The Book of Y's
Basic plot:
A few years ago, monsters began appearing in Esteria, a continent off the coast of Promarock. A barrier of storms appeared and all ships heading to Esteria were smashed in the storm. Eventually, several years later, a young man named Adol Christin appeared in Promarock seeing passage ot Esteria. Nobody would help him because of the storms. It was believed impossible to reach the continent.
Eventually a man gave him a skiff after helping int he harbor for a while and Adol set off to Esteria. Ont he way, the storms began and rocked his ship in the ocean. It sank at sea. But Adol made it throught he barrier and washed upshore on the coast of Esteria.
*begin gameplay spoilers*
He was found by Dogi and Goban, two members of a thieves guild and was taken to a hospital in the city Minea where he was nursed back to health. Slagf, a local militia man, sent him to meet with Sara, the local fortune teller. She recognized him as the legendary hero who would ocme to save their land.
The rest of the game is Adol's quests to acquire the books of Ys which leads him to meet Laire and Feena who are (at the time) two ordinary girls. Adol eventually has to climb Darm tower, a palace of evil erected by the demons long ago, to battle a fallen decendant of the prists of Ys, Dark Fact, for the final book.
With all six books of Ys collected, the wheels of fate start to turn again. Had he just killed Dark Fact his quest would have ended there. But with all 6 books of Ys, the pathway to the lost land of Ys opened.
---Ys II---
Adol crashes headfirst into the Ys continent outside of Lance village, whcih is being attacked by monsters. He's rescued by a young girl from the town named Lilia. In town after recovering in Banoa's house (Lilia's mother), he finds out about the ruins of Rasteene north of the village and goes there to find 6 statues of the ancient priests of Ys. After returning the books of Ys to all 6 statues, the way out of Lance opens and Adol begins a new adventure.
In this game, Adol gains the ability to use magic like the priests did in ancient times but that has been lost ot humans for centuiries. His quest is to defeat the Black Pearl created by the goddesses of Ys (who you find out are Feena and Laire). The Black Pearl is the source of all monsters in the world. Adol crosses the ice wall of Noltia, the volanic lands of Burned Bless, and eventually reaches Saruman Shrine where he battles the Black Pearl.
In battling the Black Pearl, the continent of ys comes crashing back down to the earth and comes to rest back in Esteria, where it was torn out of hundreds of years ago. Monsters disappear from Ys and for the first time in hundreds of years people can live happily.
Through the game Adol kind of develops something of an impossible relationship with Lilia who really loves him. But because of his thirst for adventure, he can never stay put in one place. In the end, Adol goes sailing off to new lands in search of more adventures while Lilia stays behind waiting for his return one day in Lance village.
That's about as brief as I can make it. Y ou should really play the games if you want ot learn more. There's a lot of options available to you besides the PC-Engine one. There are English versions of I&II available on the NES. And if you're interested int he continued adventures of Adol, you can find both Ys III and IV available on the SNES (though I don't advise playing that version of IV, it has a very mutilated story).
