I can at the very moment hear the screams of delight coming from a particular friend of mine who has always spoken very highly of the Ys series, as XSEED Games has recently announced that they will begin to publish games on Steam, with their first titles being Ys: The Oath in Felghana (Due for release on the 19th March at a cost of $14.99) and at a later date – Ys Origin. Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED Games had this to say on the announcement:
People have been asking for Falcom’s great catalog of PC games to be officially made available in English for a long time. To start our new publishing arrangement on Steam with two standout entries from Falcom’s action-based Ys series, one of which has never been made available in English before, is an ideal situation for us, and we are excited about the future possibilities.
Here is a quick official blurb on both games:
Ys: The Oath in Felghana & Ys Origin
XSEED Games delighted RPG fans in 2010 and 2011 when the company published several Ys titles from legendary RPG developer Nihon Falcom to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and now Ys fans can celebrate once more as two of the series’ most revered titles, Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, are heading to PC as digital downloads via Steam.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is an action RPG driven by fast-paced combat and paired with an intricate puzzle-filled world, and an enhanced port for the PSP system garnered many accolades when published by XSEED in 2010. This Steam release is true to the original Japanese PC release from 2005, but with added Steamworks features such as Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud support. The game follows the ongoing adventures of series hero Adol Christin and his trusty companion Dogi.
Conversely, Ys Origin serves as a prequel to the original Ys, and is the first Ys title not to feature Adol Christin or Dogi. This will mark the first time that the game, originally released in Japan for PC in 2006, will be officially released in English. Set 700 years before the first title in the Ys series, the game’s story focuses on the twin Goddesses and the mysterious Black Pearl made famous in Ys I & II, and follows the adventures of several playable characters as they ascend the menacing Darm Tower.
