the traps and puzzles, all the dying due to my own mistakes and carelessness. It's like a beautiful precursor to Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, where dying and learning how to "not die" is what keeps you going. : ) For Brandish TDR it's truly all about seeing if you can outsmart the Game Developers, which were likely sitting in a room when they first made it saying "Ha! Let's see them get out of this one!"

Some advice though, if you are not going for a timed game (meaning you don't care about speed runs) you are able to heal based on how much time you wish to wait and you can do this anywhere save from a boss room, but you must be careful because if you wait and sleep while their are enemies still roaming, they will find you and wake you up from your nap with a few stabs, bites, or chomps, or fireballs and likely kill you outright. : )

Also, Ares, gains strength faster the more you use nothing but your FISTS! Weapons break, and "Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon!"-MGS. And getting hit in the chest with a fireball, please may I have another, will strengthen your magic defense. Ares is a man's man and later on the the series he can double-wield! And not just swords, he can double-wield tower shields too!

Best part too, that Brandish TDR is pretty much completely playable in Japanese without much issue once you understand the mechanics. There isn't to much story to concern yourself with as it centralizes around the game play and the ambience of the game.

The main story is that a long time ago a greedy, power hungry king decided to do something to a dragon to gain his power for himself and ended up getting cursed and cursing his entire kingdom. That very kingdom sank into the ground and remained hidden for hundreds of years. One day, a warrior/mercenary named Ares meets up with Dela Delon, the blond haired sorceress who has been searching high and low for him, to kill him to take vengeance on him for the murder of her master and teacher that she believes he is responsible for. They begin to have a battle in the middle of a dessert somewhere and she overdoes it with her magic blowing a huge hole in the ground, which causes a chain reaction giving away to the ground they are standing on and both fall into the ruins of this ancient kingdom below...

-Thomas

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5684)

13-02-2013, 20:13

Thanks for all the info, SkyeWelse. I don't have a PSP. Is the SNES version worthwhile?

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

14-02-2013, 15:16

You are definitely Ys fan Skyewelse

Do you own all the original Ys titles? Not only PC but also MSX, SNES, PC-Engine etc etc?

And what about other Falcom games like Zwei?

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

15-02-2013, 00:41

@JohnHassink - Sure, hopefully my little rant there will spark some interest in this often-overlooked gem of a game. Shame you don't have a PSP (Though they are quite cheap these days!). The SNES version is playable, but I just feel like it is missing something that made the PSP version all that much greater. I think the colors in Brandish SFC are perhaps a bit too bright at times, whereas they are much darker in the PSP version that I feel adds extra ambiance and atmosphere to the game. I guess one of the benefits of the SNES version is that it is in English so you would understand more of the story, but one of the cons is that you do not have a Dela Delon Extra Mode that has the extra more difficult levels after the game is over which are completely worth it in my opinion. I think I actually enjoyed her game more than Ares, even it is much shorter. If you do decide to give the SNES version a try, make sure you adjust the speed of the game in the game menu. It starts off very slow, and becomes playable only after that option has been adjusted. : )

@evulopah:

Yes. Yes I am definitely an Ys/Falcom fan.

Larger Image Here
(I'm also a big fan of my wife, for putting up with my crap and allowing me to have a gameroom of my own!)

I believe I own most, if not all of the original Ys games across PC-8801, MSX, Famicom, SNES, Master System, Genesis, PC-Engine, PS2, DS, PSP, and PC, and all the Steam releases to date. The only two that I know of that I'm missing currently: Ys Celceta for PS Vita. Was kind of waiting for the price to drop on that system first. But XSEED is releasing that to, so I'll definitely be getting it when it's about to be released here if I can. : ) And the last one being a physical release of Ys II Special Korean. It's a complete re-envisioning of Ys II (based on the Anime version of Ys) for PC. I would LOVE to have that if I could find it.

-Thomas

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

15-02-2013, 09:36

Holy you now where! That's impressive! #LittleBitJealous

What is the brown Ys bible in the upper left corner??

Do you also own original soundtracks? I do have some of it like Ys Piano Collection, Ys Perfect Selection, Sorcerian Perfect Selection 3.

I bet you have the Oath in Felghana special edition with nine CD's!!

Very nice collection SkyeWelse!!

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

16-02-2013, 03:06

Thanks. Trust me, this stuff didn't just happen overnight. I've been working on it for years little by little. : )

The brown Ys Bible is a version of Ys I & II Complete that was a limited edition. It is designed to look like one of the Book of Ys. Here's a picture of what it looks like. It comes in a gold foil outerslip case that has Ys I & II Complete embossed on it.

Yep! The limited edition first release of Oath in Felghana that comes with the 9 music cds is on the shelf. The big purple box on the 2nd section.

I do have some Falcom CD's but there are so many out there, I doubt I could ever catch them all! lol

I mostly collect the major soundtracks when I can get good deals on them and the Falcom Special Box CDs. I have Falcom Special Boxes for the years '90, '91, '92, '94, '95 and 2004. Soundtracks are Music From Ys, Music from Ys II, Music from Ys III (I think?), Ys MIDI collection (on Floppy Disk), Ys I & II Complete, Ys Ark of Napishtim, Ys Memories, JDK Band Summer 2008, Xanadu Next, and of course... Brandish: The Dark Revenant. : )

-Thomas

YS I & II English PC versions headed to Steam

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