History VideoGame / YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand

''Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand'' is the fifth primary installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' franchise, developed and published by Creator/{{Falcom}} and was released on the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]] in Japan on December 29, 1995. Set some time after the events in ''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana 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 ''VideoGame/YsSEVEN''.

** 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 ''VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs'') 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, ''VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'', which began to feature many {{Continuity Nod}}s to the prior games. Again, the [=PlayStation=] 2 remake would add this in.

''Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand'' is the fifth primary installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' franchise, developed and published by Creator/{{Falcom}} and was released on the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]] in Japan on December 29, 1995. Set some time after the events in ''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana 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 ''VideoGame/YsSEVEN''.

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 Creator/{{Koei}} instead. A VideoGameRemake for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 would be released on March 20, 2006, but the developer would be Creator/ArcSystemWorks, while Creator/{{Taito}} published it. To date, ''Ys V'' is the only non-SpinOff ''Ys'' installment to not receive a localization.

'''Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand''' is the fifth primary installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' franchise, developed and published by Creator/{{Falcom}} and was released on the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]] in Japan on December 29, 1995. Set some time after the events in ''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana 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 ''VideoGame/YsSEVEN''.

** 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 ''VideoGame/YsSeven'' and ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' were also first released on dedicated platforms, but they were usually ported to PC down the line with visual improvements. This platform change wound up limiting the ''Ys V''[='s=] graphical capabilities. Also because of this, rather than the pseudo-orchestral, CD-quality soundtrack ''Ys'' had become famous for, ''Ys V'' stuck to an all synth score, although it still sounds alright.
** Dogi, Adol's long-standing partner, is not in this game. The [=PS2=] version added him back.
** Lore-wise, ''Ys V'' is oddly divorced from the other games. The game doesn't have an opening of Adol moving on from his prior adventures (like ''Ys III: Wanderers from Ys'' and ''VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs'') and references to other installments are none, which might be part of the intended exoticism of the game's setting. This direction was ignored in the next game, ''VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'', which started to feature many references to previous games. Once again, the [=PS2=] version of ''Ys V'' also added references to other games.

* {{Retool}}: Disregarding ''Ys III'' (which was more GenreShift 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 a dedicated attack and jump buttons. The bump attack won't return in the series after this, except for remakes. It also overhauled magic system, and elaborated on a relatively unexplored portion of the ''Ys'' setting and lore.

* UnwittingPawn: 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's being held hostage.

** 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 ''VideoGame/YsSeven'' and ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' were also first released on dedicated platforms, but they were usually ported to PC down the line with visual improvements. This platform change wound up largely limiting the ''Ys V''[='s=] graphical capabilities. Also, rather than the pseudo-orchestral, CD-quality soundtrack ''Ys'' had become famous for, ''Ys V'' stuck to an all synth score, although it still sounds alright.

* {{Retool}}: Disregarding ''Ys III'' (which was more GenreShift 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 a dedicated attack and jump buttons. The bump attack won't return in the series after this, except for remakes. It also overhauled magic system, and elaborated on a relatively unexplored portion of the ''Ys'' setting and lore.

* OddballInTheSeries: On the surface, ''Ys V'' using the classic bird's-eye view perspective, having dedicated attack and jump buttons and an overhauled magic system sounded great on paper, while elaborating on a relatively unexplored portion of the ''Ys'' setting and lore. Unfortunately, some of the other elements it has are no longer things its successors do anymore.
** Being initially released exclusively for the Super Famicom meant the series was taken away from its PC origins, including a dedicated UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 following. This largely limited the ''Ys V'' graphical capabilities as a result of a cartridge-based platform (with some noting ''Ys V'' "looks like every other Super Famicom EasternRPG ever, but blander" - a ''particularly'' impressive statement given the intended exoticism of the game's setting). Yes, games like ''Ys SEVEN'' and ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' were also first released on dedicated platforms, but they were ported to PC down the line with visual improvements.
** Rather than the pseudo-orchestral, CD-quality soundtrack ''Ys'' had become famous for, ''Ys V'' stuck to an all synth score which, again, is due to its choice of platform and cartridge-based format.

* OddballInTheSeries: On the surface, ''Ys V'' sounded great, elaborating on a relatively unexplored portion of the world and back-story. Unfortunately, it was only released for the Super Famicom in its first release (taking the series completely away from its PC roots and even from its UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 following), was hugely limited graphically as a result of being cartridge-based (with many complaining that "it looks like every other Super Famicom RPG ever, but blander", which is ''particularly'' impressive given the intended exoticism of the game's particular setting), and worst by far, the music was all synth and pseudo-orchestral rather than the CD-quality rock tracks the series had become famous for! Although ''Ys V'' did establish some things that would later become standard procedure in later games (jumping, fast-paced button-mashing as opposed to the Bump Attack system, etc), ultimately the single (non-PC) platform and comparatively awful music caused a full-blown fan ''revolt'' in Japan as former fans absolutely ''despised'' the game. ''Ys III'' may have taken some heat but ''Ys V'' narrowly ''killed the franchise''. Falcom had to spend the next seven years developing other games and remakes of the first two games just to repair their reputation before daring to try and release ''VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim''. To this day, ''V'' ranks pretty squarely at the bottom of polls when the games are ranked; only the pretty cool story prevents it from being completely rejected by fans.

* BlackMagic: The Philosopher's stone in Ys V is powered by human sacrifices.
* CheckPointStarvation: In the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/{{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.
* KleptomaniacHero: While generally averted in most entries of the series, ''Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand'' has quite a number of collectibles which can be found by bumping into things in peoples' houses.

* NoOntologicalInertia: 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. [[spoiler: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.]]
* OddballInTheSeries The ''much'' more obvious oddball is ''Ys V: Kefin, The Lost City of Sand''. On the surface it sounded great, elaborating on a relatively unexplored portion of the world and backstory. But it was ''only'' released for the Super Famicom in its first release (taking the series completely away from its PC roots and even from its [=TurboGrafx-16=] following), was hugely limited graphically as a result of being cartridge-based (with many complaining that "it looks like every other Super Famicom RPG ever, but blander", which is ''particularly'' impressive given the intended exoticism of the game's particular setting), and worst by far, the music was all synth and pseudo-orchestral rather than the CD-quality rock tracks the series had become famous for! Although ''Ys V'' did establish some things that would later become standard procedure in later games (jumping, fast-paced button-mashing as opposed to just running into dudes, etc), ultimately the single (non-PC) platform and comparatively awful music caused a full-blown fan ''revolt'' in Japan as former fans absolutely ''despised'' the game. ''Ys III'' may have taken some heat but ''Kefin'' just about killed the franchise ''stone dead''. Falcom had to spend the next ''seven years'' developing other games and remakes of the first two games just to repair their reputation before daring to try and release another new Ys game. To this day, ''Kefin'' ranks pretty squarely at the bottom of polls when the games are ranked; only the pretty cool story prevents it from being completely rejected by fans.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Adol tries his hand at being a mercenary in this game. Dorman, his boss in this game, hires him to stop an environmental disaster, [[spoiler: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.]]

* TreacherousQuestGiver: [[spoiler:Dorman, who hires Adol in Ys V to go on the main quest, is actually one of the villains.]]

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The Starlight Medal in ''VI'' will be lost if you don't grab it on your one chance to infiltrate the Romun fleet.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Karion, Abis, and Baruk in ''V''.