Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is shaping up to be a fantastic way to begin 2025 – PS5 and Switch Preview

Back when I first bought a PS Vita, I had no idea what Falcom was. Looking at the upcoming releases and seeing a lovely collector’s edition for a game called Ys: Memories of Celceta back then made me want to try out the series. I saw Ys: The Oath in Felghana as a PSP game on the PlayStation Store, and looked it up on YouTube. One of the first few results was the song “Valestein Castle.” I heard it and was sold. I ended up buying Ys: The Oath in Felghana soon after, and it became one of my favorite games of all time. 

Fast forward to today and Ys: The Oath in Felghana is seeing a new console release in the West very soon in the form of Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana. I already played the Japanese Switch release back in 2023, and I’ve now been playing the full upcoming Western release on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch for review. Ahead of my full review closer to launch, I wanted to cover how Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana feels as someone who has played the PSP and PC versions. For this preview, I’m going to focus on the differences and also some thoughts on the early hours of the game on Nintendo Switch OLED and PlayStation 5.

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, just like Ys: The Oath in Felghana, is a fantastic feeling game to play. When I look back at how many Ys games I’ve played since I first played Ys: The Oath in Felghana, I’m still surprised at how well it holds up. Ys VIII and The Oath in Felghana remain my favorite Ys games, but the latter is just a more solid experience overall. The combat is fast and smooth, the soundtrack one of the best ever from Falcom, bosses brilliant, and I just adore revisiting it over and over again.

The screenshots above showcase the options included in this new release across voice language, portrait style, soundtrack options, and the extra function button. 

When a game gets an enhanced port or remaster, the quality of the original release matters a lot, and in the case of Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, it seems like Falcom has based it on the PSP release rather than the modern XSEED Games-published PC release. This means the cutscene framing, field of view, and more are similar to the PSP version on my PS Vita rather than the modern PC release. 

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana vs the original game on PC and PSP

There are of course many new features added in this release, and while many of them are available on PC, there are a few notable differences. Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana itself had a few additions over the PSP release like turbo mode with two speed options, the ability to skip a lot of cutscenes and dialog, higher resolution visuals, 60fps support, a new portrait option, and dual audio for voices. The soundtrack options and English voices were already present on PSP, but a voiced Adol is new to Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana.

For the screenshots above, I replayed the opening moments to showcase how the visuals vary between the PS5 release and the current Steam version at 1080p

Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam is not capped to 60fps, though there are some issues playing at higher frame rates, and it also has improved visuals over even the new Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana release on PS5. The PC version does lack the turbo options, Japanese voice acting, Adol’s voice acting, the new portrait option, and the ability to skip cutscenes. 

I also found it surprising that the new PS5 and Switch version do not let you use the d-pad for movement like the PSP and PC versions. This isn’t something I’d do when playing with Joy-Cons on Switch, but I did play the PSP version on PS Vita with excellent d-pad it has and also the PC version on my ROG Ally.

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana Nintendo Switch and PS5 impressions

With the early comparisons and feature differences out of the way, Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana feels like a good fit for portable play, but the PS5 version highlights some of the visual issues this release has. A lot of the UI elements and menus feel designed for a portable as well. When James previewed the Nintendo Switch version a few months ago, he wondered if the PS5 version would support 120fps. It unfortunately does not. It runs at a locked 60fps so far. The PS5 version also loads very quickly. 

Both the Switch and PS5 versions suffer from some tiling issues (shown above) on the ground or walls across most of the locations early on. This is similar to the visual issues in the environment in the Chrono Trigger PC and mobile release. When playing in handheld mode on Switch, this is a bit less noticeable, but it is very obvious when playing on my monitor. I don’t expect it to get fixed given the ports have been available in Japan for a while now, but it is unfortunate to see this. 

I spent most of my time with the PS5 version for this preview, but having jumped into the Switch version for a few hours, it does seem to run very well with some minor issues I noticed when using turbo mode. I’ll focus more on the Switch version for my full review, but at least early on, performance seems fine. 

I’ll save my full thoughts on the game for my review closer to launch, but Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is shaping up to be a fantastic way for newcomers to begin 2025 with one of Falcom’s best games finally seeing a modern console release.