Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys

Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (イースIV -ザ ドーン オブ イース-, Īsu Fō) is a 1993 Hudson Soft action role-playing video game developed for the PC Engine CD-ROM².[1][2] It is the fourth game in the Ys video game series.

Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
Developer(s)Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)Hudson Soft
Director(s)Tomonori Matsunaga
Designer(s)Taiichi Matsuda
Composer(s)Atsushi Shirakawa
Naoki Kaneda
Takahiro Tsunashima
Masaru Nakajima
SeriesYs
Platform(s)PC Engine CD-ROM²
Release
  • JP: December 22, 1993
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

The Dawn of Ys was released in 1993 and was one of two games released under the title of Ys IV, the other being Tonkin House's Ys IV: Mask of the Sun for the Super Famicom.[3] The two games share the same setting, but Hudson took more liberties with its presentation in The Dawn of Ys, and two unique games resulted.

Plot

Ys IV takes place two years after the events of Ys II, and before the events of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys.

As the game begins, Adol has returned to the town of Minea, where Ys I began. After hanging around for a while and conversing with old friends, he decides to set sail for the overseas land of Celceta.

Gameplay

Ys IV returns to the style of play used in Ys I and II.[4] The gameplay area is viewed from a top-down perspective, and the player attacks enemies by running into them to cause damage. Adol gains experience from defeating enemies, and gaining experience serves to raise his strength, as in the previous games. The Magic system introduced in Ys II is also brought back for this game.

Development

Ys series creators Nihon Falcom Corporation licensed its development to Hudson Soft.

Music

The original music was composed by Falcom Sound Team J.D.K. members Atsushi Shirakawa, Naoki Kaneda, Takahiro Tsunashima, and Masaru Nakajima.

As was the case with Hudson's CD-ROM² versions of Ys I & II and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, The Dawn of Ys CD-DA tracks were arranged by Ryo Yonemitsu. Yonemitsu did not arrange the entire soundtrack for the game itself, as many tracks were programmed for the console's internal sound chip by Osamu Narita, but he did cover every track for the Perfect Collection Ys IV CD series. (see below)

Soundtrack releases for Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys are as follows:

  • Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys J.D.K. Special (1993): Contains the original FM sound source of the music made by Falcom Sound Team J.D.K.. This album predates both The Dawn of Ys and Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, and the sound quality is akin to Falcom PC-98 games.
  • Falcom Special Box '95 (Disc 3 - Ys IV J.D.K. Special Part II) (1993): A collection of tracks left off the first J.D.K. Special, along with a number of "lost tracks" never used in-game.
  • Perfect Collection Ys IV -The Dawn of Ys- Vol. 1 (1994): Contains Ryo Yonemitsu's arrangements of the first third of Ys IV's soundtrack.
  • Perfect Collection Ys IV -The Dawn of Ys- Vol. 2 (1994): Contains Ryo Yonemitsu's arrangements of the middle third of Ys IV's soundtrack.
  • Perfect Collection Ys IV -The Dawn of Ys- Vol. 3 (1994): Contains Ryo Yonemitsu's arrangements of the last third of Ys IV's soundtrack.

Reception

Japanese game magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 29 out of 40.[1]

French magazine Joypad gave it 96%.[5]

References
  1. "イースIV The Dawn of Ys [PCエンジン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  2. PC Engine Fan 1993 june Archived 2017-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, p. 12
  3. Massey, Tom. "Chronicles of Ys: A Series Retrospective". eurogamer.net. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  4. Massey, Tom. "Inside Ys: Nihon Falcom Interview". eurogamer.net. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  5. "Import NEC/PCEngine: Ys:IV". Joypad (in French). No. 28. France. February 1994. p. 135.
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