'I Want To Get into Ys, But I Don't Know Where to Start'

I guess you could say it's pretty "Ys-sy" to get into the franchise.

I knew a guy who said he won a facebook contest back in the day to have his name be in Ys 7 as a quest-giving NPC. I checked and sure enough, it's in there, even on the PC version.

Ys 6 was my first entry into this series and I never looked back.

Literally perfect timing for this, was looking into this recently.

I'd say if you are planning to play through the whole series then play in release order, starting with Ys Chronicles. If you just want to try it out, start with Ys VIII as it's the best game. Ys V and the older PC Engine games are more for hardcore Ys fans. But in the end it's Ys and not Trails, so you can start wherever you like.

I started at YS VII on the PSP and since then have been a lifelong fan.

Just restarted VIII on the switch, found a physical copy recently and had to scoop it up!!

Ys VIII is undoubtedly the best game for me to start with. The gameplay is fluid and dynamic while being modern. This game's soundtrack is also the reason why I became interested in Falcom games or J-RPGs in a broader sense, beyond just the well-known titles. Discovering Sunshine Coastline for the first time as a random YouTube recommendation was truly eye-opening. Especially when I realized it was just one of the early OSTs within the game, it dawned on me how great soundtracks can be in gaming experiences. That moment likely marked the beginning of my YouTube playlist dedicated to game OSTs. While waiting for Ys VIII to release in the West, I played Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim but never managed to finish it. As a first experience with the series, it felt kind of clunky to play, with mechanics like the Dash Jump causing some frustration that haunts me to this day. Nevertheless, the numerous great soundtracks in Falcom games still inspired me to play The Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel first, followed by Ys VIII. They remain some of my most favorite J-RPGs or even games I've ever had the chance to play.

Ys VIII is the only Ys game I've played (on the PS Vita of all things) and I love the hell out of it. Currently completing a new game plus run.

Great vid idea! I've only completed Ys Origins and I loved it! The graphics, the music, the combat. Chef's kiss

Celceta will always hold a special place in my heart since it was my first Ys game. Even after playing the rest, I still hold it in high regards. That said 8 is of course my favorite overall. Dana is just too precious and her theme still pops into my head randomly from time to time.

Bump combat is dope, you cant chance my mind.

I have play almost all of the Ys games (except Oath in Felghena and Ys V) and I have to said ys VII still have the most impact on me, the music , the charater, the gameplay and the story is perfect. I really like Tia and other Adol companies throughout the game, and when the ending hit in, my eyes tear up cause this is such a beautiful game to play. The other game that have strong impact on me is ys VIII (mostly because of Dana lol)

Y’s VII intro song goes so hard on those violin and guitar solos. I loved playing through it on my psp

My entry point into Ys was, like many, Ys VIII. I originally had the game on Vita, but my memory card died 30+ hours into the game and I lost all my save data right before reaching the final stretch of the story, and I couldn't bring myself to go through it all again for about 6 years. Fast foward to a few months ago, and following a successful and fun playthrough of Oath in Felghana, I made the decision to finally restart and complete Ys VIII on PC. Suffice to say, it might be my favorite video game of all time now. Those six years of anticipation and having to go through everything all over again did nothing to dampen how stellar an experience it was. I played Ys IX right afterwards, I'm nearing the end of Ys SEVEN now, and I'm planning on playing Ys X when that releases in October. To say I've become quite the Ys fan would be one hell of an understatement lmao.

I had heard of Ys but didn't know much about it....until I saw the Ys IX trailers and found this channel. I really enjoyed Ys IX and got the Ys VIII remaster. Now I'm looking forward to Ys X Nordics. As stated by others, these are stand alone adventures. There are only hints of previous adventures mentioned in dialogue, but nothing that makes you feel lost.

great video, i discovered teh Ys series back last year when i was searching for jrpgs to install on my PSP 3000 and then i found Ys VII, the gameplay immediately cought me, so i gave it a try, now Ys is my favorite jrpg franchise, after seven, i played the oath in felgana and Ys VI, now im currently playing origin Seven probablyu ll be my all time favorite, was such a joy to play, i loved every single thing in the game, and playing on a PSP as it was made to, it was a blast, def gonna play it again this year

YS 7 was my first entry into the series on my PSP. My god, did I love that game. So good and way ahead of its time.

My introduction was "Origin" in 2022. I didn't play it because it was the first game in the storyline and also the only one without Adol, but because I heared its soundtrack in a videogame radio stream. It was so amazing that I wanted to try this game and series. Now it's my favourite videogame series. In general I think most games work a entries, except III likely because of its insane difficulty from watching. The bumping games are the ones I have issues with.

Personally I started with Ys VIII after I had caught up with the entire trails franchise, with very limited knowledge of the lore (red hair guy with a sword who goes on adventures). I feel like it was a very good starting point, the graphics and artstyle will be familar to fans of Falcom's many other games, the story is really good, characters are memorable and the music is divine.