Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana Review – A Grueling Classic

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana Review

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is a remaster of the third game in the iconic Ys series. These action-JRPGs have been wowing gamers with slick combat and gorgeous music since 1987. The good news is that this title is still a joy to play and a great entry point. The bad news is that it’s incredible difficult and, updated portraits aside, pretty ugly.

In this game, adventure junkie Adol Christin and his best friend Dogi visit Dogi’s homeland of Felghana. Unfortunately, Felghana is flooded with monsters, the ruling lord is up to something, and Dogi’s old friend Elena needs their help.

Both Adol and Lord McGuire seek out the legacy of the hero Genos, who defeated a terrible threat. McGuire wants to harness that long-sealed entity’s power, while Adol wants to kill another demon king.

However, what begins as a simple story of good adventurers and evil nobles soon becomes more complicated. Elena’s brother, Chester, has embarked on a self-destructive quest for revenge. Adol must take on the forces of darkness once more if he wants to bring everyone out alive.

Do You Know the Name Adol Christin?

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is in many ways the quintessential action-JRPG. Its story is as archetypal as it gets. However, it’s also really charming. Adol and Dogi’s friendship is endearing whether it’s your first Ys game or your tenth. Chester makes an engaging rival, Elena is a pretty fun heroine, and the rest of the cast is decent. I predicted every major plot point in advance, but that didn’t stop me from getting emotional about them.

The main appeal of this game is the combat, and the combat is excellent. Each encounter can be a cunningly-planned splatterfest or it can rapidly spiral out of control as enemies swarm you. The controls are incredibly slick, which is good, because I spent most of my time flailing wildly at everything that moved.

This game verges on feeling like a survival horror at times. Enemies refresh between screens and they’re brutally difficult. Falling back into a previous area and having to fight all the enemies again was genuinely terrifying. And the game meanly hides overleveled enemies with some of its secrets. The second half of the game gets exponentially more difficult, too, so level-grinding became a requirement.

Each boss has a puzzle to it. Some of them feel reasonable enough, but others are a complete nightmare even on easier difficulties. You can generally brute-force them on Very Easy and Easy. However, even on Normal, you will have to understand exactly what the game is asking you for. And some boss moves are just cheap.

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana Feels Like a Soulslike

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is a difficult game. Not in the infuriating way that Ys X: Nordics is near-impossible if you can’t get the parry mechanics down. For the most part, this game is difficult in a way that feels delightfully challenging. The world is full of danger, but as you learn each enemy’s attack patterns, they stop being quite so intimidating.

I did so much backtracking it felt like I was playing a Metroidvania. There are a lot of quests, items, and secrets unlocked by revisiting previous areas. Most of them are not mandatory, but some—like the Augite Brooch—are really useful. Others are key to the game’s themes. Hearing Chester swear to kill everyone in Valestein Castle hits harder when you’ve met the kids who live there.

That said, this is the closest Ys gets to being a Soulslike, so if you hate die, die again gameplay, you’re in trouble. Even Normal mode feels really unfair at times. And new dungeons can herald a huge difficulty jump. There are lots of quality of life improvements in this remaster, though, including Turbo Mode.

If you like this kind of gameplay, this title is incredibly replayable. Which is good, as there’s a lot of bonus content unlocked by beating the game and its Time Attack mode on every difficulty.

Unfair Bosses and Mean Platforming

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is not a good-looking game. The graphics have barely been updated in twenty years, and while the portraits do have modern updates, they’re optional. The game does do some clever tricks with its 3D perspective to hide collectibles and secrets. But it makes up for its retro graphics in other areas.

It’s an Ys game, so course the soundtrack is amazing. All three versions of the game’s music have been remastered and they’re all stunning. I wish I could say the same for the voice acting. While the main cast is pretty good, including Adol, the side characters can be really grating.

Speaking of which, Adol, famous for being a silent protagonist, now has voice acting. However, his voiced lines are not subtitled or reflected in the dialog, which is annoying. But not as annoying as the late-game platforming sections. There are few things more discouraging than finally making it across a pitfall area only to realize you need to go back over it.

The second of the game takes a huge leap in difficulty. Even if you gather all the power-ups and find the strongest equipment. The platforming is especially merciless—I ended up level grinding by accident because of all the involuntary backtracking. But the music is so good and the combat so polished that I could never make myself rage quit.

All in all, Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is as fun as it is difficult. If you can put up with the dated graphics and endure the grueling boss fights, you’ll have a good time. Even if you can’t, go listen to the soundtrack.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***