Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (2024)

Maia: "This is just another dream of mine..." The story of this game has been retold in Ys: The Oath in Felghana. The content of this article is not canon to the timeline of the Ys world.

In my time, I've wandered everywhere.
Around this world, Hope would always be there.

~ Excerpt from "Wanderers From Ys"

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (イースIII -ワンダラーズフロムイース- Īsu 3: Wandarāzu furomu Īsu^?) is an action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation. It is the third game in the Ys (series).

Ys III was initially released for the NEC PC-8801 and NEC PC-9801 in 1989, and versions for the MSX 2 and Sharp X68000 soon followed. In 1991, a number of console ports were produced: versions for the TurboGrafx-CD, Famicom, Super NES, and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A port for the PlayStation 2 was released by Taito Corporation in 2005.

The TurboGrafx-CD, Super NES, and Genesis versions, as well as the PSP and Windows version of the remake, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, have received official English-translated releases. In addition, the NES and MSX 2 versions have been fan-translated. The PC-8801 version was re-released for the Nintendo Switch eShop on May 9, 2024 in Japan as part of the EGG Console.

Plot[]

The opening scene informs the player that it has been three years since the events of Ys I and Ys II. Adol Christin and his friend Dogi are on a journey. Passing through a town, they find a gypsy caravan and Dogi has his fortune told. The fortune teller's crystal ball explodes and both Adol and Dogi decide to go to Dogi's hometown of Redmont. On the way to Redmont, the pair chance upon a wildcat that attacks them, saving Dogi's childhood friend, Elena Stoddart, in the process. Upon arriving, they learn that the townspeople are being threatened by men from the nearby Valestein Castle. Always ready for adventure, Adol decides to assume the task of helping them out.

Travelling to Tigray Quarry, Adol discovers that there has been a cave in, and monsters have taken over the quarry. Adol travels deep inside the quarry to rescue Edgar, the mayor of Redmont. After defeating the boss of the Quarry, Ellefale, and claiming the first statue, Adol finds Chester (brother of Elena) threatening Edgar. Adol pulls Edgar back out to the entrance of the quarry and goes back to Redmont. Meeting Elena (formally this time), Adol learns that some statues are being sought by Lord MacGuire, the King of Felghana province (where the game takes place). Another statue is being sought in the Illburns Ruins, so Adol travels there to retrieve it. Another townsperson, Father Pierre, has gone there as well. Adol gets to an altar of sorts, where he overhears Chester talking with Pierre. After a brief duel with Chester, Adol is caught, and tells Chester that Elena is worried about him. With Lord MacGuire watching, Chester rebuffs Adol and kicks him down into a pit of lava. Battling through monsters, Adol finds a fire dragon, Gilan, and defeats him. The reward gets Adol over a large river of lava by solidifying it. After escaping from the pit, Elena meets Adol at the top of a staircase. She informs him that the statue is indeed hidden further on. He opens a hidden door and fights a Wyvern, claiming the second statue.

Upon coming back to the town, Adol meets up with Dogi, who informs him that he is heading off to the mountains and that Edgar wishes to see Adol. Adol meets with Edgar, who informs him that men from Valestein (Ballacetine in the SNES version) Castle are actively seeking the statues. He informs Adol of a statue in Tigray Quarry. Adol proceeds to the quarry and defeats the monster guarding the third statue. Adol then heads back to Redmont to inform Edgar. Upon arriving at Edgar's house, he interrupts a conversation between Edgar, Lord MacGuire and Bishop Garland (no relation to Final Fantasy I's Garland) about Galbalan. Galbalan, according to Edgar, is a demon of tremendous power who used to rule over the populous of Felghana a long time ago. He was sealed away (not destroyed) by a hero (depicted on a slab of stone Adol finds in the quarry) using the four statues. Adol is sent to the Elderm Mountains to chat with the hermit living there. Adol finds Dogi chatting with the Master up on the mountain. The Master tells Adol that a statue is indeed in the mountains, but inaccessible due to a statue that guards the entrance. Adol travels up the mountain to the peak and defeats a Harpy, gaining the staff that opens the way to the statue. He defeats the guardian Dragon, and claims the fourth and final statue. Chester show up, and tries to force Adol to hand over the four statues. A cave in interrupts the conversation, and Dogi digs the two men out. Chester is reunited with Dogi, and they converse briefly. Adol and Dogi leave for town, and find it almost deserted, with Mr. Gardner (the town guard) nowhere to be found. Inside the walls, they find Mr. Gardner and some of the townsfolk. Apparently, while Adol and Dogi were in the mountains, soldiers from Valestein Castle came to the town and kidnapped townsfolk in exchange for the statues. Adol converses with Edgar before setting out for the castle.

At Valestein Castle, Adol fights his way down to the dungeons where he finds the townspeople and Father Pierre (who had been moved here after Illburns Ruins). He tells Pierre to get the people out of the castle, and goes to find Lord MacGuire. On the way to Lord MacGuire's chambers, he comes across Bishop Garland, who taunts Adol. Garland then reveals himself, and Adol defeats him after a lengthy battle. Upon reaching Lord MacGuire, Adol finds that Lord MacGuire is repentant, and is sorry for his actions. He will make reparations for his actions. As Adol goes back across a bridge, he is met by Elena, who congratulates him on beating the soldiers and being a hero. Galbalan (who has reawoken due to the seal of the statues being broken) kidnaps Elena in midair and taunts Adol, telling him to bring the statues to his island fortress. Adol goes back to town, doubting himself. Edgar and Dogi bring Adol back to his senses, and Adol sets off to rescue Elena. Surviving many challenges, Adol comes to a platform where Elena and Chester are talking to each other. Galbalan taunts Chester just as Adol arrives. Adol promises the statues to Galbalan, if he will not harm Chester or Elena. Galbalan agrees, and pulls Adol up to his realm. Adol fights and defeats Galbalan, and rescues Elena.

Adol finds out that Chester has gone to the very center of Galbalan's Island, to seal it away. Elena tells Adol that her village and its people are descendants of the man who sealed away Galbalan the first time. Only Chester knows how to sink Galbalan's island, and Adol must not interfere. Adol understands and he and Elena leave the sinking island. The scene shifts to Chester, who is manipulating crystals to sink the island for good. He tells Adol to take care of Elena for him, before sacrificing himself to destroy the island. The island then disappears for good.

Back in Redmont, Adol and Dogi are at the Inn getting ready to leave. Dogi tells Adol to go on ahead, as he has something to take care of. They are leaving in the early morning as to not cause a stir within the community. Dogi is chatting with Elena, who is in love with Adol. Dogi leaves, and Elena almost stays. She then walks out of the Inn. Mr. Gardner is asking Adol what he and Dogi are planning. Mr. Gardner would like Adol and Dogi to stay, but Adol wants to have more adventures. He and Dogi leave, and as they are walking along the shore, Elena runs up and shouts to them. Both Dogi and Adol wave goodbye. Elena cries as text scrolls telling about further adventures waiting for Adol and Dogi.

Gameplay[]

The perspective of Ys III is a sharp departure from the previous two games. Instead of the previously used top-down camera view, Ys III uses a side-scrolling platformer presentation. Auto-attack is removed; the player must push a button to make Adol attack enemies. As in previous entries, however, neither the player character nor the enemies have temporary invincibility.

Otherwise, the gameplay mechanics are identical to previous entries in the series. The statistics, equipment, shopping, experience system, and magic all function the same as in Ys I and II (though spells are represented by rings instead of wand icons, and MP is renamed "Ring Power").

Music[]

The soundtrack to the original version of Ys III was almost entirely composed by Mieko Ishikawa, with several contributions from Yuzo Koshiro. The Sharp X68000 version of the game introduced a number of additional compositions, which were composed by Masaaki Kawai.

Falcom has released a number of music CDs dedicated to the music of Ys III. They include:

• Music from Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (1989): Soundtrack to the original NEC PC-8801 edition of Ys III, along with three tracks from the X68000 edition.
• Wanderers from Ys Super Arrange Version (1989): A collection of arranged tracks from Ys III by Hiroyuki Nanba and Atsushi Yokozeki.
• Ys III J.D.K. Special (1990): The complete soundtrack to the X68000 version of Ys III, along with four rock music arrangements from Falcom's J.D.K. Band.
• Perfect Collection Ys III (1990): A two-CD set entirely dedicated to Ys III. The first disc is a complete arrangement of the Ys III soundtrack, including the X68000-introduced tracks, by Ryo Yonemitsu (who also arranged the TurboGrafx-CD version's CD-DA tracks along with Noriyuki Iwadare) and two others. The second disc contains additional Ys III arrangements in various musical styles.

To commemorate the release of the Ys III remake The Oath in Felghana in 2005 (see below), Falcom released Ys Premium Music CD Box in Felghana, a boxed set of all Ys III music CDs produced.

Version Differences[]

Japanese Home Computers

The game was initially released on the PC88, though the scrolling is fairly choppy. The PC98 version has a handful of tweaks, including a difficulty select option and CPU throttling. The MSX version has the number of colors increased from 8 to 16. However, the scrolling is still choppy, and the PSG music is inferior to the PC88/98 FM music. The X68000 port is the best of the home computer versions, offering smoother scrolling and 256 color graphics. However, the MIDI synth is a little bit hard on the ears when stacked up against the PC-88 version, though it does have a few extra music tracks, including a new miniboss theme “Chop” and “The Theme of Chester”.

Consoles

Ys III was released on the SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-CD, and the Famicom. The Genesis version came out courtesy of Renovation/Telenet, the SNES version was brought out by Sammy, and Hudson put out the TurboGrafx-CD version. They’re mostly improved over the computer versions, and while they lack the difficulty options, they’re typically better balanced.

The Famicom version has the worst graphics and sound of any of the ports. There’s not much of an intro, with only a few scenes and old music from previous games. Multiplane scrolling is completely gone, and some parts of the dungeons have been redesigned or omitted – the final maze is no longer cloaked in darkness, for example – but otherwise it plays reasonably well. The game was never released outside of Japan, but, a fan translation by Vice Translations is available.

The TurboGrafx-CD version, like Ys Book I & II, was developed by Alfa Systems and published by Hudson. It has a Redbook CD soundtrack, once again arranged by Ryo Yonemitsu. There are also a few intro cutscenes – one showing a hero of legend with long hair, and a more traditional anime style intro, with Adol and Dogi sharing a variety of adventures. There’s also voice acting throughout the game, unlike Ys Book I & II, the English dub is of low quality. A lot of the scrolling is quite choppy. It’s better than the computer versions but still weak compared to the other 16-bit ports. This is also the easiest version of the 4 console ports, with weaker enemies, easier leveling and less insane boss fights. The English translation names have been changed: Redmont is now Sarina, Ilburn is now Alcaino, and the ancient hero who slew Galbalan/Demonicus is identified as Adol, instead of Genos. The cover artwork makes the same mistake, completely misidentifying the protagonist.

The Genesis edition, had it's colors downgraded a bit, but the game runs smoothly. The music isn’t quite as good, but its FM synth makes it sound relatively faithful to the PC originals, particularly the X68000 version. The sound was programmed and arranged by Noriyuki Iwadare, who went on to compose the music for the Grandia and Lunar series. The intro is also different, showing how Adol and Dogi decided to start their adventure, and is based off illustrations in the original computer game manual. It also maintains the altered names from the TurboGrafx-CD release.

The SNES version has a similar intro to the Genesis version, but quite a bit condensed, with entirely different artwork and some Mode 7 effects. It also offers the cleanest graphics of the three, but they’re also a bit darker, the music, however, is of lower quality when compared to the Turbografx-CD and Genesis versions. The enemies are also incredibly difficult, and the hit detection makes boss battles more frustrating. It is, however, the only English version to keep the original Japanese names intact.

The PlayStation 2 version, released in Japan in 2005 (fifteen years after Ys III initially came out) by Taito, gives a big overhaul to the game to make it comparable to the Eternal remakes of the first two games. The graphics have been given a major upgrade, with extremely well animated, high res sprites, hand drawn backgrounds, and characters portraits for all of the major characters, including the shopkeepers. Most of the dialogue is voiced, including Adol’s, for the first time in the series. The mechanics have been upgraded, too – enemies are stunned when hit, and Adol has a bit of invincibility time when he is hurt. You can’t hold down the attack button anymore and buzzsaw through enemies, although Adol has a four hit slashing combo. There is also a separate upwards slash. The enemy life gauge has been removed, save for boss battles. Most of the levels don’t scroll – instead, they fade in and out as you move from screen to screen. As a result, a lot of the multiplane scrolling is missing. The game also has no English translation available.

Mobile Phones

A cell phone port was released by Bothtec in Japan in 2002. The same company developed a graphically enhanced version two years later. There was yet another distinct mobile port, but this one was exclusive to Korea, like Ys II Special a decade earlier. Programmed by PNJ Mobile and published by Kama Digital Entertainment in 2004, it was known as Ys III Eternal (이스III 이터널) and featured improved graphics and rearranged levels.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana[]

In 2005, Falcom released Ys: The Oath in Felghana for Microsoft Windows, a remake of Ys III. The Oath in Felghana slightly modifies and greatly expands on the story of the original Ys III, and expands the dungeons to extend the gameplay time. The original side-scroller was also replaced with a 3D game engine, based on that used in Ys: The Ark of Napishtim.

In 2010, Falcom released a version of Ys: The Oath in Felghana for the PlayStation Portable, which Xseed Games officially released in English later the same year. This was followed in 2012 by a newly localized version of the original 2005 PC release, sold on Steam and GOG.com.

Gallery[]

Packaging[]

Artwork[]

PS2 Artwork[]

Mobile[]

External Links[]

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/ys-iii-wanderers-from-ys/

Official website for the PS2 version (archived)