Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished/Time Attack

Time Attack is a game play mode that was added to Ys Complete, and it unlocked by completing the first chapter of the game. Also know as a Boss Rush mode, you must defeat every boss in order, while a timer indicates how much time has passed since you began. Each boss battle is tuned, in that your level of experience and array of equipment are all preset, and you have no ability to alter it. After defeating each boss, your hit points are reset to the next amount, and your equipment changes automatically before proceeding to the next boss. The following strategies should help you complete the Time Attack sequence in the quickest amount of time.


 * Jenocres:Despite being the first boss, and a relatively easy boss compared to the rest, the very first battle may be the hardest to survive. In the actual game, you can level Adol up quite high, and outfit him with great equipment, until Jenocres is a push-over.  However, in Time Attack mode, you are relatively weak compared to him.  You only have 80 hit points, and each jet of flame causes six points of damage per contact, so you can't survive too many hits.  Your weapon isn't very strong either, so it's going to take a number of strikes to defeat Jenocres.  He reappears on the screen with regular timing, so you should be able to tell at what moment he will appear.  Wait at the bottom of the room and start running up towards him when the bottom two jet flames are just beginning to part.  Don't run towards him if either jet is starting to extend into the middle of the room.  Even though this is a Time Attack mode, the best strategy of all is patience; Jenocres will probably be the second longest fight out of all of them.


 * Nygtilger:After the challenge that you faced fighting Jenocres, the fight against Nygtilger will be comparatively easier. Keep Nygtilger moving in a circle, and constantly aim Adol in the direction of his abdomen.  Never give Nygtilger the opportunity to change direction, or allow his head to get close to Adol.  Not only can you defeat this boss fairly quickly, it's one of the few battles that can be completed without taking any damage.


 * Vagullion:Make no mistake, the boss which many consider to be the most difficult boss in the game continues to be your greatest threat in Time Attack mode. Without question, this fight will take the longest, and will impact your time the most.  By this time, you have a full bar of health and pretty good equipment.  What will determine how well you do is your ability to read the bats' behavior, and stay close enough to the swarm so that you can run in and attack whenever Vagullion forms.  If you stay too close to the bats while running around the room, you risk taking damage and running out of health before Vagullion does.  On the other hand, if you stay too far away from them, you'll never be able to run back in time to strike Vagullion, and that will make the battle wage on much longer than necessary.


 * Pictimos:If you were able to avoid taking a lot of damage while fighting Pictimos in the game, than this fight should go very well for you. By maintaining the strategy of running very wide circles out and away from him before coming back in to strike, you should be able to lure the blades away from Pictimos to have enough time to rush in and attack.  Remember that all of your health is restored at the end of the fight, so if you have Pictimos particularly close to death while you still have plenty of health, you can shorten the length of the battle by rushing into him and trading hits.  In this circumstance, you should be able to defeat Pictimos before his blades drain you of the rest of your health.


 * Khonsclard:This battle should actually be the quickest of all the battles, since Khonsclard cannot actually defend itself from your attacks. The only question is who takes more damage first.  If you maintain the strategy of running in very tight circles or small figure eights, you should be able to knock Khonsclard out before he can defeat you, and in very little time.


 * Yogleks & Omulgun:Fortunately, these battles are played out as if the game is played on Normal difficulty, so the potential damage you take from touching the rotating orbs is not too bad. This means you can play this battle aggressively instead of trying to time your approach so that you slip in between the orbs and minimize the amount of damage you take.  Stay near the center of the room and wait for the heads to approach each other so that you can maximize a large number of hits in a small period of time.  When the orbs are reduced to two or one, start rushing the vulnerable head to defeat it even faster.


 * Dark Fact:If you made it this far, you're bound to be a bit nervous, but don't let that stop you from utilizing the same basic strategy you used against Dark Fact when you initially beat the game. Make sure that you get most of your early strikes in around the edge of the platform, and keep the middle of the platform in tact until Dark Fact is much closer to death.  If you keep the early hits to the outside, you'll have plenty of room to run without fear of getting stuck behind a gap in the floor.  At the same time, don't take too long to hit him, or the damage from the exploding fireballs will start to add up.  Depending on how well you are able to track Dark Fact's motion across the screen, you may actually find that this battle is the second fastest after Khonsclard.

If you manage to defeat Dark Fact, your best times will be recorded, on a per-boss basis as well as your overall entire time.