Ys Interlude – Why “Oath in Felghana” is Up Next!
With Ys IV: Mask of the Sun out of the way, you might wonder why it is that the next game I cover in my meta-series on Falcom’s Ys franchise isn’t Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand. For anyone that doesn’t have a deep knowledge of the series itself, this is a very good question, and so before I started coverage of the next game, I wanted to take a quick article to explain it.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a remake that was localized in 2010 and 2012 here in the U.S. of the 1989 game Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. So, while it might be confusing that we are playing what was meant to be the third installment after playing through the fourth, the reason for this is that although Wanderers from Ys was released after the second game, the fourth game’s story actually was done in such a way as to take place between the second and third game. Even if this seems strange or confusing, this isn’t at all uncommon.
So, the short version of why the third game is being played after Ys IV is simple: I wanted to cover these games in the chronological order that they take place, not simply based on the order in which they were numbered upon release!
If you are curious as to the timeline of the main Ys series, here’s a quick breakdown:
- Ys Origin (PC)
- Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen
- Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished: The Final Chapter
- Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (SNES) / Ys: Memories in Celceta (PS Vita)
- Ys III: Wanderers from Ys / Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
- Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (SNES)
- Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (PC)
- Ys Seven (PSP)
Naturally, there have been several remakes and compilations of the first two games, and the versions I played a while back were part of the Ys I & II Chronicles Plus game on Steam.
Anyway, since I’ve covered Origin, Ys I & II Chronicles Plus, and more recently Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (didn’t have an easy way to record Memories in Celceta), it’s time we move on very soon to The Oath in Felghana.
Get ready – lots of fun J-RPG’ing awaits!
