Ys: Memories of Celceta (for PC) Review

Publisher Xseed brings developer Nihon Falcom's Ys IV reimagining, Ys: Memories of Celceta, from the Playstation Vita's small screen to the PC's far bigger one.

Featuring a host of enhancements, this action-RPG has improved graphics and excellent combat, and offers numerous tweaking options for people who want to fine tune their gaming experience.

For both series newcomers and longtime fans, the $24.99 Memories of Celceta proves highly enjoyable, provided that you can overlook the party AI issues and ho-hum voice acting.

Chart the Map

You play as Adol, a red-haired amnesiac with a penchant for spontaneous heroism.

Adol is the longtime series hero, but in this installment, he can't remember any of his past adventures.

In Memories of Celceta's opening, Adol emerges from the Great Forest of Celceta, an uncharted wilderness that is rumored to ensnare those who explore its depths.

After some limping around, Adol is tasked by General Griselda of the Romun Empire to chart the wilderness, because our hero is the only person known to have ever escaped it.

At times, the narrative meanders with heavy exposition, but the story's slow pace has some redeeming qualities.

Cleverly implemented storytelling mechanics, such as retrieving Adol's memories and charting the frontier, unravel the tale in a suspenseful and exciting way.

For example, as you traverse the dungeon-like overworld's various corridors, the game automatically fills blank map spaces.

This game encourages you to explore every nook and cranny, which is great for those who covete a 100 percent completion score.

Thankfully, Memories of Celceta isn't very large; I had charted more than half the map by my fifteenth hour of gameplay.

Challenging puzzles scattered throughout settlements and dungeons further enhance the exploration and fun factor.

Like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ($39.99 at Amazon) , Memories of Celceta lacks a blazoned path for you to follow.

Your only guidance through this half-blind adventure is your map, and the quest tips revealed through in-game text.

For example, when you drop a pin on the map, an arrow points you in your destination's general direction.

However, that doesn't mean that getting to your destination is simple.

Many overworld corridors loop or come to dead ends, so it's easy to get lost.

As a result, it's vital to keep eye on your map to get an idea of where you should go.

In this way, the quest experience has a very naturalistic feel, similar to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Adol and Company

You mainly control Adol throughout your journey (the rest of the party is AI-powered), but you can swap him out for another combatant.

Duren, a lock picker, is in your party from the start, but you recruit additional crew members as you play through the story.

Your party is limited to three warriors, drawn from a pool of six by the time you enter the endgame.

Each party member has his or her own particular skill to aid in the monster-smashing and puzzle-solving activities.

For example, Karna can cut down hanging objects, while Ozma can break underwater rocks to flood or drain areas.

Furthermore, special items called Artifacts give your party special abilities, such as shrinking or diving underwater.

These traits are vital for navigating dungeons.

The Action Battle System

Scouring uncharted areas while slashing, hacking, and piercing enemies is a blast.

Monsters litter the overworld and appear in real time, so you must always be prepared for an encounter.

Although the battles are fast-paced, they demand more strategy than simple button mashing.

Of course, button mashing is a given in an action-RPG, but Memories of Celceta's style relies heavily on a dodge-counterattack mechanic that I enthusiastically abused: Flash Move.

It activates after you successfully dodge an attack, slowing time so that you can land big hits on the enemy.

It's both dramatic and exciting.

Party members have their own attack styles, and applying their strengths vs.

monsters' weaknesses earns an Excellent Kill bonus.

To obtain an Excellent Kill, you must control a character that has the appropriate attack style in a given situation.

For example, Adol's slashing offense earns an Excellent Kill against soft-bodied enemies like slugs, while Duren's smashing attack earns an Excellent Kill versus hard-bodied foes such as roaches.

Excellent Kills reward you with gold (for buying ability-boosting items) and rare item drops.

Since your party is limited to three warriors at a time, it's mandatory to swap fighters to take advantage of this satisfying system.

However, you cannot alter the team during boss battles.

In other words, you can't go to the Camp Menu to swap an inactive party member with full Hit Points in the middle of a fight, which proves frustrating at times.

Fortunately, experience points are shared among the party members, so leveling isn't a grind.

Your arsenal also includes Skills, powers that either deal damage or increase the party's stats.

You can freely spam them until your Skills Points gauge is depleted, but you can replenish the meter by using charged attacks and equipping certain accessories.

Another gauge that the party collectively uses, Extra, lets your character unleash a super-charged attack at the cost of completely emptying your Extra meter.

You can fill the Extra gauge by using Skill attacks, though it also slowly replenishes on its own.

Beasts of Celceta

Celceta's monsters are fully realized beasts that you can learn about, if you dive into Ys' lore.

You may happen upon friendly beasts like the Spardas, or one that you're required to kill (or milk!) during a sidequest.

Even better, the beasts you fight during boss battles are challenging foes that require strategic thinking to defeat.

Switching between the Attack and Evasion Focus tactics proved a useful strategy, as it gave me some control over the AI-controlled party members.

Evasion Focus brings party members near Adol, then when it's time to attack, you switch to an ally who swoops in for a blow.

This requires deft analysis of the bosses' attack patterns, but, thankfully, the tactic is fun and effective.

For the most part.

This approach, while incredibly useful, gave me a bit of trouble.

Occasionally, I'd switch from Evasion Focus to Attack, and my AI-controlled party members wouldn't do anything.

Their inaction led to a few very difficult boss battles where I was pretty much on my own.

Most party systems behave similarly.

When your comrades are good, they're great.

But be prepared for them to fail and leave you to your own devices.

Graphics and Soundtrack

You explore the labyrinthine forest through a general third-person forced perspective.

You can't change the camera angle, but this view works perfectly fine for the game.

Although zooming in and out of the playfield is possible, this doesn't grant you any substantial advantages.

While the art style isn't particularly impressive, Memories of Celceta's PC graphics are a marked improvement on the PlayStation Vita's visuals.

For example, Highland Town's pre-rendered graphics are beautiful and a delight to play through.

In addition, the game now supports 1080p resolution.

However, Memories of Celceta's graphics aren't the game's selling point—it's the soundtrack.

Memories of Celceta's score is more than just a collection of frenzied action themes; it's beautifully composed video game music.

The overworld music pumps with an electric, rambling energy, and the village tunes twinge with nostalgic hominess.

Unfortunately, subpar and completely forgettable voice acting is a part of this otherwise delicious sound design.

While Memories of Celceta's script is well-written, the acting is monotone and flat.

This would be forgivable if it was any other series than Ys, a franchise known for quality voice action.

For example, the classic Ys: Books I & II featured the immensely talented Jim Cummings, a stellar voice artist who voiced Winnie the Pooh and Tigger in the recently released film Christopher Robin.

The Power Is Within (Your PC)

Memories of Celceta's minimum spec requirements include an Intel Core i3 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6570 GPU, 4GB RAM, 3GB of storage, and the Windows 7 operating system.

My gaming laptop that houses a Windows 10 operating system and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU pushed polygons just fine.

Although the game runs at a locked 30 frames per second by default, Memories of Celceta lets you up the frame rate to a locked 120 frames per second.

You can also unlock the frame rate if you so choose.

There are a range of additional customization options, including fine-tuning the image and shadow quality.

If that's too complicated, you can choose one of the set-and-forget presets.

As a Steam game, Memories of Celceta supports Steam Cloud, Steam Trading Cards, and Steam Achievements.

Memories in the Corner of My Mind

Memories of Celceta lacks Breath of the Wild's scope, but if you're a Zelda fan, you might dig the game's soundtrack, gameplay, and adventurous tone.

Memories of Celceta is not a long game and you can complete the main story in roughly 20 to 30 hours, depending on your play style.

However, when it wraps, you may regret that it's over because Ys: Memories of Celceta gets one thing perfect: delivering a fun, fast-paced battle adventure in the classic JRPG style.