With the Ys franchise spanning several console generations, bringing some older titles to newer consoles has been an ongoing process for Nihon Falcom. The latest in this trend is Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, also known as Ys III. This is technically the second rerelease of this title, with the original coming out in 1990. Based more so on the 2005 remake, The Oath in Felghana adds a few tweaks to modernize the title for newer audiences further, while also making sure to stick to its roots for veterans of the series looking to take a trip down memory lane.
The Ys games follow the protagonist Adol Christin across his different adventures, the individual stories self-contained. While there are easter eggs for fans of the overall series, new players will have little difficulty jumping in at any point in the series. This particular installment occurs three years after Adol goes out on his first adventure. Traveling with your friend Dogi, the two end up in Felghana where Dogi grew up. But before you can enjoy landing in a new land, monsters start attacking. From there, Adol is swept up in a whirlwind battle, helping out a woman named Elena from being attacked by wolves.
From there, Adol is introduced to the village where Dogi and Elena grew up, learning about the people there as well as the abuses of power inflicted on them by the lord of the land. What starts as an attempt to figure out what is causing all of the monsters to appear quickly descends into fighting against the lord of the land and his right-hand man, who have been overextending their power by strong-arming the village.
The story is your run-of-the-mill hero story. Not everything is as it seems and it appears that you’re the only one that can put a stop to things. It’s a basic story but does its job at the end of the day. The same can be said for the few side quests in the story. The game doesn’t offer a way to track side quests, leaving the player to rely on their memory to locate specific items requested by villagers. These quests nonetheless are worth doing, as the rewards you’ll get can help with upgrading and unlocking new equipment.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is an action RPG where you only have two different types of attacks: physical and magical. Most enemies are susceptible to physical attacks, but some can only be damaged with magic. You also have a jump attack, which can change up the types of physical attacks you can perform. As you successfully defeat enemies, you’ll gain experience until you eventually level up. While it is possible to grind out levels, you will hit a point where the experience gained from enemies just isn’t worth the effort anymore.
Felghana is split into different dungeons that you’ll need to traverse, collecting special statues after defeating key bosses. There isn’t a map feature available for any of the dungeons, which can make it difficult at times to get your bearings and figure out where exactly you need to go. Some dungeons are linear where it’s impossible to get lost, while others feel like a maze while traversing.
You have both melee and magical attacks at your disposal when attacking enemies, although it is a bit before magical attacks are made available to use. There are three different magical attacks: fire, wind, and earth. Along with specific elements being more effective in certain battles (fire attacks are easier to spam in rapid succession, wind attacks can keep you suspended in the air for longer, and earth attacks give you a window of invincibility), they can also help when it comes to platforming throughout dungeons. There are a variety of enemies that you’ll face and while most mobs won’t give you much of an issue, there is the occasional enemy (typically flying enemies) that just isn’t worth the effort needed to defeat them. And as you progress through the game, some areas will have new enemies appear that are much stronger, giving you more opportunities to gain more experience.
As you defeat enemies, they’ll drop money and sometimes raval ore, which can be used to upgrade your equipment. Along with those items, sometimes temporary stat boosts will also be dropped. These stat boosts range from increased defense to increased experience gain and are very helpful when dealing with regular enemies. Sometimes, enemies will also drop healing items which are very helpful when you are deep in a dungeon and desperately need a heal but don’t want to teleport out. These are also the only “healing items” in the game, outside when your health is regenerated at key story points or when you gain a level.
You also have a boost mode, which boosts your attack speed and attack power for a short amount of time. The boost meter increments on a timer while you’re in battle. Eventually, you’ll unlock another level to your boost meter which will also heal you for the entirety of the boost meter. As there are unreliable healing moments in the game outside of save points, using your boost meter is key later in the game.
Upgrades are very straightforward in Oath in Felghana. You can equip a weapon, a shield, and an armor piece. With each individual piece, you can temper them using raval ore and money, which boosts the stats of the item. Each item can be boosted a total of three times. Since raval ore can be grinded for in battles, it’s possible to fully max out your character’s equipment. You’ll typically want to purchase new equipment every time you end up back at Redmont.
Some gems can be collected in dungeons that can boost the power of your magical attacks. If possible, you’ll want to track down at least one of the gems, as that will unlock a charge attack that deals increased damage.
There are five difficulty levels available when starting the game. You’ll want to be sure about the difficulty selected, however, as you can’t change your choice after selecting it. Difficulty tends to affect bosses in terms of their attack patterns, attack power, and their total amount of health. Oath in Felghana is known as one of the more difficult Ys games, so either way, you’re in for a challenge.
All of the bosses in Oath in Felghana are different and offer their own variety of frustration. More than likely, you’ll find yourself fighting bosses multiple times, if nothing else than to figure out fight patterns. You’re not going to be able to just spam attacks and disregard enemy attack patterns like you can with regular enemies.
Along with general boss difficulties, other factors can end up frustrating players: limited and spaced-out save points, no healing items to restore heal in-between battles, difficulty spikes late game, and tight boss battles that require strategy and a touch of luck to get past. It can be rewarding to overcome boss battles that have been giving you issues, but it is easy to end up heated.
As with other older Nihon Falcom games, Oath in Felghana’s models are very compact. With chibi-like characters and detailed set pieces, it is a blast from the past for those familiar with Falcom games from that time. The character and monster models all look nice, keeping a balance between the older style and not looking too outdated. With this remaster, character portraits have been updated, looking more modern in their style. However, for those who would prefer the original art, you can toggle back to the original art style at any point. The different locations within Felghana are all drastically different from one another, although at times the insides of dungeons can tend to blend together.
Both English and Japanese voice acting are available to choose from, and they can be toggled back and forth at any point in the game. Both voice casts are good and bring a cozy vibe to the game. The game is semi-voice acted, with major story cutscenes having voice audio. And while Adol Christin himself tends to be a silent protagonist, the narrator picks up the slack at times to give the gist of what he’s saying.
As for music, players have a choice of three different soundtrack versions to listen to: Standard, Ys III PC88, and Ys III X68K. The standard soundtrack sounds like most big RPG OSTs, with big band and orchestra tracks that give a larger-than-life feeling to the world of Felghana. The PC88 version (1989) is the original version and brings all of the charm that many soundtracks from that time do, with each track standing out from one another for fans of chiptune. The X68K version (2005) is a great in-between that translates the original soundtrack while giving its own flair. Each version offers its own character and while the standard version gives way to bombastic moments, especially in battle, the other soundtracks are definitely worth listening to (especially the town music).
When it comes to the more casual action RPG fan, Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana will likely cause a lot of frustration. While not unforgiving, it is unapologetic in the way that the game is presented. Boss battles will likely give you problems and you’ll have to navigate through different strategies to continue forward. Grinding at certain points will be a given. But that moment when you finally overcome a boss that’s been giving you issues and that you thought you’d never get past can’t be understated. Combat is almost painfully simple, and yet that simplicity doesn’t mean easy.
For those looking for a challenge, this game offers all that and more. With a great variety of bosses, a catchy soundtrack, and fast combat (with the exception of some bosses), Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is worth a look, even if it’s just dipping your toe into it. As a remaster, it brings an older Ys title to the present day in a way that doesn’t completely change its roots but gives it a little makeup to stand with other smaller RPGs of its caliber.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana gets a 7/10.
