Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC, 2005/PSP, 2010)(Ys III Remake)

• Mostly linear structure (can only go to the quarry dungeon early on (can't apply to become a knight or reach the mountains nor the ruins) and to the other dungeons in a set order, can do some side quests in-between the main quests, can go to the mountains before finishing the abandoned mine (you get the double jump here pretty quickly) but it's gonna be very tough due to the harsh level gating, linear dungeons overall), Some optional side quests, Two optional bosses but getting to them is too a hassle and they're only fought in time attack mode

• Some backtracking into previously visited dungeons to progress or (using gained traversal abilities) for optional goodies. Once for an item which is traded for a basically required item (nightfire gem which lets you see invisible platforms)

• Some movement abilities which are used for traversal and exploration besides combat (wind/spinning lets you glide over gaps and onto platforms below, fireballs can light torches and melt ice, dashing/tackling (earth/yellow) can break walls and be used to dodge/block) and some gear used more like keys (boots to avoid sliding on ice (also lets you climb some icy slopes), item to let you traverse shallow lava, item that lets you see invisible platforms). You also gain a double jump which also increases your chance of stunning an enemy with the downstab move

• Upgradeable equipment including the magic/sub weapon bracelets, Max HP upgrade items (found or bought) - they only add 3 HP though

• Save points which also heal you (fairly frequent, 64 save slots (location, time, stats))

• Pretty fast MP regen, No HP regen until you find the spirit cape here (late game item) and it takes about 5 seconds to kick in+you have to stand still

• Vague overworld map (shows you general location as well as the main roads and locations; see Ark of Napishtim), No dungeon maps

• Gain the ability to teleport between all visited save points after the third dungeon (wing item)

• Retry option when dying to a boss (can't use it before defeat however)

• Difficulty options (very easy-inferno (two steps above hard))

• Some minor puzzles (switches, platforming puzzles; still a very combat focused game with various forced encounters). Some  spatial awareness puzzles

• New enemies sometimes appear when backtracking (zone of lava, color swapped enemies in the overworld, valestein castle, overworld after the reveal)

• Silent protagonist (game shifts to a narrator's voice briefly summarizing what he's saying)

• Frequent enemy respawning (as soon as you exit the room/sub area)

• Can't access the menu during a boss fight

• Some sequence breaking possibilities (faux double jump/long jump trick)

Some notable cons:

• Sometimes uneven difficulty and often pretty harsh level/gear gating at bosses which leads to grinding on Normal

• Some control/interface issues (no journal/quest log feature, fall off a platform if you attack near its edge, almost no invincibility time after taking a hit, somewhat unforgiving hit detection at times, etc)

• Some tedious aspects (still can't sell gear, single coin drops even a few dungeons into the game, overly expensive revival item, game keeps dropping items you can't use/have a full stock of such as herbs instead of something you could use, no item drop magnet, can't buy healing items nor can you use them during boss fights anyway, some unavoidable damage, having to retread your steps quite far after falling down at some points, etc)

• Trial & error (boss patterns, where to go after the mines, bug swarm in lava dungeon, finding a save point past the midpoint of the mountain area, etc)

• Various invisible walls - even above the low railings in dungeons

• Unskippable staff roll and in-game cutscenes (dialogue scenes)

• Mostly non-interactive environments

Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review

Influenced by: Probably Zelda series, Phantasy Star Online, possibly Bealphareth, Threads of Fate, Kingdom Hearts, Diablo series, Seiken Densetsu series, Tales of series

Influenced: