The legend of Adol Christin continues with a blistering start to JRPGs for 2025 with Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana. Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana is not a new entry in the Ys series. Instead, it’s a remaster of 2005’s Ys: The Oath in Felghana which, in itself, was a remake of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. The original remake streamlined the game towards a more action-focused approach with less time spent on item management, creating a fun action RPG that the new remaster brings to modern consoles in great fashion.
The Oath in Felghana takes Adol and his stalwart companion Dogi back to Dogi’s hometown in Felghana after hearing that the place was in dire straits and overrun with monsters. This throws Adol into a quest to save Felghana from a ruthless dictator seeking power to take over the land and, possibly, the world.
From a plot point of view, Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana is a little on the light side, even with the first remake adding on extra scenes. Yes, there’s a power-mad dictator to deal with, while dealing with the problems of Dogi’s hometown and his fractured childhood friendships, but it’s all lovingly contained in a fast-flowing RPG that’s neither too long, nor too short.
There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less engagingly told. Adol may be nearly voiceless here, so it’s left to the supporting cast to tell the story while our hero decimates everything in his path. That story is told with some pretty good voice acting for most of the dialogue.
Combat is where the meat of the game is really at. Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana is a hack-and-slash action RPG, highly reminiscent of that grand age of experimental RPGs on the PS1. Item management is kept to a minimum as the focus is spent on blisteringly fast combat. Adol has a devastating combo attack that lets him slice through just about everything in his path with ridiculous ease. Throw in some jumping and aerial attacks and you have a light, but addictive hack-and-slash combo system that really goes out of its way to make you feel like a badass.
Adol’s sword skills are buffed out by a small set of talismans and amulets that can be found to give him magical skills, such as throwing fireballs or being able to wade through shallow lava. Magic can be upgraded with rubies discovered in the field and these skills are just as essential in combat as they are in navigating the environment.
There’s a small set of weapons and armour for you to find or buy as well, each of which can be upgraded at the local smithy three times. As with so many old-school RPGs, you’ll always be picking up new equipment when heading into a new area or dungeon to deal with the increasingly powerful enemies in succeeding areas.
Bosses pose more of a challenge than the enemies in the world as they are also of the old-school, attack recognition variety. They provided the most challenge in the game. As with all old-school RPGs, if you’re having trouble with something, you can upgrade and power level your way to victory. This may not sit well with those hoping to skill their way through – and there’s nothing stopping you from doing that – but I personally love power levelling as it adds to the power fantasy inherent in levelling up a character.
Rounding out the gameplay is some great old-school super deformed 3d visuals replete with great environments and a barrage of pyrotechnic effects that the Switch handles at a wonderful and smooth 60fps. Special mention to the game’s soundtrack, which is composed of a new rock-inspired remix of the original and the original soundtrack that you can swop between.
There are some added niceties in the form of a prologue novella, a Gallery and the game cutscenes to view again.
Altogether, Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana is a simple package that is a throwback to old-school RPG and that simple nature, that less is more approach, is Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana’s strongest aspect. There aren’t thousands of items to parse, giant lands to roam through or hundreds of cutscenes to watch.
There’s just the pure joy of a story well told to some thrilling and easy-to-pick-up and-play combat. There’s a lot to be said for streamlining your game to its core aspects and making those aspects thrilling enough to carry you through a multi-hour adventure. And Falcom has nailed that with Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana.
Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana isn’t just a fantastic remaster of an already excellent game, it’s one of the best RPGs I’ve played in quite some time and has already earned a place on my upcoming RPGs of the year list.
Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana Trailer
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