While the earlier games in the Ys series only featured Adol Christin as a playable character, some of the more modern games in the series have included party members to join Adol on his adventures. With Ys X: Nordics releasing later this month and Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana releasing in early 2025, let’s look at some of the series’ best playable characters.
Adol Christin
As the main character of most games in the Ys series, Adol plays an important role in most of them. He’s an adventurer who wanders from place to place, helping people and often finding himself saving the world. Across the series, there have been many running gags, such as the tendency for his adventures to start with a shipwreck or for the legendary items he found in previous adventures to go missing.
In the games that feature damage types, Adol has always been a Slash character by default. Many games allow Adol to change his damage type, either to Strike or Pierce to All. As a Monstrum in Ys 9: Monstrum Nox, Adol’s Gift is Crimson Line, which allows the party to teleport to designated points or onto enemies.
The Feral Hawk
The Feral Hawk, whose real name is Credo Aiblinger, is one of the Monstrums who joins Adol’s party in Monstrum Nox. He enjoys fighting other people and spends much of the early game trying to goad Adol into fighting him. Due to the Monstrums’ curse, however, he isn’t able to fight a fellow Monstrum. During the chapter where he joins the party, it’s revealed that Credo lost someone important to him when he was younger, sending him down a dark spiral that led to his tendency to pick fights with anyone he encounters.
Credo fights with two swords, but his damage type is Pierce by default. His Monstrum Gift is Hunter’s Descent, which allows the party to glide through the air until the Gift meter depletes. This Gift is useful for exploring Balduq, especially as more city regions are unlocked.
Toal Fact
Toal Fact, also known as The Claw, is one of the playable characters in Ys Origin. He is the older brother of Hugo Fact, another of the game’s playable characters. Despite, on paper, being affiliated with the demons who are trying to find and kidnap the twin goddesses of Ys, he has a connection to Reah.
Toal fights with metal claws and the demonic essence he accepted after joining the Darklings. Of the three playable characters, his combat style is fast-paced, and his campaign is often considered the most difficult. He’s only unlocked after beating Origin as either Yunica or Hugo, and the version of events seen in his campaign is considered canonical. His route is also the only one where the game’s true final boss can be fought, which sets up for the events of Ys 2.
Honorable Mentions
Dogi
Dogi is Adol’s best friend and traveling partner, often accompanying Adol on his many adventures across the Ys series. At first, he was unsettled by the supernatural elements of Adol’s adventures. By the time of Monstrum Nox, he’d gotten used to it. In Ys Seven, Dogi was playable for the first (and so far only) time in the series. Dogi’s damage type is Strike, though his “weapons” are just gauntlets to protect his fists.
Yunica Tovah
Yunica is the third playable character in Ys Origin. She’s the odd one out: despite being the granddaughter of one of the Six Priests of Ys, and despite everyone on Ys using magic, Yunica can’t. Her father was a commander of the Holy Knights of Ys but was killed by one of the Darklings. Despite her lack of magical abilities, she’s a member of the Holy Knights of Ys. Her weapon of choice is a battle axe, which fits her impulsive nature.
Final Thoughts
The Ys series has a lot of great playable characters, especially in terms of their writing and gameplay mechanics. With Ys X: Nordics coming out later this month, perhaps Karja will also find her way onto this list. Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana isn’t likely to add any new playable characters, given that The Oath in Felghana features Adol as the sole playable character. If developer Nihon Falcom chooses to make more games with the party system, characters from future titles in the Ys series can be added to this list.
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