Summary
- Choose the right difficulty – Normal for beginners, Nightmare for veterans.
- Remap the action button to Y for smoother gameplay.
- Save Raval Ore, talk to NPCs, and use Turbo Mode.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is a remaster of a remake and the history is a bit complex. The original game, Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys, was released on Japanese computers in 1989, with the first English version being released in 1991 for the TurboGrafx-CD. Besides other ports, it was fully remade as Ys: The Oath in Felghana which hit Japan first on PC again in 2005 before a long delay for North America which got the PSP version in 2010.
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Gamers who enjoy the role-playing games of old are sure to find something to love about these modern old-school RPGs.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, then, is the latest version. History aside, it’s a good jumping-on point for anyone interested in the Ys series. For those newcomers and others, let’s get into some tips that will surely help out beginners in the early hours of this latest action RPG.
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Know Your Difficulty Right Away
Tips For Beginners And Veterans
Before starting, players must select a difficulty between Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Nightmare. Unlike most modern games that allow players to switch up difficulties mid-game or adjust assist options, players must know what they want out of the game’s difficulty before beginning.
For newcomers to Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, Normal should suffice if they are used to action RPGs and don’t mind a little grinding. For veterans returning to the game for a second time and just wanting to breeze through it, Very Easy will be good. Or maybe the return players will want more of a challenge, in which case they can try out Hard. Nightmare is extremely challenging though, so be warned.
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Remap The Action Button
Ease Up The Thumb
The default Action Button is assigned to the A button on the Switch controller. For an action game, that can feel weird, especially when trying to adjust the thumb to a comfortable position while pressing B to jump.
It makes more sense to switch the Action Button to Y, which will then switch special attacks to A. This should be more comfortable overall, allowing players to get better at combat and platforming in Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana in equal measure. That’s the only big switch players should worry about in the controller settings.
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Combat Tips
Making Good Use Of Multipliers And Boosts
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana plays like a normal hack-and-slash action game, as Adol is armed with various swords throughout the adventure. Magical relics give players special attacks too, like fireballs, and that’s basically it for combat options. It is an old game at its core after all; the original PSP remake turns twenty this year.
If players are having trouble, they should get good at picking up monster drops, which can boost stats like attack power. Also, the faster players kill enemies, the bigger their EXP boost, which will help them with leveling up faster. Overall, it’s just good to chain attacks in the game.
5
Don’t Sell Raval Ore
Save Ore And Gold For Upgrades
Enemies will drop Gold, the currency of this RPG, and players can also find it in chests. They can also find a rarer collectible material called Raval Ore, a substance this area is known for. Players can sell it to an NPC in town named Antonio for a decent profit. While this may be alluring at first, in the long run, players should save Raval Ore for upgrades.
Every weapon and piece of armor can be upgraded, which is one of the best ways to upgrade Adol in Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, so every piece of previous upgrade material is important. That includes Raval Ore, so it’s a good resource to hang on to.
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Equipping Sets Will Change Adol
Accessorize For The Moment
Players may not realize this since weapons aren’t given grouped names, but there are sets of gear that will change the look of Adol. Players will begin with a red/silver color pallet for Adol, which is the default. In the next color tier, players can get more of a green hue if they equip the Long Sword, Chain Mail, and Small Shield.
If players switch out any of these three pieces of gear, Adol will revert to his default look, and the same goes for other sets of gear. Equipping full sets won’t boost stats even further like in other action RPGs, but this is a cosmetic tip some players may appreciate regardless.
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Between Dungeons, Talk To Everyone
Don’t Get Lost
Because this is an older game, players may find themselves lost without a compass pointing them in the right direction. Players can check the menu screen for diary info, which may or may not help, as well as the world map. Whether players get lost in the main objective or not, they should always talk to every NPC in town after a big mission.
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There’s something for everyone in here from copying monster abilities to parkouring through magical lands.
The dialogue can change frequently in Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, and some side info may open up after progress is made. Players won’t know what they may be missing if they don’t ask around with the game’s NPCs.
2
Save Often And Make Notes
Two Handy Overlooked Features
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana has one of the best save systems in recent memory because players have sixty slots to play with. Unfortunately, they need to save at designated spots, which isn’t ideal, but at least there is autosaving.
Players will never know if they are going to glitch or hard lock themselves into a corner in a game until it happens, which is why it’s always a good idea to keep multiple manual saves. It’s also not a bad idea to make manual notes for paths that are blocked. There are Metroid-like abilities Adol will gain, like a glide, so it’s smart to make notes to help remember where unreachable doors or chests are located.
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Don’t Forget About Turbo Mode
Every Remaster Needs This
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana doesn’t outwardly explain this as well as it should (not unlike the rest of the game’s mechanics), but there is a big new feature in this latest version. Pressing the right analog stick will activate Turbo Mode.
The standard speed increases everything from walking to slashing by 1.5x, but one more click will increase everything by 2x. Every modern remaster should have a fast-forward feature like this and some of the best remastered collections, like Final Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remaster, still don’t, which seems odd.
- Released
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January 7, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Nihon Falcom
- OpenCritic Rating
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Strong