Ys: Memories of Celceta (PC, Steam)
May. 11th, 2019 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroAn amnesiac red-haired swordsman wanders out of the great Celceta forest, because of course Adol the Red is the only one who’d ever manage to survive such a place. Determined to get his memories back, Adol returns to the forest intent on mapping it and learning exactly how much trouble he got into the first time around.
This uses the party mechanics introduced in YS SEVEN, with there being three damage types that enemies can be weak or strong against. Instead of jumping, there’s only dodge/rolling, which means that there’s no platforming and the puzzles are more limited to “remember to use this tool” or “use logic”. Depending on your button-mashing abilities, this might be a relief.
For the first half of the game, the ability to teleport between save points is segmented into various areas, which walls you into various plot sequences and makes it hard to backtrack during them. Once you get all the characters, you can teleport anywhere (and will need to, if you want to complete all the sidequests). There’s a vendortrash system and you can strengthen your weapons, but that isn’t particularly necessary as you generally can buy or find the next stage up after any given plot point.
At this point, I’ve played most of the “canon” versions of the series. It’s not strictly necessary to play more than one of the games or to play them in order (thankfully), but there are connected events besides just “Adol travels a lot, gets in shipwrecks, fights monsters.” The general thrust of that plot is there was an ancient civilization of winged beings who had godlike powers, who were betrayed by a group of humans called “Darklings”, and left behind both magical relics (such as the Black Pearl) and monstrous war machines (Galbas). Most games involve some combination of these factors.
The Ys timeline is a bit of a mess, because they keep remaking games and have generally discarded the idea of numbering them. (The fact that the games officially called III and IV are swapped in the timeline makes that a wash, anyway.) For reference, the chronological order of events in the games are:
• Ys Origin (700 years ago)
• Legacy of Ys Books I&II is the start of Adol’s career, when he’s 17.
• This game Ys: Memories of Celceta, takes place the following year. (This game is a remake of Ys 4: Mask of the Sun.)
• Adol then travels to Dogi’s homeland in Ys: The Oath in Felghana (remake of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys).
• The following year sees Adol get involved with a prophecy in Ys V: Kefin, Lost City of Sand.
• Then comes Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, the only game I haven’t played yet.
• When Adol is 23, we see the events of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim; and then six months later, Ys Seven.
(The gameplay can be broken up into three distinct phases: The early “ram things to hurt them” games, the ¾ view platforming solo adventure games, and the party-based action/adventure games. The latter two are generally fun.)
Overall: A solid game in this series, and so, so much better than the SNES game it’s a remake/replacement of. I don’t think there are any brilliant innovations, but it’s more of a good thing.
This uses the party mechanics introduced in YS SEVEN, with there being three damage types that enemies can be weak or strong against. Instead of jumping, there’s only dodge/rolling, which means that there’s no platforming and the puzzles are more limited to “remember to use this tool” or “use logic”. Depending on your button-mashing abilities, this might be a relief.
For the first half of the game, the ability to teleport between save points is segmented into various areas, which walls you into various plot sequences and makes it hard to backtrack during them. Once you get all the characters, you can teleport anywhere (and will need to, if you want to complete all the sidequests). There’s a vendortrash system and you can strengthen your weapons, but that isn’t particularly necessary as you generally can buy or find the next stage up after any given plot point.
At this point, I’ve played most of the “canon” versions of the series. It’s not strictly necessary to play more than one of the games or to play them in order (thankfully), but there are connected events besides just “Adol travels a lot, gets in shipwrecks, fights monsters.” The general thrust of that plot is there was an ancient civilization of winged beings who had godlike powers, who were betrayed by a group of humans called “Darklings”, and left behind both magical relics (such as the Black Pearl) and monstrous war machines (Galbas). Most games involve some combination of these factors.
The Ys timeline is a bit of a mess, because they keep remaking games and have generally discarded the idea of numbering them. (The fact that the games officially called III and IV are swapped in the timeline makes that a wash, anyway.) For reference, the chronological order of events in the games are:
• Ys Origin (700 years ago)
• Legacy of Ys Books I&II is the start of Adol’s career, when he’s 17.
• This game Ys: Memories of Celceta, takes place the following year. (This game is a remake of Ys 4: Mask of the Sun.)
• Adol then travels to Dogi’s homeland in Ys: The Oath in Felghana (remake of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys).
• The following year sees Adol get involved with a prophecy in Ys V: Kefin, Lost City of Sand.
• Then comes Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, the only game I haven’t played yet.
• When Adol is 23, we see the events of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim; and then six months later, Ys Seven.
(The gameplay can be broken up into three distinct phases: The early “ram things to hurt them” games, the ¾ view platforming solo adventure games, and the party-based action/adventure games. The latter two are generally fun.)
Overall: A solid game in this series, and so, so much better than the SNES game it’s a remake/replacement of. I don’t think there are any brilliant innovations, but it’s more of a good thing.
