In The Ancient Land of Ys is an old console game that was converted for play on the personal computer bearing the MS-DOS operating system in the late eighties. It is actually the pioneer of what would become a very successful and long running franchise, with the most recent release having been in 2003. There are a total of seven games in the series. It was produced by Falcom Nihon and published by Broderbund. It features a medieval theme and a pretty good story that stretches throughout the entire series.
It is a very light and simple role playing game with some strong elements of fantasy adventure.
The game gets its title from the name of the land featured in the series, simply called Ys. It begins with a fairly stereotypical “once upon a time” anecdote that details the land of Ys from yesteryear when everyone was peaceful and average. A farmer, upon finding a precious metal abundant in his fields, shares the wealth in this communal environment, but things are forever changed. The people prosper, but a seer foretells a disaster that will be caused by the metal (called kureria). The people cannot bear to give up their fortunes completely but heed the prophet
and magically seal it all away in a cave. It is protected by two stone statues of the goddesses of Ys. Life returns to almost normal until the evil wizard Malificus steals the six books of Ys that contain the secrets of the metal.
Your mission will be to restore peace to the land of Ys by seeking out Malificus’s five powerful minions, each bearing one of the books, and destroy them. Your quest will play out from the bird’s eye view and will be in real time. As you seek these evil doers, you will meet many people who will help you and will also give you even more side quests to complete.
The main action you will take in the game, aside from traveling from place to place, is combat. You get equipped with your sword and then you locate an enemy. Choose how you will approach it, because the direction from which you attack determines how much damage you will take. Certainly enemies will run into you from time to time, but it is best to approach them from the back or the side in order to eliminate as much damage as possible. Of course, you can find and buy better equipment too, which will help reduce damage and inflict more also. Fighting and completing quests earns you gold and experience. Gold can be used to purchase gear, as mentioned above, and experience will make you a more powerful fighter. It is pretty simple.
You will fight your way through all sorts of landscapes as you work toward completing your quest, mainly dungeons and wildernesses. It is a nice little game that is very lightweight and easy to play. Have fun with it.
