Absolute cinema. Это было великолепно и божественно

Beaten the game with all three characters on normal.

Great game, but god if it isn't janky. In general, what Ys Origin proposes works really well. Level design is really solid, combat feels great, and the story is fairly well told, taking a more Resident Evil "only god knows what is canon and what isn't" approach to the split character storylines, which does not deter from the great characterization work almost everyone in the cast receives.

Unfortunately, the harder you set the difficulty of this game to, the more incisive its issues become. Truth be told, visual clarity and consistency aren't exactly Ys Origin's strong suit, and even in normal difficulty there are times where I cannot for the life of me tell wtf is going on or where tf I even am. Really small sprites with loads of visual effects don't mash well with really frail close range attackers and unclear hurtboxes.

If this game was a typical RPG with healing and support items, or you were tankier (and/or if everyone had a shield skill from the get-go like Hugo) these issues could be excused, but this really feels more like an action hack 'n slash game with legacy rpg elements, present only because of the engine it was made on. Like, you can't even pause during boss fights, so even if you had saved up on Panaceas you wouldn't be able to use them lol.

Colateral damage is the bane of Ys Origin's existence, and makes anything even remotely challenging become frutrating really quickly. I like it, but it will absolutely request consistency from you that it itself cannot provide.