Ys: Memories of Celceta - PlayStation Vita

Intro: Y’s: Memories of Celceta is an action role-playing game that can also just be classified as a Japanese role playing game. It was released on the PlayStation Vita on September 27, 2012 in Japan and November 26, 2013 in North America. It was developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation, who is known for several popular series including Y’s in Japan. The Y’s series has a strange history of releases, including re-releases even by other developers. Memories of Celceta is the third game to be considered Y’s IV, but it is actually the first time it was developed by the original Y’s developer Nihon Falcom Corp. I had wanted a PlayStation Vita really bad ever since it was first released almost two years ago. The only thing holding me back was that I was not sold on there being enough “good” games for me to get it. That all changed earlier this year when I saw the trailer for Memories of Celceta. I am not sure what it was about the trailer that was so appealing to me, but I knew I had to get a Vita before it was released. I quickly bought one and had patiently been awaiting the release of Memories of Celceta since this summer. But would I really enjoy a role playing game on a handheld device, especially one in a series that I had never even played before? I had no idea.Story: The basis of the story for Y’s is one most of us are familiar with: the protagonist has amnesia and is trying to find what the hell happened to him. You might be thinking something like, “here we go again!” But honestly it was pulled off phenomenally. You play as Adol Christin, a red haired young man with amnesia. The story starts out as you stumble into a city not knowing where you are or who you are. Eventually you meet a friend and are tasked with completing the map of the Great Forest of Celceta, a forest that no one has ever entered and returned from. Like I said, the overall amnesia premise is very familiar as I have played many games that started the same way. Y’s: Memories of Celceta stood out. You meet some interesting characters along your journey as you explore the forest and discover memories from Adol’s past. Adol’s memories will keep you guessing on how he actually lost his memory and what part he had to play in the overall conflict that is going on in the world at the time. I was kept guessing throughout most of this 25 hour game, and most of the time I was completely wrong. That says something for someone who prides himself on being a story driven gamer that has played 100’s of games.Presentation: The graphics for Y’s: Memories of Celceta does not push the limit of the Vita by any means, but this does not mean that it suffered. For a role playing game on a handheld, it was exactly what I would expect it to be. The character models were a little blurry/pixilated when standing still or in cutscenes, but most of the time the action is going so fast that you will not even have time to notice it. In cutscenes I found myself reading the dialogue and paying attention to the animated avatar next to the text more than I was looking at the character models; so again, you won’t even notice. The menu was very polished and easy to use: both with or without using the touch screen. The music was very catchy which is exactly what I have come to expect of a Japanese role playing game. It was fast paced which really suited the action packed gameplay mechanics. I don’t believe I have played a JRPG made in the past 8-10 years that didn’t have a good sound track.Gameplay: Battles are extremely fast paced, with most of them taking no more than 2-3 seconds. They are all real time on the battlefield as it does not have to go to its own separate battle screen like other traditional Japanese role playing games. You have a normal attack button, a skill attack list you can use by holding the right trigger and hitting a face button, and a special move you can use by hitting the left trigger once you have built up enough experience for it. These quick battles made the game feel action packed from the get-go. I never felt bored running through dungeons or long maze-like paths because there were always new monsters around that I could kill really quickly. At the end of each dungeon you will will run into the a "boss battle" with a monster that is normally 10 times your size. These battles will typically take you many times longer than the normal battles do because they have much more health, but are still not very difficult as you can spam attacks and skill moves. Y’s: Memories of Celceta has a party based battle system. You will have up to six characters in your party at one time, but can only put three of them in your active party to help you battle. The interesting part about this party system is that your other two active party members will run around the battle with you acting on their own. If you run by some enemies they may run right up to them and engage them in battle, or if you run by a harvest point they may run up and start to harvest it for you. Speaking of harvest points, these along with treasure chests are spread all over the world for you to collect. Memories of Celceta has quite the deep loot and crafting system, so you will want to try and collect as much of everything as possible. Even if you decide to only sell it in the end, you can make a bunch for upgrades. Another addition to the game that will make you want to explore everything is the world map system. Since the story is based on you trying to complete the map of the Great Forest, you will want to go down each and every path. Every time you pull up the world map it will have an updated percentage of how much of the map you have discovered. This was one of those things I was checking on constantly because I was interested to see how much I discovered each time I went into a new area. As with many JRPGs, Y's: Memories of Celceta has a new game plus mode. This mode will allow you to carry over all of your weapons, levels, stats, and discovery data to a brand new game. This is especially helpful for those who want to try to play on the hardest difficulty their second playthrough. I have always loved new game plus modes like this because they give me an extra incentive to go back and play them again later.The Verdict: 9.0 out of 10 Everything about Y’s: Memories of Celceta made it an exceedingly fun game for the PlayStation Vita. It is not the typical really long Japanese role playing game, which came as a surprise to me. This, however, didn’t hold it back in the least. The fast paced battle system and the crazy story made it seem like it was a much longer game. At the beginning I was skeptical about the amnesia story, but by the time I finished the game I realized it was one of the better stories I have played in recent history. It has nothing that will affect you psychologically or emotionally like The Last of Us, but it is still a really damn good story. Anytime a game is as fun to play as this one, there will most likely be high replayability. This is one of those games that I will definitely be playing again in the future. I am glad this game came out on Vita instead of the PlayStation 3 because the Vita needs as many strong titles as it can get to sell more units. I just hope Y’s sells enough for them to continue making them and bringing them over to the west! Go buy this game; you won’t regret it.

Since "Ys: Foilage Ocean in Celceta" had been released in Japan, I had been eagerly awaiting for the guys over at XSEED Games to announce any details on a state-side release (presuming they would do so since the same had been done for Ys: Chronicles I&II, Oath in Felghana, and Ys: SEVEN, all released for the original PSP). Once word had gone out that Ys: Memories of Celceta, the re-rendition of Ys IV was being translated and brought over to America, I knew I had to buy a Vita.Prior to playing the most recent title, I had dabbled in the series through its various steam releases, including Ys: Origin, and the well-renowned Ys: SEVEN that had been released for the PSP back in 2010. I fell in love with the series, and felt that SEVEN's emphasis on party management and fast-paced combat really took the Ys franchise leaps and bounds above its previous entires. Ys: Memories of Celceta follows up the same gameplay (somewhat of a spiritual successor to SEVEN), albeit placing itself after the third game in the series' timeline. The combat feels and looks very fluid as colorful skills and flash dodging/guarding mechanics dynamically make the game as much a twitch-response based marvel as it is a pure action-rpg. First-time players of the series can expect large-scale bossfights that will require patience to match patterns and timing, completely satisfying to overcome. The difficulties available to play the game on range from Easy to Nightmare mode. Although keep in mind, you can only decrease difficulty once you've started a game, not raise it.Sound-wise, the game is truly a spectacle to behold. Falcom Sound Team jdk did an excellent job on the soundtrack of the game. As you travel through the forest and the various areas, you definitely feel that the right themes are being hit, whether it's as you start your adventure, or are trying time and time again to defeat Aldovoss on Nightmare. If you've played any of the prior Ys games, you'll know what to expect in terms of music. In terms of voices, a hefty chunk of the dialogue has been voiced over with English voice acting. The voices sound great, although I guess it's a pet peeve of mine to not have the option to listen to everyone speaking in Japanese. Some voices do come across as washed out sometimes though. (In particular while switching between characters in battle)The graphics are a massive improvement over the spiritual predecessor Ys:SEVEN, and animated sequences flourish colorfully thanks to the Vita's OLED screen. When you enter a new area for the first time, the screen pans across and really get a chance to breathe in graphical capabilities of the handheld console. I'll admit the game looked a lot better in gameplay trailers, but the series at its core isn't so much about setting graphical records as it is genuinly fast-paced and very smooth gameplay, that of which it does a really great job of.The story starts this time around following Adol Christin as he enters a town completely exhausted and stripped of all his memories through his previous endeavor into the forest of Celceta. I won't go too into details about why, but the basis of the story is that he travels back into the forest to map it and retrieve his lost memories. The story isn't overwhelming, but it's just enough to keep you coming back wanting to explore more and find new party-members. Along the way, you find little orbs of light that contain Adol's memories. These are usually hand-drawn/voiced scenes that illuminate his past and give you a peak into what exactly went down when he first traversed the forest. If you've played any of the previous Ys games, it's really easy to tie in these flashbacks to references made in previous entries of the series, which I thought was really cool.The Silver Anniversary Edition of the game, if you're interested, comes with a massive amount of extra goodies. Along with the game itself, you get a snazzy compass, a 3-CD original soundtrack, map of the entire Forest of Celceta, and a kickass journal filled with detailed layouts of maps and strategies. Even if you aren't truly interested in any of the extras, for only $20 extra, it's completely worth it for what's included. If anything, I would have paid more out of sheer respect for XSEED and Nihon Falcom.All in all, Ys: Memories of Celceta truly lived up to my expectations and definitely feels to have justified my Vita purchase.

Not too shabby of a JRPG. I primarily play JRPG's and so I jumped at the chance to give this one a try.It's not too bad at all, nothing veterans haven't seen before but certainly nothing that will disappoint. Really the only issue I had with it is that it was only about 30 hours long and that's simultaneously a good thing, I only complain cause I wanted more.The combat is pretty intense and takes place in real time, there's no separate screen either, you see an enemy, it can hurt you and you can hurt it, no transition to a battle screen!You can block and evade and all that sort of stuff and it's plenty effective, if you're good enough you can destroy even a strong enemy if you block all his attack with proper timing.The story is pretty standard but at the end of the day the important thing is for it to forge an attachment with you and the games characters and it does that as good as any other JRPG. Some of the battles were challenging even on normal and it was certainly enjoyable.If you like JRPG's or quick but simple combat you'll enjoy this.

Soy fan de esta saga de JRPGs, aunque no es el mejor de la saga no deja de ser un gran titulo, esta copia fue adquirida para tenerla sellada solo como parte de la colección.

Great game, bought the import version to play on my playstation tv as it's the only version that currently does, don't hesitate if your a European ps vita TV owner as it works flawlessly.

I was looking for something to get into on the Vita. This set is a great deal for the price.I am a casual gamer and like to have guides and details when it comes to in-depth games. This set comes with a well written printed guide, map and packaging that is worth more than I paid. I would have paid double for the collectors set. $60 is a steal.The game is excellent and well written. Over 20 hours into playing and still feel involved and focused.If you are looking for a solid game with support material that draws you in... then this is the title to get before it goes out of print.

Fantastic addition to my Vita's library. I haven't played a jrpg this much since final fantasy X on my ps2. I just wish we could select languages.

Compré este juego después de haber jugado a algunos de la serie en PC y en la PSP. Mapas más grandes y coloridos de lo habitual, músicas igual de marchosas y combates frenéticos, en esta ocasión con intercambio al vuelo de personajes. En general, muy contento con el juego.La edición plata está muy cuidada. Después de ver muchas ediciones "especiales" que la verdad es que no dicen demasiado, está bien encontrarse con una como esta. Destacan los tres CDs con la música de la serie, y el libro "guía" que incluye a todo color. El mapa es algo más común, aunque también de una calidad por encima de la media, y la brújula la veo más como una curiosidad, (aunque funciona).El envío correcto y muy rápido. En menos de una semana lo tenía en casa.