Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Oct. 11th, 2012 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThe fiery-haired swordsman Adol accompanies his friend Dogi to Dogi’s hometown--the town of Redmond, in Felghana. There, monsters are stirring, a conspiracy is brewing and Dogi’s childhood friends seem to be involved. Fortunately, saving the day is what Adol does best!
A remake/”retelling” of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys, originally released for the SNES (and the third SNES game I ever bought). The original was a side-scrolling oddity in the Ys series. This uses a 3D top-down view, and compromises between the original and series standards by giving Adol the ability to jump and a variety of attack moves (rather than ramming enemies from the side or back to deal damage).
I’ve played Ys I & II and Ys 4: Mask of the Sun, with middling opinions of them. I genuinely enjoy this, as they used the story from the SNES-era game but modernized everything else. That includes the much better graphics, voice acting, a minor equipment tempering system, most interesting boss fights, and larger, more complicated dungeons.
This reminds me a lot of the Lufia remake for the DS: SNES-era game remade with modern action standards. It actually feels more like a Zelda or Castlevania-inspired game than necessarily a Ys game; partially because of the ability to jump and combo attack and partially because you get a bunch of powers that also you to access new areas. Other Ys games tend to rely more heavily on “plot coupon” items (keys or gems—things that have no other use except to open a certain area for plot purposes).
Another similarity is that monsters you kill tend to explode into “kibble”—in Lufia, that was gold and XP crystals. Here, the XP is automatic but enemies drop gold, ravel ore (used for tempering and sidequests), temporary stat-ups and instant healing items.
Like the DS version of Ys 1 & 2, this gives a selection of difficulty modes that mostly affect how quickly you gain experience and gold. “Very Easy” mode is exactly what it sounds like. “Inferno” mode is not for me.
Another source of Castlevania feel would be the platforming elements, especially in the clock tower. (Apparently the Steam version of the game has a “no-fall” mode you can toggle to turn on edge gravity. Sounds useful. That version also has an achievement list, according to Gamefaqs, though it lacks a couple of the minor bonus items and events the PSP version has.) This is one place where playing on Easy mode (or even Very Easy mode, which is basically like playing with Game Genie cheats on) helps you not at all. I find it particularly amusing given the original was a side-scrolling game that was radically different from the other Ys games at the time, but actually had very little tricky platforming.
They fleshed out the characterization (particularly in regards to characters’ motivations and the foreshadowing of the final villains), expanded a lot of speeches (with a solid translation), and improved the general flow of events; but the story is essentially the same. Unusually for this series, Adol is a heroic mime, as they narrator takes over in third person whenever Adol speaks.
And there’s Dogi, the Wall-Crusher. He’s a running gag that got built into an awesome character. In every game, Adol gets trapped somewhere and Dogi has to break down a wall to get him out. In the more recent games and better translations, this is his “thing” and he’s damn proud of it. He’s totally my favorite and I might consider snagging Ys 7 because I heard he’s playable in it.
Overall: I think this is the best game of the Ys series that I’ve played, but that’s partially because they’ve moved away from some of the emblematic (though annoying) features of the series. If you like the idea of a Zelda/Castlevania hybrid action-rpg, you might enjoy this.
A remake/”retelling” of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys, originally released for the SNES (and the third SNES game I ever bought). The original was a side-scrolling oddity in the Ys series. This uses a 3D top-down view, and compromises between the original and series standards by giving Adol the ability to jump and a variety of attack moves (rather than ramming enemies from the side or back to deal damage).
I’ve played Ys I & II and Ys 4: Mask of the Sun, with middling opinions of them. I genuinely enjoy this, as they used the story from the SNES-era game but modernized everything else. That includes the much better graphics, voice acting, a minor equipment tempering system, most interesting boss fights, and larger, more complicated dungeons.
This reminds me a lot of the Lufia remake for the DS: SNES-era game remade with modern action standards. It actually feels more like a Zelda or Castlevania-inspired game than necessarily a Ys game; partially because of the ability to jump and combo attack and partially because you get a bunch of powers that also you to access new areas. Other Ys games tend to rely more heavily on “plot coupon” items (keys or gems—things that have no other use except to open a certain area for plot purposes).
Another similarity is that monsters you kill tend to explode into “kibble”—in Lufia, that was gold and XP crystals. Here, the XP is automatic but enemies drop gold, ravel ore (used for tempering and sidequests), temporary stat-ups and instant healing items.
Like the DS version of Ys 1 & 2, this gives a selection of difficulty modes that mostly affect how quickly you gain experience and gold. “Very Easy” mode is exactly what it sounds like. “Inferno” mode is not for me.
Another source of Castlevania feel would be the platforming elements, especially in the clock tower. (Apparently the Steam version of the game has a “no-fall” mode you can toggle to turn on edge gravity. Sounds useful. That version also has an achievement list, according to Gamefaqs, though it lacks a couple of the minor bonus items and events the PSP version has.) This is one place where playing on Easy mode (or even Very Easy mode, which is basically like playing with Game Genie cheats on) helps you not at all. I find it particularly amusing given the original was a side-scrolling game that was radically different from the other Ys games at the time, but actually had very little tricky platforming.
They fleshed out the characterization (particularly in regards to characters’ motivations and the foreshadowing of the final villains), expanded a lot of speeches (with a solid translation), and improved the general flow of events; but the story is essentially the same. Unusually for this series, Adol is a heroic mime, as they narrator takes over in third person whenever Adol speaks.
And there’s Dogi, the Wall-Crusher. He’s a running gag that got built into an awesome character. In every game, Adol gets trapped somewhere and Dogi has to break down a wall to get him out. In the more recent games and better translations, this is his “thing” and he’s damn proud of it. He’s totally my favorite and I might consider snagging Ys 7 because I heard he’s playable in it.
Overall: I think this is the best game of the Ys series that I’ve played, but that’s partially because they’ve moved away from some of the emblematic (though annoying) features of the series. If you like the idea of a Zelda/Castlevania hybrid action-rpg, you might enjoy this.
