Ys Origin and Oath in Felghana available in English

The Ys series is one of the more popular action RPG series around. With Ancient Ys Vanished Omen, Ys II - The Final Chapter and Wanderers From Ys available on the MSX we have a firm foothold in the realm of Ys.

Falcom, the creator of the Ys series, is still working on the series. They have released very playable and polished Windows remakes of Ys 1 and 2 in 2D at the beginning of the century. Later Wanderers from Ys also received a remake, in 3D this time, and has been renamed to Ys: Oath in Felghana. Falcom didn't stick to remakes but also created Ys Origin, a prequel to the Ys series which takes place 700 years before the events in Ancient Ys Vanished Omen and doesn't feature Adol Christin as the main character. These games were produced for Windows but also saw ports to other platforms like the Sony Playstation 2, the Nintendo Wii and the DS.

Unfortunately, these games were only available in Japanese. This has now changed with the release of both Ys: Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin through Steam. Apart from the convenience of the Steam platform, extra unlockables and game pad support the games have been fully translated into English, making these games playable for a wide audience. Oath in Felghana (€11,99) and Ys Origin (€15,99) are available for the Windows platform through Steam.

Relevant link: Ys Origin, Ys: Oath in Felghana

Comments (15)

By WORP3

Paladin (864)

07-06-2012, 21:59

Wow I wish that the did that the first time as I bought the original and played it already
For all those who skipped this one, it's one of the better ys3 games out there, so enjoy it while you can !

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1788)

07-06-2012, 22:20

You didn't use the English fan translation patch? I have it, it's very good. Unfortunately the creator decided he wanted money for his efforts, made it donationware, and left the translation unreleased and 99% finished when the near-finished translation was leaked.

But fortunately I have the translation

And definitely agreed, Oath in Felghana is a great game. Very good and smooth gameplay and the game is very recognizable if you played the MSX version! Too bad the remakes don't run on a Mac...

By WORP3

Paladin (864)

07-06-2012, 23:40

I played it just like on the msx, in japanese. The only english version i ever played was on the sega which was also a great version !

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3646)

08-06-2012, 00:15

Too bad they didn't released Mac versions of those games on Steam. I would *certainly* buy them.

By st1mpy

Paladin (906)

08-06-2012, 10:49

I think all those remakes and re-releases are worth playing, but I think the Ys IV - the dawn of Ys (for PC-Engine, also currently available on the game archives in the Playstation store) is very interesting for a MSX owner because it is a proper sequel (following on from Ys III) and graphics wise it has the same look and feel as the MSX versions (apart from the animations and voice overs from the CD-ROM).

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

08-06-2012, 21:01

Quote:

Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys is definitely one of the better versions of the two (now 3 with Celceta: Sea of Trees for PS VITA) installments of the 4th game in the series. I'd highly recommend it too. Both the SFC and PC-Engine versions are fully translated into English as well with patches. And it's an interesting time right now too because a project to dub the Japanese voice acting in the PC-Engine version is proving to be successful so far, with two previously failed attempts. There was never any way to add in subtitles over the FMV that could be found, so it required the player to read through a document that came with the translation patch, unless of course you understand Japanese well enough. This should alleviate the need for that and fully patch the game into English. I actually secured a voice acting part for that project as well, so it's all pretty exciting stuff.

What XSEED has been doing with publishing so many Ys / Falcom releases is wonderful, and the fact that they can now publish some of the PC versions through Steam is even better! I have both the original releases and the Steam releases for Ys Felghana / Origin and it plays just as well for me as if I were to install and patch the originals with the fan-translation patches, only this is a better translation, easier to install (no Japanese windows mode settings to fiddle with), has some fun unlockable achievements, Save Games from the original installs of these two games can be imported and used with the Steam verisons, and it's so much cheaper than getting an original physical copy from Japan. It's a really great deal for folks looking to sink their teeth to some fast-paced action that keeps the Ys formula alive in a great way.

-Thomas

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1788)

09-06-2012, 09:51

Heck, even I bought Ys Origin again (bought the original in Japan, back in 2006) even tho I have a Mac. Turns out the game runs just fine inside a Parallels Virtual Mchine

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

09-06-2012, 22:49

Great news! I also bought the original japanese release of felghana back then. These steam versions will be very interesting.

Felghana rocks... Superb (cover) music, great gfx and very nice gameplay.

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

10-06-2012, 00:33

By the way, for saved games from the original release(s), you will need to drop them in the non-Cloud save folder even if the Cloud is enabled. This is %AppData%/FALCOM/yso_win/ by default for XP and for Vista/7 it's generally My Saved Games/FALCOM/yso_win/ -- so putting them in whichever folder applies to you should work. The save game folder for the original release installs can usually be found through the config.exe options. Usually there will be a button to take you right to the correct directory. Usually it is USERNAME/Documents and Settings/Saved Games or something like that.

-Thomas

By ro

Scribe (4924)

12-06-2012, 09:09

I have played the fan-translated YS1&2 on PC years agon round the time Felghana was released. It's a pretty port of the original MSX versions. Never heard about YS IV tho. Seems like a good time to shop around the internet and get my self a copy. Any hints SkyeWelse on where to get the goods?

think I'm gonna try the Steam version as well, Origin and Felghana rock!

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

12-06-2012, 19:33

Hi Ro,

If you are looking for an original of either Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (Super Famicom) or Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PC-Engine Super CD-Rom), I think the best places to buy these for the cheapest price would be eBay. They are not so popular as to warrant price gouging scenarios, (although you will find a few people asking for a lot for them) typically you can find these for around 20-25 each, before shipping and sometmes with shipping included. I see one auction here that seems very cheap!

Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys

Once you have your own disc, you are ready to rip it using a very accurate PC-Engine Ripping tool called TurboRip, created by NightWolve, who also did the original Ys I & II Complete PC release English Translations. You'll also find the translation patch for this over at his site, however remember that it currently has not been outfitted with the new voice tracks for the English dub. That is currently being worked on still. : )

To play the current version of the Ys IV: Mask of the Sun translation, you'll want to visit AGTP Translations. They are on version 2.00 of the patch, which was a re-translation. They also have a project for Ys V for SFC, but that project has been open for many, many, many years and it will probably be open for many more. : )

Brief Explanation about the versions of Ys IV: Following the success of the first 3 Ys games, there was a demand for a 4th installment, Falcom did not have the resources at the time to develop the game in house, so they were approached by Hudson and Tonkin House. They were both given the same general plot more or less, and characters to use, but the stories in each version are very different overall. Hudson's version (Dawn of Ys) is arguably the better version, while Tonkin House's version (Mask of the Sun) was pretty stale, but more in mind with what Falcom probably had in mind, as Dawn of Ys takes a bit too many liberties with some events that happen to various characters. Tonkin House's version was considered the most canonical of the versions...that is until the new PS VITA release of Ys: Celeta: Sea of Trees, which was recently released, as that is the most current version of this story, and this one IS developed in house by Falcom.

-Thomas

By ro

Scribe (4924)

13-06-2012, 10:38

thanx SkyeWelse! will dig in the dawn

While browsing youtube for some previous there was a notion about YS SEVEN (currently excl for PSP) will be release just THIS month for PC as well how, cool.

Love the YS series...

By SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

13-06-2012, 23:38

Sure, no problem. : ) Though to clarify, I *wish* a Japanese (or English) PC version would be released, but Falcom has pretty much exited the PC market altogther. This new Ys Seven PC version was developed and as far as I know, only being released in Chinese.

-Thomas

By FiXato

Scribe (1742)