QCF: Ys: Memories of Celceta

This Review was Frelanced by Johnathan Sawyer; you can find his other work here.

s: Memories of Celceta is a new version of Ys IV, replacing Ys IV: Mask of the Sun as the new canon. It is a complete reimagining of what takes place in the past Ys IV games, with some similarities and nods to those releases (characters, music, locations, etc.), but is otherwise a brand new game. This release is the fourth Ys IV game; the other three were developed by Hudson Soft (Dawn of Ys), Tonkinhouse (Mask of the Sun), and Taito (Mask of the Sun: A New Theory), whereas this one was developed by Falcom themselves. The story, the graphics, music, and gameplay were completely overhauled, matching and surpassing what was seen in Ys Seven. This entry gives more light onto when and why Adol Christin (a.k.a. Adol the Red) decided to become an adventurer. Despite being the canon for Ys IV, it takes place chronologically before Ys III / Ys: The Oath in Felghana.

You remember nothing. You don't know who you are, where you're from, where you've been, or where you're going. You've somehow managed to make it out of the wilderness and into a strange, unfamiliar town. You don't think you've ever been here before, you see no familiar faces, and no one seems to want to help you. You finally reach the point of complete exhaustion and pass out before a kind soul finally takes you in to help you. Not too long after, someone FINALLY recognizes you and claims to be your friend, so you at least know your name is Adol Christin... but that is all. How did this happen? Why can't you remember the man that recognizes you? Why did you come to this land? These questions and more will plague you as you begin Falcom's newest adventure, Ys: Memories of Celceta.

Falcom and Sound Team JDK really can't do wrong. Okay, well they can, but whichever ones come across as not great are 1 to 100 in tracks that are amazing. As with most other Ys games, the heavy rock tracks do an incredible job of fueling the momentum throughout the dungeons and boss fights; every track is wonderfully imaginative tracks that take you through the forest and caverns and such.

Being that Ys IV has been done differently many times before, there is actually a large selection of music available to go from; Falcom chose to use roughly half of the tracks for this game from either Mask of the Sun or Dawn of Ys, and with that, perfected those. Don't be too sad, though; even though the other half of the tracks for the game are new, they hold their own versus the classics. Being a hardcore Ys fan, I'm very slightly disappointed in the track options from the previous games; there are at least 4 others that I could see being used (and fitting better) than some of the current tracks. However, it’s just a personal nitpick; as a whole, this soundtrack is amazing. Not quite “Ys: The Oath in Felghana” amazing, but be honest; what OST can top that to begin with?

One thing I've noticed that is much more present in this game than the past releases: the violin. String instruments seem to sneak into quite a few tracks into the game, and honestly, they sound incredible—especially when it is paired with an electric guitar and a sick beat. Seriously, look up the track names "Underground Ruins", "Ancient Land", and "Black Wings"; you'll thank me later. (In addition as a totally unrelated note, look up "Burning Sword" and "The Morning After the Storm" to finish off my five favorite and absolutely kick-ass tracks to the game.)

Falcom has changed it up and really fleshed out a story for Celceta. It is boasted to have the largest world of any Ys game to date, and they're not kidding; the area to explore is huge, and with more towns and dungeons along the way, many more elements of the story are put together to bring an amazing adventure to life.

From the start, you see a bumbling Adol returning to the Frontier City of Casnan, with no memories of absolutely anything. Luckily, he is helped out by one of the locals and is even recognized by one who claims to be an old friend -- Duren. After some trouble starts brewing at the local mine, Adol begins slowly recovering his memories and decides to help, with Duren reluctantly agreeing to come along. As the quandary in the local quarry is solved, Adol meets the local Governor General -- Griselda -- who wishes to have him map the Great Forest of Celceta; a place from which no man has returned. Being the brave and curious man that he is, Adol agrees to it, and both he and Duren embark upon a grand adventure, hopefully with the ultimate goal of regaining his memories along the way.

Memories of Celceta boasts six playable characters who will eventually be in your party, as well dozens of NPCs to interact with in the various communities you come across. Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of character development for each of your characters, as well as some of the main supporting characters. Habitat-wise, each town you arrive in has its own unique properties, as well as its own problems. As per usual RPG standards, you'll have to solve minor problems in each town as you visit it. However, these problems all add up to the big picture, and Falcom executes the story well. It is easily the best told story of the series and has plenty of twists, turns, and surprises to keep you glued throughout.

There is also voice acting throughout the story—but it’s more like "voice sampling." There are usually only a few vocal tracks included when you first meet someone important, and even then, it is just the first few lines of their dialogue. After that, usually extremely short exclamations are reused throughout the game at opportune moments. Some of the memories are also voiced, but again, not to its entirety. It is definitely a nice touch though; the voices are pretty enjoyable.

As with Ys Seven before it, this chapter utilizes the party system, where you start the game controlling Adol, but can freely switch to the other party members to fight as. This adds another dimension to the gameplay; different enemy weaknesses. At first, all enemies can be defeated equally, but you eventually come across hard-shelled enemies that only those who can use Strike attacks can defeat with ease. Same goes with Slash attacks for the soft foes, and Pierce attacks for the airborne ones. You can TECHNICALLY go through the whole game using just Adol, but it'll make your life much easier to switch through different members and get a feel for whom you're most comfortable with, and who should accompany you based on the enemy selection.

Also with the party system, your character can learn different physical skills (meaning no magic whatsoever); most of them are attacks, but some can be used for support. These skills are learned at random throughout the game, primarily when facing tougher foes. The formula for learning skills is based on defeating larger and more difficult enemies (such as bosses or the big enemies on the field). It is possible to learn skills on regular enemies, but the more big baddies you fight, the better your chances are of learning new skills more quickly. Repeatedly using these techniques over time will level them up to where they become stronger, and once you've earned a fair number of them, nothing will stand in your way. In fact, some of the skills are almost broken to the point that the game becomes pathetically easy. But that is only if you happen to get them all; some do not, for lack of trying.

As for the difficulty, you can choose between many difficulties; this is no different from other Ys games. However, this time around... everything feels slightly dumbed down. In addition to Flash Guard from Ys Seven, a new element was introduced; the Flash Move. By pressing the dash (or guard) button at the right moment when an enemy attacks, you can completely avoid damage and even increase your damage speed (and output) temporarily. Both of these are extremely easy to do, and because of that, even the hardest of difficulties becomes manageable. For example, when playing Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Nightmare, you WILL spend unholy amounts of time on the last few bosses trying to take them down, but in Celceta, that’s just not the case. The challenge CAN be there if you choose to not use these moves, but having them there almost feels cheap. Some of the characters (mainly one in particular) seem a bit overpowered as well; if you're having trouble, switching to them and attacking from a distance can get you out of most situations.

Fear not though; for most players, it won't even take away from the game. Especially when you enter for the forest for the first time an have an over-leveled 800-pound gorilla (literally) pound you into the ground -- and there are plenty of these types of enemies scattered throughout the game to give you a challenge. The game itself is still VERY action-oriented, extremely fast-paced and easily enjoyed. The controls are easy to handle, battles are addicting, boss fights are a blast, and just roaming the forest is fun in itself. There are small puzzles to solve throughout, an entire forest to uncover and map, and there even are numerous quests in which to partake after reaching each town, changing up the gameplay quite a bit by doing favors for townspeople in exchange for gold and items. In addition to the quests and defeating monsters for gold to buy equipment and items, you can actually refine your equipment and even craft accessories this time around. Want to buy that really expensive sword, but just can't... swing it? (Pun intended... I apologize.) Well, then try your hand at boosting its statistics with what money you do have, as well as a few materials, and you're off with something nearly as good.

The PlayStation Vita is the most beautiful handheld we've had to date; with an (almost) HD screen to display, so much can come to life on it and look absolutely amazing. As you've just read a bit ago, Falcom chose to continue using their engine from <i>Ys Seven</i> for this game... and they did so quite literally. While the environments, text, movies, and artwork look INCREDIBLE... the 3D models look absolutely awful, like they were pulled directly from the PSP's set. Most of the time, you can be zoomed out and not notice too much, but during scenes and close-ups, it's painfully obvious.

However, I personally don't let graphics factor in to whether I'm going to play and enjoy a game or not. Again, the environments and artwork look amazing, and that's enough to impress me, especially when the rest of the game's aspects blow me away in every way possible. So I'll let it slide if Adol has a blocky head. One of the most popular video game characters of all time has Popeye arms. So what?

As mentioned before, there are multiple difficulty levels, so each player can easily jump in to what they're comfortable with, and once that's over, they can hop in once again to test their mettle. Other than a few choices along the way that will net you some different weapons, or visiting one place before another, there's not much in the way of variety. This game is actually fairly long, and longer games that don't have much variety usually have a hard time with replayability.

But if you're the kind of person that enjoys the adventure, the exploration, and the fast-paced, merciless slaughtering that is exploring the Great Forest of Celceta, then yeah, it's easy to play it a couple of times with no problem. The same thing goes for those that like to grind; grinding really isn't required, but man, is it FUN!

Time Attack also makes a return, once you clear the game for the first time. It pits you against the bosses of the game with a timer; this staple in the Ys series is an absolute blast, and it's extremely easy to spend hours beating the baddies as quickly as possible. In addition to that is a New Game+ that lets you keep your equipment, money, and experience as you try out the adventure once again. It's not too bad

Falcom has given us another reason as to why the Ys series is the strong, phenomenal series we die-hard fans have come to love.

Although it wasn't very challenging, and some of the 3D models were a bit hard to look at, Falcom was able to put out another extremely high quality product that met almost every expectation. This installment is easily the most well rounded game they've put out yet, focusing on every aspect of the series and improving it in one way or another. With progress like this, I'm extremely excited to see what's next; a remake of Ys V, or possibly a Ys VIII?

However, only one small concern most people have with it at the moment is this: with it being a Vita exclusive in the U.S. market, it may hurt it in the long run. (There are plans for it to be ported to the PC, but that's only for China at the moment.) The Vita still struggles to find a name for itself and find a reason to jump into the hands of gamers around the world, especially when the 3DS has a firm grip on the handheld market. Here's to hoping that the Vita picks up steam as the PSP did before it since we'll likely see at least one more Falcom / Ys title for it in the future.