LEGACY OF YS

By GARRETT MARTIN

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ATLUS

NINTENDO DS

2.24.09

Me and this game, we've got history, even though we've barely met. I bought a TurboGrafx-CD when I was 14 just for Ys I & II, but the damn thing crapped out. I could see the horrible CD+G videos on Lou Reed's New York just fine, of course, but the games were glitchy and silent. I tried to exchange the system, but it had been discontinued. Now, years later, CD-ROMs have gone from futuristic to obsolete, and the DS's magical shrinking technology has made Ys readily available for all. Legacy of Ys is that same game, a compilation of two action-RPGs in the mold of Zelda, but with an emphasis on stat-leveling and item upgrades. You wander around a pastoral fantasyland, hacking up monsters, chatting with villagers and trees, reading old books and spelunking, all while listening to the greatest musical score of the period. And then, when you finish Ys I, you do it all over again, but better, with Ys II. It's short and straightforward as far as RPGs go, but that simplicity is a part of its charm. Ys is like a high-five from a past I never knew.