Ys: The Oath in Felghana

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 81 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 81
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 81
  3. Negative: 14 out of 81

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  1. augh18
    Apr 10, 2014
    7
    An amazing game that has some core issues that prevent it from realizing its full potential:

    1. The levelup system is a waste of time. When played on the default difficulty (which is what I encourage, otherwise the game is so easy its boring or so difficult it's unrewarding), you gain XP from monsters until you're on par with their level, at which point killing them becomes completely    An amazing game that has some core issues that prevent it from realizing its full potential:

    1. The levelup system is a waste of time. When played on the default difficulty (which is what I encourage, otherwise the game is so easy its boring or so difficult it's unrewarding), you gain XP from monsters until you're on par with their level, at which point killing them becomes completely pointless. This means that you have to grind each zone just to make your character be able to survive that stage, because of this I feel pacing would've been better if you could just play from start to finish with *no* leveling system because in its current state, it does nothing but pad out game length.

    2. The backtracking is annoying. I enjoy the Metroid aspect when it's done well, but in this case, most of the things you backtrack for aren't even optional unlockables for boosts, they're story-related items that you need to find in order to progress. It just feels like another way to pad game length, by making you redo areas you've already seen in order to get to the next one.

    3. Bosses battles are really well designed, but insanely punishing. Whether this is an issue or not is really up to taste. You don't get to use any recovery items, when you're on-par with the level of the boss (which is only whatever's possible on the default difficulty, since "grinding" only gets you to "par"), it only takes a few hits to die. Some boss fights can go on for upwards of 5 minutes, even if you know what you're doing, and if you get hit a few times, you die, and have to start the fight from the beginning. Some of the fights are really interesting from start-to-finish, others start repeating mechanics really quickly, which makes them get boring very fast, as they become battles of tedious endurance as opposed to interesting battles.

    4. There's almost too much dialogue in a game that seems to be focused on being an ARPG, and really, I didn't find myself liking any of the characters.

    However, the soundtrack is absolutely stellar, is is most of the stage design. It's really just some of the old-school mechanics being too old-school for their own good, but considering this is a remake of a game that came out in the 80s (Ys 3 - 1989), that kind of explains itself, and as far as remakes go, this is one of the best that's ever been done (not as good as Resident Evil 1 on the Gamecube, however) - it took the game from 2D to pseudo-3D with much better boss encounters and stage design.

    It still plays like an old PC game though, and I wouldn't recommend checking this out unless you have the time on your hands to dig through some RPG history. If nothing else, you should check out the soundtrack. This has some of the best tracks you'll find in any RPG.    … Expand
  2. DrBrogbo
    Aug 30, 2012
    5
    Before playing this game, ask yourself: Am I the type of person who feels a sense of satisfaction for finally beating a platform-esque jumping puzzle after the 11th try? If your answer is yes, and the gameplay video looked cool, you will most likely like this game. As I am NOT one of those people, and being forced to repeat tediousBefore playing this game, ask yourself: Am I the type of person who feels a sense of satisfaction for finally beating a platform-esque jumping puzzle after the 11th try? If your answer is yes, and the gameplay video looked cool, you will most likely like this game. As I am NOT one of those people, and being forced to repeat tedious jump-and-make-sure-your-shadow-lines-up-with-the-tiny-spot-of-floor-beneath-you puzzles fills me with controller-twisting rage, this game is absolutely infuriating. I did have a lot of fun with the combat (which is very fast-paced and fluid), and I enjoyed the background music a lot, but unfortunately the ice cave level pissed me off, and the castle level where 95% of the floor breaks away and dumps you 2 floors down was where I dropped my controller, proclaimed "I'm #$%^ing done," and immediately clicked on "delete local content." Video games are an inherent waste of time (be honest), and while some can really draw you in with their story like a good book does, this one does not. It is a rather mindless hack-and-slash, and growling at my computer in frustration is worse than pointless. I have tons of more important things to do, as well as better video games to play.… Expand
  3. SimonSorcerer
    Dec 29, 2015
    6
    Action style "JRPG" with very linear gameplay. There's actually minimum RPG elements so this game should be probably categorized as action platformer. There's also a lot of grinding if you are not playing on easiest difficulty level so the game can quickly get repetitive, since there's minimum game-changing elements to keep you in as you progress. Graphics is quite nice (in 3D) with lot ofAction style "JRPG" with very linear gameplay. There's actually minimum RPG elements so this game should be probably categorized as action platformer. There's also a lot of grinding if you are not playing on easiest difficulty level so the game can quickly get repetitive, since there's minimum game-changing elements to keep you in as you progress. Graphics is quite nice (in 3D) with lot of details (especially in the town). Camera position is fixed, but I didn't have any problem with it.… Expand
  4. Clessy
    May 10, 2017
    7
    So I finally set down to play what is normally praised as the best game in the series. After playing it to I agree? No, simply put absolutely no, not even close.

    First off I have to say that ys3 was never one of my favorite and in fact i'd say its the game in the series I always disliked to hearing that the game was being remade in a ys6 fashion ( a game that at the point was my    So I finally set down to play what is normally praised as the best game in the series. After playing it to I agree? No, simply put absolutely no, not even close.

    First off I have to say that ys3 was never one of my favorite and in fact i'd say its the game in the series I always disliked to hearing that the game was being remade in a ys6 fashion ( a game that at the point was my favorite in the series ) I was thrilled. I got to play oath when it was brand new to pc and liked it a lot. However my friend who owned the copy moved off to college and that was that. I kinda forgot about. Years later here I am playing it.

    I started off by playing xseeds pc version and made it into the first cave the mines and fought the first mini boss. At this point I was absolutely loving the game and could see why everyone else was too. Well I picked of LOH **** on psp at the same time and completely forgot about oath. So since I noticed almost every rpg I beat is only on portable systems and during my CQ shifts in the army (24 hours of being awake guarding empty rooms for no reason) I figured hell I enjoyed oath on pc and loh6 on psp was amazing too lets pick up oath. I find a collected edition sealed for $25 and that was that had to be mine.

    The game starts off in a ok manner. I didnt much care for the intro compared to say ys6 or ys4 but none the less it wasnt off putting.The graphics are also of my favorite Falcom era and style ( ys6/loh6 ). So lets break everything down into sections to see exactly I feel went wrong.

    Music: The first maybe 5 or so songs you hear are pretty awesome and enjoyable in their new arrangements so you'd naturally assume the whole ost was gonna be like this. Wrong. By time I was out of the mines I no longer wanted to hear anything in the new ost. Thankfully it included the x68 and pc88 versions which I vastly prefer to the new ost. Theres a few tracks here and there that are amazing arranged but for the most part the synth music miles ahead of any of this new orchestrated composition. I have to say one of the things I hate the most about the ost is how un enjoyable the boss theme is. After recently beating ys4 on vita this ost simply pales in comparison. I have to say ys6 or 4 have the absolute best osts in the series and 3 not so much. In fact i'll go on record and say that ys3 arranged ost is to over done it leads to blandness. I much rather listen to the pc engine ost ( this pretty much goes for every ys game though ) or the classic. After you're out of the tigra mines I dont think I liked a single track in the game and would say most of it is meh.

    Story: Yeah.... Ok so ys3 was original a 5 hour game. The pce, snes and genesis translations have all been crap but, where previous companies failed Xseed brings over a faithful translation. However a faithful translation of bland crappy story is still a bland crappy story. The whole story is moronically stupid.

    Gameplay: Following in the ys6 style engine you've got a pretty solid footing. However what felt neat and innovative by switching swords in ys6 is gone in Oath. Oath uses a lame magic system akin to the rings of ys2. Magic is so forced that it feels more forced than character switching in Celceta. Magic is so heavily used that the default controller setup rendered the game unplayable to me. I had to map my magic to the R button to be able to use in accordance with jumping. How in the world you could use it on the default setting without using a claw like hand grip is beyond me. I also find it ever so annoying that if you remap your controls that you'll have to use whatever button you've got as attack to talk to people but once a menu opens up you've gotta use X and O and it doesnt take your remapped buttons in account for the menus. My attack button is set to triangle and my jump is O. The weapon upgrades are the absolute most useless thing ever. A maximum of 4 points stronger for your weapon and 2 for shield and armor? Useless plus the simple fact is you cant get raval ore anywhere near the / during the earlier parts of the game. You always just end up having enough money to buy the vastly better set of equipment than you do upgrading the previous.The game also has to have the absolute biggest gape between regular enemies and bosses. I get to the point where the enemies are doing 1 to 3 hp of damage yet go to a boss and get hit for around 50 to 75 damage per hit. Also every time you go to new era its like you're level 1 again and the grind hits. Granted so does the exp you'll almost always gain around 3 to 4 levels effortlessly before you feel any effort to level. Granted all of this could be because of the mode im playing on which is Nightmare. I find nothing is done better than Ys6 and from the little bits of ys origin i've played it's also vastly better. I think Oath is the weakest of the 3 in terms of gameplay.

    Over all I wouldnt say Oath is a terrible game but, the praise is gets is insane. 7/10    … Expand
  5. Archvile-UT
    Nov 28, 2021
    6
    Прошёл третью игру из серии Ys и хочу сразу отметить саундтрек, хоть он мне показался послабее чем в Ys I & II Chronicles, но все равно он хорош. Наверное, 70% впечатлений от этой серии мне дарит музыка. Теперь коротко о самой игре.
    Сюжет перегружен слишком банальными драматическими моментами, а все персонажи и диалоги представляют собой характерные аниме-шаблоны. Есть неплохие повороты,    Прошёл третью игру из серии Ys и хочу сразу отметить саундтрек, хоть он мне показался послабее чем в Ys I & II Chronicles, но все равно он хорош. Наверное, 70% впечатлений от этой серии мне дарит музыка. Теперь коротко о самой игре.
    Сюжет перегружен слишком банальными драматическими моментами, а все персонажи и диалоги представляют собой характерные аниме-шаблоны. Есть неплохие повороты, но в целом – средне.
    Боевая система столкновений с противниками из первых 2х частей ушла в прошлое и теперь перед нами упрощённая action-jrpg совмещенная с платформингом. Огромный плюс, что сведен к минимуму бэктрекинг и гринд, хотя это, наверное, из-за того, что игра сама по себе достаточно камерная – минимум локаций, щепотка героев, древнее зло.
    Разочаровывает, что к такому шикарному саундтреку прилагается достаточно скучный дизайн персонажей, врагов, боссов и слишком цветастая картинка. Улыбнули последние боссы – типичное японское нечто трансформирующееся несколько раз подряд в разную фигню =)    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. PC Gamer UK
    May 11, 2012
    56
    On its own merits, it's an okay hack-and-slash but one that feels as old as it is - and nothing special when there's the likes of Recettear and Fortune Summoners offering other flavours of action-JRPG in more interesting ways. [June 2012, p.100]
  2. CD-Action
    May 10, 2012
    75
    It's been a while since I played such a challenging game – combat is fast, rewarding and so difficult that you're gonna grind your teeth to the point of breaking your fillings. The game's cruelty is constant and goes off the charts during boss fights. [June 2012, p.70]
  3. DarkZero
    Apr 24, 2012
    80
    Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a game that derives from the old fashion days of action RPGs.
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