Ys Origin

Ys Origin
Developer: Nihon Falcom Publishers: Nihon Falcom (JP), XSEED Games (INT Windows), DotEmu (INT Consoles) Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Released internationally: May 31, 2012 (Windows), February 21, 2017 (PS4), May 30, 2017 (Vita), April 11, 2018 (XB1), October 1, 2020 (Switch) Released in JP: December 21, 2006 (Windows), March 29, 2007 (Windows Vista), December 16, 2010 (Windows 7), March 22, 2013 (Windows 8) This game has unused areas. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

Ys Origin takes place 700 years prior to the events in Ys I & II, expanding on the lore presented in those games. Naturally, due to the time it takes place in, Adol does not appear in the game aside as a bonus character in the Time Attack and Arena modes. It's also the final game to use the Ys VI engine.

Outside of an obscure mobile version, this game remained exclusive to Windows for ten years before DotEmu started porting it to consoles.

To do: Document SCENELIST.SL. It has names for all locations in the game, including ones you can't normally save in, and is fully translated in data_us.na. Add it to the Notes page. There are some pre-release images and videos on Falcom's site that are worth looking at. There's one where Hugo has a slightly different expression than the final, and some where temporary icons can be seen in place of equipment. The Steam version has since been updated with French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations. Remnants of Japanese support remain in the XSEED release. Chinese and Korean releases for several of the ports also exist.

Sub-Page

Unused Maps A myriad of test maps, cut areas, and earlier revisions of maps.

Unused Graphics

To do: Add the unused textures.

/ANI Folder

Adol (Felghana)

Since Adol's Felghana sprites were simply copied over, he still has the same leftover sprites from Ys VI included in his Felghana incarnation. All other non-combat sprites for his Felgahana variant are also unused. This is not the case for his Napishtim variant since its sprite set was tailored specifically for this game.

Placeholder Portrait

Several characters have this yellow portrait in their AIA files, suggesting that more expressions were planned, but cut from the final game. The characters that have this portrait are:

Character	Filename	Expressions (From S_9000)
Cecilia	F_210.AIA	Serious
Ramona	F_230.AIA	Smile (normal)
Eolia	F_250.AIA	Smile (normal)
Cadena	F_270.AIA	Smile (normal)
Dino	F_280.AIA	Smile (normal)
Feena	F_390.AIA	---- Appears twice
Roo	F_430.AIA	N/A (Only seen in the S_9000 and S_HIDDEN0 test maps.)
Galleon	F_830.AIA	Serious (normal)
Shion	F_840.AIA	Smile (normal)

Placeholder Monster

A placeholder monster can be found in M_990.AIA.

• It only has sprites for standing in eight directions.
• Appears to be a weaponless variant of Riffligan, found in the Wailing Blue.
• It also has a "m_780" label above its head, though it bears no resemblance to the monster with that filename.

/IMAGE Folder

Elena

A leftover portrait of Elena from The Oath in Felghana can be seen when talking to the Roo in the S_9000 test map. This was probably going to be replaced with an actual portrait of a Roo since it shares the same ID (T_430) with the Roo's placeholder portrait (F_430) and sprites (C_430).

Character Selection Images

What appear to be earlier, low-res images of each character for the selection screen can be found in the IMAGE folder. Unlike the final images, these are full body shots. In general, the colors of the main three characters are brightened for some reason.

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  Hugo is mostly the same, except his hair is clearly silver instead of blonde here.

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  Art sourced from The Oath in Felghana for Adol.

Scrapped Visuals

Five story visuals were cut from the final game. These have descriptions of the visuals pasted over an image of the title screen, and would have appeared in Toal's campaign.

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  >Close-up visual of Reah and Feena.
  Painfully gazing at the distant scene.
  +Reah, facing same direction as Feena.

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  Additional portrait with Saul
  >Saul and Toal fighting against many demons on the surface.

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  Additional portrait with Saul
  >Saul collapsed in front of Kishgal.

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  Toal's reminiscence​ 3
  >Portrait of Toal and Reah.

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  Toal's reminiscence​ 3
  >Portrait of Toal and Reah.
  +Toal closes his eyes.

/MENU Folder

Even though you can't save the game as Adol, there is still an icon for him in the file select menu. It is possible to see this if a cheat/mod is used to play as Adol in the main game.

Leftovers

There are some leftover menu graphics from the previous two games.

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  Was used for the item shop in The Oath in Felghana.

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  Was used when viewing the map in The Oath in Felghana.

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  Was used for refining the swords in Napishtim, specifically when you needed more emel or they were max level.

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  Menu graphics from The Oath in Felghana.

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  Menu graphics from The Oath in Felghana.

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  Was used for buying items in the previous two games.

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  Was used for tempering your swords in The Oath in Felghana.

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  Was used for selling items in Napishtim.

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  Was used for using items in The Oath in Felghana.

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  Menu graphics from The Oath in Felghana.

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  Menu graphics from The Oath in Felghana.

/MENU/ICON Folder

This folder contains the smaller icons of items and equipment found throughout the game.

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  There are several icons with just a 仮 (temporary) character.

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  A leftover healing item from Oath in Felghana, scaled up to match the resolution of the other icons.

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  A leftover healing item from Oath in Felghana, scaled up to match the resolution of the other icons.

/MENU/ICON2 Folder

This folder contains the high-res images of items viewed in the menu.

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  Appears to be an alternate icon of the Levinstrike Warhammer's skill, likely intended for Yunica since it features an axe. Its equivalent in the ICON folder is just a 仮 character.

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  An icon of the Brave Sword from The Oath in Felghana with "仮画面" (Temporary Screen) overlaid ontop. Its equivalent in the ICON folder is just a 仮 character.

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  There are several icons with the text 仮画面 (Temporary Screen).

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  The Energy Fruit, which never gets added to your inventory.

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  The Oxygen Fruit, which never gets added to your inventory.

Adol's Equipment

There are menu icons recycled from The Oath in Felghana for all of Adol's equipment, but they can never be seen since there isn't a way to open the menu while playing as him. Their respective images from the ICON folder are used on the HUD, however. Do note that there are no icons of his equipment from The Ark of Napishtim.

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  Brave Sword

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  Leather Armor

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  Chain Mail

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  Plate Mail

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  Banded Mail

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  Battle Armor

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  Raval Armor

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  Wooden Shield

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  Small Shield

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  Large Shield

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  Banded Shield

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  Battle Shield

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  Raval Shield

Pre-Expansion Disc Unused Graphics

The original release of Ys Origin has some additional unused graphics.

Adol

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Apparently it's possible to play as Adol in the original release. This video made in January, 2007 demonstrates this, and this page describes how to enable him. According to the post, this unofficial method does not work past v1.0.0.2, and was patched out in v1.0.0.3.

Even though Adol is not normally playable in the original release, there are still graphics prepared for his inclusion. The HUD and character selection artwork were sourced from The Oath in Felghana, and would be replaced with a brand new portrait in the expansion disc.

It's worth noting that Adol is labeled as the first character in the character selection portraits, and the first character internally with the value 00. It's very likely that Adol was used as a test character prior to the other characters being added, given how all the necessary assets for his Felghana incarnation were already present. His Napishtim counterpart was not implemented until the expansion disc.

Adol's skill icons were also originally in the same order they are obtained in The Oath in Felghana. The expansion disc changed this to match the order the skills are obtained in Origin.

Original Release	Expansion Disc

Leftovers

There are a few more leftover images from The Oath in Felghana. These two would be replaced by the Bonus Shop's background in the expansion disc.

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Unused Objects and Models

There are several disused objects found in the /MAP/MAPOBJ directory. Many of these can still be found in test maps.

ASITEST_01

An alternate coloration of the floating platforms found in the Flooded Prison. There are three copies of this object with the same name ending with "02", "03", and "A".

FURIKO00

An untextured pendulum that can be found in the test map S_9100. It sways back and forth when placed in-game.

HAGURUMA_00

This gear looks to be a leftover from the Clock Tower in The Oath in Felghana. Can be found rotating in the test map S_9100.

ICE_YUKA

This ice platform falls when stepped on. Found in the test map S_9100.

KOWARE_00

A rainbow platform that will float in a small circle when stepped on. The edges can hurt you in S_9106, but not S_9100.

O_BARREL_00

Probably just a leftover barrel from the previous games.

O_JAR_00

Actually a vase. It's utilized as an effect marker in S_HIDDEN0.

O_WOODBOX_00

There are two variants of this wooden box: O_WOODBOX_00, and Z_BREAK_0. Z_BREAK_0 can be found in S_9009 and drops Yunica's axe when broken.

S60_TAMA_00

A shaded sphere grouped with the objects for the Demonic Core.

SEESAW00

A seesaw that looks like it belongs in the Blighted Blood. Two are in the test map S_9105 teetering back and forth.

/Z_KUSA Folder

Some grass and a plant are in this folder.

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  Z_HANA, seen in S_9111

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  Z_KUSA01, seen in S_9111

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  Z_KUSA02

Z_RING00

This rainbow ring can be found in S_9106.

Z_RING01

A twisted black ring.

/Z_SIMPLE Folder

Simple test shapes that can be seen in S_9105 and S_9111.

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  Z_BOX00

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  Z_LOG00

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  Z_PLATE00

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  Z_PLATON4

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  Z_PLATON8

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  Z_PLATON12

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  Z_POLE00

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  Z_SPHERE00

Z_STEP

A rectangular platform that drops when stepped on. When it respawns, it travels in a set path, as seen on S_9100.

Z_SWITCH1

This switch can be found in S_9100, used for raising the bar door in the room.

/Z_TREE Folder

Each of these objects can be found in S_9108.

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  Z_TREE01

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  Z_TREE02

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  Z_TREE03

Z_UPWATER

The pillar of water seen in S_9008. It's literally just water, so it can be swam in.

Z_YUKA_00

A floor piece that looks like it belongs in the Blighted Blood. Two can be found leaning against each other in S_9100.

Regional Differences

Intro Narrator

For unknown reasons, XSEED used a different narrator named Alicia Harrington for the intro video. DotEmu retained the original narrator, Ayako Shibazaki, in their releases. This is odd because they're both using the same French script.

Original/DotEmu	XSEED

Title Cards

XSEED took liberties with the title cards of boss and location names, which originally had English subtitles (albeit, Engrishy ones). DotEmu used the Japanese images as a base, but replaced most of the subtitles with XSEED's names, and used a different font.

Original	XSEED	DotEmu

Revisional Differences

Expansion Disc

An expansion disc was released in March, 2007 that adds several features to the original Windows XP edition of the game, updating the game to version 1.1.0.0. All future re-releases include the additional content from the get-go. Falcom only made the expansion disc available to subscribers of their mail magazine. Although the standalone update for the Windows XP edition can be downloaded from their site, it does not include the extra content for this version.

• Two new difficulties were added: Very Easy and Nightmare.
• The character and monster encyclopedias were added.
• Arena mode and the bonus shop were added.
• Adol was added as an unlockable character for the Arena and Time Attack modes.
• Extra versions of the characters were added with slightly different play styles.
• Yunica's schoolgirl outfit was added.

XSEED Release

XSEED's version brought various changes and improvements, utilizing Jeff Nussbaum's (AKA Deuce) fan translation that they purchased and edited.

• Optional widescreen support was added (the original version stretched the screen when played in 16:9 resolutions). Since the game was not designed for widescreen, previously offscreen details can sometimes be seen.
• Toal can be unlocked by clearing the game with just one character, instead of both Yunica and Hugo.
• As mentioned above, they replaced the original intro narrator with Alicia Harrington.
• All difficulties are available from the start.
• Steam leaderboards for the Arena and Time Attack modes were added.
• Achievements have been implemented.

DotEmu Ports

DotEmu began porting Ys Origin to consoles in 2017, starting with the PS4 and PS Vita. While they use XSEED's English script, they do not include the benefits from their version aside from widescreen support, leaderboards and achievements. Apart from some minor changes, they are very direct ports of the PC version; so direct that it's still not possible to pause during boss battles or change the control scheme in-game.

• The game is now multilingual with support for six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
• A new title screen featuring the main characters was added. Toal appears after you unlock him.

PC	DotEmu

• The HUD was changed to be larger and more graphical, replacing the bonus bars with gauges. Equipment was moved to the right side of the screen. It also removed the numeric indicators for the Magic and Boost meters.

PC	DotEmu

• The Very Easy and Nightmare difficulties are locked until the game is beaten with all characters.
• Skipping cutscenes is now possible.
• The opening cutscene where Yunica and Hugo speak to the Roda Tree is presented in 4:3, while the rest of the game is in 16:9.
• In the PS4 and Vita ports, blood is locked to the minimal setting. Blood still sprays from enemies and when you get hit, but it no longer splatters on the ground. The blood option was reinstated in the Xbox One and Switch versions.
• The Vita version is locked at 30 FPS and based around the "lightest" graphical preset offered by the PC version, forcing it to use the low-res assets. It was later found through hacking that, like its home console counterparts, is capable of running at 60 FPS, and can even use the high-res assets with no performance hit if they are restored to the game's data archives.
• A speedrun mode was added to the Xbox One version, which removes the ability to save at statues but allows all dialogue to be completely skipped.