Ys Origin Playthrough: Toal (Normal / PC / Napishtimania 2025)
1With both Yunica's and Hugo's stories completed, it's time to play the third, unlocked story.
Hugo's route in particular featured some pretty heavy foreshadowing for this one, and right away Toal's story starts off with a new intro dialogue not seen in either of the other two routes, taking place before any of the search party arrives. There are also additional interludes between almost every section of the game, and some things clearly don't transpire quite the way they did in the other routes...
Many folks seem to find Toal to be the most fun character to play, myself included. If you wondered why Yunica's melee combat felt so slow compared to playing as Adol in previous Ys games, Toal should be a breath of fresh air, and perhaps makes it more evident why Yunica's play style is the way it is, to further distinguish the two melee-focused characters. However, Toal is clearly the most melee-focused, having pretty much no ranged abilities, as opposed to Yunica eventually obtaining ranged attacks via the Crimson Lotusblade. The speed and power of Toal's close-range attacks makes up for the difference.
I find it quite interesting how Ys Origin's structure almost feels like a visual novel, since all 3 characters' routes intersect but it's clear that each character's role doesn't quite play out the same depending on which one you're following directly. If Falcom considered this an experiment, I'd say it's a very successful one - and a great way to round out the trilogy of Napishtim-engine entries in the series with a prequel that brings everything full-circle with the games that started it all nearly two decades prior.