Ys IV: Mask of the Sun - This Action RPG Really Surprised Me...

[@Xygor]

How do you think Ys IV: Mask of the Sun compares to the other games in the Ys series? Gain early access to my videos by supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through KZbin membership by clicking the JOIN button above!

[@jzblue345]

It's a good game but not a good Ys game. Dawn of Ys is the best version of Ys IV. Memories of Celceta is the "cannon" version.

[@Progearspec]

I never liked how the snes Ys IV played and i prefer the pc-engine version more.Beside it's a shame the pce Ys IV version is consider non-cannon for the series. By the way ever play it's remake Ys memories of celceta ?

[@stevenbobo6464]

Have a good video I just wish somebody would do a comparison and contrast to the original Ys 4 games and the new one that came out YS 4 Memories of Celceta like story, plot, and characters.

[@zrayburton]

Being a fan of YS 3; I don’t think I’d like it as much. It’s the only one in the series I’ve ever played through though. What’s the easiest way to play this one? It’s not available on switch is it?

[@unclefred3128]

Never get on a boat with Adol

[@tatianaes3354]

Just buy a doll instead

[@unclefred3128]

@@tatianaes3354 Are you a Dad?

[@OtterloopB]

Overlooked is right. Hands down, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is one of the greatest video games, not just RPGs, but _video games_ I've ever experienced. If there's a franchise more gamers need to check out, it's Ys.

[@lexluthermiester]

100% agree!

[@BecomeTheKnight]

I think Ys is a prime example of trying to innovate and it not quite paying off, coming from a person who likes a lot of the games. I like more of the later generation games, but those are the ones that seem to be playing catch up perpetually to where other developers have taken the JRPG. I think it all stems back to the "walk into enemies" combat style that never caught on, and they seemed determined to make it work. It's just not the same as commanding the sword to swing. You take the command of attacking out of the player's control by making it automatic upon collision, and that breaks world immersion. Also feels less satisfying immediately. Trying to focus on making that mechanic intuitive diverted their attention to other details, and took them away from the opportunity to refine game feel of a sword swing. The "bump attack" mechanic finally died out, so they were destined to play catch up. But that's just a theory....a snnnnooooobbbb theory. Thanks for the continued friendship

[@Xygor]

Thanks for all of your thoughts on it. I need to try more of the newer ones!

[@zrayburton]

I couldn’t agree more.

[@slamshift6927]

I'm fairly certain the music itself was composed by Falcom JDK, the same team that did the rest of Falcom's game music. That's why both the PCE and SNES have the same compositions

[@jasonblalock4429]

And the soundtrack was updated and reused for the Memories of Celceta remake as well.

[@uberpinkwarrior]

"If that happened, we'd have 3 Ys IV's." They actually remade 4 (Memories of Celceta) which has aspects of the other 2 games, but with the combat system of the newer games (technically an improvement over 7's). It was made by Falcom some time after Ys 7. Which means we now have 3 different versions of Ys 4, made by 3 different companies. 4 if we count the remake of Mask of the Sun. It's a solid game. Not great, but not bad by any means, and I like it more than 7. Haven't played the others, but the PCE version I've seen a playthrough of, and it seemed fantastic.

[@DeskoDev]

I'd say PS2 Mask is easily different enough to count as its own game. Different structure, gameplay, map design, story, etc.

[@danmakuman]

If you liked the SFC version then you will love the PC Engine one. I'm not an RPG player at all, but Ys games have a different feel and a more easy to follow gameplay and Ys IV PCE is one of the best games I've ever played. A masterpiece. The music was composed by Falcom in-house sound team, they made the soundtrack as a base for the other versions so the composers of each one could arrange them for their respective console. You can find the original base FM synth soundtrack on YT, it's called Ys IV Special, it was done by several composers at Falcom using the NEC PC-88 computer with a YM2608 sound chip.

[@Sesheyan101]

I didn't even know about this game... now I gotta hunt down a ROM.... I am a huge fan of the bump combat mechanic of the older games :)

[@nanoglitch6693]

Sometimes sequels have fraternal twins. It happens ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@gavinlucas9761]

I've recently been replaying the classic Ys titles and am currently near the end of the PC Engine version of Ys IV with the Super Famicom version coming up next. And while I haven't played the Super Famicom version of Ys IV for quite a while I remember really liking it. The soundtrack of Ys IV is easily among my favorites in the series, and the story and characters in Ys IV I thought were really interesting, especially how both the SF and PC Engine versions are told differently from one another while still charring some of the same plot elements. It would have been interesting to see if the Mega Drive version would be anything like the 2 versions or if it did it's own interpretation of the story, but I think it is worth checking both versions as they almost play out as almost completely different games.

[@aaaaaa48285]

ys 4 mask of the sun is solid. ys 4 dawn of ys though is practically a different game from mask of the sun though and i recommend you play that version too. theres some similarities plotwise to both games but the story is very different too.

[@juanortiz9123]

Just finished the translated version! It was a good time, bur the "bump enemies" system can be very divisive. The music was good and the plot decent.

[@wiremesh2]

It's nice to hear a positive review of this one! Usually it's pretty heavily criticized in comparison to Dawn of Ys. I'm hoping to be able to get around to playing both this year as I've only played remake, Memories of Celceta. Hopefully I can get those crossed off the list before Ys X comes out, but this year's pretty stacked for me with Dragon's Dogma, Unicorn Overlord, and Elden Ring also in the mix.

[@Mintcar923]

Talk about synchronicity.. Just got done with my YS VIII session about 5 minutes ago! Played through on Vita initially but now doing it on ps5.. Quite possibly my favorite classical ARPG.. Hadn’t played much of the older YS titles though.. Although they are very interesting.. I’d really have to work on the bump combat system

[@hepwo91222]

bump combat, main trick is attack off center not straight into the enemy, a little above or below or to the right or left of them, they take damage and you don't, but if you go in straight line into them, both take damage and if you are underleveled, you die fast in straight ahead bumps. Its fast and fun once you get used to not being able to swing a sword.

[@Mintcar923]

@@hepwo91222 I give them props for innovation.. It almost seems as though they were rebelling against the random battle scheme at the time

[@hepwo91222]

@@Mintcar923 I got into Ys with the Turbografx-16 CD version of Ys Book 1 and Book 2 back in 1990, luved it, it was also on the Turbografx-16 Mini classic console release a few years ago to, bump combat, Ys Book2 did have a fire wand so you could bump or shoot.

[@Mintcar923]

@@hepwo91222 I was one of the 8 people who actually chose TurboGrafX over Genesis lol I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the rpg genre at the time tho.. I mainly played the more casual stuff like fighters, platformers & shooters..

[@chaospoet]

YS may be my favorite game series. It's definitely up there. I own this one on Super Famicom and tested that translation patch you mentioned with it on my Retron 5 but never actually played it. I want to as the 4th version of this game Memories of Celceta that came out on PS4, Vita, and Steam is my personal favorite YS game so I want to play this and the PC Engine version (that does have a translation as well that includes English voice acting). The trouble is, as you mentioned, there's so many YS games. I get into an YS mood and then start playing games based on my mood at the time. Not long ago I was playing The Master System original. Played 1&2 on Turbografx when my Analogue Duo arrived. At the moment I'm replaying the remake of YS 3 "The Oath In Felghana". My point being I keep forgetting I have this because I keep getting distracted by all the other games! What's worse is a new one is coming out this year too, and I still need to play the one that came out before that.

[@dennisluchesi]

Great video, I enjoyed listening/watching it. I brought the English translation, a few years ago, and I beat it in four days. I thought it was and still is a great game, like so many others, I, and many others have played.

[@hepwo91222]

never played he PS2 Ys4 remake, but between SFC Mask of the Sun PC Engine CD Dawn of Ys and the more modern Ys Memories of Celceta, PCE version is my favorite Ys4 and has an English translation patch and even voice actors in English too. Back in the 1990's though Falcom deemed Mask of the Sun "canon" as Dawn of Ys took liberites on their story outline by Hudson Soft in making Adol a husband and father in the ending. Nowadays though Memories of Celeceta is considered "canon" Ys 4 as per Falcom.

[@nebukadnezar213]

I love all the Ys Games. Even the bad ones. lul

[@Xygor]

Do you consider this one one of the bad ones?

[@cirewillen243]

Dude, thanks for encouraging me to play this game. I used to love exploring old RPGs on the SNES, and this is one I haven't really tried out yet. I'd love to see hat you think of Dawn of Ys, if you ever play it. ;)

[@BDBD16]

HA! Funny timing I just picked up Ys III last this week. Also IV and III give me heavy Lagoon vibes.

[@lexluthermiester]

I could never get into either of the 16bit versions of YS4(even with the very excellent translations). Once the 3D remake came to PC via GOG, I was all in! To me, that is the most worthy version and is the definitive version.

[@Graterstuuf]

I totally avoided Ys games growing up because of their design and now their design is the element that keeps them alive all these years later.

[@femtrooper]

Great review!!! I need to get into this series and hopefully I do it this year!!!

[@SprussellSpout_Gaming]

This game looks so much fun I'll definitely have to check it out

[@marcrics]

Isn't Memories of Celceta a IV remake also? 😂 Too many

[@Mintcar923]

I think I’ll stick with that one tbh The original version seems a little too hardcore for me😜

[@marcrics]

@@Mintcar923 haha yeah it's a little more grindy in comparison but it's still worth a look ✌️

[@albundy1485]

Yes

[@brooder]

great one Xygor!

[@ShadowArtist]

It's an excellent game, but can get very grind heavy for gaining xp to level up when in some areas monsters suddenly become hit sponges that take a dozen or more hits to kill. I get frustated and have to use action replay or game genie codes in whatever SNES emulator has a game genie code functionality to put in codes for "gain more Exp points" etc

[@Xygor]

True, the grindfest is worth noting. Thanks for your thoughts on it!

[@Satiator123]

I've only played Origins and it was awesome!!

[@Xygor]

Glad you liked it!

[@skyMcWeeds]

I really should get to playing Memories of Celceta

[@felipepereira214]

I always found this game difficult; somehow it's hard and very challenging to me.

[@shallbeknown]

I like all the ys games including this one

[@razorbackroar]

The one one psp is a masterpiece

[@ukrpgfan4029]

It's alright......

[@mattcote7687]

Nice 😎