Ys: The Oath in Felghana

1. Rippedgeek

   Mar 27, 2012

   10

   My first impression of this game was one that left me somewhat impressed. Now, after spending several hours running through dungeons (mines)My first impression of this game was one that left me somewhat impressed. Now, after spending several hours running through dungeons (mines) and slaying countless enemies I am completely and utterly hooked on this amazing game. The gameplay harkens back to what I used to enjoy in the coin-op arcades, it has a bit of a Rygar/Ghosts 'n Goblins feel to it, but even better. The graphics are fantastic for what it is, though it should not be compared to the likes of modern "graphics-over-gameplay" games. What really makes this game shine is it's content, the gameplay is sublime, the controls are buttery smooth (on my 360 controller) and the music... mmm... the music is absolutely perfect and really suits the game beautifully.
   
   It says a lot (in my little world) that I am eschewing the likes of Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 for this little game. More than well worth the price of admission - I just wish there were more games like this little treasure.… Expand

   • 11 of 14 users found this helpful
2. crunchbuttsteak

   Sep 13, 2012

   10

   Ys: The Oath in Felghana is one of the best action games ever made, period. If you don't like RPGs, you may have trouble with it. If youYs: The Oath in Felghana is one of the best action games ever made, period. If you don't like RPGs, you may have trouble with it. If you aren't the type who goes through and periodically talks to NPCs to gather information, you might find yourself missing out on important quests and items like ones that let you tell whether the floor will fall out on you or not (hint hint). Thankfully though, these are usually fairly obvious and only a braindead moron could go through the game while missing something that major. The difficulty is otherwise perfect - on lower settings, it will challenge casual players but not unfairly, and on the highest setting it's one of the most difficult games available. Every attack that a boss has is avoidable, though, it's VERY tough to avoid everything on higher difficulties. Some bosses will seem overwhelming at first and it's tough to get through a boss fight without dying on your first try, but the game lets you continue from the very beginning of the fight if you die during a boss battle. However, in the dungeon sections you go back to the last save point you've touched (regardless of whether you saved your game or not) when you die. This is the part that might frustrate a lot of players, as it's annoying to lose so much progress in the game, especially since you have no way to heal besides power-ups that enemies rarely drop on death, or with a late-game item that can only heal you outside of combat. However, the combat is a blast, even on lower difficulties. Boss fights are incredibly varied and each one requires a different approach, and has multiple ways for you to achieve victory depending on how aggressive you are. The soundtrack is one of the best in the industry. Every track is unique, ranging between aggressive guitar riffs, fast-paced violin rock, high-energy orchestral tunes and sad piano refrains and it's almost worth playing the game for the music alone.
   
   The game is a particular breath of fresh air, especially for those looking for an old-school style, challenging arcadey action experience. The only gripe I can lodge about the game is that it's a bit short - between 15 and 25 hours on a first playthrough, but there's a time attack mode and speedrun features that add a bit of longevity for players looking to challenge themselves further.… Expand

   • 6 of 8 users found this helpful
4. samuraigaiden

   Sep 20, 2012

   10

   This is a top-quality console style action RPG (like Secret of Mana) and fans of the genre should most definitely give it a try. The gameThis is a top-quality console style action RPG (like Secret of Mana) and fans of the genre should most definitely give it a try. The game offer a strong challenge, but do not be discouraged. Much like the highly praised Dark Souls, Ys: The Oath in Felghana demands you master the controls to advance in the game. Players that only know modern console games might not be able appreciate this type of gameplay, but that's OK. Your loss. The story is good in a weird way, as despite being almost irrelevant in parts, it's efficient in maintaining the pace of the adventure. Yes, there is some standard JRPG nonsense like the classic (SPOILER ALERT) find the items that belonged (or are in some way is linked) to the hero from the legends, and so forth. However, one must remember this is a remake of a game originally released in 1989. It wasn't a cliche back then and there is more to the story than just that stuff. I have to set aside some lines to just say that the music in this game is awesome. If you like the music from games like Final Fantasy VI, you'll seriously dig it. It's that same genre of crazy Japanese instrumental heavy metal, but with real instruments. Just the music is worth the admission fee.… Expand

   • 7 of 8 users found this helpful
5. 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 absolutelySo 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

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful
6. 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.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 of 4 users found this helpful
7. 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 actionAction 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

   • 1 of 3 users found this helpful
8. sanjsanj

   Jul 31, 2012

   0

   If your idea of 'Action RPG' is unskippable cutscenes featuring some Japanese lady that happens to be blonde and have huge purpleIf your idea of 'Action RPG' is unskippable cutscenes featuring some Japanese lady that happens to be blonde and have huge purple discuss-sized eyes followed by 30 secs of tutorial where it shows you the awkward controls that don't make any sense at all for the PC followed by another ten minutes (!) of unskippable cutscenes then give this game a shot. If it isn't then stay away because you'll end up doing what I did and uninstall it after getting bored to death of trying to actually play.
   The screenshots look great and the game looks fun, shame about the mind-numbingly boring hoops you have to jump through before you actually get to play. God, I wish Steam did refunds.… Expand

   • 1 of 18 users found this helpful

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