Ys: The Oath In Felghana -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Ys: The Oath in Felghana with a time of eighteen hours and thirty-four minutes. It's impressive that the game lived up to my own very high expectations for the title. I loved it. Falcom has done just an amazing job in updating Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. They've taken what was my least favorite and made it one of the best entries in the series while somehow remaining true to the spirit of the original. Everything about Oath in Felghana works for me. The game is just great to look at. The controls are perfect, which in and of itself is impressive as the PSP's design often works against itself in that regard. The music is as good as video game music gets. The story is filled with character and charm. The quest is sizable and fun. The game also presents a good challenge as the bosses aren't messing around. The fifteen boss battles are the star of the show. What's probably most impressive to me is that Falcom has managed yet again to pull of that amazing grand sense of pure adventure. The stuff that should appeal to the six year old kid in all of us, provided you're still in touch with that part of yourself. Ys provides the escapism that's at the very core of why I play video games in the first place. The Ys series to me represents pure old-fashioned class and Oath in Felghana fits right in. I'm giving Ys: The Oath in Felghana a 9.5. Now one can only hope that Falcom ports Ys Origins to the PSP and that XSEED releases it in North America. And for the truly committed, they can hope that Falcom decides to bring Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, and Ys V: Lost Kefin: Kingdom of Sand up to par with the rest of the series and those somehow see a North American release. Oh yeah, and there's always Ys IIX...