I didn't expect this game to be so much better than Ys VI in every aspect, this game really is just great. I love the stat bust system in this game, it pushes you to just push forward and the exp multiplier gives you an incentive to keep fighting the enemies even if they're much weaker than you.

This might sound weird, but finding some areas that were clearly designed for the original 2D game was really cool, it makes me want to check out the original version lol

The bosses are weird to me, because with most of them I started thinking "Who thought this boss was a good idea" but once I defeated them I switched to "Yeah that was pretty good"(The final boss being able to do the ball attack right after the ice attack is still bullshit tho).

Definitely the best Ys game I've played so far(I've only played 4 tho)

Great game if you think you like shmups but won’t try anything that doesn’t have stats.

Sorry that was mean. The juice carries hard! I’m sold on this engine at least on a game-feel level, cutting through mobs like a tiny red-haired buzzsaw on my lil PSPgo mildly kept my interest for about two hours. Felghana is at its best when it locks you in a room with dense twin-stick-like enemy and bullet patterns, where the extra Z-axis and melee attack options give the game a distinct flavor from comparable challenges in other titles. Mashing the shit out of your fire spell is innately enjoyable, staggers enemies regardless of damage and presents an interesting dynamic in that you can’t aim at your target without also moving there.

Bosses dictate the pace of their fights and have odd punish windows — the first Chester encounter for example has multiple, visually identical instances where he’ll idle a bit after completing his attack, yet the only one that’s actually safe to punish is following one of his big white aura moves. Not respecting this will regularly get you owned, and it doesn’t exactly make for an exciting dynamic.

This is probably the game’s most abrasive quality, but one I could’ve looked past rather easily were it not for the abundance of filler mob-corridors you have to trudge through. This is both a level design / structure issue — it’s trivial to jump over and run past enemies, the only reason not to do so is that it might leave you underleveled (DMC combat walls may have helped?) — as well as a seeming weakness of the mechanics: I like me some consistent enemy stagger, but Adol puts out hitboxes so fast that most mobs are unable to offer any meaningful counterplay unless they pelter you with projectiles from multiple angles (like in those shmup rooms I mentioned.) Many action games tend to make it so that the final hit in a combo knocks the enemy away, both as a strategic option for the player, as well as to give the enemy time to prepare an attack of their own, but this doesn’t seem to be the case here very much. Playing Ys Origin’s opening fight for comparison points to some careful rebalancing measures in that game, namely how the melee character Yunica seems to attack much more slowly.

Which segues nicely into why I ultimately decided to drop Oath — all the homies make it sound like Origin just emphasizes that game’s positive qualities while trimming most of the fat. Bring it on, baby. I don’t regret the time I spent in Felghana, but I also wanna keep it that way lmfao. The comfy JRPG vibes are definitely off the charts if that carries for you!