Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 17/Jan 02:02

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana – Review

It’s sometimes easy to forget just how long a video game franchise has been running. In the case of Nihon Falcom’s Ys, for example, you’re looking at a series that debuted in 1987. That’s nearly 40 years ago. Granted, with the exception of three fairly obscure ports, Ys didn’t properly arrive in the West until 2005… but that’s still two decades for a series that isn’t necessarily a household name. Over those four decades in total, the Ys games have evolved from simple top-down RPGs to sprawling open-world adventures, culminating in the recent release of Ys X: Nordics. The latest Ys game provides a blast from the past though, as it’s a reimagining of a 2005 PC title, which in turn was a remake of 1989’s Ys III. Is Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana a testament to the series’ roots or does the game fail the test of time? Story Our story begins with a narrator (re)introducing us to series protagonist Adol Christin, explaining how this is one of the earlier adventures of this legendary hero. This introduction sets the tone for the reimagining of Ys III’s story. Granted, we haven’t played the original version so we can’t outright contrast and compare, but given that that release hails from the SNES era, it’s clear that effort was put into fleshing out the dialogue and personalities of the cast. Either that, or Ys III was an exceptionally well-written RPG for its time. Given that the main plot is paper-thin, though, we’d wager that things were expanded upon to bring Ys Memoire in line with more recent entries. As for that overarching plot; this involves Adol and his best friend Dogi returning to Felghana, Dogi’s homeland. Our duo discovers that Felghana’s king wants to unleash a demon through the use of a set of statues that are scattered around the kingdom. Naturally, it falls to our hero to track down the statues and obtain them before the dastardly king can carry out his nefarious plan. Graphics Nihon Falcom pretty much knocked things out of the park with Ys Memoire’s visuals. The main art style is somewhat of a departure from the anime visuals we’ve come to associate with Adol Christin and his friends, opting for a more chibi style, but it works like a charm and still packs a surprising amount of detail. It’s not always perfect, mind you. Some enemy sprites appear blurry juxtaposed against the sharp backgrounds. As a whole, however, this is a great-looking game. The character portraits seen in dialogue scenes stick closer to the more familiar Ys aesthetic. The game’s relatively simple visuals don’t push the Switch to its limit, and performance is as silky smooth as it gets as a result, with no noticeable frame drops whatsoever. Sound We were pleasantly surprised with just how comprehensive Ys Memoire’s audio package was as a whole. The biggest selling point here is the inclusion of both English and Japanese voice work. This is a very welcome feature given just how much dialogue there is here. The cast is also clearly having a lot of fun with their characters. Then there’s the game’s soundtrack, which comprises a modern version as well as the option to listen to the original game’s music. The latter is an option we don’t see nearly enough in retro releases, and we can only applaud this. Gameplay If you’ve played any of the more recent Ys games, then it’s important to keep your expectations in check, as Ys Memoire hails from a different era. The foundations of the series are the same, of course. Taking control of Adol and Dogi, you’ll embark on a world-saving adventure filled with dungeons to explore and enemies to beat using real-time combat mechanics. Instead of a fully realized 3D world and a multi-dozen-hour time sink, you’re looking at a much simpler top-down isometric environment and a story that can be cleared in under 20 hours. Coming so close on the heels of Ys X, however, Ys Memoire provides a welcome change of pace, and this simpler adventure is as tightly designed and enjoyable as it gets for a retro experience. There are of course some QoL additions to reflect modern game design sensibilities, resulting in a tightly designed ARPG that avoids feeling dated, despite those 35-year-old roots. Combat in particular is fast-paced and accessible, thanks to a much simpler moveset. Adol has access to different combos and will also gradually build up an arsenal of powerful spells. This gives you plenty of tools to deal with what the dungeons throw at you. Slain enemies typically drop items that temporarily boost Adol’s stats, resulting in a very satisfying gameplay loop where Adol becomes increasingly powerful the more grunts he slays. That’s not to say that Ys Memoire is a walk in the park, as boss battles definitely still kick things up a notch. Combat does eat up the bulk of Ys Memoire’s gameplay. The series has never been all that big on puzzles, and this early entry exemplifies this. When you’re not kicking the crap out of monsters, you’ll find that the remainder of the game comprises your typical JRPG fare of exploring and talking to NPCs to move the plot forward. That isn’t a complaint, mind you: Ys Memoire is a product of its time, even with the new coat of paint and expanded story scenes, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. There are those aforementioned QoL additions, of course, and these include a mode that speeds up the game, similar to what Square Enix typically includes in their ports, and various difficulty settings in case you really want to put Adol to the test. We suspect that a lot of subtle QoL tinkering has also gone on under Ys Memoire’s hood. Conclusion By modern standards, Ys Memoire is an incredibly simplistic RPG that is definitely outclassed by its sprawling current-day siblings. However, the care and attention that went into bringing this game to a modern-day audience elevate Ys Memoire to something special. From the gorgeous audiovisual presentation to the snappy combat and the expanded story, this is a bite-sized RPG that will delight Ys fans and retro game enthusiasts alike.