Review: Ys: The Oath in Felghana

I have been a huge fan of the Ys series since I bought my TurboGrafx-16 CD add on with Ys book 1 and 2 in 1995. My love of the series has done nothing but increase since then, especially when they Ys series began to pop up on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. XSEED Games knew the fans wanted more Ys and released Falcom's remake of Ys III on Valve's STEAM platform on March 19th. Currently a top 10 seller on Steam, the fans have shown that they want this gem of a game. XSEED Games also has Ys Origin in the pipeline, but today we look at the greatness that is Ys: The Oath in Felghana!

More after the Jump!

Let's this out of the way 1st.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a the US release of the 2005 Japan only release. This in turn is a 3D remake of the only side scroller but fan favorite Ys III from 1989. Because of this, you should not expect high end, cutting edge graphics. At the exact same time, you have a great  JRPG that you can play on most configurations.

System Specs:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows XP
• Processor: Pentium III 800 MHz
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Graphics: 32 MB VRAM, 3D accelerator compatible w/ DirectX 9.0c
• DirectX®: 8.0
• Hard Drive: 1 GB HD space
• Sound: Compatible with DirectX 9.0c

Recommended:

• OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
• Processor: Pentium III 1 GHz or higher
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Graphics: 32 MB VRAM, 3D accelerator compatible w/ DirectX 9.0c
• DirectX®: 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 2 GB HD space
• Sound: Compatible with DirectX 9.0c

As you can see, just about any pc from XP to Windows 7 should be able to handle this game.

Story:
from Wikipedia

As in Ys III, Adol Christin and his friend Dogi are traveling to Dogi's hometown of Redmont three years after the events of the first two games. Upon arriving, they discover that evil happenings are threatening the townspeople, and it is up to Adol to put a stop to it. The basic plot has been slightly modified from the original, and expanded through the use of additional scenes.

The game, and series in fact, is very story driven despite the fact the protaganist, Adol Cristin, never says a word. Survive the 1st 15 intense story driven minutes of the game and you should be ready to begin slaughtering the evil denizens of the land!

Gameplay:
Considering I've mapped almost every button on my XBOX 360 controller, the control scheme easy to grasp. I can't say much other than the fact that they work and work well. The respone time is excellent.

Music:
One of my favorite aspects of the Ys series of games, the music is epic.  Falcom's RPG soundtracks littered my youth between Ys and Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes. The ending of Ys Book 1 (or intro of Book 2) has been my cellphone ringtone for years, but that may change soon. XSEED Games should do a limited run of the game's sountrack, it's that good!

I do miss the totally horrible voiced cutscenes from the TurboGrafx 16 CD version, the soundtrack can easily carry the game.


Overall:
the only way this could be any better is if it came with an emulated version of ANY of the previous games. At $14.99 on Steam, someone at XSEED must really be a fan of the series.

4.5 out of 5 Geegamons!

My score may be a bit biased, but so many memories of the original still float around in my mind!

Buy now on Steam