Video Game / Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand

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Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand is the fifth primary installment of the Ys franchise, developed and published by Falcom and was released on the Super Famicom in Japan on December 29, 1995. Set some time after the events in Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, series protagonist Adol Christin and his traveling companion Dogi head for the city of Xandria, located southeast from the continent of Eresia, upon hearing of the eponymous lost city of Kefin that had vanished five hundred years ago. Unlike his previous adventures that were set on Eresia, Xandria is located on the continent of Afroca, which would be revisted down the line in Ys Seven.

Building on the Ys III game-play, Ys V retains having a dedicated attack and jump buttons, including defending with a shield rather than use the Bump Attack system, though it keeps the classic bird's-eye view perspective that Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished – Omen and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter had. Magic is also overhauled, where higher-level spells can only be cast by holding down a button, something that would be repeated later in future games. Finally, magic and physical skills are leveled up seperately rather than simultaneously.

In a twist, Falcom released a second version called Ys V Expert with increased difficulty less than three months later on March 22, 1996 for the same platform, published by Koei instead. A Video Game Remake for the PlayStation 2 would be released on March 20, 2006, but the developer would be Arc System Works, while Taito published it. In January 2026 (31 years after its original release), a fan translation was released for the PlayStation 2 version, marking the first time the game could be played in English.

Ys V has the following examples:

• Adapted Out: Stoker and Foresta are cut from the PS2 remake.
• Black Magic: The Philosopher's stone in Ys V is powered by human sacrifices.
• Checkpoint Starvation: In the Very Definitely Final Dungeon of Ys V, you have to fight three very tough bosses, with no save points in between. Unlike previous games where you could save anywhere, this one only allows you to save at inns in town.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Dorman's fight comes right as he reveals his true intentions and as he's about to revive the city of Kefin. However, his defeat allows Rije to continue where he left off.
• Disappeared Dad: Stein, Niena's adopted father, vanishes some time prior to the events of the game while investigating the ruins. He actually ended up on Kefin and joined the resistance group there.
• Disney Death: Niena is presumed to have perished along with the ancient city, having stayed behind to operate the Philosopher's Stone to give the party time to escape from Kefin. However, thanks to Adol saving Stoker and Fortesta, the former is able to use the Time Bracelet to send her back to Stein.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Adol is feared and treated with suspicion in some portions of Eresia due to legends that a red-haired swordsman would bring disaster upon the land. By the end of the game, Adol has changed history, and now the legend is about a red-haired swordsman who saved the land.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: While generally averted in most entries of the series, Ys V has quite a number of collectibles which can be found by bumping into things in peoples' houses.
• The Magic Goes Away: The defeat of Jabir and the destruction of the philosopher's stone cause the end of the mythical kingdom of Kefin and its alchemy.
• Mysterious Waif: Niena, who mysteriously appeared in the desert in the years prior to the events of the game and was promptly adopted by Stein. She was sent by Dr. Orwell to reinforce the seal on Kefin, but the shock of her method of travel caused her to lose her memory.
• No Ontological Inertia: The city of Kefin was sealed away five hundred years ago. A key part of the villain's plan is unsealing the city without the entire place and its population spontaneously aging 500 years the moment they return. Thanks to a MacGuffin Adol received early in the game, he is able to get the civilian population out without them rapidly aging, while leaving the city and the surviving villains to the ravages of time.
• Oddball in the Series: Ys V made many changes and added elements to the formula, some of which didn't stick in its successors.
  • Taken away from its PC origins, Ys V is the only installment where a cartridge-based platform (SNES) was its only release platform. Later games like Ys Seven and Ys: Memories of Celceta were also first released on dedicated platforms, but they were eventually ported to PC down the line with visual improvements. This platform change wound up limiting the game's graphical capabilities; simultaneously, rather than the pseudo-orchestral, CD-quality soundtrack Ys had become famous for, Ys V stuck to an all synth score.
  • Dogi, Adol's long-standing partner, is not in the original release of Ys V until the remake added him back in.
  • Within the lore, Ys V is oddly divorced from the other games: it doesn't feature an opening of Adol moving on from his prior adventures (like Ys III: Wanderers from Ys and Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys) and references to other installments are gone, which might be part of the intended exoticism of this game's setting. This direction was ignored until the next game, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, which began to feature many Continuity Nods to the prior games. Again, the PlayStation 2 remake would add this in.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Dorman uses his power of alchemy to transform into Adeptos Dorman.
  • The final boss is Jabir who, unlike his clone, transforms into a monsterous form.
• Point of No Return:
  • The town of Felt in gets buried by a sandstorm after the return of Kefin.
  • The portal to Kefin is one-way, cutting off access to the rest of the game world. There's another case later, as once you enact Dr. Orwell's plan, you're locked into The Very Definitely Final Dungeon (at least you can't save after the second one).
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The philosopher's stone that powers the kingdom of Kefin requires human sacrifices.
• Private Military Contractors: Adol tries his hand at being a mercenary in this game. Dorman, his boss in this game, hires him to stop an environmental disaster, but he is betrayed by Dorman and is forced to kill him when he decides to kill Adol. Dorman is only interested in Kefin's alchemy to conquer the world.
• Put on a Bus: This is the first main installment where Dogi doesn't appear at all (later followed by Origin, but that game was justified for being a distant prequel). His presence was so missed, the PlayStation 2 remake brought him back into the picture again. Ys: The Oath in Felghana would provide a retroactive Written-In Absence, explaining that Dogi is back in Felghana, helping to rebuild.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Karion, Abis, and Baruk are the three lieutenants of Kefin and are confronted throughout the final dungeon. Compared to the Clan of Darkness, they have a much smaller presence, with only Karion appearing briefly prior to the final dungeon and Abis being killed by Stein right before he can fight Adol.
• Recycled Premise: The basic premise of the game, namely a villain wanting to resurrect an ancient city, only to be betrayed by his underling, who is actually working for a different villain is very reminiscent of Ys IV, specifically Dawn of Ys.
• Retool: Disregarding Ys III (which was more of a Genre Shift since it didn't have the classic bird's-eye-view perspective), Ys V is the game to remove the "Bump Attack" mechanic and have dedicated attack and jump buttons. The Bump Attack won't return in the series after this except for Video Game Remakes. It also overhauled the magic system and elaborated on a relatively unexplored portion of the Ys setting and lore.
• Treacherous Quest Giver: Dorman, who hires Adol to go on the main quest, is actually one of the villains.
• The Un Fought:
  • Abis is killed by Stein right before he can fight Adol.
  • Rije isn't fought at any point in the original game, with Adol fighting Jabir's Clone and Jabir himself instead.
• Unwitting Pawn: The crystals that Adol gathers throughout the game are pivotal to maintaining the seal on Kefin. He ends up giving them all to Dorman and Rieje due to Niena being held hostage. Dorman himself was being used by Rieje, who has her own reasons for reviving the phantom city.
• Updated Re-release: A few months after the original game, Falcom released Ys V Expert. In addition to upping the difficulty across the board, Expert also adds an enemy gauntlet bonus dungeon as well as a Boss Rush/Time Attack mode.
• Video Game Remake: Ys V got one as part of Taito's line of Ys remakes for the PS2. This remake not only changes the game's narrative in a similar manner as Mask Of The Sun: A New Theory, but actually reintegrates portions of the original design document into the game - most notably Dogi - while keeping some of the final game's elements such as the three lieutenants.
• Whip Sword: Karion in Ys V uses this as his main weapon.
• World-Wrecking Wave: The Kingdom of Kefin has a slow-acting version of this: The ruins of the kingdom are part of a desert that has been expanding over time, with the risk that it will spread to the rest of Eresia. Dorman hires Adol to find the crystals because he believes that they hold the key to reviving the city and stopping the phenomenon. In actuality, Dorman does not care about stopping the desertification and the effect gets worse as the city's seal grows looser.