Ys: Memories of Celceta Review

Ys: Memories of Celceta originally released on the PS Vita back in February 2014 and was one of the stronger releases on the system. It is a ground up remake of the fourth game in the Ys series and this is the first version of the game developed by Falcom themselves. Ys IV has a rather interesting past, there were two markedly different versions of the game, Ys IV: Mask of the Sun developed by Tonkin House for the SNES and considered the canon version of Ys IV before Memories of Celceta while Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys was developed by Hudson Soft for the PC Engine and featured many changes outside of the same basic plot. Memories of Celceta however was developed by Falcom and is now considered the true version of Ys IV based on the series party-based gameplay.

In Memories of Celceta, you play as the adventurer Adol Christin who awakes in the mysterious land of Celceta without any memories save for his name. After much wandering around the frontier town of Casnan, he meets up with an Information Dealer by the name of Duren who claims to know who he is. Soon after, the two of them are tasked by the new Romn Governor-General, Griselda who tasks the two of them with mapping the great forest of Celceta, a perfect chance for Adol to reclaim his lost memories. The game’s entire story is themed around exploring the forest while recovering Adol’s memories to uncover a much larger mystery. The plot is rather simple in the beginning, exploration fueling the story and it’s not until well after the halfway point of the plot that the story really starts going places and becomes a focal point whereas the gameplay is what makes the first half the game. By journey’s end, Memories of Celceta is an enjoyable entry in the chronicles of Adol Christin and stands up there with many of the other more story-based Ys games.

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The plot really kicks into gear in the second half of the game.

The world of Celceta is a fascinating one and the map exploration mechanic is an interesting one that really allows you to get out there and explore the world. For those that have played Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, you will be right at home with the sense of discovery there is to be found in this world although I felt Ys VIII handled it better. There’s multiple paths and optional areas, dank caverns and hidden villages, there is so much to explore and discover. Keeping true to the mapping theme of the game, you start with an empty map that will get filled in based on where you travel with Adol. There’s a mini-map on the top right corner and you can see the map uncover as you traverse the forest, adding to the total Map Completion % and it’s satisfying to look back at what was an empty map later in the adventure to see if now a fully detailed one, it helps to visualize your journey and ensures that no path is wasted. Travel is fairly straight forward too, you’ll come across Monuments of different colors as you traverse the forest and upon touching them for the first time, they act as warp points allowing you to get around the forest a lot easier.

There is a great variety in your environs as is to be expected in the Ys series and some of the dungeons are full of clever puzzles that make them a joy to traverse. The final dungeon is where this all comes into play and you are well rewarded for fully exploring them with materials, equipment, and useful consumables. Movement is fast and you can get around the areas with ease, pressing the dodge button will increase this speed further and make travelling through previous areas of little issue. As expected in Ys games, you’ll find a number of adventuring items, Artifacts in the case of Memories of Celceta, that will allow you to reach otherwise inaccessible areas allowing you to return to previous areas to locate new paths or unearth useful treasure. Couple this with the fact that each one of the six party members all have a unique talent ranging from Adol’s ability to reexperience his memories, Duren’s pick locking ability or Karna’s talent of striking the environment to create new pathways. All of this gives you reason to return to previous areas and explore them again to see if there is anything that you may have missed on your first time through.

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It’s exciting seeing your hard work paying off as the map begins to take shape.

There is more than one settlement in Memories of Celceta and they are packed full of interesting townspeople, shops, and Quests. After dealing with the initial plot of each area, the Community Centers will open allowing you access a range of Quests that will update as the story progresses. Some of these are simple tasks such as killing some specific monsters but there are some such as providing cover for a merchant or tracking down lost Chicks, there’s a great variety and for the most part, you’re well rewarded. There’s a range of facilities to make use of too, the Blacksmith will allow you to refine the ore you find in the forest into metals and then reinforce your weapons and armor to give them stronger properties. Unfortunately, this is a system that is only worth making use of towards the end of the game as you will often come across more powerful equipment at the next town or in the wild. You can also craft accessories and use certain merchants to trade in your lower tier materials for higher ones, there is a great number of tasks you can perform in towns.

Now where would a Ys game be without mentioning the often-lauded combat systems and I am pleased to say that Memories of Celceta is another game with a satisfying combat system. Considering that Memories of Celceta is a port of the VITA version of the game, it doesn’t feature all of the quality of life improvements from the newer Ys VIII but it does greatly expand upon the party system first created with Ys SEVEN. Unlike the older titles in the Ys series, and a feature that splits the fanbase, Adol is not alone in combat here. Instead, you will have up to six party members by journey’s end and each of them are associated by an attack type be it Slash, Strike or Pierce. Most enemies in the game will feature a weakness to one of these attack types and using the correct character will deal more damage and result in an Excellent Kill, handing out better rewards. You can also finish off your enemies while in the air for an Airborne Kill or by using your many skills that will result in a Skill Finish.

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Your party members will be assigned an attack type of Slash, Strike or Pierce which impacts what enemies they are strong against.

The skill system is virtually unchanged from both SEVEN and Ys VIII, as you level up and fight tougher enemies, you will learn new skills at around 10 per character. You can then assign these skills to the face buttons and then by holding down the R1 button and pressing one of them, you will pull of the skill provided you have the necessary Skill Points (SP). SP is generated through several ways and you will obtain accessories later in the adventure to make this easier but for the most part, simply attacking the enemy is enough to gain them. If you pause a little before attacking, your character will glow and the next attack will be a Charged Attack, resulting in larger SP gains. On top of this, every character has an EXTRA Skill, this resource can be found on the corner of the SP gauge and fills through the use of Skills in battle, once full, any character can pull off their signature EXTRA skill dealing huge damage to your foes. The skills are varied too, taking Adol as an example, you will gain skills that will launch your enemies in the air, slash at them multiple times or hit a wide area. Every skill you gain has four properties to them, Power, Stun, Range, and Area and they can be improved upon by using them to level them up. The varied attack types also change the way each character plays and you are encouraged to change up your controlled character in battle often which is done by a simple button press. Adol for example deals with quick sword slashes while Duren’s punches hit harder but slower and Karna’s knives allow you to attack quickly from range at less attack power. Depending on your foe, you will quickly devise tactics on how best to take them out and this fact kept me engaged with the combat all the way through the game.

Attack is not the only facet of combat however as Flash Move and Guard make a return and for the most part, remain unchanged from how it is handled in Ys VIII. Carefully timing your dodge to the last second an enemy’s attack would strike you will cause a Flash Move to occur, slowing down time around you and allowing you to strike the enemy without threat to yourself. Better yet, time the guard button at just the right time and you’ll perform the Flash Guard, this will cause you to inflict critical hits with every strike you deal giving you back SP at a greater rate as an additional bonus. This is where the many difficulty options really come into play as right from the start you’ll have access to Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare and should you have any experience with action rpgs, especially the Ys series, I strongly advise playing on the Hard difficulty at least. The game is simple on Normal and you are never encouraged to make use of the Flash systems which is a shame because they make combat that much more enjoyable. The bosses, usually the highlights in Ys, are also far too easy and go down quickly on Normal, not allowing you to truly appreciate how challenging and involving the mechanics can get.

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As always in Ys, boss battles are a highlight and there’s some interesting mechanics in some of them.

As to be expected from the Ys series and Falcom in general, the music is as great as ever with many tracks becoming truly memorable. One of the first forest tracks really sets the tone for the adventure and it will not be long until you find yourself playing back the track in your head. The town themes are all varied and perfectly fit their look and the boss theme is exhilarating with some of the final battle themes truly exceptional. It is not all great on the sound design unfortunately, Memories of Celceta still does not feature much voice acting and for the most part, it’s saved for character introductions before you never hear them speak much ever again. It is a shame, because the few cases of voice acting are not too bad and due to the lengthy story, especially in the second half of the game, it would have really benefitted from having this remaster fully voiced. Technically, Memories of Celceta runs great for the most part, the loading is quick and snappy, it runs at what seems to be a fluid framerate save for one instance when entering a town and I didn’t encounter a single bug, a refreshing change from many games I’ve played recently. The graphics are serviceable for the most part, but it is important to remember that this is still a remaster of a VITA game and at times, feels like it.

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a game that doesn’t outstay it’s welcome and those playing on the Normal difficulty can expect at least 40 hours for a full playthrough, more if you’re on the harder difficulties and find yourself dying often. There’s plenty of side content to dig your teeth into and even after beating the game, you’ll unlock a New Game+ where you can carry most of your progress over to a tougher difficulty and unlock Time Attack Mode. This will allow you to face off against all of the bosses in game and even allow you to face them all in a Boss Rush, great for reexperiencing some of the better battles in the game without having to go through it from the start.