Ys: The Art Book Paperback – January 1, 2014

I have had my eye on this book for a while now and decided to get one with a gift card I got as a birthday gift. I've played many of the Ys games throughout the years and have enjoyed them all. I remember my mom bringing me home one day a used copy of the Ys III: Wanderers from Ys game for the Super Nintendo back in the mid 90's or so. Back then I had no idea what this was and no clue there were other titles out there. We were mainly a Nintendo family back then. Wow, that game was tough and it pretty much just sat there. Glad I was able to play the redone version on the PC a few ago. Falcom has made some really great games.The Good: The art in this book is done very well. You can tell how it has changed over the years and it all looks great. It's fun to look over the images of the games I've played in the past and definitely makes me want to do it again.The Bad: I'm not happy with the order of the book. I wish they started with oldest to newest. I don't care about the timeline of the games which by the way I hate when writers go back to a time before their first game or movie but I won't stress over it much. 2 more criticisms I have. Where the heck is the 4th game? I would really like an explanation and I wish there was more explanation about each game, just something written by the artists and the creators of the games in the back of the book would have been nice.Conclusion: Despite my criticisms I am still very happy with the book. It is definitely a must buy for the fans or really anyone. Good way to get someone who never played a game. I wish there were more materials out there but I will take what I can get. I even bought the The Ark of Napishtim guide by Bradygames a year ago just because it's an awesome game. It even had some art work in the back.

If you want to enjoy high quality art, even if you don't follow the Ys series, this is a good buy. I'm very, very glad I got this.

Llego en perfecto estado muy buena colección de arte

I'm a big Ys fan, so when I found out about this book, I decided to preorder it. I had some newer artworks from more recent games since XSeed does such a good job treating this game well, but I didn't have any artwork related to the original games. In the artbook itself, it says, "This book contains artwork from the past 25 years that we were able to SALVAGE." That's what'll happen when companies dissolve and rights to certain things get stuck in limbo. Anyway, there's some really neat art in here. Search up "ys book 1 and 2 cover art" on a search engine and you'll see a beautiful scene with a castle peaking out over a rushing sea of clouds in a sunset colored sky. That's only half of the picture. The rest of it is in this book, as are a few other amazing pieces like this. If you're a fan of the series, I'd recommend you pick it up. :)

I agree with the other reviews, so I'll just add on criticism/other details (with love of course :P ). First, the compilers added some equipment designs (weapons, shields, etc). and some monster designs (though would've been great to get more on those lol). Second, since this is the translated version and many labels that were vertical were turned horizontal to be easier to read, there might've been a mistake or 2....more specifically about 5 characters were mislabeled in a total of 3 labels (wrong names on 1 group page, portrait label switched with chibi label). Finally, some pictures that could've been in here (ex: ys ark of napishtim ending group pics...look it up on youtube if you wish) didn't make it. I believe that is it. Otherwise loved the art they compiled. Awesome book XD

The Ys series has been a personal favorite for years due to its wonderful art, fun gameplay and downright fantastic music and this book perfectly captures the spirit of the series' artwork as a whole with detailed images and information from the latest installments going all the way back to the beginning. I about died of happiness upon noticing the inside cover contains a poster version of the front of the cover itself, only even more-detailed and the background characters fully colored.This is one of the best art books I have ever purchased. It is thick, full of content, and pays homage to a wonderful series that deserves more recognition on the west for its contributions to gaming.

Love being able to see Ys franchise evolve art wise. There are various types of styles in this art book which allows me to use as reference when drawing my own characters, as well as draw inspiration from the costume/armor designs.

Filled with tons of art from Every YS game except ys iv. Because who knows? but it does have the 2012 Ys IV remake. Just amazing how much is in this book. If you love Ys, this is an amazing collectable. Buy it, sit back and follow along as you watch 25 years of art evolve before your eyes.

This is a very thick, almost coffee-table, complete & translated collection of artwork for the classic roleplaying franchise known as Ys, which was released by Falcom across a number of platforms. The works cover Ys Origin up to Ys Seven, plus calendar designs, card designs, 6 priests' outfits, Foliage Ocean of Celceta for PSVita and more. Towards the back are older images from the original games and a poster of the cover. There is less artwork here from Ys Chronicles, i.e. the remakes of I-II: I believe there's a separate artbook for those. This is basically an overwhelming collection of character designs - background art and drawings have been shrunk to the size of a postage stamp which doesn't help...BUT, all the favourite pictures are there and also a lot of information about the story behind Ys. Fans particularly will be engrossed as they read each caption for every picture (it takes a while, I can tell you)! There is no date, no staff info (which also happened in Legend of Illustrations) but if you are an Ys fan, it is highly collectible! Not to mention excellent visual reference.

A well detailed book and it brings back good memories playing the games

thick high quality paper

Oh, wow. This is a goodie, folks. Even if you never played the games this book goes over, you can easily appreciate the tome for it's pages. They are splendid.I almost wrote some very questionable words to describe my love of this book. Words that might get my review flagged. But sometimes, things are so good that you need to say some pretty damning things to get your opinion out there. This is one of those times where some strong language would suffice.If you love art, especially of the animated inspired variety, this is something you should have on your bookshelf. The art styles vary from classy 80's anime to the kind of stuff you see the big studios doing in the 2000s, and all of it is magical. The guys who made the Ys games knocked it out of the park when it came to selecting the art teams. If only the games could properly illustrate the talent these artists have!Not enough praise for this art book. Go buy it.

o trabalho de arte da Falcom sempre é exemplar, então este livro é pra quem é fã da arte que envolvem os jogos Ys.não mostra como são feitos ou as técnicas de concepçãoé uma revisitação da arte do jogo mais recente até o primeiroé para colecionadores.recomendo!