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In late February 2006, Konami released Ys: The Ark of Napishtim for Sony’s PSP. This PSP title is actually a port of the PlayStation 2 version that was released nearly a year earlier. So, I guess the real question is how good is this port? While it is nice to see a new RPG added to the PSP collection, if given the choice between the PS2 and PSP versions, you might want to pick the PS2.
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The story in Ys: The Ark of Napishtim follows the series' hero, Adol Christin, as he embarks on a new adventure. When the game begins, Adol is found injured and washed up on a beach by two young siblings of the Rehdan tribe. The Rehdan are human-like creatures with large elf-like ears and furry animal tails. For the most part, the Rehdan aren’t too fond of humans, but they still decide to treat Adol and nurse him back to health. It’s a good thing too, because not long after, he stops a large monster from attacking one of the girls who had found him on the beach. Afterwards, the Rehdan chief and the rest of the tribe begin to trust Adol, who with the chief's blessings, sets out on his latest adventure.
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Playing through Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, much of the game will be spent on battling your enemies in combat. The game's combat is spent in real time, and there is not an actual battle screen, nor are there random battles. Instead, the game features a hack-and-slash formula that is somewhat similar to Baldur's Gate, and takes place on the actual field. For the most part, the combat is basic and easy to use, but at the same time pretty entertaining. Aside from the directional buttons, there are really only two main buttons that will be used in the game, the X button that allows Adol to jump and the square button that allows for the hack-and-slash action.
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Along the course of your adventure, Adol will also come across three powerful elemental swords. The first of which is the wind sword, and it will be obtained very early on in the game. These swords are known as Emelas swords, and can be strengthened by collecting emel that is randomly dropped by enemies. As the swords are strengthened, different sword skills and sword magic will become available. Once a sword has reached a certain level, you will be able to use the sword magic by pressing the circle button. Similarly, the sword skills are obtained when a sword has reached a certain level, but are performed by using the square button in a certain combination. Of course, these abilities will definitely come in handy, because as you progress through the game many of the enemies will become increasingly more difficult, but the only problem is the length of time this will take. And no, I don’t mean because it will be difficult to obtain emel, I mean because of the length and frequent amount of load times.
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Easily one of the biggest flaws of the game is the length and the amount of load times. These load times are occasionally fairly short, but others can last up to 15 seconds or so. Of course, it wouldn’t be that bad if there were only a few long load times, but you will frequently encounter this problem. Whether it's moving from screen to screen, walking through a door, or even gaining a level, you're going to have to sit through a lot of loading. In fact, once your character gains a level the screen will completely freeze for a moment, and then a few seconds later a flash of light and the words “level up” will appear. These long load times can have some major affects on the actual gameplay, and it feels like you’re waiting for load times more often than you are actually playing the game.
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Included exclusively for the PSP version of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim are new mini-games, including a time attack trial where you will battle different bosses found throughout the game. While the mini-games might add a little extra playability to the game, most of them aren’t nearly interesting enough to really hold your interest.
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The overall graphics of the PSP version of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim are somewhat fulfilling. Each of the character sprites is fairly well done, and most of the enemies don’t look too bad either. The game also features some large and somewhat well-designed environments.
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As far as the sound goes, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is somewhat of a letdown. The game has some pretty good tunes and an overall strong soundtrack. However, there isn’t even one word of spoken dialogue. Of course, this normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal, considering that the PS2 version of the game is fully voice-acted, it’s a little annoying.
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Overall, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is an interesting hack-and-slash RPG for the PSP. However, the game suffers drastically due to some long and extremely annoying load times. However, if you’re desperate enough to add an action-RPG to your PSP collection, then Ys: The Ark of Napishtim might be a good choice. Still, I’d recommend choosing the PS2 version over the portable.
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