Adol and the Secret Rings
Few things I forgot to mention last time about Ys III.
First is the Ring system. During the game, you will find five rings, each one does something different, but only two of them are useful. These are the Strength Ring, Shield Ring, Time Ring, Healing Ring, and Protection Ring. The last of these grants invincibility, which is the best ability in nearly every other Ys game, but it isn't here. Oh, no, it's great to use against Garland, provided you sitll have Ring energy after Balacetine Castle... More on that in a second.
But the Protection Ring drains Ring twice as fast as the other rings, and only helps in a small handful of situations. It does not help against the final boss at all, making it almost useless. But that's most rings in this game...
Time Ring slows down time... But really isn't useful in any situations that I've seen. Like the combat in this game needs to move any slower. Healing Ring WOULD be useful, but it trades Ring for HP at a 1:1 ratio, which is a lot less useful than it sounds, considering the only effective way to regain Ring is to recharge it IN TOWN. Otherwise, enemies only provide 1 Ring. Not so bad for the first three stages or so, but in Ballactine Castle... More on that in a second.
No, the useful rings are Strength and Shield. Strength, for killing bosses before they kill you, and Shield, for those few situations where you're going to die no matter what. Usually, though, most fights can be overcome with Strength. The game is almost utterly devoid of strategy as a result.
But now for my real issues, Ballactine Castle and the final battle.
Oh god, Ballactine Castle. Next to last area, and the last real dungeon in the game. An unforgivably long stage, with TWO minibosses, a troublesome area boss, and a metric ton of backtraking through dozens of boring, empty rooms, many of which are filled with traps. There are statues with axes, and spear traps. The axes will kill you, at level 16 with 255 defense, in three hits.
Spears are even better. They kill you in two hits.
I realize now why I got through this game without save states: Because you can save almost anywhere, on up to fifteen save slots, AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHY. It's even nice enough to relaod the last save you made. More games could use this, honestly...
(The save system is slightly glitched, however, in that, at least in Ballacetine Castle, enemies are not removed from memory when you load, so it's possible and indeed likely, to save where an enemy will be right on top of you when you load. Does contact with enemies causing damage still make sense? Really? There are some tropes I'd like us to hold on to. This isn't one of them.)
The bosses aren't difficult, as long as you abandon strategy for two of them, equipping the Strength Ring and getting right next to them. Garland is similar, though I used the Protection Ring to really give him the finger, but chances are, you could just use the Shield Ring.
Also, I suppose that you could backtrack from The Room of 1,000 Pillars, back to Redmont, to refill life anr Ring, as to that way face Galbalan with a full compliment... But fuck that, Ijust used save states.
But yeah. Galbalan. God. I don't even want to go into it. It's not enough that you have to kill his arms, then the only time you can damage him is while he's doing his strongest attack. It's not enough that contact with his body is lethal. No, as if that weren't enough, the floor cnostantly undulates, making proper jumping nearly impossible, and making hitting him more guesswork than anything else.
Yeah, this game is wretched. I'm just glad it was short, so I could get up to the final boss and say "Fuck it."
Sigh. I need good games.
Have a nice day, and enjoy your maids. They're more useful than the Protection Ring.
First is the Ring system. During the game, you will find five rings, each one does something different, but only two of them are useful. These are the Strength Ring, Shield Ring, Time Ring, Healing Ring, and Protection Ring. The last of these grants invincibility, which is the best ability in nearly every other Ys game, but it isn't here. Oh, no, it's great to use against Garland, provided you sitll have Ring energy after Balacetine Castle... More on that in a second.
But the Protection Ring drains Ring twice as fast as the other rings, and only helps in a small handful of situations. It does not help against the final boss at all, making it almost useless. But that's most rings in this game...
Time Ring slows down time... But really isn't useful in any situations that I've seen. Like the combat in this game needs to move any slower. Healing Ring WOULD be useful, but it trades Ring for HP at a 1:1 ratio, which is a lot less useful than it sounds, considering the only effective way to regain Ring is to recharge it IN TOWN. Otherwise, enemies only provide 1 Ring. Not so bad for the first three stages or so, but in Ballactine Castle... More on that in a second.
No, the useful rings are Strength and Shield. Strength, for killing bosses before they kill you, and Shield, for those few situations where you're going to die no matter what. Usually, though, most fights can be overcome with Strength. The game is almost utterly devoid of strategy as a result.
But now for my real issues, Ballactine Castle and the final battle.
Oh god, Ballactine Castle. Next to last area, and the last real dungeon in the game. An unforgivably long stage, with TWO minibosses, a troublesome area boss, and a metric ton of backtraking through dozens of boring, empty rooms, many of which are filled with traps. There are statues with axes, and spear traps. The axes will kill you, at level 16 with 255 defense, in three hits.
Spears are even better. They kill you in two hits.
I realize now why I got through this game without save states: Because you can save almost anywhere, on up to fifteen save slots, AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHY. It's even nice enough to relaod the last save you made. More games could use this, honestly...
(The save system is slightly glitched, however, in that, at least in Ballacetine Castle, enemies are not removed from memory when you load, so it's possible and indeed likely, to save where an enemy will be right on top of you when you load. Does contact with enemies causing damage still make sense? Really? There are some tropes I'd like us to hold on to. This isn't one of them.)
The bosses aren't difficult, as long as you abandon strategy for two of them, equipping the Strength Ring and getting right next to them. Garland is similar, though I used the Protection Ring to really give him the finger, but chances are, you could just use the Shield Ring.
Also, I suppose that you could backtrack from The Room of 1,000 Pillars, back to Redmont, to refill life anr Ring, as to that way face Galbalan with a full compliment... But fuck that, Ijust used save states.
But yeah. Galbalan. God. I don't even want to go into it. It's not enough that you have to kill his arms, then the only time you can damage him is while he's doing his strongest attack. It's not enough that contact with his body is lethal. No, as if that weren't enough, the floor cnostantly undulates, making proper jumping nearly impossible, and making hitting him more guesswork than anything else.
Yeah, this game is wretched. I'm just glad it was short, so I could get up to the final boss and say "Fuck it."
Sigh. I need good games.
Have a nice day, and enjoy your maids. They're more useful than the Protection Ring.