It's because you need to play the original versions, not the shitty remakes
specifically the PC Engine versions

>>733782860
I played the pc engine version
I remember hitting a goon with a fireball, and because he was initially facing away from me he flew towards me as "knockback"
does that happen in other versions?

>>733782817
Don't listen to >>733782860, Chronicles is very faithful, only crazy thing is the Ys 1 endboss, which is arguably bugged beyond playability.

As for Ys 2, they practically throw away the idea of questing and just give you a big dungeon right after a brief intro. I think that's why it feels fatiguing - the pacing doesn't give a good sense of progression.

Ys II is a lot better, except the final dungeon. That shit was too much.

>>733782817
It can happen. Ys 1 has a sort of primitive raw simplicity to it that the second losen on a bit.

>>733783287
>Ys 1 endboss, which is arguably bugged beyond playability.
I don't know if it's been fixed, but as I understand the more FPS you run the game on, the quicker Dark Fact will attack. I remember Dark Fact being hard as fuck when I went through the game, and I don't think I ran the game above 60 fps. I feel for the crowd that tried to play that shit 120 fps.
That said, both versions are excellent and should be played eventually.

>>733782817
You're not crazy, 2 is focused around magic almost entirely. You'll probably like Dawn of Ys though.

You can finish 1 in an afternoon.
Just don't forget to set the framerate to either 30 or 60 during bosses.

>>733782817
It's trying to be a little different. The ability to shoot a fireball changes how fights work. Since Ys 1 spent half its time in a dungeon and ended as soon as that finished, this is more like the missing second half.