Ys: Memories of Celceta

For the last thirty-three years, Ys has secretly been one of the most consistently great adventure game franchises on the market. From the award-winning early games to modern sequels to a string of incredible remakes, this has always been a series right on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. If you're the type of person who has heard the stories of Adol's adventures but don't know where to start, then let me recommend the just-released PlayStation 4 version of Ys: Memories of Celceta. It's a charming journey full of likable characters, fast-paced action and just about everything that has made the Ys series an enduring treasure for more than three decades.

Memories of Celceta is a reimagined take on the fourth game in the series, Mask of the Sun, that also takes cues from the other fourth game in the series -- The Dawn of Ys. Confused? Don't be, because all you need to know is that our red-headed hero, Adol, has stumbled into the frontier city of Casnan with a bad case of amnesia. Instead of coming back from the Great Forest of Celceta with exciting stories to tell, our teenage adventurer can't remember who he is or what's going on.

The good news is that Duren remembers Adol and knows exactly what he's capable of. This is a secret the town quickly discovers too, thanks in large part to a selfless act that involves the red-head saving a bunch of miners from a cave. This ultimately leads to Adol and Duren getting roped into a job mapping out the Great Forest, which turns out to be a much bigger and more dangerous quest than anybody could have possibly expected. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

As the title suggests, this Ys adventure is all about Adol finding himself in the forest of Celceta. This happens as he discovers landmarks, battles bosses and talks to the many colorful characters that populate the Great Forest. That last thing is where the bulk of the drama comes from. It seems that Adol left quite an impression on people the first time he explored Celceta, both in good and bad ways. Our hero quickly discovers that he'll need to mend fences and solve the problems left in his wake if he ever hopes to map the entire forest.

Of course, this game isn't really about cartography. It won't take long for Adol to discover that there's more going on, including a looming threat that nobody saw coming. It's up to our traveling duo to team up with a ragtag group of fighters to not only solve each city's very specific problems, but uncover the truth and defeat the evils that make the Great Forest of Celceta so dangerous.

At its core, this is an action/adventure game with a real emphasis on the action. We switch between Adol, Duren and a third companion as we hack and slash our way through dungeons, castles, caves and forests. This is a speedy quest where we button mash bad guys, perform special moves and defensively roll away to safety when attacked. It's not the deepest adventure game you'll ever play, but it's fun switching between characters and everybody has a unique set of skills and abilities.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

While Duren is a great companion that is always there to help, a lot of the fun of this game comes from teaming up with Karna, Calilica and Frieda. Memories of Celceta has a strong cast of characters who elevate this quest with both drama and levity. These are well-written characters that are a lot of fun to hang out with, even when the writers are cycling through the greatest hits of adventure game tropes. And they aren't just great at holding a conversation, but also kicking ass. There are so many times when the strong supporting cast upstages our hero, and I never had a problem with that. The nice variety of characters helps keep the button mashy gameplay from becoming too repetitive.

That said, I do wish there was more to the combat. Switching between characters helps, but a lot of the action involves pressing the same button until everybody dies. They do try to shake things up a bit by allowing the player to assign four special and magical attacks to each character, though a lot of them are on the anti-climactic side. What the combat has going for it is the speed. There's always something happening and it's fun to watch the two companions jump from enemy to enemy like a wrecking crew. The only downtime this game has is when our heroes get stuck in town and forced to talk to everybody he comes across.

In case you don't already know, this PlayStation 4 version of Memories of Celceta is an upscaled port of a game that first appeared on the PS Vita. This will be painfully obvious right from the jump. It's not that the game looks bad, but rather that it looks dated and scaled back for handheld hardware. The various parts of the Great Forest are blocky and small, leading to a world that doesn't feel as open and connected as it could. And it's not just the graphics, because most of the design decisions were clearly made with a handheld in mind. Choices that made complete sense seven years ago on the PS Vita are more glaring in 2020 on the PlayStation 4.

For the most part, I was able to look beyond some the game's more outdated elements. It really only annoyed me when the gameplay was impacted, such as when the A.I. wouldn't act properly. Because you can only control one character at a time, the other fighters in the party are handled by the computer. For the most part, this works out fine. The problem is that they tend to have a mind of their own. They are bad at avoiding damage and knowing when to use special moves, forcing the player to manually babysit them. And when they aren't rushing to their deaths or being attracted by some shiny object, they'll run around in circles and act crazy. I was never sure what to expect from the A.I.

As problems go, these issues aren't that bad. In fact, I kind of liked the throwback vibe of Memories of Celceta. It doesn't feel like a lot of modern adventure games, and that's a good thing. What we get is a fun and well-written journey full of twists, turns and exciting moments. This is not just a great reminder why the Ys series has endured for so long, but also a great starting place for anybody looking to join Adol on his epic adventures.