Ys Series - Digital Emelas: Spreading Awareness of Ys




List of Games

* Canon to the series



GAME TITLE
:
Ys Origin
PLATFORM
:
PlayStation 4
DEVELOPED BY
:
Nihon Falcom
TRANSLATED BY
:
XSEED Games
LOCALIZED BY
:
DotEmu
PUBLISHED BY
:
Limited Run Games
ENGINE
:
Napishtim Engine
RELEASE DATE
:
February 21, 2017
PHYSICAL PREORDER
:
August 25, 2017
Reflections of Ys
By Limfinite

Editor's Note: Ys Origin was developed to be a companion piece to the original Ys games. It is highly recommended that you complete Ys I & II before playing Ys Origin.

Hands down, Ys Origin is my favourite game of all time (followed by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Last of Us), so when the PS4 & Vita ports were announced during PlayStation Experience 2016 I jumped up with arms in the air. My wife stared at me with a huge grin on her face because, having played Ys Origin herself, she understood the thrill that soared through my body at that very moment. Following the press event, DotEmu, the team who localized the PlayStation ports, made a post on the official PlayStation blog confirming that they were using the same translation script by XSEED Games. I was ecstatic. If their mobile port of Ys Chronicles II was any indication of their credibility, I was sold. Ys Chronicles II on mobile, which also used XSEED's English translation, was fantastic. DotEmu truly understands how to create intuitive interfaces and Ys Origin on PS4 totally delivered.

The biggest change, which I absolutely love, is the streamlined interface to the bottom left of the game screen (see screenshot comparison below). The original PC version displays the combo multipliers to the very left, above the character's avatar, and is indicated with coloured bars that fluctuate like an equalizer. The PS4 version displays the multipliers with distinct, colourful icons to the right of the health bar that increase or decrease like a clock. The SP indicator was moved to the left next to the avatar. The LVL of equipment is now indicated above their respected icon.



Ys Origin also comes with a long list of Trophies to hunt, and to my pleasant surprise are different than the achievements on the Steam port. Furthermore, players who purchased the game before March 5th 2017 got a free PS4 dynamic theme (see our Archive page for a better look). On March 6th, the theme was sold on its own on the PlayStation Store for less than $3.

It's worth noting that although the English translation from XSEED was used, the titles that appear on screen were left untouched from the original Japanese PC version. By titles, I'm referring to the names that appear when you enter a new area or an important character/boss is introduced. DotEmu had left these unchanged, unlike XSEED who had them modified for the Steam port. These are images and not live text, which meant a graphic designer would have had to go in and manually alter each asset one by one. XSEED had tweaked several names in small ways to sound natural, or correct what Falcom was obviously trying to convey but misspelled (such as Drothy to Dorothy in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky), while still retaining the basic pronunciation and meaning of the original Japanese version. DotEmu had left the original unaltered names by Falcom.

For those playing Ys Origin for the first time, there will be two characters available from the start. Unlike the Steam version that requires the completion of one campaign to unlock the third character, the PS4 version requires the completion of both campaigns. This third campaign is the TRUE canonical story that leads to the events of Ys I. This is the one you'll want to experience and plays VERY differently than the first two.

I can't recommend this game enough. I love Ys Origin so much I even imported the Japanese version so I could have a physical copy in my collection. This was years before Limited Run Games announced they partnered with DotEmu to bring us a physical copy in North America. May the Goddesses bless you, LRG & DotEmu. You've made this man very happy.

Physical Copy
DotEmu and Limited Run Games collaborated to release a physical copy of Ys Origin for PlayStation 4. Unlike other games sold by Limited Run Games at the time, standard edition copies of Ys Origin were not limited to a specific quantity. Rather, preorders were live for 24 hours beginning at 10AM on August 25th, 2017. The standard edition game has a reversable cover. The cover facing outward under the seal were randomized during manufacturing, therefore not every forward-facing cover art was guaranteed to collectors who wanted each variant sealed. Below are the product shots of the reversable covers:

     








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All Ys Games, Art and Music © Nihon Falcom Corporation.