Ys I
From SDA Knowledge Base
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This page is for both the Complete (Windows, 2001) and Chronicles+ (Steam, 2013) releases of the game. Unless otherwise noted, the info here is equally applicable to both versions.
Contents
Dealing with Jenocres
There are a few ways of dealing with Jenocres, but they all fall under two categories: being under-leveled, or grinding to deal reasonable damage.
Under-Leveled
This is the faster option of dealing with Jenocres, though much more dangerous. Regardless of weapon choice, your weapon will not make a difference here. However, the Long Sword could be useful if deciding to also obtain the Silver Sword early on, but it's a toss up. Getting the Long Sword at least puts you at level 2 (because you'll need to do the Sapphire Ring quest to help make the money), which means you can make 3 additional mistakes compared to level 1 (Jenocres does fixed damage, regardless of armor). However, doing that takes 13 or so additional seconds, and the Long Sword only truly helps if you can kill the early Mine enemies without slowing down very much. That said, the fight is much more survivable at level 2 than level 1, but either way practice is definitely needed.
As for the fight itself, it's important to note that his location is not set in stone, at least not immediately. He tends to appear further from where you are, but with enough practice, you can get a sense of where he'll appear, and adjust your movements accordingly. He at the very least appears opposite of you on the vertical axis. If you are top, he *will* spawn bottom. This often means dancing between the flames is necessary to get where you want to be. Halfway through the battle, the timing to get through the flames safely is not as lenient, so if going this route, practice is definitely advised.
Grinding
These methods are at least 2 minutes slower than doing Jenocres under-leveled, but they also make him much more survivable and quicker to kill. While it also does put your overall EXP amount higher, any extra EXP these routes yield can easily be made up in the Mine, or even when rescuing Feena. Anyway, if grinding, you'll need to be level 4 with the Long Sword to do any additional damage, or level 5 with the Short Sword, but level 5 takes far too long to reach at this point in the game. That means grinding to 4 is the only real option, and there are two different ways to reach it fairly quickly.
Luta Gemma
The faster option is to do the Luta Gemma sidequest, which involves some backtracking, but nets you a nice chunk of EXP. First, purchase a Wing in Minea, then grab the Golden Pedestal from the pond on the Plains. Before heading back to sell it, sidetrack to Zepik, and talk to Iris wandering outside the house furthest southwest, and then warp to sell the pedestal and purchase your equipment. In order to cover the cost of the Long Sword, you'll want to buy and return the Sapphire Ring to the one-eyed man in the bar, plus it nets you 150 EXP. Return to Barbado, show the doctor your sword, then exit and re-enter the town to find Luta. After the scene, you'll need to rescue him on the plains (go west from the screen with the mine entrance, then south), which will automatically put you in Zepik, conveniently close to Jeba. You'll likely still be 50 EXP or so shy of level 4, but that can be made up pretty quickly outside the Shrine.
Note: Further testing is currently going on. The two "Level 4" routes may be equal in time, which would still make this the more consistent, safer route.
Killing Enemies
The other option is to simply repeatedly kill the armored enemies outside the Shrine's entrance, but you need to wander a certain distance away for them to respawn optimally. This is ultimately slower and probably more dangerous than doing the Luta sidequest, and is not recommended.
Note: More testing is ongoing and this may be even on time with the Lute Gemma sidequest, however it's much riskier and much less consistent due to enemy movement patterns.
The optimal grinding route uses two spawn triggers, one to the left of the shrine, the other above a vertical postition - the best place for is the alcove to the left of the pillars and right of the stairwell.
Extra EXP from Feena
Feena gives EXP when escorting her to Zepik before killing Nygtilger and finding the Book of Ys within. Doing it after gives you nothing. There are ways to receive more than the intended reward (500 EXP) from her, but it depends on what version you're playing, and the amount of bonus EXP you can receive will also vary.
Complete
If you're playing this version, you have two options. You can rapidly mash confirm to help her, for a potential total of 2,000 EXP, though realistically, you'll only receive 1,000 or 1,500. This can only be done once.
Alternatively, you can confirm to help her, then refuse at the last second. This can be done repeatedly (up to 1,000 each time), but is extremely difficult to pull off. While helpful, it is best avoided in single segment runs, as it'll likely end in accidentally agreeing to help her before you're ready, with less EXP as well.
Chronicles+
In this version, you can still receive bonus EXP, but only when helping her, not when trying to refuse. But, rapid confirm mashing doesn't work here. Instead, when agreeing to help her, you'll need to rapidly press confirm, cancel, confirm. Currently, only a total of 1,000 EXP seems possible.
Silver Sword
The Silver Sword can be obtained a little early in these versions, which makes the remainder of the Shrine a bit easier to get through. You need the Treasure Box Key from B2 of the Shrine to get the Roda Seed and Silver Harmonica, so that should be collected at the same time you get the Prison Key to save Feena. It is debatable whether or not doing it early saves time, as there are a few variables to consider. Generally, it's thought to be very slightly slower, or breaking even with a route that gets it normally. It at least makes Nygtilger and the rest of the Shrine easier, getting slightly more EXP compared to a route that does things normally, but said EXP is arguably quick and easy to make up in a timely manner when you're forced to grind anyway, so it's a really tough judgment call whether or not to get it early. That said, depending on which version you're playing, the optimal conditions of such a route vary slightly.
Complete
If getting it early in this version, making the most of it is thought to be something in conjunction with the Long Sword. You'd receive 1,500 EXP when rescuing Feena, and coupled with the other enemies in the Shrine, would likely be 1 or 2 fungi kills from the Mine entrance to reach level 6. At level 6, all but the eyeball rock enemies can be defeated on the way to the Harmonica and Roda Seed. The downside is you practically need to take those Mine kills slowly, as it's only 2-3 hits before they kill you this early on.
In light of that, a good alternative is to use a Short Sword setup, killing what you can in the Shrine, and avoiding enemies in the Mine. This misses out on some EXP, but the 13 seconds or so it takes to get the Long Sword is debatable to actually be worth it for the extra EXP it could potentially get. Given how quick the mantis grinding goes at 480 EXP each, it's really not much time loss, considering the earlier Mine enemies give about half that.
On the flipside, going without the Silver Sword early, you'd simply do the Shrine as normal, and kill Nygtilger under-leveled. He takes a bit of time, and can end the run if you're careless, but is pretty easy even under-leveled. Part of the reason this takes more or less the same time as getting the Silver Sword early is because this route has no need to grab the Treasure Box Key early. Anyway, the main drawback is actually being able to make it this far, which can be tough, but it's otherwise a toss up as to which route to use.
Chronicles+
Pretty much the same choices as Complete, except this version can only receive 1,000 EXP when rescuing Feena. This means that a couple more of the fungi enemies need to be killed if choosing to do the Long Sword way of things while grabbing it early to get the most extra EXP. Otherwise, the other options for Complete are just as viable, only that they're still behind 500 EXP.
Incidentally, the 200 EXP the fungi here give means that missing out on any extra EXP before Jenocres is a non-issue, as it can easily be re-obtained here in a matter of seconds (either here, or with the B3 Mine enemies, who give more than double that amount).
Roda Seed Glitch
In Complete only, there is a glitch to make the special text during the Roda Seed scene speed up when getting the Silver Sword. Chronicles+ is able to skip the scene altogether, but Complete has to sit through it. To do so, you talk to the Roda Tree without understanding it, eat the Roda Seed *after* that, and then trigger the scene properly. Doing so makes the game think the scene has already played once, and so displays the text quicker as a result. This saves about 10 seconds over doing the cutscene right the first time.
Reaching Level 10
In order to do decent damage to Vagullion, you absolutely need to be level 10, with the Silver Sword equipped. Regardless of whether you took advantage of any early Shrine or Mine EXP, the remainder of the EXP should come from the final mantises on B3 of the Mine. The passage where the last one spawns, you just can go straight up and down in the room right before it, which will cause two of them to respawn quickly. While killing the knights yields a little more EXP (510 compared to the mantises 480), they also take more hits to kill, and are not as easily respawned. Still, the knights should be used as the very last kills to hit level 10 just as you reach Vagullion's room.
Darm Tower Balconies
Strange as it may seem, there is an optimal direction to reach the doorway to the next floor of the tower, though going either direction leads to the same doorway. Choosing the optimal direction will save a little over half a second each time. Here is the optimal path, which should save 7.5 to 8 seconds with the 15 rights it takes as opposed to 32 lefts (which is by far the easiest "route" to remember):
R (Evil Ring), L, R, L, R, L (trap), R, L, R, L, L, L (Pictimos), R, R, L (smashable pillar), L, R, R, (Khonsclard), L, L, R, L, R, R (Luta), L, L, R, L, L, R, L (Flame Sword), R
Re-obtaining the Silver Shield and Armor
A little known fact about this game is that having the Silver Shield and Silver Armor equipped is not necessary to defeating Dark Fact. It's not even necessary to being able to enter the top of the tower. They are necessary to being able to enter the tower in the first place, so even if one doesn't use them, they must still be obtained earlier in the game. As they are not necessary during the tower, re-obtaining them should therefore be skipped if one is confident enough. Even if armor is determined to be necessary, the Battle Shield only should suffice.
Pictimos is a boss you'll already be dodging a lot, so armor doesn't really play a factor - you would also have to ascend one extra level to get the Silver Shield only to return to the lower level after. Against Khonsclard, armor does not make a difference for the damage he deals, and running around in circles or up/down kills him quickly as is. Dark Fact goes by very quickly on Easy so as to probably not be an issue.
So, that leaves just the twin head boss, Yogleks & Omulgun. With enough practice, he can be taken down even without armor very quickly. It is a risky strategy, but the battle plays out more or less the same each time with consistent movement from the player. But, to stand a decent shot, you should be at full health. To this end, a Healing Potion is strongly recommended to have as a backup; If you could not save the one from before Vagullion, it is suggested to take the one next to the Evil Ring. Still, the battle can go south pretty easily, so if opting to try this strategy, be sure to give it a lot of practice, preferably a few times right before a run so the feel of the battle stays fresh in your mind.
