Ys : The Ark of Napishtim Review

Ys: The ark of Napishtim (a very vibrant and action packed Playstation 2 game.) takes you into a world of creatures and beasts. Where your sword and magic depend on the whole continent of Napishtim and where a great disaster is about to take place. Meet Adol, a veteran swords man who somehow gets lost on an island while traveling with his buddy Dogi. Adol is about to embark on an adventure that takes him across grassy plains, caves, underground lairs castles and rocky mountains. The difficulty factor of this game depends on you; you can either choose easy, normal and hard. You can choose very hard once you finish at least one of the difficulty levels.
This game is probably one of the best action role playing game I've played on the playstation 2. The graphics sometimes even rival the next generation console's games. The visuals are completely amazing, and when you are fighting monsters the spell effects are completely dazzling. The fighting system is *completely all action all the time*. There are many variations of monsters from slimes and snails, to bees and dragons. You can jump with "X", your main attack is used with the "square" and you can use magic with "circle". When defeating monsters you will eventually use three magical swords at your disposal. In fact there will be only 4 swords you will use. The metal being the default and as you progress you can destroy enemies and switch out the 3 magical swords. Respectively you will wield wind, thunder and the flame sword. It would be expected that you get an ice sword, but no ice here.
Sword hits are vibrant and visually entertaining when defeating monsters. Thunder will rip across the plains as you strike and quick flame cuts will rip from your sword as you tear across monster to monster. Wind will envelope along the plains as you wisk your sword at enemies. Every magic sword you get can be upgraded from level 1 to level 10 by winning crystals from the enemies you kill. At various levels your magic skill will increase and you will be able to do more harm to your enemies with bigger and better magic spells. Each magic sword can only have a limit of 3 levels of magic, but you cannot use the magical spells right away in the heat of battles. You will have to charge them either with the "triangle" or by scoring hits on enemies. Once your magic charges to level 1,2 or 3 you can then do more devastating damage. And you can't attack once you are charging your magic so you have to wait at the right times when enemies can't hit you.
Level 10 is the best magic you can get for each sword. You will upgrade shortly, but surely as well. Being as it may you will need more emel or experience for each sword upgrade at various synthesizing shops. Near the end of the game all your swords will probably be nearly completed. This game has the same caliber and the same action as a zelda game. This is why the game is so good. The major differences are that you can jump and long jump and there isn't as much puzzle solving which leaves this game as a solid action rpg. In that case you can also buy armor and accessories which give you defense bonuses and fairy trials that will help you get what you need throughout the game. When you also fight bosses, you will be in a limited space like most games and will not have the option to retreat. You will have to use all your sword and magic skills to terminate these cretins. Charge when you can and unleash magic fury.
The sound is completely amazing, the controls are crisp and clear and it will not be hard to hate this game. If you are a big action rpg fan and you like games like Secret of Mana and Zelda, I highly recommend this game. My only quarrel is that I've found this game to be a bit too short, and you may too. But when it is said and done you can play the game on a difficulty level that is different from the one you selected before. As in added bonus, when you finish the game you'll be able to fight all the bosses in the game on time trial mode to get the best time in which you kill the boss. This game is definetily top tier and it really hasn't garnered any attention. Besides the short time this game deserves a perfect 10.

You should play the whole game, I think they still sell it at some stores.

my gawds, there a hell lot of games i wanna play now including this one

i gots a ps2 now all i need is the game xD

I think they still sell the games at video stores or such. You can maybe find them pre-played or such. I just didn't buy the game cause I finished it in a rental's worth of time. Thing I didn't know is that this game is actually a series . The Ark of Napishtim is actually the sixth game in the series.

^il be looking for it

me too...hope i can find it here -.-

let's look in eBay lol

They may have it used in Game Stop, but like I said; this game is pretty much all action all the time.

lol, that's good enough for me :3

There are also some snes Ys games. The one I wrote a review for is the 6th in the chapter and each one that I've played is different from the other one. Such as Ys: 4 and 3. The 3rd one is a super nintendo title as well as the 4th, and the 3rd one is side scrolling.

ohhhh....i see @-@

If you do not really care for the graphics in Ys : The Ark of Napishtim which are astonishing, then you definetly won't like them in Ys : 3 or Ys : 4.

Lol, up for the player to decide xD

I like the fact that the game is sort of like zelda, but without all the puzzles stopping your progress. The fact that also unlike zelda Ys the Ark of Napishtim has major shining spells and such and there is way way much more action than there are puzzles. Which is not a bad thing for zelda, still Ys : Ark of Napishtim makes it much more entertaining to play as well as the fact that I've finished Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys as well.