One day, in a moment of uber-nerdiness, my friend gave me a cassette containing the Ys Book I&II soundtrack copied from the CD. He was adamant that this was the greatest game soundtrack ever recorded, years ahead of anything else. I wasn't sure about the whole idea of listening to a game soundtrack. Yeah, game soundtracks had come a long way since the early 80s but I never would have considered listening to one.

When I popped the cassette into my Walkman my entire perspective changed. I was simply awed by the music that was playing. Despite not playing the game, I could visualize what atmosphere each track represented. Few games, even today, have that ability to paint a vivid image with only the background music. From that moment, my entire attitude towards game music changed. It went from noise to something that could be enjoyed all on its own.

I ended-up spending many evenings at his house playing Ys Book I&II. The game itself matched the outstanding audio. I've often described it as a game that paid attention to detail. Strictly speaking, the graphics weren't necessarily better than the average 16-bit game. However, unlike most games they were not repetitive. Every inch of the world seemed to have its own unique look. No “cookie cutter” villages or dungeons in this game. The cut scenes were well above and beyond anything else at the time. Prior to that I thought the Phantasy Star II ending had the best scenes of any game, now it was a distant second. It was also the first time I recall voice acting in a game, and unlike countless future CD games, it was done exceptionally well.

In 1992 I was working at an Electronics Boutique store when the TurboDuo was released for $299.99. Ys Book I&II was a pack-in game. I bought one of the first systems on our shelves. To this day it remains my favorite console despite having precious little time to play it. Needless to say, I had an Ys marathon the day I took it home.