YS: Memories of Celceta Review - Fun in the forest

CrazyCapnMorgan

Is not insane, just crazy >:)
Jan 5, 2011
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Bought the Silver Anniversary Edition. I love the soundtrack, it makes me wish I had gotten into the game sooner. Speaking of which, I'm going to have to find time playing it between Final Fantasy 14: ARR, work and the holidays.
 

-Seraph-

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May 19, 2008
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I loved and played the ever loving crap out of this game, a marked improvement and refinement of Ys7s gameplay. Even if it didn't carry the Ys name, this is still an excellent RPG in its own right. The refining of flash guarding and inclusion of flash moves just make the combat so damn satisfying. Game makes you feel like a total bad ass when you manage to do multiple flash moves in a row...off the same enemy attack. So much free damage, so much feeling like an untouchable god. My first play through was straight to nightmare difficulty, and that will make utilize the combat mechanics to their fullest extent than where you would do on normal or lower. Just another great entry in the best ARPG series that no one has ever played :p

The story is more enjoyable if you are a fan of the series and have played prior entries. There are A LOT of references to other entries in the series, and the story shines important light on some of the Ys lore. That one Ark of Napishtim reference was a pretty huge revelation. Other than that, Ys has never been about ground breaking narratives. They are like the gameplay, brisk and right to the point while refining and handling tropes and cliches FAR better than other uber serious JRPGs and the like.

Though I have to contest to the camera issues, having a fixed camera in a game like this is actually a good thing. Ys has always had fixed camera because it keeps the action focused without the hassle of adjusting perspective and possibly muddling your inputs. There are only a few instances in the game where the camera kinda works against you *glares angrily at secret lvl59 monster*, but other than that, the game frames things just fine and marks stuff on the mini map for you.

New game+ and Boss rush/time attack is a nive welcome return. Soloing Time attack and Boss rush with Adol feels like old times :)

CrazyCapnMorgan said:
Bought the Silver Anniversary Edition. I love the soundtrack, it makes me wish I had gotten into the game sooner. Speaking of which, I'm going to have to find time playing it between Final Fantasy 14: ARR, work and the holidays.
I also got the Silver edition. God damn is that the best collectors edition for any portable game I've ever seen. So much love, care, and content by XSEED; it's up on my shelf with the special editions of all the PSP Ys games :)
 

Drummodino

Can't Stop the Bop
Jan 2, 2011
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-Seraph- said:
he story is more enjoyable if you are a fan of the series and have played prior entries. There are A LOT of references to other entries in the series, and the story shines important light on some of the Ys lore. That one Ark of Napishtim reference was a pretty huge revelation. Other than that, Ys has never been about ground breaking narratives. They are like the gameplay, brisk and right to the point while refining and handling tropes and cliches FAR better than other uber serious JRPGs and the like.
As someone who has never played a Ys game, can I still enjoy the story? Or will I be totally lost? I need some more Vita games so I'm considering picking this up.
 

-Seraph-

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May 19, 2008
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Drummodino said:
-Seraph- said:
he story is more enjoyable if you are a fan of the series and have played prior entries. There are A LOT of references to other entries in the series, and the story shines important light on some of the Ys lore. That one Ark of Napishtim reference was a pretty huge revelation. Other than that, Ys has never been about ground breaking narratives. They are like the gameplay, brisk and right to the point while refining and handling tropes and cliches FAR better than other uber serious JRPGs and the like.
As someone who has never played a Ys game, can I still enjoy the story? Or will I be totally lost? I need some more Vita games so I'm considering picking this up.
Aside from Ys 1&2 (which are pretty much one game split into two), every Ys game is its own story, very episodic series. You won't pick up on references and some other stuff, but the stories are all rather self contained following the general formula of Adol showing up in a new land with his buddy Dogi, and kicking the shit out of whatever evil force is troubling the poor citizens of the land. Like I mentioned in my OP, the stories aren't ground breaking or anything, but they have a great deal of charm in sincerity to them, that you just get that fuzzy old school JRPG feeling while playing them.

I'd say Celceta is probably the most accessible story wise considering the amnesia angle they went with. You essentially get reintroduced to Adol because of it as you get to see memories of not only his past excursion into the great forest, but a few memories of his childhood. And to be quite honest, Celcetas story is pretty good with a fun cast of characters and a few neat twists, hell they take the long and tired amnesia trope, and make it work in a really god narrative and gameplay way.

So if you like old school JRPGs, and fast, deep hack n slash combat, Ys:MoC is an instant buy I'd say.
 

Pipotchi

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Jan 17, 2008
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I got this today, my first ever Ys game. (not many make it to the UK) My Vita has pretty much been a Persona Goldren exclusive console so it's nice to have something else to play.
 

Drummodino

Can't Stop the Bop
Jan 2, 2011
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-Seraph- said:
Drummodino said:
-Seraph- said:
he story is more enjoyable if you are a fan of the series and have played prior entries. There are A LOT of references to other entries in the series, and the story shines important light on some of the Ys lore. That one Ark of Napishtim reference was a pretty huge revelation. Other than that, Ys has never been about ground breaking narratives. They are like the gameplay, brisk and right to the point while refining and handling tropes and cliches FAR better than other uber serious JRPGs and the like.
As someone who has never played a Ys game, can I still enjoy the story? Or will I be totally lost? I need some more Vita games so I'm considering picking this up.
Aside from Ys 1&2 (which are pretty much one game split into two), every Ys game is its own story, very episodic series. You won't pick up on references and some other stuff, but the stories are all rather self contained following the general formula of Adol showing up in a new land with his buddy Dogi, and kicking the shit out of whatever evil force is troubling the poor citizens of the land. Like I mentioned in my OP, the stories aren't ground breaking or anything, but they have a great deal of charm in sincerity to them, that you just get that fuzzy old school JRPG feeling while playing them.

I'd say Celceta is probably the most accessible story wise considering the amnesia angle they went with. You essentially get reintroduced to Adol because of it as you get to see memories of not only his past excursion into the great forest, but a few memories of his childhood. And to be quite honest, Celcetas story is pretty good with a fun cast of characters and a few neat twists, hell they take the long and tired amnesia trope, and make it work in a really god narrative and gameplay way.

So if you like old school JRPGs, and fast, deep hack n slash combat, Ys:MoC is an instant buy I'd say.
Okay cool. I'll probably pick it up sometime soon then ^_^
 

RandV80

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Oct 1, 2009
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Drummodino said:
-Seraph- said:
Drummodino said:
-Seraph- said:
he story is more enjoyable if you are a fan of the series and have played prior entries. There are A LOT of references to other entries in the series, and the story shines important light on some of the Ys lore. That one Ark of Napishtim reference was a pretty huge revelation. Other than that, Ys has never been about ground breaking narratives. They are like the gameplay, brisk and right to the point while refining and handling tropes and cliches FAR better than other uber serious JRPGs and the like.
As someone who has never played a Ys game, can I still enjoy the story? Or will I be totally lost? I need some more Vita games so I'm considering picking this up.
Aside from Ys 1&2 (which are pretty much one game split into two), every Ys game is its own story, very episodic series. You won't pick up on references and some other stuff, but the stories are all rather self contained following the general formula of Adol showing up in a new land with his buddy Dogi, and kicking the shit out of whatever evil force is troubling the poor citizens of the land. Like I mentioned in my OP, the stories aren't ground breaking or anything, but they have a great deal of charm in sincerity to them, that you just get that fuzzy old school JRPG feeling while playing them.

I'd say Celceta is probably the most accessible story wise considering the amnesia angle they went with. You essentially get reintroduced to Adol because of it as you get to see memories of not only his past excursion into the great forest, but a few memories of his childhood. And to be quite honest, Celcetas story is pretty good with a fun cast of characters and a few neat twists, hell they take the long and tired amnesia trope, and make it work in a really god narrative and gameplay way.

So if you like old school JRPGs, and fast, deep hack n slash combat, Ys:MoC is an instant buy I'd say.
Okay cool. I'll probably pick it up sometime soon then ^_^
There are a few Y's games available on Steam, which will likely be discounted over the Christmas sale.

...which brings me to my question, will this game be ported to Steam? That's the only place I've ever played the Y's games (and thoroughly enjoyed them), so I don't know how their release schedule typically works. Y's III and Y's Origin seem like they were PSP games that got ported to PC.
 

-Seraph-

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RandV80 said:
There are a few Y's games available on Steam, which will likely be discounted over the Christmas sale.

...which brings me to my question, will this game be ported to Steam? That's the only place I've ever played the Y's games (and thoroughly enjoyed them), so I don't know how their release schedule typically works. Y's III and Y's Origin seem like they were PSP games that got ported to PC.
Err..I wouldn't count on seeing this game ported anytime soon, hell the PC version of 7 (which was for china only and supposedly not a good job) hasn't made it to steam. Oath in Felghana and Origin were PC games first that got ported to the PSP. It just took a long time and some effort from XSEED to get them onto steam, those games are from 2005 and 2006 respectively.

There is some hope of seeing Seven come to steam as I heard that they are working on a proper english version of it as the chinese version had a different english translation to that of the PSP game. And keep in mind seven came out in like 2008-09.

I just hope their next Ys project is a remake of 5, which also never got an english release (though thankfully a fan translation was completed only a few days ago). I want them to complete this little western Ys reboot of theirs before they make an eighth entry, let alone PC ports; they are a pretty small and niche studio after all.
 

Seracen

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Sep 20, 2009
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Man, I was really liking this read, until I saw it was on the damn Vita...

What is it with JRPG's not coming to console? It seems that handhelds are the last bastion for that niche, and I don't care to play a game at home that ISN'T being played on my TV!!!
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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Seracen said:
Man, I was really liking this read, until I saw it was on the damn Vita...

What is it with JRPG's not coming to console? It seems that handhelds are the last bastion for that niche, and I don't care to play a game at home that ISN'T being played on my TV!!!
Cause most japanese households have only one TV and they know their core audience would rather play a game on a handheld instead of fight over the rights to use the TV. Most likely why the Wii U also has the TV mode.
 

Madmanonfire

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Jul 24, 2009
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I might be getting a Vita for christmas this year. If I do, this will be one of the first games I pick up.

I'm missing out on too many awesome Ys games because they're on Sony handhelds.
 

Seracen

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Sep 20, 2009
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RaikuFA said:
Seracen said:
Man, I was really liking this read, until I saw it was on the damn Vita...

What is it with JRPG's not coming to console? It seems that handhelds are the last bastion for that niche, and I don't care to play a game at home that ISN'T being played on my TV!!!
Cause most japanese households have only one TV and they know their core audience would rather play a game on a handheld instead of fight over the rights to use the TV. Most likely why the Wii U also has the TV mode.
Is it really that hard to localize a PS Vita game onto PS3? I mean, if it were downloadable, wouldn't it be on PSN anyway?

If the answer is "no," I really don't understand why the architecture can't be similar enough to accomodate such a plan.
 

swinkycat

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Oct 2, 2012
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Thank you for this review. I thought it was very well-written.

I have Ys Seven on my Vita, and while the combat is VERY fun and I like the game overall (plus, Adol and Dogi's friendship is super cute), I'm not interested enough in the story to stick with it for very long. I keep putting it down and picking it back up later. But to be fair, every time I pick it back up, I have a lot of fun. I just wish the plot was more compelling, I guess.
 

Snotnarok

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Nov 17, 2008
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RaikuFA said:
Seracen said:
Man, I was really liking this read, until I saw it was on the damn Vita...

What is it with JRPG's not coming to console? It seems that handhelds are the last bastion for that niche, and I don't care to play a game at home that ISN'T being played on my TV!!!
Cause most japanese households have only one TV and they know their core audience would rather play a game on a handheld instead of fight over the rights to use the TV. Most likely why the Wii U also has the TV mode.
It's also down to cost and expectations, it costs far less to make for a handheld that can't put out 720p resolutions and is on a smaller screen, the licensing fees are also substantially lower I'd wager.
And people aren't expecting super perfect visuals on the handheld market either. Not that Ys is bad looking but it does somewhat feel the development for it may have started on PSP at some point.

OT: Either way it's a fun title, my first Ys game, which is KIND OF braindead but it's the usual thing I do, hop on the band wagon on the last thing in the series.
Did it with Firefly too, watched the movie then was like :| ...there's a show? Mother fffffff