2025 Special - Ys 4: Mask of the Sun

"Well, let's get this over with."

Would you look at that. I just saved myself a boatload of trouble by saying exactly what I wanted to say about Ys 4: Mask of the Sun. In less than five hours, this Action RPG had become an obligation. No doubt part of the issue can be attributed to the massive shadow cast by Ys 4: Dawn of Ys. That... that was an astonishing piece of work, fantastic in every way. Yes, it certainly benefitted from being on a CD, with hundreds of megs available for storing high-quality music, voice-acting, and lavish cutscenes/artwork at every turn. A mere Super Famicom cartridge just can't compete, and that's fine. Totally understandable. Tonkinhouse didn't need a gargantuan amount of space to create a game packed with dungeons that are fun to explore, bosses that are thrilling to fight, and... 

Let me just get to the heart of the issue right here and now. This adventure just wasn't all that compelling. I won't fault the story and characters, because they served their purpose sufficiently. However, the world felt very small, very rushed. The supposedly massive Celceta forest consisted of six or seven screens. Dungeons were linear to a fault, with next-to-nothing in the way of puzzle-solving or even detours. Equipment upgrades were often placed so that Adol would literally trip over them as he trekked through each locale. I can't recall anything noteworthy from even the final dungeons. The Citadel is large and has winding passages. That's it. Iris tower has a "teleporter maze" that might as well have been a straight line when compared to the other Ys games. 

Adol's tiny quest still manages to take about five hours, and that's due to all of the grinding. Consider it a process wherein you enter the first screen of a new area, farm whatever's nearby until they stop giving 10 or more experience per kill, then move on to the boss. Again, dungeons end quickly, so chances that you'll reach a sufficient level to face the boss via natural means are nil. I mean, the grind isn't horrendous or anything. Murdering over 300 mimics just to hit the level cap wasn't that much of a bother. Heck, I even came up with a little route for it.

I think that maybe I just have a higher tolerance for grinding than most. Whatever the case, a large chunk of Ys 4: Mask of the Sun is spent doing exactly that. Now, the possibility exists that bosses could be defeated at less-than-ideal experience levels, and I applaud anyone who takes on the added challenge. Personally though, I don't think the bosses here are worth that kind of effort.

Forgive me, I just got slightly ahead of myself. Let's hold off on boss discussion for a second and talk combat. What's here is extremely basic, with only the faintest inklings of ambition. When I say basic, I mean Ys 1 basic. Adol can only move in four directions. I'm not sure of the circumstances, whether it's a matter of equipment / level or what, but enemies will either take chip damage when attacked dead-on, or they'll unflinchingly push Adol back, damaging him all the while. Really though, it doesn't matter. What also doesn't matter is the magic system, which allows the protag to shoot projectiles depending on what sword he has equipped. I used this once, accidentally. 

Those faintest inklings of ambition take the shape of enemies that fire projectiles. There are a couple of wild plants in the forest that will spit venom that travels around and towards Adol. A centaur, or at least I think it was a centaur, uses a bow & arrow. The final dungeon had a couple of floating eyes that shot lasers. Oh! Adol can even be poisoned! It happens in one area and never again. Clearly, the ingredients to do something - anything - interesting were lying around, but practically nothing was done with them.  

Bosses in this game were predictable, usually dull, and only challenging in the sense that Adol could get clipped by something random and lose almost all of his health in seconds. Some encounters can't even be called bosses. At one point, Adol will fight a bunch of soldiers in a locked room. Later on, he'll do the same thing, except it's dragons instead of soldiers. Also, the dragons don't breathe fire or anything. Needless to say, the excitement I'd usually have for fighting a boss had evaporated entirely by the end of the game. The final boss is just obnoxious. Half the time, you can't even attack him because of story reasons. An awkwardly paced finale seems a fitting end to this game.

I'll admit my expectations going into Ys 4: Mask of the Sun weren't high. If nothing else, I was hoping to get a quest that was mediocre yet pleasant and showed an occasional flash of brilliance. Instead, this is Ys at its most banal. Don't get me wrong, what's here is still far more playable than a few of the Action RPGs I've covered this year. That said, what's also here is tiring and repetitive. All that remains is the false feeling that Ys needs to "evolve" or "change". No, all Ys needs is a great game that takes advantage of its unique qualities.