Designing Ys, Vol. 4: Pictimos

The first half of Book I takes place in a variety of rich environments: the sprawling fields of Esteria, the austere halls of the Shrine, and the eerie darkness of the Mines, its rough and winding corridors intermittently broken up by well-lit central shafts. By contrast the second half of Book I is set entirely in the confines of Darm Tower, which grows ever more bleak as Adol finds himself first imprisoned, then robbed, and finally racing against the clock to rescue a human sacrifice. If Ys had a larger historical presence in the United States, it might have joined the western canon of legendary last dungeons long ago--up there with Death Mountain, the Fortress of Doom, and the Black Omen. But it didn't, so here we are.

The time between Vagullion and Pictimos is vast. In that time the player climbs and retreads nine floors, loses all of the Silver equipment, regains the Sword and Shield, gains five levels, and faces off with some incredibly dangerous enemy ambushes. Thus when the player sees the telltale entryway and the accompanying crest of Ys for the first time in several hours, their first instinct will be to save. This instinct is entirely justified.

Pictimos follows a set of rules rather than a distinct pattern. The boss can only move horizontally, and can have up to three sickles in play at a time, which follow a boomerang motion out to the walls of the arena and then return to the main body. Unlike the last two bosses, Pictimos deals no contact damage. The sickles home in on whatever position Adol is standing in at the moment they're fired; thus the player is pressured to put distance between themselves and Pictimos until it sends out the first sickle, then make a run for the main body as it sends out the next two, ideally outpacing all three of them and having enough time to score multiple hits against it.

Like Vagullion, Pictimos cannot be wholly predicted, as the motion of its main body is subject to random determination. Of the bosses faced up to this point, Pictimos comes across as the best-designed: it rewards observations of its parameters and movement, but has enough variation that the progression of the fight can be unpredictable. In the same breath, it's not wholly subject to the whims of the RNG. It also introduces another recurring play element that becomes pivotal both to the final battle of Ys and to Ys II as a whole: projectiles. The use of homing projectiles sets the stage for the later games' danmaku-like attack patterns, and while needing to evade three sickles at once is a significant step up from past boss battles, it's not so far removed from evading the monsters guarding the Silver Shield that it becomes overwhelming.

If only the next two bosses were so well-made.