I played through this the afternoon after I beat Ys 2.  I always thought this game was a bit of a disappointment.  I beat it so easily years back that it didn't seem like the greatest successor to the legacy left by the first 2 games.  With that said, it's still a worthwhile play today as it was 30 years ago.  The scrolling backgrounds (aside from in town) look pretty good overall.  The soundtrack is Excellent; I like it more than Felghana's.  And the voice acting?  Well, it's laughably bad.  
All told, I'm happy to have played through it again before moving on to Ys 4.