What's the best version of Ark of Napishtim?

[Deuce]

Fine. "Sloppy" works better.

[Ryos]

These Gamestop UMD cases are terrible by the way. I already broke one of the little clips that hold the game in when I took out. Official ones are a magnitude more sturdy.

One of the old tricks I use is to make them replace a case since they have a bunch in stock. They're still terrible cases, but my theory is if the case won't hold the game, it's up to Gamestop to give me a case that does. I found their UMD cases are the worst of the lot. Don't know if they had difficulty duplicating the official pattern or what but a good 70% of the cases I've had either won't hold the UMD or one of the clips breaks.

[fedaykin]

Ernst was an enjoyable duel, if about what I expected, but the last boss took me completely by surprise. We seem to have left the Ys Universe and entered a psychedelic disco simulator.

Overall, I enjoyed Ys 6 less than Oath and Seven, but it was still quite compelling and more than challenging enough for a man of my limited action skills (bacon dash jump). I also approve of random disco, mystic bosses and think that more games should have them.

That sounds like a forum thread actually! Ameno-Sagiro from Persona 4 is the only other absurdly trippy intervention that comes to my mind at the moment, but no doubt the Ark of Napishtim is only a single thread of a vast LSD-fueled tapestry of pain in RPGs.

[Chaosblade]

One of the old tricks I use is to make them replace a case since they have a bunch in stock. They're still terrible cases, but my theory is if the case won't hold the game, it's up to Gamestop to give me a case that does. I found their UMD cases are the worst of the lot. Don't know if they had difficulty duplicating the official pattern or what but a good 70% of the cases I've had either won't hold the UMD or one of the clips breaks.

I planned to order the cases regardless of the quality of the Gamestop one. I am far too OCD when it comes to this kind of stuff, I've bought official cases for GCN games, GBA and DS games, 360 games... now I'll have PSP cases too. Printed a bunch of covers too to replace Greatest Hits types and for my GBA cases. And now my Ark of Napishtim case too, but it's all grainy even though the original is the right resolution and color, so I'll try it again when I get more ink.

[Deuce]

Personally, I hated the final boss of Ys VI. Very anti-climactic, and the music was particularly awful (as was that of the Galba-Loa fight). It struck me as so dull and uninspired that I was surprised to see it in an Ys game.

In retrospect, Ys VI is one of my least favorites of the series. Most of the music is pretty bad (even when the composition is decent), there's far too much backtracking to be done and most of the level design isn't nearly up to par with the other games.

[fedaykin]

I can't argue with any of those points, Deuce, but I did find that the final boss had a certain charm in its own way. Fighting yet another winged bishie with a sword is certainly uninspired and, in that sense, trying to stop a demented weather machine/disco simulator that attacks you with laser strobe lighting was sort of original and amusing.

I concur that the Ark was anticlimactic, mainly on account of the final fight being so impersonal, but also because of the encounter design. Noob as I am, I only played on normal but the boss just didn't seem to be in a hurry to kill you at any point. The first phase, just circling round the lightshow and hitting orbs, didn't even feel like a boss fight. Comparing the "fight" to any of the other final boss fights I've played in the Ys series is, indeed, incredibly unflattering, but I give them a grudging acknowledgement of at least being a bit weird. So yes, I thought it was a bit crap compared to the excitement and tension of, say, Ys 7's Root ( my personal favourite final boss), but the absurdity of it all at least made me smile.

How did you feel about the Ernst battle, may I ask? I felt that the chaos of his rapid attacks and the fairies flying all over the place (plus his OST of course!) was worthy of an endgame Ys boss, even if he only has 1 phase. Of course, as my Oath in Felghana manual always helpfully reassures me, "maybe I just suck".

[Wyrdwad]

Personally, I hated the final boss of Ys VI. Very anti-climactic, and the music was particularly awful (as was that of the Galba-Loa fight). It struck me as so dull and uninspired that I was surprised to see it in an Ys game.

Oh, it is ON, man! "The Depth Napishtim" is my absolute #1 favorite Ys final battle theme, and one of my favorite pieces of Ys music of all time, topped ONLY by "Seal of Time" from Ys III/Felghana. It's a complex and amazingly well-composed piece of music that fits not only the mood of the fight, but the intensity of what the fight represents.

The sheer depth of things we disagree on never ceases to amaze me. (:

-Tom

[Deuce]

Oh, it is ON, man! "The Depth Napishtim" is my absolute #1 favorite Ys final battle theme, and one of my favorite pieces of Ys music of all time, topped ONLY by "Seal of Time" from Ys III/Felghana.

Two things.
1) "Seal of Time" is a lazy, obsessively literal and uninspired translation. Not your fault, as it's been out there for years. But it still sucks.
2) The Depth Napishtim may be perfectly fine music, on a technical level (though NOT on a production level... VI's soundtrack was played through a lousy synth, and it shows). But it's not Ys music, and in an Ys game, that's not okay.

The sheer depth of things we disagree on never ceases to amaze me. (:

I'm still waiting for the day that it comes down to pistols at ten paces.

[Wyrdwad]

Disagreed on all counts. (: Seal of Time is literal, yes, but it also SOUNDS GOOD, and gets across the general idea of the original track title perfectly.

Also, The Depth Napishtim's synth (and Ys VI's synth in general) is part of its charm, and honestly, no song on that entire soundtrack would be anywhere near as good without it. There's a certain indefinable quality to it that really enhances the mood of each track, and I really respect Falcom for what is essentially a bit of experimentation on their part. It's not thrashing metal like most Ys soundtracks (with a few exceptions, obviously), but it's still every bit an Ys soundtrack in terms of its intensity and mood, and that song is still every bit an Ys final battle theme -- just as much as The Strongest Foe or Termination.

Ys VI's soundtrack is actually a bit of an oddity for me, as aside from a few tracks here and there (including The Depth Napishtim), I'm not a huge fan of it either... yet somehow, I find it to be the most "listenable" of all the Ys soundtracks. While every Ys game has amazing music, and it's always a pleasure to hear in-game, I have to be in the right mood to listen to it OUTSIDE of the game... whereas with Ys VI's soundtrack, I could listen to that music anytime, no matter WHAT mood I'm in. It's actually my go-to music for when I'm at work after a bout of insomnia, and need something to keep me awake and alert. (:

-Tom

[Deuce]

Disagreed on all counts. (: Seal of Time is literal, yes, but it also SOUNDS GOOD, and gets across the general idea of the original track title perfectly.

There's the issue. I'd honestly go so far as to say that it could only sound good to the uninitiated. 封印 is one of those words that really only has one word to translate to, which means that amateur translators (such as those who came up with Ys III and IV's long-standing English track names) use that and absolutely nothing else. No interpretation, no thought of what it might mean beyond the purely literal sense of the word itself... meaning no context. 時 is also an adverbial noun, so when followed by の, odds are that it's meant to modify the verb that follows it. That verb would have to be 封印. So, rather than "Seal of Time," it would mean that time is somehow being sealed away in time. This is how I came up with "Frozen in Time," and why I still use it. It's the same kind of situation that explains why 偉大なる試練 is "[A] Great Ordeal," and not "The Ordeal Becomes Great."

The Depth Napishtim's synth (and Ys VI's synth in general) is part of its charm, and honestly, no song on that entire soundtrack would be anywhere near as good without it.

I could not disagree any more strongly without resorting to personal insults. As a long-standing electronic music fan and synth enthusiast, I can tell you that Ark's synth was not even remotely near the cutting edge that was available in 2003, even in software synths, to say nothing of hardware. I could see your point if you were talking about the Ys I & II Eternal/Complete soundtracks... as those were literally just played through a Roland SC-55 with a very small touch of post-production added. Ys VI's synth quality is, quite simply, under par. Falcom was producing better-sounding audio, literally a decade earlier. I couldn't pinpoint exactly what kind of synths were being used (though I know a couple of guys who might). I can, however, tell the difference between good and bad synths, particularly of the PCM wavetable variety.

To clarify, I'm not talking about the musical style. This is purely a technical issue I have with the music. The series had lain dormant for eight years, and personally, I was stoked by the trailer. Mighty Obstacle got me excited. Sadly, the end result only had three tracks that I felt were really worthy of the series' musical legacy.

There's a certain indefinable quality to it that really enhances the mood of each track, and I really respect Falcom for what is essentially a bit of experimentation on their part.

I call bullbacon. They did experimentation on Ys V, and got soundly trashed for it. This was simply a cheap synth. I get that you like it, and that's cool... I wish I enjoyed it like you do, and I actually like the cheap guitar sample in Mighty Obstacle. However, I think you're being a bit of an apologist for a badly cut corner.