This was the first Ys game I played that didn’t have an attack button so it took some getting used to. You simply walk into enemies to deal out damage. I thought this would be problematic but there is some strategy involved (you don’t want to walk DIRECTLY into enemies) and this makes attacking just as fast as games with an attack button as Adol has a quick gait to him.

The game is fairly linear as the layout mostly follows a town-path-town-path structure. By the time any backtracking is needed you have the ability to warp about. I don’t think this is a detriment at all as it allows the game to remain focused.

The translation itself is really good and fits inline with Ys games localized by XSEED. Nothing stands out as poorly written and this could easily pass as an official translation.

Unfortunately there seems to be 3 points in the game where the dialog box glitches and removes the top part of the border that surrounds the play screen (stats are located below this border on a black background, see screenshots posted on translation page). The first time this glitch occurs is just before meeting the elder in the tree village and the third time is just before the second-to-last boss fight; I can’t remember when it occurs the second time. Luckily this can be fixed my simply saving and resetting the game.

These glitches were experienced while playing on a real SNES, I’m not sure if they occur on emulators.

One final note: If you play this game before playing Ys I & II, be warned that there are numerous spoilers in the form of NPC dialog as they recount Adol’s previous adventures in the land.