Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished was the first game in the series, originally released for the PC-8800 in 1987. It’s since seen many remakes and ports, such as Ys I & II Complete or Ys I & II Chronicles+. There are 88 characters across the game, some of which play central roles in the game’s story while others have dialogue alluding to past or future events. With Nordics releasing later this month, let’s take a look at some of the best side characters from the very first game in the series. This article will contain spoilers for Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished.
Slaff
Slaff lives in Barbado Port, the starting town of Ys 1. His father, Doctor Bludo, runs the Barbado Port clinic. When Adol wakes up in the clinic, Doctor Bludo tells him that it’s Slaff who rescued Adol from the monsters that had attacked him after he shipwrecked on the island. Slaff enters the clinic and begins asking Adol questions, but the clinic’s nurse cuts him off and tells him to let Adol rest.
Once Adol’s recovered, Slaff can be found in the town’s warehouse. When the Stormwall and monsters appeared, Slaff established a militia to protect Barbado Port and to help escort people between the villages safely. If you’ve talked to all of the Barbado Port townspeople and listened to all of Slaff’s talking points before leaving Barbado, he will give Adol a free Short Sword. Later in the game, after successfully escorting Feena to Zepik, Slaff will also give Adol a free Talwar.
Dogi
While Dogi has gone on to become a staple character of the Ys series, it’s in Ys 1 that he makes his first appearance. He’s the right-hand man of the thieves’ leader Goban, but Adol isn’t able to meet him until he’s allowed to enter Darm Tower. The thieves established their headquarters at the base of the tower to prevent anyone from unwittingly wandering in, and to protect the rest of Esteria from the monsters inside the tower. Goban mentions that Dogi was last seen going into the tower.
In the tower, Adol stumbles into a trap that knocks him out. When he awakens, some of his belongings are missing, and he’s in an inescapable cell. Also in the cell is a man named Luta, a chronic sleepwalker plagued by dreams of a voice calling for him. After some time, part of the solid brick wall of the cell crumbles, courtesy of Dogi. At the end of Ys 2, he leaves Esteria, and from there he and Adol become best friends and traveling partners.
Sara Tovah
Sara is a fortune-teller in the walled city of Minea. She recognizes Adol as the swordsman she predicted would come to Esteria, and sends him on a quest to find the Books of Ys. After he accepts this quest, he tells him to look for her aunt in Zepik Village. She also gives Adol a crystal, to make sure her aunt will recognize him as the foreseen swordsman as well as to guide him to the shrine where one of the books is hidden.
Once Adol has found the first Book of Ys, he can return to Minea only to find that Sara has been murdered. As a skilled fortune-teller, however, she foresaw her own death and left Adol the next Book of Ys as well as a hint about where he needs to go next. Old Man Franz is revealed to have been a close friend of hers, and it’s implied he’s the one who discovered she’d been murdered.
Honorable Mentions
Jeba Tovah
Jeba is Sara’s aunt and one of the last people alive who can read the script used to write the Books of Ys. Adol can bring any of the books he’s found to her, and she’ll read them for him. She also gives Adol the key to the nearby shrine, so he can look for the first Book of Ys. After Adol rescues Feena from the shrine outside of Zepik, Jeba takes the amnesiac woman in. Towards the end of Ys 2, it’s revealed that not only is Jeba Sara’s aunt, but she’s also Goban’s mother.
Pim
Pim is a shopkeeper in Minea and a shady one at that. One of the other villagers mentions seeing him take a missing ring off of the ground and proceed to sell it, only for it to come out that said ring belongs to Donis. The ring is initially sold for 1000 gold, but by haggling with Pim its price is brought down to 900. Similarly, Pim can be haggled with to increase the gold he’s willing to offer when selling items to him. This is particularly useful when saving up gold to buy better equipment.
Final Thoughts
Owing likely in part to the hardware limitations of the PC-8800 and other contemporary consoles in 1987, the character writing in Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished isn’t as strong as in future titles in the series by modern standards. However, the characters who are closer to the main storyline are given time to shine. From a fortune-teller who predicted everything from the Stormwall to her own murder, to a young man taking the initiative to protect his home, many of the characters in Ys 1 are memorable and well-loved by the series’ fans.
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