Ys II (Chronicles+) First Playthrough, Part 2 (endgame)
0We've already begun exploring the final area, and it's got some tricks up its sleeve, as well as its equivalent to Ys I's Vagullion moment.
Whereas Ys I went for depth (or, well, height) with Darm Tower, Ys II seems to go for breadth with Solomon Shrine, which can become at least a bit disorienting in some parts, especially when it comes to how the shrine and the canal interconnect. There are multiple orders of business to resolve, one of which is... literally a meeting that goes on for too long? Damn, I can't believe the demons have cursed utopia with agile methodologies.
I was rather surprised (and maybe a little disappointed?) how the final equipment in the game all gets pretty much dumped on the player for free, though I imagine it would be possible to skip or miss all of it by trying really hard not to check up on everything.
I had a very rubber-band relationship with the final boss, in terms of judging it relative to the first game's. Both have their problems with sometimes feeling like the outcome is out of the player's control.
The second game has quite a considerable ending sequence - and suddenly places a lot of weight on a relationship that I wasn't aware existed? You'd think there'd have been more opportunity to develop that, particularly in this version of the games.
The biggest surprise has been just how much unique dialog was put into the game specifically for Alter magic, and I'm quite curious whether that's unique to Chronicles+. I will find out at least as far as the PC Engine CD version goes, as I'm planning to play that next (mostly because I know the music holds up, and I can actually both run it and read it, which is more than I can say for other older versions).