Developer: Falcom Publisher: XSEED Price:14.99 Platforms: PSP, PC, Steam
Growing up over the years, it is hard to always get that moment where you play a shining gem back. Gratefully however Falcom allowed me to enjoy Ys on today’s current generation platform. Today we are covering the PC port of Ys: the Oath in Felghana. The said title is based off the vision of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. As said this title was originally released only in Japan via 2005. The only way you could play it was through fan patches that translated your copy. Or waiting much more currently and playing it on the PSP. Back in the day, I was introduced to Ys III on Sega Genesis. Boy such a classic game. Platforming, and Role-playing Adventure goodness. Crisp sprites and stage based metroid-vania style areas.
In the future I hope some sort of HD mastery of that said title is published. To this date I own it still on the original cart and still love it. When I found out about the 2005 release only in japan there was bleak and few in between for translation patches for these kinda games and we were left with gunning it for guessing what the hell was going on.
As Presented today, the game is in a fixed angle, with scrolling scenery and well pretty much how you seen Ys7 and the other recent publications of the cult classic series. Does the graphics look great? Yes. A simple yes could and will fill in this void you could ask me officially. With the mindset this was done back in 2005, with some resolution advancements. With 32bit style sprite characters across the screen, colorful and brisk dark locations the atmosphere presents it self nicely. While all this might be considered dated by most, for the core fan of this series would not be disappointed and drawn in if they never played a current Ys game.
The storyline is much more described in this version of the game. Allot of the old cast are in this retelling of the same story. From the introduced Dogi and Adol, the gate guard who even has more character and personality then from before. The connections from townsfolk brighten up Dogi’s history. I was at first upset about the new style or in this game the new format of how they presented it. I truly loved the side scrolling that made Ys3 stood out. I soon began to respect the title once the story opened up to me and I began to see many of the bright and color characters break out. It kept me going to the very end. One element I was happy they kept in was the pacing. Were you have to grind out levels in order to take on bosses. Which to me was the whole point of the game. Once beaten a boss you were granted a new fancy toy or a required weapon to process. Hence the classic Sega master system games of old. Anyway, off track. The Bosses in this game have patterns like in many Action adventure games. I will not give you any hints on how to beat them.
All I can say is dont think once you figured out the path to get to them it will be as easy to take them head on, grind your levels up a bit, then try them. Or test the waters. As the flavor will describe there is plenty of backtracking to keep your track shoes bronzed. As the Genesis and Snes copy of Ys3. You had a over world map. This game you have a decently sized map to trek across and access every new area once you completed the tasks before you. While many might correct me with the over world map with the being able to pop back to recently discovered places. I would rather suggest running between the locations to fight monsters along the way. As the company suggests. The game handles allot of Castlevania SOTN. While certain gaps and or secrets are locked to you at first. Later on in the game you gain special items to allow you to overcome hazards and unreachable terrain.
Closing thoughts:
This game is combined with allot of content. While finished in 10 hours due to pacing and exploring. Allot is to be found in this game with a boss rush mode, extra difficulties and even being able to upgrade your gear(via smith shop) and become uber super duper Adol!
I was hoping they would have added a unlock-able or even a comes with purchase of the original Turbo grafx 16 CD or even Genesis version of the game. It is still plenty for the price you pay. Honestly at first as mentioned above I was slightly snobby about the game then began to truly enjoy it and given it a great big hug welcoming it into my favorites among the series.
The story is solid and likeable. Even with the slight tween romance between characters it was slightly predictable. As such most who focus on story lines should expect it and or ignore it and let the action over whelm you with its quick pace and simple controls. Closing out it is a affordable and addicting game to complete. Get it!
Yours Truly, DanVanDam (9.0)
