A remaster of an enhanced port of a remake of a 35-year-old game … it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana to carry at least some baggage from that kind of history. Instead, it brings to Switch (and PS4/5) the kind of no-nonsense action RPG that you can easily dive into and get lost in, whether you’re an old Ys head or this is your first time seeing this seemingly unpronouncable word. (It’s ees, by the way. Rhymes with “geese”.)
A quick recap: Ys III: Wanderers of Ys came out in 1990, diverging from its forebears with a Zelda II-esque side-scroller spin. In 2005, it got a ground-up remake in the form of Ys: The Oath in Felghana, taking on a more typical overhead action RPG style, but with some of that side-scroller DNA retained in the level design. A 2010 port brought that remake to PSP with some extra features, like a New Game + system and some balance tweaks. That port is the basis for Ys Memoire, which adds a new layer of polish with new character portraits, a higher rendering resolution, a remastered soundtrack, and voice acting for the main character, Adol Christin.
Where a lot of serial re-releases get messy in terms of feature set (looking at you, Final Fantasy), Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is an obvious best choice for someone’s first taste of Ys III. It’s the most playable, most complete, and with this remaster, the most readily available on current platforms. As I said before, it’s also not a bad place for a series newcomer to start, given its self-contained story and simple, engrossing game loop.
Which brings us to the core of Ys Memoire: an action RPG that is uncomplicated by today’s standards, but without feeling dumbed down or dated. Combat is as simple as pressing one button to swing your sword and another to cast magic, with three different types of magic to cycle between. There’s no messing about with invincible dodges and precise parries; not getting hit is about not standing in the place where the enemy’s sword/fire/stinger/pincer/whatever is going. There’s no faffing about with stats and builds; you get stronger in a linear fashion with every level up, and you equip the strongest gear you have.
Sounds boring? It’s not. The increasing complexity of enemy attack patterns—bosses most notably, but regular foes too—keeps that simple foundation constantly evolving, especially as the unique effects of different magic comes into play. Ys Memoire doesn’t have the same skill ceiling or demand the same degree of mechanical mastery as even some of the more recent games in the series, let alone its more systems-heavy peers, but it’s certainly not shallow or dull. It’s not afraid to kick your ass if you get complacent, either.
Exploration keeps that same spirit, with level design that encourages you to leave no stone unturned, solve a few navigational puzzles, and play around with a modest suite of movement-altering upgrades. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but it all works well. You could argue that it feels a little dated at times, just in terms of how subsequent games built on the ideas that Oath in Felghana was playing with, but it never feels like the kind of game you have to approach as “a product of its time”. Ys Memoire is every bit as enjoyable today as it was when The Oath in Felghana first landed 20 years ago, even if it’s playing with simpler ideas than a lot of other action RPGs.
The story is enjoyable enough, if fairly generic fantasy RPG fodder. Adol Christin’s knack for arriving in a new place just as trouble is brewing sees him trying to save his best friend’s hometown from the whims of a tyrannical count, channelling the power of long-gone heroes, fighting mythical beasts, and so on. Framed as excerpts from an adventurer’s journal, Ys stories have always been more about creating context for adventure than weighty plots, and The Oath in Felghana is no different. That said, it does benefit from an excellent localisation and good voice performances.
If you want to enjoy the clever simplicity of the early 2000s era of action RPGs without feeling like you need nostalgia glasses to appreciate it, look no further than Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana. The visual and aural enhancements add a welcome level of polish to a classic, and there’s a timelessness to Felghana’s uncomplicated, punchy design that keeps it as playable and exciting today as it was 20 years ago.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana brings a classic action RPG to modern consoles in remastered form, and serves as a reminder that a good, simple hook can be timeless.
