Ys II Special - The Forgotten Ys Game!

[Red Hairdo]

Uhm, maybe there's more than just one place where you can "cross" walls?

Dunno, but why not give it a try? ^^

[Ranma]

I will, thanks. I did find 5 or 6 places like that though.

[Ranma]

Okay, I found a girl who gave me some herb looking thing. She was sitting under a tree, but it doesn't do anything for Lilia. Any suggestions?

[Red Hairdo]

Hmmmm...do you have something which could be a Roda Nut? Maybe you could try looking for some under suspect-looking trees. You said you got a flower (I'm presuming that could be the Selceta Flower...is the flower blue?), so according to other Ys II games, you should bring to Dr. Flair a Roda Tree Nut/ Seed + Selceta Flower.

Well, actually I don't know, but I'm just trying to help.

[Ranma]

I've been looking around, clicking and running against everything I find. Thanks for the help though. The flower isn't blue though. Have you beaten the first boss yet? If you have go to where you fought him and go straight up, you'll find a garden like area. That's where I found it.

[Red Hairdo]

Uhm, no. I didn't play Ys II Special very much...yet. I'll go deeply into it sometime in November. Anyway thanks, I'll see that flower for myself when I play it then.

Seldane, didn't you go quite far with that game? Maybe you could let a hand to us here...

[FM-77AV]

He he, looks like I never removed the actual FILES that I had in the downloads section. You can still get it at the same link, namely here. And please, NO hotlinking to this file!

[Ranma]

Thanks, but I didn't need the game. I already had it. What I need is a way to get Lilia healthy again. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the HEAL item, but the game crashes whenever I try to take it.

[Brocksketchum]

Since I'm stuck on the Lilia part also, I'm thankful the quest isn't timed because I decided to stack up on beer and wine. 9 each, 18 in total.

What's the point of having SAVE under LOAD in dark blue letters if Adol can save only at an inn?

As for the HEAL item, I used it and it restores mana. My guess is that maybe Adol was supposed to get mana and some magic spell through some scripted event and by restoring it early before the event, it causes the game to explode.

EDIT: I think I countered my own theory. I just used MIND and my mana went to 100. Maybe HEAL mocks us? Urrgh!

Other than the language barrier, the save at inn thing, and paying gold to heal self, I'm reminded of why I like the Ys franchise: great music and painless leveling.

[FM-77AV]

I remember getting stuck at the Lilia part as well. Unfortunately I have no idea how I got past that point, it was a long time ago.

[Red Hairdo]

Think hard Seldane! >_< You HAVE to remeber

>.< Help us...

[Groenegel]

Hi
I have been playing this game for quite a while now (thanks a lot Seldane for unearthing this gem!!) and thought I could lend some help.

You need three items to cure Lilia :
_Selseta Flower (it is not called that way but the place you get it at is), past the boss in the mines
_Roda Fruit: pick it up in the Roda Woods; the entrance is in the hills north of the main field, not far from one of the secret areas
_herb (forgot the name): given by Aisia in the Illusion Woods southeast of the main field; to access this you need to equip a branch-looking item one of the villagers gives you (I think it is Alin, the girl with the piano)

Not sure to whom you should deliver them though (the doctor's assistant or Banoa's house directly)

Generally speaking, when you are stuck like this you should try showing up at each house and see if the dialogue changes, check if you are given an item, and if you are granted access through previously blocked paths. Do not bother with those "secret areas" (the ones with eerie music and strong enemies) as they generally contain stuff unessential to the game (well except one really, but I don't think it is supposed to be secret to begin with)

[Red Hairdo]

So, now that I'm on "vacation", I started to play this game seriously.

Groenegel pointed some important stuff. Thanks to him I may be able to get to the Illusion Woods (how does he know the places/ people's name? o.o is he Korean?...Cool anyway! )

Anyway, I may be posting on this thread kind of regularily.

Also, Seldane: You said in your review that MANTRA released many patches for the game (many created more bugs, though fixed some others). So, if that's the case, do you have them? If so, would you mind to upload them here?

[FM-77AV]

The game's already patched.

[Red Hairdo]

Uhm, well...that means there are bugs which I can't fix/ go through using DOSBox.

By the way, now I recognize this game can be easily considered the best Ys II version. (Only if it had voice acting, wasn't buggy and was in english...) Ys II from PCE is still my favorite, but I would clearly understand if someone (like you Seldane ) liked that version as the best.

Oh yeah, I don't think I would make a complete walkthrough, but I may probably make an "Itens Guide" and "Secret Places Guide" for Ys II Special. (With screenshots )
I'll be registering everything as I go through the game.

EDIT: -ance

[FM-77AV]

The game has its flaws (aside from the bugs), but overall, it is a pretty solid game. Great music, nice graphics, decent gameplay, excellent level designs, etc etc.

I personally think Ys II is a pretty weak game (even Ys 2 COMPLETE), and this is definitely an improvement. Ys II is definitely lacking game design-wise.

Oh and the game isn't compatible with DOS box. Many of the bugs you'll encounter are exclusive to DOS box and won't be encountered running it on a real DOS system. I suggest installing Windows 98 on Virtual PC and play it through that. Slow, but definitely compatible.

[Red Hairdo]

Hmmmm...Sounds great. Though that means I would have to "re-install" my PC though, right? Only if I had another PC...=/
Well, I may try it in someone's house someday.

Also, using other MS-DOS emulators wouldn't help?

[FM-77AV]

Nope, no need to re-install Windows.

All you need is Virtual PC (a freeware program from Microsoft, www.altavista.com will find it) and a Windows 98/95 CD-ROM. Install it on a virtual hard disk image (make it with VPC) and you can run it in a seperate window. Works rather well.

[Red Hairdo]

Ah, now that's better. =D Thanks Seldane.

Hmmm...I forgot to ask, but did you finish the game? If not, how far have you gone through it?

Also, I'll point one cool thing I noticed: In the game we can attack with the sword or just "bumping". Though you gain more experience when you "bump" in the enemy (sometimes it gives the same amount, though unlikely). You kind of earn the experience twice or maybe even more times. It seems that the more hits it is needed to kill the enemy with "bumping", the more is the earned experience.

[aksep]

Man, I was actually having a problem with Ys Complete running way too fast on my Athlon 3800+ and I somehow ran into this board.

I played Ys 2 Special with passion over 10 years ago. Prior to Ys 2 Special, I had played the first Ys on the PC (the Kyodai version) and Ys 2 Special was such a leap over that experience, I was simply floored. The dialogue was well fleshed out in terms of character developement, fields were vast and mazes were massive, populated with deliciously varied (by the mid 90's standard) monsters. Also the music, ending, opening were all great for its time.

The game was generally well received commercially but unfortunately it had to compete against Astonishia Story, one of two most popular Korean offline RPGs of all time, and as others have already mentioned, it contained some serious bugs - there was one bug which prevented you from entering the last temple. In addition, to this day there are people who strongly disagree with changes Mantra made to the game system and the story such as giving Adol real dialogue instead of the typical "Adol told them about the problem," etc. Also real hardcore Ys enthusiasts point out that it shouldn't even be considered a real Ys game since 1) there are clear mistakes in the story from misunderstanding of the original and it is basically a hotchpotch of Ys anime+ original game + new story(dwarfs? Elves???) 2) Nihon Falcom's involvement in the game was virtually non-existence.

There are some hidden stuff in the game, such as a powerful sword given to you by Dangoon, the mythical founder of Korea, and some hidden rooms, one of which was filled with developing team members, I believe it was in that water sewage/tunnel.

Here's the opening movie of the game, fast forward to the midpoint (around 3:40)

dory.mncast.com/mncHMovie.swf?movieID=10018345220070107124318&skinNum=1