Ys Origin

Released in 2006 for PCs in Japan, this was the prequel episode to the entire series taking place seven hundred years prior to Ys I & II back to when Ys was still on the ground. So naturally, players didn't get to play as Adol Christin making it the first in the series to break with tradition. Interestingly enough, he would be added in later as a bonus for fans via an expansion disk.

I haven't had a chance to play this, but I should get it since I've heard that it's a lot like Oath – only with three new characters to pick from – and it also sounds pretty playable without having to understand Japanese. Reading up on more of what the game offers (as well as catching a few videos of captured gameplay), as well as news on a possible patch, it only has me more interested in simply diving into it as it is and worry about the story later.

You don't get to play as Adol in the main game, but there are three others to pick from with different fighting styles to make up for him.

Origin comes with three different characters with their stories and skills adding different dimensions to the actual gameplay. Instead of slashing away as Adol would have (although there is a character that seems to be a lot like him), players can pick from another character that favors speed to a magician that attacks with magical bullets. From what I've been able to read up on, each character has their own part to play in unraveling the entire story of the game and the gameplay seems geared towards that.

Another big difference was that the entire game takes place within Darm Tower. It sounds like the game could be boring because of this, but from what I've read so far, it sounds like someone had squeezed multiple dungeons into the building in order to keep it interesting.

The first release of the game would also be accompanied by an expansion disk released later on to owners willing to pay for shipping and handling. It came with an arena mode, alternate version of the main characters, and...Adol Christin as a selectable character in the Arena and Time Attack modes, and two new difficulty levels. The game would also be the last official XP product that Falcom would support.

In 2007, the Vista version was released, although from what I've read, it's essentially the same game only with Vista support meaning that it can still run under XP.