Ys - The Ark of Napishtim (USA) ISO

This game right here is what sold me on the PS2. I played a demo in a store well over a decade ago now and I almost instantly fell in love with it. Thus sparked my love of the Ys series of games.

If you've followed the series, you'll know that this poor bastard has been shipwrecked or otherwise lost at sea THREE times in his young life. If I were him, I'd swear off sea voyages for the rest of eternity.

The game starts kind of oddly, especially if you don't know much about the series, but the beautiful part of it is that you don't need to know the backstory to enjoy this game.

Adol and his faithful companion Dogi The Wall-Crusher, find trouble in a port town and have to flee before they're arrested. They get on a friend's ship (One-Eyed Ladoc, a well renowned pirate,) and they weigh anchor.

Unfortunately they find themselves chased by the navy of the country they were fleeing. Unable to shake their pursuers Ladoc directs their ship into the Vortex, a horrendous, perpetual storm that no one has ever managed to escape from.

Just prior to enter the Vortex, the pursuing ships catch up and open fire. At some point Adol winds up falling off the ship, he later awakes on an island with a strange child looking at him. Thus his newest adventure begins.

This game has decent music and sound effects (memorable enough that I can still recall some of them after so many years,) good graphics (some of the cut-scenes are beautiful,) and phenomenal game play.

It's a 3D action-RPG with classic leveling RPG attributes, it has an equipment system but the weapons are a little static. You start with a steel weapon, then get a blue Emelas sword. Eventually you find red and yellow Emelas swords too (In order, they are Livart, Blirante and Ericcil.) These swords play a role if you're playing on Inferno difficulty, as some of the enemies are ONLY vulnerable to specific weapons then.

The story is the standard trope for the Ys series, and while it may be common and somewhat cliche, it's still an enjoyable series. You also encounter some characters in future releases of the series.

If you've enjoyed any of the other games in the Ys series, you'll like this game just as much (if not more, it's still one of my favorite games in the series.)