Ys: The Oath in Felghana
A reimagined Ys III with three-dimensional action and expanded storytelling.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is an action role-playing game from 2005, created by Nihon Falcom. It belongs to the Ys series and serves as a heavily overhauled take on Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. The remake keeps the same characters and the Felghana setting, but swaps the original game's side-scrolling style for the three-dimensional combat system first seen in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim. Compared to its predecessor, this version broadens the story, reworks the level designs and boss fights, and adds fresh dialogue and events, all while keeping the core conflict from the original intact.
The story picks up three years after Ys I and Ys II. Adventurer Adol Christin and his friend Dogi head toward Felghana after hearing about trouble in Dogi's homeland. On the way to the town of Redmont, they save Elena Stoddart from monsters and learn that dangerous creatures have appeared everywhere, the dormant volcano Mount Vesuvius has stirred back to life, and Count McGuire has been imposing harsher demands on the locals. Dogi goes off to see his old teacher, while Adol agrees to look into the disturbances. He explores a nearby mine and meets Elena's brother Chester, who vanished from Redmont after joining McGuire's service. Chester refuses to explain himself and warns Adol to stay out of it.
Adol discovers that McGuire is hunting for four ancient statues tied to Genos, a hero who once sealed the demon Galbalan beneath Felghana. McGuire's bishop, Nicholas Garland, has been pushing the search and plans to use the statues to restore Galbalan's power. Chester has infiltrated McGuire's group because he believes the count destroyed his and Elena's home village. As Adol collects the statues, he realizes Garland has been manipulating both McGuire and Chester. Garland kidnaps Elena and uses the statues to break the seal holding Galbalan. Chester tries to stop the ritual but fails to prevent the demon's return. Adol enters the sealed structure under Valestein Castle and defeats Galbalan. Chester sacrifices himself to contain the leftover destructive energy, saving Felghana but leaving Elena without her brother. After peace returns to Redmont, Adol and Dogi move on.
The game is an action role-playing title shown from an elevated third-person view. Players control Adol as he moves through towns, fields, mines, ruins, mountains, castles, and other areas.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Ys: The Oath in Felghana
- Developer
- Nihon Falcom
- Publisher
- Xseed GamesJP · Nihon Falcom
- Director
- Takayuki Kusano
- Producer
- Masayuki Kato
- Writer
- Hisayoshi Takeiri · Toshihiro Kondo · Shinichiro Sakamoto · Hirotaka Sato
- Composer
- Yukihiro Jindo
- Series
- Ys
- Platforms
- Windows, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- Genre
- Action role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Ys: The Oath in Felghana follows adventurer Adol Christin and his companion Dogi as they return to Dogi's homeland of Felghana. Monsters have appeared, the local volcano has become active, and Count McGuire has imposed increasing demands on the town of Redmont. The story expands on Ys III, providing further context for Chester's actions, Redmont's history, and the relationship between the demon Galbalan and the ancient hero Genos. Adol obtains three elemental bracelets that provide magical attacks and traversal abilities: fire, wind, and earth. Each bracelet can be upgraded, increasing the power or utility of its associated Ring Art. The game replaces the side-scrolling platform action of Ys III with a revised version of the three-dimensional system used in Ys VI. Defeated enemies drop temporary bonuses that restore health, replenish magic, increase attack or defense, or raise experience earned, rewarding continuous combat momentum. Unlike Ys VI, the game does not allow stockpiling healing items for boss battles; healing depends primarily on drops, checkpoints, or restarting an encounter.
Reader's Guide
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is significant as Falcom's second interpretation of the story from Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, rebuilt using the action framework established in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim. Xseed later described Ys VI as the foundation upon which both The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin were developed. The remake retains the Felghana setting and principal characters of Ys III but reconstructs its maps, combat, progression, and boss encounters for an elevated three-dimensional perspective. The developers streamlined several systems from Ys VI to keep the emphasis on continuous action, removing stockable healing items from combat and replacing the three elemental swords of Ys VI with bracelets whose Ring Arts support both combat and environmental traversal. The PlayStation Portable version added full voice acting, a double-boost system, and selectable soundtrack arrangements. An enhanced remaster, Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, was released for Nintendo Switch in Japan in 2023 and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2024, adding high-definition graphics, new character illustrations, newly recorded dialogue for Adol, a high-speed mode, accessibility options, and three selectable soundtrack arrangements. Xseed released all three versions internationally on January 7, 2025.
Did You Know?
- The game is a substantially reworked version of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, replacing side-scrolling gameplay with the three-dimensional action system from Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim.
- Taito released a licensed mobile adaptation for Japanese i-mode phones on December 18, 2006.
- Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, an enhanced remaster, was released internationally by Xseed on January 7, 2025.
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