Ys is one of those fantastic series that has been going on for years now, a staple of RPG’s that almost all fans of the genre will remember, a popular action RPG that hasn’t seemed to fall down in quality over the years unlike other RPG’s. If you are a follower of Japanese games you would have known about Ys since the late 80’s but would have had to wait for the English ports which slowly came out on consoles of the day, but when they did they made a massive impact. The different take on the RPG genre of the time that was populated in the EU with turn based combat with Final fantasy style games, the new action take proved extremely popular.
This is a series with that more recent gamers would know from the copious amount of remakes for pretty much every platform out there at the moment from Ds to PC, meaning even if you haven’t been a fan of the series before you would of probably seen it around at some point.
The Ys series if you haven’t seen them is a action RPG series that has your average RPG story line added together with a more action oriented play style, you usually find yourself running around landscapes slashing up enemies than waiting around to take your turn in a battle. The series has always been a more love it or hate it, because some like there RPG old fashioned whilst others prefer to keep the ball moving. The game has a very older style, with character design and how the story progresses but how the games play is very different to what you would expect which is always a good thing.
Now we finally have the newest instalment for the vita, which is a new game in the series and not another remake as some have become used to seeing, but not 100% as it is more of a reimagining of the snes version Ys IV. The story follows our hero Adol Christin stumbling into a village exhausted and not knowing who he is, In fact he can’t remember anything, but he meets up with a familiar face who attempts to help him, whilst still turning a profit of course. Though this sort of story is something everyone will of seen and been a part of before, as you go along you slowly fill up your party, and the unfortunate cliché of amnesia being used here makes part of the story obvious.
One big annoyance about the story is just how often the story feels pointless, or more it feels like it’s in the way, far too many cut scenes I’ve sat through thinking about skipping because it went on for just a little too long. Now sure long overdone cut scenes are something most people expect from RPG’s these days, but It would be nice if a series that has gone on for as long as Ys has to realise that sometimes less is more, because if I find myself wanting the cut scene to end, it probably isn’t doing its job very well.
The game play is amazing fun though, if you have played any of the previous Ys games, the game play will not be anything new to you, here the top down run around slashing anything alive is very similar to how it was in previous games. Different skills help customise how your character can attack, switching up how much damage they can deal or other skills, as you progress you will probably stick to one or 2 of your main skills, but having the option of so many others is a bonus too. There are also 2 other character’s that you can play as, each with different strengths and weaknesses, different play style and many different skills that the main character cannot learn himself or use in battle. Ozma has access to spears that allow slightly longer reach whilst Calicia uses large maces allowing larger damage per hit but it takes a little longer to swing, both of these characters are very different to the sword swinging Adol.
Graphically the game looks nice, it’s not one that will push the vita to it’s very limits, though and in some cases I thought some areas looked quite bland and boring looking which was a shame considering how much power the vita does have access too. Character models on the other hand look quite nice, which is usually the case, but Ys memories of Celceta is a game that I never really thought too much about how the game looked. The game looks good enough to know what everything was without wondering too much what it could be, and in my opinion that is a good thing.
In the end Ys memories of Ceclcta is a solid game and a good sequel to others in the series, if you’re a big fan of the older games you will find something you love here, but it isn’t a game for everyone. I had my moments when I didn’t want to continue with the game due to being frustrated with the story, but once I got over that I did enjoy the games gameplay, for all that, I am someone who has never played a ys before, so I will give this;
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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