Ys Origin is an interesting game in the Ys franchise for many reasons. For one, even though it’s the tenth game in the franchise[en.wikipedia.org], it’s actually the first one in terms of the in-game timeline – a prequel set 700 (!) years before the events of Ys I & II. This could mean that Ys Origin makes for a great entry point to the franchise and indeed, it’s usually recommended to play it either before or after Ys I & II[www.digitalemelas.com] for story reasons. I’d personally recommend playing Ys I & II first, however: They’re still holding up greatly and it’s more fun to catch the references in Ys Origin that way.

Another reason why Ys Origin is an interesting game in the franchise would be that it’s the only Ys game with multiple story campaigns – or “story routes”, if you will. Ys Origin has three different playable characters (each with their own story route), out of which only two (Yunica, Hugo) are unlocked as soon as you start up the game. Beating the game either as Yunica or Hugo unlocks the third playable character and their story - which is actually the only canon one, as the Yunica and Hugo are “what if”-scenarios that mostly serve as an introduction to the various characters and their motives. As such, I recommend playing the third character’s story route only after you’ve beaten both Yunica’s and Hugo’s story campaign, since you’re missing out on interesting character developments and world building otherwise.

That said, there is a catch with this “play through all three story routes” approach - especially if you’re the type of players that prefers engaging with new content instead of revisiting previous locations/puzzles/bosses: About 80% of the content in Ys Origin is shared amongst the three routes, since they’re all set in the exact same location – the Devil’s Tower with it’s many floors. This does mean that while beating all story routes. you’ll basically play through “mostly the same game” thrice, once with each character. The only thing that does actually change between the routes, the remaining 20% of the content, are different character dialogues during the game’s events – as well as a few bigger differences that occur during the third “canon” route.

Now, while the location stays exactly the same, I do have to mention that each of the three characters does play differently – Yunica is a melee-based character while Hugo attacks with ranged magic for example. And while “new dialogues” might sound like only a few words have been changed, they are actually worth seeing in this case, since the different characters handle certain events quite differently. For example, while all three encounter a certain magical sword in the same room during their journey, what they actually do with it is quite different. And lastly, as you progress through the Devil’s Tower multiple times, you’ll do it faster and faster with each new character, since you now know how to tackle each floor optimally.

But I can’t deny that it can be a bit tiresome to progress through the same rooms three times, especially if you’re not taking long breaks between each route. It also doesn’t help that some of the character skills are basically serving the same purpose in order for the puzzles to work – for example, the “wind” skill, acquired by all three character, might take a different shape – what’s a long dash for one character is a magical shield that allows for floating for another character – but ultimately it serves the same purpose: allowing the characters to cross large gaps. This streamlined progression between the story routes – especially since puzzles are always solved the same way – can make the game a bit tiresome if you play through all three routes in just a few days, especially if you’re the type of player that prefers different story routes to offer an entirely different experience as well (new locations, lots of new bosses/enemies, etc).

This is a shame especially because Ys Origin does play quite well – combat is a lot of fun and exploring the tower for the first time and solving the various puzzles makes for a really great experience. I was especially happy to see how straightforward of an experience climbing the tower actually was: if you take your time and explore each stage to the fullest, you’ll most certainly obtain all of the various items and rarely have to backtrack because you missed something.

While normal enemies won’t pose much of a challenge for the most time, the various boss fights are not only the highlights of the game but are also going to test your skills – even on “normal” difficulty, I rarely managed to beat a boss the first time around, although I never felt like the fights were unfair – I simply had to figure out the right openings to attack and then the fights usually progressed smoothly afterwards, improved immensely through the truly excellent soundtrack of Ys Origin.

The progression in Ys Origin can be slightly off, however. While the flow of item/skill/equipment upgrades is very nice, Ys Origin also features a levelling system, which requires you to reach certain levels if you actually want a chance at beating the various bosses in the game (you’ll only find these recommend level ranges in guides like this GameFaq one[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] however). This can lead to situations (on higher difficulties) where you actually have to grind enemies in order to gain more levels for a bit – which can happen quite fast if you’re the type of player who prefers not fighting every single basic enemy all the time. I feel like the level system is only holding Ys Origin back – while it serves as means to beat a boss simply because you’re over-levelled, it punishes those who are already familiar with the basic enemy encounters (during their third playthrough for example) and just want to get past them as fast as possible in order to reach the next key item.

However, in the end, if you like action-RPGs even slightly, you really can’t go wrong with Ys Origin – unless you’re not a fan of the “three story routes” approach, that is. The story offers some great character moments, the music is excellent and the gameplay a lot of fun – from fighting to exploring and solving the various puzzles. Since this is a game from 2006 however, the graphics are serviceable at best, especially the backgrounds during outdoor scenes can be quite rough, with clearly cut textures at the edges.

It's also a shame that this version of Ys Origin doesn’t come without some technical issues – the game crashed on me during the end of a boss fight once and I highly recommend adjusting the deadzone settings using the game’s configuration tool if you’re playing with a controller, as they’re way too sensitive by default – you might find your character acting without your input even with a controller that’s not having any drifting issues in other games. Lastly, the game’s cutscenes did not work for me at all (even with the full K-Lite codec pack installed) until I manually installed LAVFilter[github.com], which fixed the problem. Apart from these technical issues, the game ran just fine however – and I seriously recommend giving it a try, as it's a yet another great action-RPG from Nihon Falcom, even despite a few issues.

[code]Ys Origin provides decent action-RPG fun with great boss battles and an excellent soundtrack – however, the “three routes”-system might prove to be a turn-off for some players[/code] [i]Ys Origin[/i] is an interesting game in the [i]Ys[/i] franchise for many reasons. For one, even though it’s the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys_(series)#Games]tenth game in the franchise[/url], it’s actually the first one in terms of the in-game timeline – a prequel set 700 (!) years before the events of [i]Ys I & II[/i]. This could mean that [i]Ys Origin[/i] makes for a great entry point to the franchise and indeed, it’s usually recommended to [url=https://www.digitalemelas.com/index_ys.php]play it either before or after Ys I & II[/url] for story reasons. I’d personally recommend playing [i]Ys I & II[/i] first, however: They’re still [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dreamylotus/recommended/223810/]holding up greatly[/url] and it’s more fun to catch the references in [i]Ys Origin[/i] that way. Another reason why [i]Ys Origin[/i] is an interesting game in the franchise would be that it’s the only [i]Ys[/i] game with multiple story campaigns – or “story routes”, if you will. [i]Ys Origin[/i] has three different playable characters (each with their own story route), out of which only two (Yunica, Hugo) are unlocked as soon as you start up the game. Beating the game either as Yunica or Hugo unlocks the third playable character and their story - which is actually the only canon one, as the Yunica and Hugo are “what if”-scenarios that mostly serve as an introduction to the various characters and their motives. As such, I recommend playing the third character’s story route only after you’ve beaten both Yunica’s and Hugo’s story campaign, since you’re missing out on interesting character developments and world building otherwise. That said, there is a catch with this “play through all three story routes” approach - especially if you’re the type of players that prefers engaging with new content instead of revisiting previous locations/puzzles/bosses: About 80% of the content in [i]Ys Origin[/i] is shared amongst the three routes, since they’re all set in the exact same location – the Devil’s Tower with it’s many floors. This does mean that while beating all story routes. you’ll basically play through “mostly the same game” thrice, once with each character. The only thing that does actually change between the routes, the remaining 20% of the content, are different character dialogues during the game’s events – as well as a few bigger differences that occur during the third “canon” route. Now, while the location stays exactly the same, I do have to mention that each of the three characters does play differently – Yunica is a melee-based character while Hugo attacks with ranged magic for example. And while “new dialogues” might sound like only a few words have been changed, they are actually worth seeing in this case, since the different characters handle certain events quite differently. For example, while all three encounter a certain magical sword in the same room during their journey, what they actually do with it is quite different. And lastly, as you progress through the Devil’s Tower multiple times, you’ll do it faster and faster with each new character, since you now know how to tackle each floor optimally. But I can’t deny that it can be a bit tiresome to progress through the same rooms three times, especially if you’re not taking long breaks between each route. It also doesn’t help that some of the character skills are basically serving the same purpose in order for the puzzles to work – for example, the “wind” skill, acquired by all three character, might take a different shape – what’s a long dash for one character is a magical shield that allows for floating for another character – but ultimately it serves the same purpose: allowing the characters to cross large gaps. This streamlined progression between the story routes – especially since puzzles are always solved the same way – can make the game a bit tiresome if you play through all three routes in just a few days, especially if you’re the type of player that prefers different story routes to offer an entirely different experience as well (new locations, lots of new bosses/enemies, etc). This is a shame especially because [i]Ys Origin[/i] does play quite well – combat is a lot of fun and exploring the tower for the first time and solving the various puzzles makes for a really great experience. I was especially happy to see how straightforward of an experience climbing the tower actually was: if you take your time and explore each stage to the fullest, you’ll most certainly obtain all of the various items and rarely have to backtrack because you missed something. While normal enemies won’t pose much of a challenge for the most time, the various boss fights are not only the highlights of the game but are also going to test your skills – even on “normal” difficulty, I rarely managed to beat a boss the first time around, although I never felt like the fights were unfair – I simply had to figure out the right openings to attack and then the fights usually progressed smoothly afterwards, improved immensely through the truly excellent soundtrack of [i]Ys Origin[/i]. The progression in [i]Ys Origin[/i] can be slightly off, however. While the flow of item/skill/equipment upgrades is very nice, [i]Ys Origin[/i] also features a levelling system, which requires you to reach certain levels if you actually want a chance at beating the various bosses in the game (you’ll only find these recommend level ranges in guides like [url=https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/935850-ys-origin/faqs/64636]this GameFaq one[/url] however). This can lead to situations (on higher difficulties) where you actually have to grind enemies in order to gain more levels for a bit – which can happen quite fast if you’re the type of player who prefers not fighting every single basic enemy all the time. I feel like the level system is only holding [i]Ys Origin[/i] back – while it serves as means to beat a boss simply because you’re over-levelled, it punishes those who are already familiar with the basic enemy encounters (during their third playthrough for example) and just want to get past them as fast as possible in order to reach the next key item. However, in the end, if you like action-RPGs even slightly, you really can’t go wrong with [i]Ys Origin[/i] – unless you’re not a fan of the “three story routes” approach, that is. The story offers some great character moments, the music is excellent and the gameplay a lot of fun – from fighting to exploring and solving the various puzzles. Since this is a game from 2006 however, the graphics are serviceable at best, especially the backgrounds during outdoor scenes can be quite rough, with clearly cut textures at the edges. It's also a shame that this version of [i]Ys Origin[/i] doesn’t come without some technical issues – the game crashed on me during the end of a boss fight once and I highly recommend adjusting the deadzone settings using the game’s configuration tool if you’re playing with a controller, as they’re way too sensitive by default – you might find your character acting without your input even with a controller that’s not having any drifting issues in other games. Lastly, the game’s cutscenes did not work for me at all (even with the full K-Lite codec pack installed) until I manually installed [url=https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters]LAVFilter[/url], which fixed the problem. Apart from these technical issues, the game ran just fine however – and I seriously recommend giving it a try, as it's a yet another great action-RPG from Nihon Falcom, even despite a few issues.