Ys II (Chronicles+) first playthrough, Part 1
1Having finally succeeded in completing a playthrough of Ys I, I can finally move on to Ys II, which I've never touched before.
Ys II expands the formula considerably, most notably with the addition of magic. The game makes it clear pretty early on that this will be instrumental in boss battles; eventually it also becomes instrumental for exploration and progression.
It feels like Ys II Chronicles+ might go a little more out of its way to clearly explain things to the player through NPC dialogue; that being said, there are still a handful of opportunities for the player to become lost or confused.
Ys II may seem to start out with a somewhat monotonous dungeon crawl, but eventually expands into a wider variety of environments and biomes than what we'd seen in the first game. It also features a much more gradual leveling and stat system, which is a welcome change coming from the first game where I had reached max level probably less than halfway through.
Overall this game seems quite a bit more ambitious, and was substantial enough that I couldn't fit the full playthrough in a single video this time around. This first segment ultimately takes us into the final area, but there's plenty left to uncover in the final segment.