Ys Book I & II

Ys Book I & II is an enhanced remake of the first two Ys games. This game marks the first time that western audiences got a chance to play Ys II, as only Ys I got a western release prior to this game.

Sub-Page#

Bugs

Special Passwords#

At the title screen select "Continue", then select "Input the password" and select any save game slot.

Enter one of the below passwords, then hit "end". A special complex sound effect will play, along with a warning message about it being a wrong password; select the "No" option, and back out to the save game load screen.

Debug Menu#

To activate the debug menu in-game, hold I or II while pressing SELECT.

• WHERE: Enable/Disable coordinate display in the lower border area (above stats).
• WARP: Warp to various areas.
• WARP2: Warp to other areas.
• ADD EXP: Add 100 experience.
• ADD GOLD: Add 1000 gold.
• PASS: Enable/Disable solid object collision detection.
• ENTRY: Enable/Disable area entry points.
• PSG: Play PSG/chiptune music and sound effects.

Option Menu#

At the save game load screen, press Right, and "Start game story" will be replaced with "Option".

Note: The "BGM" and "Sound" menus contain multiple pages of content, scrollable via the Left and Right gamepad buttons.

BGM#

Play background music.

Sound#

Play sound effects.

Item#

Examine possible equipment and items.

Unused Audio#

"THEMA OF LILIA" is a sound chip rendition of Lilia's theme. This goes unused in favor of a CDDA version that features voice acting.

Regional Differences#

Graphics#

Japan	US

Compared to the Japanese version, the English version of Zalem is wearing more and her eye color is slightly different due to a palette change.

Enemy Stats#

Nearly every enemy (and a few bosses) have been altered for the English version of the game. According to Hiromasa Iwasaki, Ys: Book 1 & 2's director and main programmer, this was done due to his experience playing Western games and talking online with Western game players. He concluded that Japanese players see games mainly as entertainment, while American players also see them as a challenge to be overcome.

• "Level" refers to the cap at which Adol may obtain full experience from a monster when taking it out. If Adol's level is higher than the target's, the earned experience is reduced in half per each level (for example, if Adol is three levels higher than the target killed, he obtains 1/8th the normal experience). Higher level changes are marked in green since Adol can obtain more experience with those enemies than in the Japanese version.

• Some bosses do not include a strength stat because their attack does not involve physical collision.
• The names used are based off the Complete/Chronicles edition. The original manuals do have nearly-identical names, but the list is incomplete.
• Details marked in green indicate a stats nerf or rewards buff. Details marked in red indicate the reverse.

Book I#

• Enemy speed and gold values did not change. The changes make the first half of the game a bit harder in the English version, but less grinding is required due to the improvements in experience collected and the increase in monster levels.
• Adol's normal level is shown as 1-62, but the in-game data uses 0-61. Raw data is posted for comparison purposes.

Book II#

• Enemy speed values did not change. The changes made purchasing items easier, but raised the difficulty of monsters and made it more difficult to gain levels (with the exception of some bosses).
• Adol's normal level is shown as 1-62, but the in-game data uses 0-27 with Adol already having a minimum level of 34 before starting Ys-II. Raw data is posted for comparison purposes.
• Many enemies have more than one entry because they are used in more than one area, but often have different stats.

Adol's Stats#

Beginning at level 40, the experience requirements for levels differ between the Japanese and US versions, with the US version requiring less experience per level. This culminates in the level cap being one level higher, reaching 62 in the US version vs. 61 in the Japanese. Additional changes to stat bonuses on level up make the net effect that Adol's defense is quite a bit higher at max level in the US version.
Below is a table illustrating the differences; where there are changes, the Japanese version is listed first. Green arrows mean either fewer experience points are required in the US version, or the stat is higher at the corresponding level in the US version; red arrows mean the opposite. For level 62 US, the comparison is to level 61 in the Japanese version, comparing the capped values.
Note that the US experience values for level 51 to 53 are not typos. The game really does require 5000 experience for exactly one level before dropping to requiring 4000 for the next two, then reverting back to 5000 experience per level for the remaining levels.