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So a few days ago I beat Ys: Memories of Celceta on my PS Vita.  It was a fun game, but not near as good as Ys Seven on PSP.  One of the reasons why I liked Ys Seven so much was it had a fantastic and memorable soundtrack.  One of the best I’ve heard in recent memory.  The Vita Ys game wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as memorable.  So now I’m going to try and do something I’ve never done before here: write a blog and post videos of music from Ys Seven that you can listen to.  (Yeah this is kind of a filler blog)  I hope I can get it to work!  Here goes nothing!

If you’re not familiar with Ys games (pronounced ‘ease’), they are a series of action adventure titles from game developer Falcom that have been around since the mid to late 80s!  Falcom is more prominent in Japan, but you may have heard of some of their games.  They did PSP games like Trials in the Sky and Gurumin, NES games like Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard, and of course, the Ys series.  Thanks to game companies like Atlus and XSEED, most of the Ys games have made it to the US in some form or fashion. 

Most of the Ys games star Adol Christin, a red-headed swordsman who goes on adventures.  Usually he is shipwrecked on some land (they even joke about how often this happens in later games), and must solve some world threating crisis.  Most of the Ys games are 2-D top down viewed action adventures.  They are a lot like Zelda games except with more of an emphasis on action rather than puzzle solving, and there are more RPG elements, too.  Another tradition of Ys games is that they have very driving, energetic soundtracks.  This started with the very first games, and the cool thing is the first two games had music composed by Yuzo Koshiro.  He is best known for the music in Streets of Rage and Actraiser, but his music in Ys games were also great.  In fact, we’ll start with one of his songs from Ys 2, which is one of my favorites.

Ys II Intro

This intro is from the Turbo-Grafix CD version, but there are other remixes of this intro on the PC, MSX, and even the Famicom.  Later there were remakes on the DS and PSP that are also good, so if you like the song, be sure to check out the others as well.  While I like Ys 1 and 2, I really can’t recommend them to everybody since these titles were made in the 80s, some of the gameplay elements are a bit archaic.  But man, this intro song really gets you pumped for an adventure full of getting lost in mazes and trying to defeat enemies that are way stronger than you!

Mother Earth Altego

OK now we’ll talk more about Ys Seven.  It’s a PSP game and the one I’d recommend most if you are a Ys newbie.  You can have a party of three on the screen at once, and since they all wield different weapons, it reminds me of a fast-paced Secret of Mana.  Mother Earth Altego is an awesome song, and what’s cool is that this is the overworld music, too!  Which is good since you’ll be hearing it a lot!

Reveal the Way to Go

About a little more than halfway through Ys Seven, when the plot gets thicker and things get dire, they change up most of the overworld music to this song.  While I don’t like it as much as Mother Earth Altego, this is still a pretty cool, driving tune.

Smashing Through the Mountain Path

At one point in the game, you have to climb a treacherous mountain, and this is the music they play in that area.  I like the progression of this piece, as it starts out fairly soft and gets more energetic as it goes on.  It really makes you feel like your climbing a mountain full of danger!

Prayers to the Breath of Wind

Another cool thing about Ys Seven is that each town gets a different piece of music.  They don’t just play the same whiny town theme every time.  After you climb the mountain, you come to this isolated town full of windmills and goats, and it has kind of a Norwegian feel to it.  And the song they play here really exemplifies that.

Lost Harmony Among People

This is another town theme that you’ll encounter way late in the game.  I really like it when video games use simple piano melodies.  Sometimes less is more.  This sad, haunting tune sounds like something you’d hear in a classic Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger title.

Place Where Souls Return

This is the final dungeon music!  You know things are getting serious now!  After hearing all these songs, if you don’t want to play Ys Seven by now, there’s something wrong with you!  (just joking)

Ys: Memories of Celceta: Underground Ruins

So even though I liked Ys Seven much more than Memories of Celceta on the Vita, the latter game did have some good tunes.  They just were not as memorable as Ys Seven’s.  But just to show that there are no hard feelings, we’ll conclude with a song from the last game.  They play this song during one of the dungeons that you enter as you try and cross a huge river.  I’ll probably talk more about this Ys game when I write my Vita blog later on next month.

And that’s all for now!  I hope you enjoyed this.  Ys Seven is actually one of my top favorite PSP games, and if you get a chance to play it, I recommend that you do!  There are lots of other cool Ys songs besides these, but these listed here are just some of my favorites.  Later!  --Cary