Ys: The Ark of Napishtim

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim
North American PS2 boxart
Developer(s)	Nihon Falcom Konami (PS2, PSP)[1] Hudson Soft (PS2, PSP)[1]
Publisher(s)	Nihon Falcom (PC) Konami (PS2, PSP) XSEED Games (Steam, GOG.com)
Series	Ys
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Mobile phone
Release date(s)	Windows JP: September 27, 2003 WW: April 28, 2015[2] Windows Vista JP: March 29, 2007 PlayStation 2 NA: February 22, 2005 JP: March 10, 2005 EU: September 16, 2005 PlayStation Portable AS: March 8, 2005 JP: January 19, 2006 NA: February 28, 2006 EU: September 29, 2006 AUS: October 6, 2006 Mobile JP: March 22, 2005
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Sound	OGG Vorbis – 16-bit 44.1kHz stereo
Display	640x480 and up, 16-bit (High Color) and up

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (イースVI -ナピシュテムの匣-, Īsu Shikkusu -Napishutemu no Hako-) is a Japanese action RPG developed and published by the Nihon Falcom Corporation, and the sixth installment in the Ys video game series. It was first released in 2003 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers. Not counting the Eternal/Complete remakes of Ys I & II, it was the first new Ys game released by Falcom in eight years. The name Napishtim is a reference to the character Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Ys was ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and to the PlayStation Portable in 2006 by Konami for worldwide release. It was the first English release of the series since Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. In 2015, an English translation of the Windows version was released on April 28 via Steam, the Humble Store and GOG.com.^[3]

Gameplay

Ys VI expands on the mechanics introduced in Ys III and V in that players are given much more control over Adol including the ability to jump and control his attacks ^[4] Areas are presented in 3D graphics. Character, monster and minor bosses are presented using pre-rendered 3D sprites (except in the PS2 version, which uses 3D models). Larger bosses are presented using full 3D models.

Plot

The story begins after Adol's ship is attacked by a fleet of Romun ships. Forced to sail into an unknown area, they encounter a large storm. Adol is swept off the vessel while trying to rescue a fellow sailor and washed ashore by the vortex that surrounds the Canaan Islands. He is found, unconscious, by the nieces of the chieftain of the nearby Rehda village, Olha and Isha.(They are the daughters of his brother that died when battling with fellow Redha against the Wandering Calamity)The girls take him to their village and lay him to rest in their Uncle Ord's house. Adol hears them talking about him and wakes up briefly, afterwards going back to sleep because of his exhaustion. His adventure then begins.

Releases

PC

The initial release of the game was the "Limited Edition". After this sold out, Falcom released a standard edition of the game with some new features. Two new difficulties and a Time Attack mini-game where the player fights through all the game's bosses were added. However, there was never a patch or upgrade released to initial buyers, so players wanting these new features had to buy the game again. Years later, Falcom would similarly add features to Ys Origin; this time, however, initial buyers were offered an upgrade disc for the cost of shipping. The "PC Vista version" is the same as the Standard Edition, with support for Windows Vista.

PlayStation 2

Konami made several additions and changes when porting the game to the PlayStation 2. The most notable were the inclusion of both English and Japanese voice acting to all characters (including NPCs) and several new optional areas referred to as "Alma's Trials." While the Japanese voice acting could be selected in the NTSC-U version, the PAL version had all Japanese voice acting removed.^[5][6] Konami also added new FMV sequences, though the original animated sequences could still be selected through a code. Blood and gore effects were removed due to console games requiring a rating. Lastly, they changed the character and monster graphics from pre-rendered 3D sprites to fully polygonal 3D models. While this allowed for much better animation, it also changed Adol's appearance based on his equipment.

PlayStation Portable

The PlayStation Portable port does not include any of the changes of the PS2 port except for the removal of blood and gore effects. However, the European and North American versions came with a new set of bonuses including some extra fetch-quests that unlock a few mini-games and an image/media gallery. These were later included in a "Special Edition" re-release in Japan. However, the game is noted for having particularly long and frequent load times. Voice-acting was never included in this version.

Music

Soundtrack releases for The Ark of Napishtim include:

• Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim Original Sound Track (2003): The complete soundtrack to Ys VI.
• The Songs of Zemeth - Ys VI Vocal Collection (2005): A small collection of vocal arrangements of Ys VI tracks. Included is a second disc which contains vocal-free versions of these arrangements.

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PC PS2 PSP EGM N/A 7.33/10[7] N/A Eurogamer N/A 6/10[8] N/A Famitsu N/A 24/40[9] N/A Game Informer N/A 7.5/10[10] 6.75/10[11] GamePro N/A [12] N/A Game Revolution N/A C[13] N/A GameSpot N/A 7.5/10[14] 6.7/10[15] GameSpy N/A [16] [17] GameZone N/A 7.9/10[18] 6.8/10[19] IGN N/A 7.8/10[20] 5.6/10[21] OPM (US) N/A [22] [23] Detroit Free Press N/A [24] N/A Aggregate score Metacritic 76/100[25] 72/100[26] 64/100[27]

The PlayStation 2 and PSP versions received "mixed or average reviews", while the PC version later received "generally favorable reviews", all according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.^[25][26][27] In Japan, Famitsu gave the PS2 version a score of one six, one seven, one six, and one five, for a total of 24 out of 40.^[9]

References

External links

• Ys: The Ark of Napishtim at MobyGames
• Official website