LogFAQs > #900084955

27. Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Original Release: 2013 (PC)
Year Played: 2014
Developer: Falcom
Platform: PC

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I actually played Ys 3 first in my SNES emulator days. Sometime in the late 90's I think, I checked it out because it looked like an RPG and I didn't get far before dying and then decide to drop it...it was just too weird. I also thought the name "Ys" was weird back in that day, while a name like "Final Fantasy" was less weird. Anyway, apparently this series started to gain some steam in the west throughout the years since that particular incident which got me intrigued enough to play Ys SEVEN. Purchasing Ys: The OiF (a remake of 3 for those who do not know) was a decision made by the combination of excellent word of mouth and my desire to play a Falcom game, since during this time I was still eagerly awaiting the release of Trails SC.

Despite the short playtime, I enjoyed playing Oath. It's such a simple and easy game to play, but by no means is it easy as it's actually quite difficult and rewarding. Unlike Ys SEVEN and Lacrimosa, the other two games on this list, Oath is focused solely on Adol and the combat is more strategy oriented. Enemies can pack a wallop and you'll need to actually pay attention so as to not take too much damage and die. This involves frequent dodging, guarding, jumping, etc. The other two Ys games often devolve into button mashing, and trying to come into Oath doing so will amount to a quick death. This rings especially true with the boss fights. Bosses are challenging and involve constant, CONSTANT paying attention and dodging their blows until you have an opening. It feels like a Zelda hard-type and I love it for that. Sometimes the boss arenas turn into literal bullet hells and it's so much fun and so rewarding to figure out their strategy and destroy them. It helps that the camera is top-down and you can see pretty much everything going on in the screen. I feel that the third-person view of Ys 8 detracted from the challenge.

Oath doesn't really have anything else I could call a complete homerun as at its core it's still a remake of a rather simple game. There's one town, a bunch of dungeons, and a plot twist (a new one in this game) that is typical Falcom fare but at least gives the plot some depth. It's also incredibly short. But the gameplay is so much fun that it's the best out of all the Ys games. I wish Falcom used that formula more!