I've played Ys Origins once, which means I've played it thrice! Origins is the only side story in the Ys franchise because it doesn't star our best friend forever, Adol. In fact, he's not even mentioned because he's not alive. It takes place 700 years before he steps foot on Erestia, where Ys I is established. It tells the story of how all that double feature came to be. It stars two (and only two) people, and both are vastly different in personality and play style. But I'll get to that in a moment. For now, though, I boot up a new game, select Yunica, and we see an anime cutscene giving us the backstory on the backstory.
A French lady tells us that the land of Ys (pronounced Yees) was besieged by demons. They came in search of the Black Pearl, a magical artifact held by the twin goddesses of Ys that does something with cleria ore. The goddesses, Reah and Feena, rose the last sanctuary of the Yesians, Solomon Sanctuary, to the sky, along with the six priests of Ys. It was the last hope of humanity. In response, the demons constructed a tower to reach the floating landscape. This war was far from over. And then goddesses went missing. A search party involving a representative from all six families was sent to the earth below to find the sisters. As the teleportation bubble began its descent, a beam of pure energy shot out from a top the tower, and several smaller white bubbles exploded across the land. Our story begins here.
But how do I want to write this? I can't write a diary because there's no Adol, and a simple "walkthrough" is boring. I'm ninety six games into this blog, and I've never done a narrative story. Let's write a book or two!
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A young girl with braids lies in the mud of Esteria. She is a member of the search party seeking the missing twin goddesses, Leah and Feena. She finally wakes up and examines her surroundings. After noticing her butt hurts, she realizes she's reached her destination, albeit the landing wasn't precise, and she's in a slightly wrong location. But the Tower of Darm, a massive spire constructed by demons to reach the holy land of Ys, is in the distance. Closer, still, is an old friend.
The Rods Tree, a sacred being on Ys, is nearby. The young girl has met the Roda before but reintroduces herself as Yunics Tovah, the granddaughter of one of the six priests of Ys. Yunica knows this is the older Roda, and he remembers the young girl. The two converse for a time, and the Roda tells us Yunica's father was swallowed up by the demonic miasma. He remained on the surface to buy time for the ascent of Ys. But this does not mean he is dead. As for the matter at hand, Roda senses lingering energy of the goddesses in Darm Tower as well as several members of the broken up search party. Roda's speech suddenly becomes fragmented to Yunica. She lacks any magical aptitude, and the miasma is rising again. She says her farewells to the tree and advances to the tower.
She's not alone on the first floor. Three of her allies, Dino, Eolia, and Father Superior Shion, are beset by demons, but none of them are attack mages. Yunica jumps into the fray, and her large axe makes surprisingly quick work of the squad before her. The three return to the entrance, and the four discuss their next moves.
Shion, the de jure leader of the group, tells Dino, a teleport mage, to find the other members of the search party. Eolia will stay with Shion to purify the area and prepare for the search party. Yunica was also a part of this group, but she's an overly curious girl. She asks Shion if she can scout out the nearby floors to gain some combat experience. While her father is a famed Holy Knight of Ys, she's just a novice. She promises to remain nearby, and Shion grants the wish. Eolia hands Yunica a crystal, and Father Superior informs her that the "horrific and ugly" demon statue before them is actually a statue of the goddesses. He proves this by touching the rock with the crystal, transforming it into a symbol of radiance. The crystal also allows for transportation, and the images are the anchors for destination. Yunica apologizes to the beautiful statue, but there's another gift. Eolia hands her a shell... She describes it as a way to communicate long distances. If either party needs to speak to each other, it can be done via this Lila Shell.
Chapter One: The Wailing Blue
And with the equipment in her hand and her fierce determination in her heart, she began to "scout" the Darn Tower before her. Demons, corrupt statues, and mages stood before her, but her great axe laid waste to them all. Along the way, she encountered stronger, red versions of these creatures. Defeating them brought down evil forcefields that blocked the path to much needed treasure. In one room, a floor switch brought up several stones Yunica tried to jump across. The final leap was too long, so she had to find a new way.
After finding a way to a balcony, which allowed Yunica to see the devastation of her homeland, Yunica found a Cerulean Flabellum in a chest. Before figuring out what it did, she was joined by a strange creature. This was her first interaction with the roos, a sacred beast of Ys. They were once innocent, but the demon miasma changed them. Despite that, they're still docile creatures. Yunica tried to have a conversation with the roo, but she doesn't speak the language. Fortunately for her, the language of hunger is universal. After hearing the beast's stomach rumble, she gave the poor creature a Roda Fruit. As thanks, the roo empowered Yunica's axe!
The Cerulean Flabellum allows the wielder to access wind magic. In Yunica's case, she spins around, harming everything in a wide arc around her. But it also allows her to float across long gaps, such as the one at the end of the first jumping puzzle.
As we traversed this new section, she came to a magic trap. The middle of the room held a teleporter that sucked all creatures into it. Rather than slay the intruder, it brought them backwards in the tower. Yunica thought the trap was too complex for the average demon and explored the new area. This new path brought the girl to fork. One path was locked, and the otherside unlocked it. After doing so, she found two strangers.
Yunica is a naive girl. She saw two people, a man and a woman, speaking about chasing a sorcerer through the halls. Yunica thought these were people left behind when Ys rose and asked them to return to the entrance. They laughed at her and called her a hick. Tired of this diversion, they called forth a strong demon and fled.
Yunica faced off against Vagullion. Vagullion attacks by breathing a poisonous mist or with one ferocious lunge. After doing so, it splits into several dozen bats and roams the room. Yunica had to time her attacks before the attack, which is dangerous, or in the short window after, which is tedious. As it reaches low health, the bats can fork two Vagullions, each performing a different attack.
With the creature dead, Yunica gave chase to the strangers but found nothing but a Blue Moon Crest. There was a relief for it in the teleportation trap destination. Placing it there brought the young girl to a key and a mask. The key unlocked a room in the Wailing Blue, and the mask let her see secret passages but hid living creatures. Behind the locked door were bats and a room that was only visible with the mask on. Se heard a voice but could not see the source. The voice instructed her to take the mask off... And inside the room was a member of the search party.
Rico Gemma was wounded, but it was nothing the white mage couldn't heal. He said he was hurt when the two strangers tried to kill him. Yunica called Eolia. As thanks for the aid, Rico gave Yunica a necklace that weakened the effects of magic on the user. This allowed her to overcome the gravity field of the teleportation trap and kill the four horcruxes. And then someone worse than the strangers appeared.
Roy was Yunica's commanding officer. Her and his second in command, Romona, came looking for our trainee holy knight, but it was Roy who scolded her. He called her a novice and told her off for rushing headlong into danger. And she wasn't even supposed to be in the group. She forced herself in and barely even made it into the training. When asked why she wanted to join the holy knights, Yunica's response was, "I love Feena and Reah." This is, apparently, silly. Yunica told them about Rico, and the two COs went to get him to safety. They also demanded Yunica meet them at base and left. Yunica agreed, but she's a rather stubborn girl. There's nothing wrong with a little more scouting. One more statue couldn't harm anything...
Battling through armored knight demons and slimes, Yunica found new boots. She also stumbled upon a broken piece of a relief painting, and it was a trap. Her well sharpened axe made quick work of the three knights.
The Beast Emblem unlocked a door at the end of the Waiting Blue. She entered and noticed that it could make a new base camp. She thought about taking a rest, but a different nightmare fell from heaven than the type one wouldn't expect. It scared her at first, and she thought about fleeing. But she had enough courage to fight. She offered a prayer to the goddesses and asked her father to watch over her before heading into battle.
Velagunder was a two part monstrosity. Yunica had to wail on the lower part while avoiding the poison spit, fire beam, and the rare fire spin. It also spits up green slimes. After enough damage, the demon would get dizzy. This allowed Yunica to (poorly) climb the Velagunder and attack the weak part. She had to do this a few times.
Yunica didn't know how she survived, but she did. The stairs behind the battlefield rose, and they led to a new section of Darm Tower, the Sunken Prison.
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I'm gonna hate writing all of this...Ys
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