The earlier Ys games are extremely hardcore in terms of difficulty. The later Ys games greatly toned-down how hardcore they are in order to make them more accessible to a wider audience.

To get back into the series you could:

1) Start with one of the later/toned-down/easier Ys games.

2) Play the earlier Ys games but on the lowest difficulty settings (i.e. Very Easy or Easy).

3) Follow a walkthrough/guide whilst playing games so that you don't miss any of the items you need (but it might be good to play on the lowest difficulties even if you do this, as walkthroughs can't really explain properly how to beat the bosses in the hardcore Ys games, as that requires first-hand experience vs. them and also fast reflexes....or otherwise you have to grind out a lot of levels to become over-leveled and thus you can naturally & easily overpower the boss in that case, even if you are unskilled vs. the boss).

Okay, this one looks good. That trailer has some serious Dragon Quest VIII vibes, and I really dig movement-based special abilities. I think I need to clear through some backlog games to make space for this.

OK, let's go.

1- No game in the series is easy. Here is one of the reasons, in my view, that makes the niche franchise. Above average difficulty can drive many players away;

2- Overall, (excluding the last two games in the series), YS is somewhat linear in progression. To gain access to new territory, you must defeat a boss, pick up an item, and talk to a specific NPC (somewhat reminiscent of the Zelda series before Breath of the Wild). This routing is standard, except in some cases. I don't particularly think it's bad, as it maintains the essence of the old games of the genre. Lacrimosa of Dana has improved a lot in that sense, but keeps the core. Therefore, it is VERY common for you to be lost for hours without knowing what to do, as you may have stopped doing something very specific to be able to progress.

The idea is to always explore everything and talk to everyone.

3- In any game in the series, GRIND is not an option, it is NECESSARY for you to advance. A single level completely changes the damage you deal to a monster and also the amount of damage you take. The same goes for equipment. New equipment changes everything.

In short, YS is a series that requires focus. In addition to GRIND and the necessary exploration, you will need to be patient to recognize every possible move by a boss or enemy until you are able to defeat him. Persistence is necessary, but it is always worth it. The progression is very pleasant.

I hope I was able to answer your questions, but feel free to ask what you want about the series.

Thanks for the info.

Are Ark.., Oath.., Origin considered hardcore?

I found I & II very challenging (I think I also used a walkthrough 3 or 4 times - mostly due to required items), but I managed to complete them. So I would like to play my remaining Ys games.

Yeah, not really...

First of all, XSEED isn't the "perfect" company many of us seem to imply just because we were angry when NISA got the Ys rights (I know I was one of those people). They do have their issues, and even Ys games in their hands always kind of suffered some mild controversy or weren't in the best of shapes when they released on PC. Like I previously said, Lacrimosa of Dana's latest update fixes all that was wrong with the game at launch and, honestly, I think it's way better, as it is now, than whatever XSEED has published before.

As for the whole "Falcom started out on PC and they still have this PC-friendly mentality", that's just wishful thinking. Ys games are only released on console, in Japan, these days, so I doubt they're keeping that "XSEED employee on reddit" urban legend mentality. XSEED ported PSP (Ys Seven) and Vita (Memories of Celceta) games to be able to compete with NISA releasing a PS4 Ys (Lacrimosa of DANA). It has nothing to do with Falcom's decisions, they just want to make as much money as they possibly can; Falcom seems to be fine with Ys being on consoles only, this day and age (Ys Seven was a PSP exclusive for the longest time).

I do agree with your last point, though, Ys is some of the most underrated series out there, and I'm really glad to have all the official Western PC releases available on GOG, which is my store of choice.

I see, thanks a lot for the feedback.

Yes, the grinding part seemed necessary as you said. I would just like an optional tiny helper/indicator to assist me in staying en route and not mindlessly exploring irrelevant territory ahead of time :)

This game seems to adress my biggest problems with JRPG:s, which are the environments and how they're explored between battles. The paths are restricted, the environments lack vertical space and often the only way of getting around is by running from one battle to the next.

On the new Ys, exploring looks really fun with all the gliding, wallrunning and height differences.

I hope it'll be story wise playable without the prievous games. I'm interested in those, but not as much as the upcoming one, plus my backlog doesn't have much space.

I am aware that YS VIII received a recent update, on the PC, which left the game, in short, in good condition, but this took years, and frustrated thousands of players. Particularly, I refused to play that, like that, with serious FPS drops, game closing alone, constant crashes and a series of other problems. I only managed to play Lacrimosa of Dana FULLY last year, when I bought the Switch version.

About Falcom's philosophy, it may be an illusion today, but it was valid until recently. Obviously, a company does not pay its employees and develops its products only with "utopias". Money always comes first, so I think it's normal for them to focus on other, more effective ways to get a return, as in the cases you mentioned, with games in the series available until recently, only for the PSP, but I don't think that means that Falcom has abandoned PC players. The existence of this topic is living proof. I just think that as a small company Falcom has to be very careful with each step it takes. They cannot risk making mistakes.

Meh. Me and the old-style Ys just don't get along. I much prefer the newer gameplay from Ys VII on.
I bounced off of the earlier games (with exception of 1 & 2) hard, too, for pretty much the same reasons. Someone else on this forum suggested I just skip to Ys VII and later, and lo and behold I didn't have to be a god-tier action game player to have fun. It still may have a little grind here and there, but it's nothing in comparison to earlier in the series.

So yeah, I'd suggest you try one of the later games instead. I actually started off with VIII there and it's quite the well-rounded game. :)

Agreed. They may have fumbled hard at first, but at least they actually bothered to fix it mostly - there's still a few translation quirks when several nations/people are named slightly differently along the way, which may have to do with the redone translation. Other publishers may have simply just thrown their hands into the air and that would have been that.

Also, their port of ToCS 3 was rock-solid from the get-go, so I'm very much looking forward to the continuation of both series. :)

The good thing about the Ys series that most of the games feature self-contained story arcs (especially the newer ones) with only minor occasional references to the other games that are not necessarily consequential to newcomers.

/me wonders which we will see first.

Trails of Cold Steel IV, Ys IX, or a ninja drop of Zero and Ao like happened with Celceta while we were waiting for Ys VIII to come out.

The Ys games are far more on the "action" side of action RPGs, and their fast-paced combat is a staple of the series. Like the Zelda games, Ys games have jumped around subgenres, but the games can be grouped into "eras"

Of the PC games available right now, Ys I&II are the "bump combat" era. Wonderful music, but I don't think they aged terribly gracefully.

Ark, Oath, and Origin are the "platformer era" and imho the height of the series. However, Ark is more a prototype of the concept and its gameplay is pretty clumsy compared to the other two. Oath is the highlight of the series in terms of overall gameplay and especially soundtrack (best OST in the series). Origin has slightly tighter combat and better boss battles than Oath (with some bosses you climb onto ala. Shadow of the Colossus), but lesser music. Origin is tuned for veterans of Oath and does way less handholding for newer players.

Ys VII, Memories, VIII, and soon to be IX are the "party combat" era where you lead an entire team of heroes and switch who you control directly on the fly to suit the weaknesses of enemies. It's still fun, but way more grindy than the older Ys titles with grinding to level up individual skills, grinding to farm resources to upgrade equipment, on top of grinding to level up. But the biggest mistake of the party combat era of Ys is the introduction of "perfect blocking" mechanics. Whereas platformer Ys games had you running all over the arena and even climbing on top of bosses, the party combat era boss battles tend to turn into you standing still in front of the boss, perfect blocking their attacks, then wailing on the boss by spamming skills until the perfect block bonus wears off. Rinse, repeat. VIII is my favorite of the party combat era, with the second best OST after Oath.

So to sum up. I suggest Oath in Felghana wholeheartedly, and if you want more, grab Origin next. Then maybe VIII. With the exception of some fanservice in Origin for Ys I&II, the story for these games are all self-contained.

2021 will be stacked,

It'll be also Falcom's 40th anniversary, so expect more and more surprises. My only concern is their rate of releases will be too much to do for NISA alone.

I guess we must have played completely different games since I found the pre-VII games absolutely grindtastic, while VII onwards was much more manageable. The former always felt like an unrelenting slog to me.