Ys 3, for SNES

Rating: 6.5/10; Above Average

Ys 3 is a 2D sideview action rpg, which plays more like The Legend of Zelda 2 or a Castlevania game than the other Ys games. Due to being released on both the NES and SNES, it looks and feels more like a NES game. The plot is bare bones and the dialogue is wooden and not particularly engaging. During the beginning cutscene Adol clearly has a sword but upon gaining control there is no sword to be found. He yet again starts off as a complete newb with nothing but some money. What keeps happening to his stuff?

The overworld is just a fancy level select menu though at the beginning you can only go to the first dungeon, whereupon you will most likely get your ass handed to you by the first enemies. When I said he starts out as a complete newb, I mean COMPLETE. NEWB. Enemies do simple contact damage, which is very difficult to avoid due to their fast and sometimes erratic movements, the short range of your weapon and their finicky hitboxes. There are no defensive moves you can take other than jumping and ducking/crawling, so combat is more about being high enough level to survive the hits or not sticking around to fight. This is taken to the extreme with long grueling dungeons with infinitely respawning enemies that are fast, including some places where the constant barrage of enemies outright forces you to run and pray that you survive. Recovery options are very limited due to only being able to carry 1 of each item. There are rings that can be equipped for boosts in exchange for mana, including a healing ring. Each enemy defeated restores a single point of mana with no scaling whatsoever for more powerful enemies, which feels entirely unfair. And then there are the bosses. If you are not high enough level you will not even be able to damage them. They tend to be predictable but hit hard, so it might take a few tries to learn the pattern. But many of the bosses fly or are difficult to reach. I spent the entire game wishing I had a Castlevania whip, a spear or something to help mitigate the extremely precise positioning you have to use to be able to hit bosses without taking contact damage. The worst boss by far is the fire snake, who flies, is faster than you, goes through the walls and floor and can only be hurt in the head. It is far more random compared to other bosses, wastes a lot of the player's time by hiding and flying around the large arena, and is so long that you can't jump over it without taking damage. A tedious and poorly designed fight.

It is a good thing the game allows saving anywhere outside boss fights because you will die a lot. Even to regular enemies unless you spend significant time grinding levels. It seems like the game should have started after about 2 hours of grinding to give a decent power level and starting gear so that you can properly enjoy the adventure.