Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is an action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. It was first released in 2003 for Microsoft Windows. Not counting the remakes of "Ys I" & "II", it was the first new "Ys" game released by Falcom in eight years. The name "Napishtim" is a reference to the character Utnapishtim from the "Epic of Gilgamesh". The game was ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and to the PlayStation Portable in 2006 by Konami for worldwide release. It was the first English release of the series since "". In  2015, an English localization of the Windows version was released by Xseed Games. The game was used as a base for the 2021 free-to-play MMORPG by Restar Games. Gameplay. "Ys VI" expands on the mechanics introduced in "Ys III" and "V" in that players are given much more control over Adol including the ability to jump and control his attacks and various magics Areas are presented in 3D graphics. Character, monster and minor bosses are presented using pre-rendered 3D sprites (except in the PS2 version, which uses 3D models). Larger bosses are presented using full 3D models . Plot. The story begins after Adol's ship is attacked by a fleet of Romun ships. Forced to sail into an unknown area, they encounter a large storm. Adol is swept off the vessel while trying to rescue a fellow sailor and washed ashore by the vortex that surrounds the Canaan Islands. He is found, unconscious, by the nieces of the chieftain of the nearby Rehda village, Olha and Isha, who are the daughters of his brother that died when battling with fellow Redha against the Wandering Calamity. The girls take him to their village and lay him to rest  in their Uncle Ord's house. Adol hears them talking about him and wakes up briefly, afterwards going back to sleep because of his exhaustion. His adventure then begins. Releases. Windows. The initial release of the game was the "Limited Edition". After this sold out, Falcom released a standard edition of the game with some new features. Two new difficulties and a Time Attack mini-game where the player fights through all the game's bosses were added. However, there was never a patch or upgrade released to initial buyers, so players wanting these new features had to buy the  game again. Years later, Falcom would similarly add features to "Ys Origin"; this time, initial buyers were offered an upgrade disc for the cost of shipping. The "PC Vista version" is the same as the Standard Edition, with support for Windows Vista. The game was later released by Xseed Games via Steam on April 28, 2015. PlayStation 2. Konami made several additions and changes when porting the game to the PlayStation 2. The most notable were the inclusion of both English and Japanese voice acting to all characters (including NPCs) and several new optional areas referred to as "Alma's  Trials". While the Japanese voice acting could be selected in the NTSC-U version, the PAL version had all Japanese voice acting removed. Konami also added new FMV sequences, though the original animated sequences could still be selected through a code. Blood and gore effects were removed due to console games requiring a rating. Lastly, they changed the character and monster graphics from pre-rendered 3D sprites to fully polygonal 3D models. While this allowed for much better animation, it also changed Adol's appearance based on his equipment. PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation Portable port does not include any of  the changes of the PS2 port except for the removal of blood and gore effects. The European and North American versions came with a new set of bonuses including some extra fetch-quests that unlock a few mini-games and an image/media gallery. These were later included in a "Special Edition" re-release in Japan, although the game is noted for having particularly long and frequent load times. Voice-acting was never included in this version. It is not available digitally on the PlayStation Store, only through a physical UMD copy, which has no PlayStation trophies attached. Section::::"Ys VI  Online". "Ys VI Online", a free-to-play MMORPG, was released on Android and iOS in Japan on July 20, 2021. Reception. The PlayStation 2 and PSP versions received "mixed or average reviews", while the PC version later received "generally favorable reviews", all according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, "Famitsu" gave the PS2 version a score of one six, one seven, one six, and one five, for a total of 24 out of 40.