Having gotten through the first bit of the game that set the stage, we were free to go explore and do what we wanted. Initially, I thought we were going to need to head into the mountains after Dogi, but apparently this wasn’t the case. Before going anywhere, I made sure to go back to town and fully explore it, talking to all the NPCs and getting an idea of what was going on in Felghana. This was a good decision, too, because doing so triggered a cutscene that set the stage for our first real adventure. Apparently, monsters had overtaken the nearby mines, which were being mined despite the local feudal lord’s edict to close them, and as such one of the miners and the town’s mayor were trapped within.

Before heading to the Abandoned Mines, I explored the overworld a bit to get the lay of the land, but at this point there wasn’t too much else to do. The Mines themselves are very interesting, and this is an area that I know we’ll be revisiting later on when we get new abilities that will allow us to reach things we couldn’t in this episode. It’s here where we grind up a few levels while exploring and have our first run-in with a mysterious sorcerer named Dularn. He goes down once I figure his pattern out, but that leaves us to explore the next major area (once getting some magical abilities to fight the creatures there), and it’s deep within that where we find the major boss for the area: Ellefale.

Ellefale is frustratingly hard. I have a suspicion that she’d be easier if we could melee her, but the issue in this fight is that you can only use your magical fire against her. It takes me quite a few tries, but I finally take her down and see the prize she was hiding – a mysterious statue.

What happens at the end? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out!

I hope you enjoyed this episode and stay tuned – more fun with Ys: The Oath in Felghana is on the way!