What Is Ys?

Created in 1987 by Masaya Hashimoto and Yomoyoshi Miyazaki (along with their team at Nihon Falcom), the Ys series of RPGs stands as one of the earliest staples of the genre. While Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy rose to massive success, Ys never quite took off in the same way. Still, they've maintained a dedicated following in both Japan and the West.

Ys is based on the mythological French city of the same name.

Ys...is a mythical city on the coast of Brittany that was swallowed up by the ocean. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Baie de Douarnenez. From Wikipedia

Ys focuses on the life and adventures of Adol Christin, a red-haired fighter often accompanied by his comrade, Dogi. While there are three main types of gameplay (bump combat, party-based, and top-down), all the mainline Ys series games are action RPGs.

There have been a total of seventeen games released, including "retconned" games like Ys III: Wanderers from Ys or Ys IV: Mask of the Sun and Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys and the tactics-based game Ys Strategy. In addition, Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand has never been released outside of Japan (although fan translations are available).

If you're interested in playing through the series, check out the Getting Into Ys page!