Game:

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (2003)

Duration: 3:03:19

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Originally recorded: May 2, 2021
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This stream went as planned, for the most part. The final dungeons in many of the earlier Ys games force the player to grind a bit in the early bits before making it to the end. Ark of Napisthim is no different in this regard. But on the plus side, I was grinding to my favorite song in the entire Ys franchise, so that wasn't so bad. A lot of flack has been thrown at Ys VI's soundtrack for adopting a more techno-synth sound, compared to the more traditional "symphonic metal" sound of the first four games in the series. But frankly, good music is good music. And even at its worst, Ys has good music.

Honestly, I knew that the first session where I made it to Kishgal was not going to be the final stream, even if I started out with it... which I did. There was a lot of prepwork I had to keep in mind: particularly getting the best armor in the game, finding the last Tabula and getting access to an accessory that makes me immune to status effects, beating the three late-game mini-bosses (and getting their awesome equipment in the process) and, of course, finishing the last of Alma's Trials.

Speaking of, wow, that last trial was a cakewalk. Like, the boss fight was kind of a joke... which made significantly more sense, when I fought the recycled boss in its original context. But it is kind of surprising that they never used either of the bee-themed bosses for these segments. Fighting both of them were a trial in their own right. I mean, I had a lot of trouble beating the second one before going to the trial in the first place. Oh well, at the very least, I managed to keep my promise and clear all of the original material added to the PS2 version, which was one of the main factors that convinced me to stream this in the first place.

By stream's end, I maxed out two of my three swords. Admittedly, that last bit of grinding wasn't particularly exciting. But to be honest, I always sort of intended for this to be a filler stream in the first place. So, at least this means that the next one should be an exciting (if not brief) conclusion to this playthrough.

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