Part 22: Art Updates II: Books and Boxart!

Dawn of the Ys Day: <24 hours remain.
Eagerly waiting for the Steam release of Oath in Felghana, I thought I'd show all the hard-copy and collector pieces I have collected over the last few years and take some photos. We're not messing with my ass-quality scanner again, so I took photos of them. If you want any closer or better quality shots of any of the photos, let me know and I'll try and get them up quick.

I'm only showing the content we've gone through so far, we'll come back and look at more as we get to it. Covering the meat of all this could take 2 or 3 updates.
Without further ado...


This is the boxart for the Windows 7 PC release of the game. The only real difference between this and the original box is that it has a few labels here and there saying Win7 support and that patch 1.2.0.3 is pre-installed, so Very Easy mode and Inferno are available appropriately.


Inside the box you have the case for the game and the playing manual. Unfortunately I forgot to take a shot of the actual cd, but I'll remember to do that for next update.


The manual is pretty straightforward, important character bios, controls, gameplay settings and installation tips abound! It's also printed in this weird purple, though I suppose it's very colour-neutral given it would look bad in black or red (red just because Adol's hair, thematic, etc).


The cover for the "Ys ~Oath in Felghana~ Official Perfect Guide". I wouldn't call the guide perfect, per se, since it deliberately avoids the topic of the two secret bosses, but it has great everything else...


The first two pages is the prologue novella, which you can read in English in the PSP version. I'll get a screenshot update of all that when the game is finished, as it has spoilers and is a nice wrap-up anyways. The right image is some nice art of Felghana and a map of Redmont, which would be really useful for first-time players hint hint wink wink nudge nudge.


Showing off all the weapon/armor sets. Interesting fact (I don't know if I pointed it out yet), when you equip all the stuff for a particular tier (as shown) your player sprite changes to represent that. It doesn't mix and match, though - Adol would rather go plain than tacky, guy's got some fashion sense I guess.


AAAA WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO WITH YOUR HEAD?


Each dungeon in the game has its own seperate section, with a full map, monster info and locations of all the treasures. I really like the maps because they get a good illustration of where everything sits in 3d space like that. Nice touch.


Also gives you MAD BOSS STRATS! MLG APPROVED, 360 NO-SCOPE GUARANTEED! I'm using all the statistic information like levels and equipment for those boss cards from this. Tell no-one.


I thought I'd just show off the Gyalva part here, if you look in the bottom-left, Gyalva affects the tiles very differently in Normal mode and the fight is really fuckin' easy.


This is a concept drawing of the wolf with the whip and those annoying owls in Illberns Ruins.


Just some sketches of the typical environments in Redmont. A lot of design concepts were canned at various stages of development. All those drawings in the bottom half are environments that don't really appear in the game. No underwater stages, no fiery armageddon. Although ice caves are a dungeon setting later, they're not that glacial. Also that weird fountain drawing in the bottom left looks like the summoning alter from that one cutscene in Ys IV: Dawn of Ys.


Some concept drawings of Ele- hang on what's all that other stuff?


Heheh, Alter Magic was a fun thing back in Ys II. You won't be seeing it here, though.


A miniature drawing of Adol, looks like something they would've used to get the height proportions for his character model in-game. Over in the top-right you see his run and dash animations. The others look like less used animations, though I don't recall seeing all of them. I know number 5 is in the game, the others? Not sure.


Adol before and after he gets his head shaved? Sure, we'll go with that.


The Official Visual Fan Book is a tricky one to get your hands on. They only run a print of so many every year, but if you really like the game and/or Falcom merchandise this is the second best thing to have to the Falcom Chronicle.


Da old Felghana Kru. Shout outs to Dogi, Joel, Adonis, Cynthia, Chester and Elena. Blood bros 4 lyfe no offense to da ladiez no homo no homo.


I don't know, something about this pic just seems really cool. If you look to the right of the top of the ship's sail, you can see Valestein Castle just on the cliff.


Oh god those pikkards. Everytime I see them the more they look like oversized hamsters.


Some old concept/manual(?) art for Wanderers from Ys, back when Adol was canonically 3ft tall.


They really liked concept drawings of Elena - maybe a bit too much? I don't know, is it going too far when you show off all the detail you put into her freakin' boots?


I like the miniature art they did for Adonis and Cynthia, it's like the exact opposite answer to my reaction on their voice-acting! Okay, maybe that's just for Cynthia.


Oh man, three amazing pictures on one page. The Elena one at the top is just a cool icon. I don't even know what's going on in the other two - a translation would be much appreciated, especially for that one with egghead Adol!


I'm saving a huge portion of all the monster concept art for later, but I might as well tease you with some art of the first bosses. They have a serious obsession with drawing Ellefalle and one (technically three) other boss(es) we'll be seeing in two episodes' time.


That's it for this collector's update. Once we get closer to the end of the game I'll post more stuff from the books, and at some point I'll transcribe the prologue novella (it's kinda long, I'm going to need a few coffees for that one).

Oath in Felghana is out within the next 24-hours, I can't wait to feed XSEED all of my freakin' money... AGAIN

Edit: vvvv This is only a small amount, there's a lot more.