Ys: The Oath in Felghana

After nearly eight years since its initial release in Japan for the PC, Ys: The Oath in Felghana has finally received an official localization in the West thanks to Steam and publisher XSEED Games. This release isn't exactly the first Western iteration of the game - which appeared on the PSP a couple of years ago as well as having several fan translations over the years - but it is no less welcomed and despite the years in interim it remains an excellent example of an Action-RPG for the PC.

As with Oath in Felghana's release history, so the origin of the game's content demands a little explanation. This is in fact a remake of the third Ys game, Ys III: Wanders From Ys, which was released way back in 1989 for several home consoles including the MSX 2 and the Famicom in Japan. The game had a design similar to The Adventures of Link, which had been released a couple of years previously, and marked a distinct break (as Zelda II did) from the staples of the series. Where previous games in the Ys series were more focused on maze exploration and bashing into enemies from a top-down perspective, Ys III moved the action to a side-scrolling plane and introduced platforming elements and even an 'attack'  button (gasp!). The game was also a notable entry into the series for having a great magic system, memorable boss fights and outstanding music as well as being, as games generally were back in then, incredibly hard.

3 Notes on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

It's been a good few months since Bethesda released the fifth entry in the consistently epic RPG series, Elder Scrolls. As with many games last year I found that on the release of Skyrim I had other things going on and didn't manage pick up a copy, despite being initially very excited. However, a couple of weeks ago I found myself standing before a reduced price copy in Tesco, basket in hand, considering the endeavour despite being halfway through several other games.

I forwent  the opportunity thinking to myself (in faux-rational terms) that I had other things to do, other games to play. Yet the next evening I found myself driving to Tesco again, this time with the sole purpose of buying the game. To my dismay it had sold out! But at this point nothing could stop me. And thus I began the rather depressing quest of finding a copy of Skyrim at eight in the evening. Basically I drove to the next Tesco (it was quite far away) and, finally acquiring a copy, ranted it home to start what I should have started long ago.