Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita) Review

Memories of Celceta opens with the main hero, Adol, stumbling into an unfamiliar town with a classic case of amnesia, and soon lets the player take the reins to find the missing parts of his memory. The game does so by retracing his steps - new paths to see for the player, but reminiscent places for the main character. Memory loss is a common trope in Role Playing games, but Memories of Celceta handles it well with exploration as a key part of the narrative. Adol and his merchant friend Duren are given the task of mapping the forests of Celceta that had been thought unplottable due to their hazardous nature. Along the way, the duo finds new settlements, tougher foes, and works to unravel the mysteries of Adol's retention lapse. The story on the whole is essentially fodder for the game's greater gameplay structure, but it does an admirable job of keeping the player intrigued, yet never getting in the way of the explorative element.

Adol's adventure takes the form of an Action Role-Playing title, where he and up to two comrades explore the forest landscapes and duke it out with foes in real-time, making use of standard and stronger swipes and strikes, item consumption and special techniques. Although a mindless slasher at first glance, the game employs a good use of strategy to defeat stronger enemies - choosing when to fight or flee, when to dodge that particular move with a well-timed roll, or picking the best party members for the job at hand, for example. At its core, Memories of Celceta does require a considerable level of repetition, but the variety of ways to tackle a situation and retread older ground quicker with warp points alleviates that somewhat.

Whilst exploring, the map updates itself and keeps track of the ground covered and the materials missed that can be excavated. In this sense, Memories of Celceta shares some traits with the Monster Hunter series - gaining materials from defeated creatures and certain structures in the landscape to trade and synthesise with at settlements. The game is far less of a grind for certain materials than Capcom's series, however, and most can be purchased with dropped currency quite easily.

Also worth noting is the quest system that gives you missions to undertake when you've explored a new settlement to a sufficient degree, giving the player a wide number of tasks to choose from including killing off stronger creature threats, finding x amount of items or participating in unique events. These missions are completely optional and do not affect the main story in any way, but do give ample rewards and provide more characterisation through dialogue.

Speaking of characters, Memories of Celceta's group in particular is worthy of mention, in that they do follow classic clichés like amnesiac hero, beefy guy with a heart of gold, spunky forest girl, and so on, but the sheer quality of the writing and script easily overshadows any predictability that may be expected from this. Adol himself is the silent type, but the player can choose his responses when needs be. The world around him is vast and colourful, with the game making exquisite use of the Vita hardware's visual oomph. Icons on the screen are clear to see and use, even when they are microscopic size, and the Touch Screen comes into its own with quick and easy menu selections, though the player isn't forced to do so if they prefer button control. The back touch panel of the hardware stays out of play for the most part, allowing for a pinch or zoom to quickly change fight strategies should there be such a desire.

As for the music, anyone familiar with the Ys series will recall the intense soundtracks of games gone by, and this one is certainly no exception. Soothing calm melodies in the towns and villages, but out in the field all gloves are off, and the Vita's speakers will be blasting out an assortment of themes designed to get the blood pumping.

Memories of Celceta is far from being a short game, and despite being focused on one player, will provide a vast number of hours for play, especially for completists. Although a repetitive experience in nature, the game does a great deal to disguise it, and is, thus, a considerable option for Vita-owning RPG enthusiasts.