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Ys VI Artwork |
Ys VI (PC) |
Ys VI (PC) |
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After an absence of seven years, Falcom brought a new sequel to the Japanese PC. After Ys V's misstep, some maybe had doubts whether they could let something brew this long and have it turn out well. Thankfully, it did.
Never having the luck with boats, Adol washes ashore on the Canaan Islands, and finds a land full of elven people. A young girl in the village is having bad premonitions - mostly involving Adol and monsters - so it's up to the favorite redheaded swordsman to save the day. Along the way, Adol will discover the usual assortment of relics from ancient civilizations, and have a run in with everyone's favorite imperialistic jerks, the Romun army. Characters
All of the characters are sprites, while the backgrounds are entirely 3D, with some fairly decent texture work. The character artwork, while not quite as excellent as Ys Eternal, is still pretty damned amazing. The fixed overhead camera occasionally pans out to show some of the incredibly architecture of certain areas. And the boss battles are some of the most amazing you're likely to see in a video game - they're all entirely made of polygons, and extremely badass. The second battle takes place on a stone block that it hurtling towards the ground, as you face off against an enormous giant crab. And it doesn't hurt that the boss battle music is spectacular blazing guitar-driven rock ballad with a vaguely Egyptian influence. The soundtrack, as typical for an Ys game, is fantastic. While it's still all synthesized, all of the tracks feature much more depth, with longer track lengths averaging about two and a half minutes long. Much of the music combines elements of techno, drum and bass, and the usual RPG world music, along with the aforementioned guitar rocking ballad, to create an amazing collection of music. Admittedly it's not quite as consistently awesome as some of the other games, as some of the tracks are a bit bland, but what's good is REALLY good. Some minor elements have deviated from the formula - you can only save at save points, and you can't heal by standing still. To make up for this, you can hold a variety of curatives that can be used in combat, although their use is limited. In spite of this, it still falls victim to some of the same usual Ys conventions - in particular, the grinding and backtracking gets a little grating - but otherwise this is precisely the new generation of the series anyone could have ever hoped for. In 2005, over a year after its release on the computer, Konami ported Ys VI to the Playstation, dropping the numeral and merely called it Ys: The Ark of Napishtim. While it doesn't run as smoothly as it does on high end computers, it runs fairly well. The graphics obviously aren't as sharp, something which is especially evident in the pixellated character portraits, but the more impressive areas still look pretty decent. Konami did make some changes, however. All of the character sprites have been changed to 3D models. Despite what overzealous fans may say, they actually do look pretty good, ditching the SD look and giving the characters more realistic proportions. They are also animated better, and Adol's look changes to match his equipment. The violence has been toned down a bit, as creatures no longer explode into a mess of limbs and blood when they're killed, but it's nothing major. Every single character is now voiced, although the acting is pretty subpar, with characters full of strange accents and speech impediments. The developers included Japanese voice acting just in case the English voices grate on you, which they will. Initially Konami also threatened to change the music to a completely different, orchestral soundtrack - a decision they backpedaled on after fans voiced their displeasure. However, you can still hear the new music in a new set of subquests called Alma's Trials, created specifically for the PS2 version. Here you are greeted by a scantily clad fairy named Crevia, also new to the game. While it's nice Konami tried to add some extra stuff, the trials aren't very fun. All you'll find are annoying puzzles, obnoxious platforming challenges and recycled minibosses. Still, it makes gaining levels easier when it comes time for the final dungeon. Also new are some CG scenes, the most prominent being the opening. While it gives a little backstory that wasn't in the PC game, the character models look really funky. This is particular true when you see Isha and Olha, as they tried to make anime stylized characters look human. Thankfully, if you don't like them, you can activate the anime opening found in the PC version. Also included is a Time Attack mode - beating it will open a new picture of Olha in a bikini. The PSP version is based on the original PC game, so there's none of the extra material, but it goes back to using sprites. While it's faithful to its source material, the port itself is somewhat substandard. There's a significant amount of loading times, sometimes pausing for several seconds during various events, like leveling up. The camera is also far too zoomed in, making it feel somewhat claustrophobic. The sound quality is degraded and the action can quite choppy. It's mostly playable, but it feels extremely rough around the edges. A few years after the PS2/PSP ports, a fan translation was released for the PC version. Translated by Radamantys, it's a different script from Konami's, and allows English speakers to experience the original versions in their unaltered glory.
MP3s Mighty ObstacleQuatera Woods Release of the Far West Ocean The Depth Napishtim The Pirate Ship Ernst PS2 Trailer
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 Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PC)
Ys VI (PS2)
Ys VI (PS2)
Ys VI (PS2)
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 PC |
PS2
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 PSP |
PS2 Intro
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Oath in Felghana Artwork |
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) |
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) |
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Ys III was often regarded as a bastard child of the series for moving to the side-scrolling perspective. Aware of the fans complains, Falcom decided to remake the game using the Ys VI engine and entirely remodel it. Essentially, Oath in Felghana retells the story of Adol journey to Dogi's home village of Redmont, and his entangling with the darling Elena and her insidious brother Chester. While the basic plot is exactly the same, it's fleshed out much more to make it fit in better with the world of Ys. The townspeople are given more personality and purpose, and there's quite a bit more dialogue. There are minor changes here and there, naturally - you begin the adventure by protecting Elena from a pack of wolves, as opposed to simply strolling into town. You actually get to fight Chester before he throws you into the volcano pit. And instead of merely stumbling upon Bob's pendant in the Tigray Quarry, you see it lying across a ravine that can't be crossed until later in the game. The map screen is gone too, replaced by a small overworld, although you do obtain an item that lets you teleport between save points. The dungeons are now much longer and more intricate, although they're still based on their original designs. Areas that were merely a few screens before have been expanded into huge, multi-tiered mazes. Because of this expansion, Oath in Felghana is easily three times longer than the original. In spite of all of these changes, it still remains faithful to its source, as the structure is pretty much the same as Ys III. The gameplay has been polished up a bit since Ys VI. Adol's sword combo is longer, and attacking enemies in mid-air is a bit easier. About halfway through the game, you get a double jump, as well as the ability to warp between save points, which eliminates a lot of annoying backtracking. As you attack enemies, you build up a Burst meter, which, when activated, will give Adol a significant power and speed boost for a limited time. The magic system is similar to the one in Ys II - you can throw fireballs or attack with whirlwind slashes, and your magic meter regenerates quickly. These are activated through the use of bracelets, which replaces the Rings from the original Ys III. Your equipment can be upgraded by the use of crystals, but you can only find them hidden in treasure chests (at least, until late in the game), which gives you an incentive to explore every book and cranny of each level. A new chaining system increases experience as long as you keep hacking up enemies, and bad guys now drop a variety of power-ups to increase your strength, magic, or health. The downside to this is that you can no longer carry healing items and regenerate life at your whim. While this isn't a serious problem during regular dungeon crawling, it does make the boss battles far more difficult than before. Overall, the game does lean on the tough side, but there's an easy level for wimps. The graphics haven't really improved much since Ys VI, but they're still nice. While there's no voicework in the PC version, the biggest star is the rearranged soundtrack. Ys III had what was almost universally considered the best soundtrack of the series, and many felt it would be hard to top the majesty of the Turbografx-16 redbook soundtrack. And yet Oath in Felghana somehow succeeds in besting not only every other arrangement of the Ys III soundtrack, but every other game in the series. And unlike the synth-heavy Ys VI soundtrack, the musicians use real instruments, so the blaring rock anthems of the Tigray Quarry or the various boss battles sound mighty awesome when played on an electric guitar. The only real thing that can be held against Oath in Felghana is that it's not a totally new experience - it's better than any incarnation of Ys III in every possible way (and even a step up from Ys VI), but most Ys fans have already visited Redmont Village, foiled Chester and won the heart of dear Elena. Falcom could have used the resources for a completely new game. Still, when the rest of the package is as good as this, it's hard to fault it too much, and it's not going to make a difference for the huge amount of people who've never played Ys III before. The initial PC release of Ys: Oath in Felghana contains a 7 CD box set with almost all of the music available for Ys III (although it's lacking any of the console versions, so you'd better keep around your TG16 CD.) While the PC version was not officially released in America, a fan translation was released by Deuce and Nightwolve, allowing non-Japanese players to understand the story. In 2009, Oath in Felghana was released on the PSP. While the port of Ys VI, done by Konami, was somewhat questionable, Falcom handled this port themselves and is substantially better on a technical level. The framerate is smooth, load times are brief, and the sound quality is excellent. While the resolution is obviously lower, it still looks pretty decent, and the camera has been zoomed out appropriately. Very little has changed in the actual game, although it includes some options later patched into the PC version, like the easier difficulty levels, and the ability to restart a screen if you fall down a pit, instead of dropping into a different part of the dungeon. The Burst meter has been modified to allow two meters - when activated twice, Adol is even more powerful, and can regenerate health when attacking enemies, which is especially useful for turning the tides in boss battles. Like the PSP port of Ys Chronicles, there are options for three different types of soundtracks - the PC arranged version, the PC88 version or the X68000 version. (The Turbografx-16 remixes, unfortunately, are unavailable, since the port was published by Hudson rather than Falcom.) It also adds in full voice acting. This PSP port was published in English in 2010, using a revised version of Deuce's fan translation. The quality of the voice acting varies, but most of it is quite good, especially the stately narrator who announces Adol's actions. The limited edition release comes with a soundtrack CD and a small calendar. MP3s |
 Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
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