An overall very solid action adventure 3D beat 'em up, Memories of Celceta has the player take control of Adol (and friends) as he maps out the forest of Celceta and tries to recover his lost memories.
As you explore the forest, your map is gradually filled in (with a percentage count to track your overall progress) and you'll encounter all sorts of enemies, gathering points, villages, towns, and NPCs throughout your journey. The towns and villages all have their own quest boards and shops that periodically update, so you'll be going back to each of them often. There's a fair number of dungeons too, some of which have some cool gimmicks and are satisfying to explore.
This is my first of the proper 3D Ys games, and the combat feels pretty good. You have your standard attack button to mash, as well as a number of skills which can be mapped to the four face buttons while holding down a trigger that cost SP. Adol in particular seems to have a massive amount of skills, as I unlocked multiple even during the final dungeon. As mentioned previously, there are also a handful of other playable characters that join the party who you can also play as. Up to three at a time can be out on the field, and you can freely swap at any time. All but one of them felt pretty good to play, so I definitely did not spend the whole game just playing as the main character.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me was the boss fights. In I, II, and Origin, bosses were memorable, had unique gimmicks, and in general were pretty tough. Celceta has maybe one boss on that level. Additionally, I harped on about this in my reviews for those other three games but the magic of levelling up is gone here. Your level doesn't feel very important and I don't even remember what level I was when I finished the game.
The story itself is okay, there are definitely a couple of fascinating ideas in the back half, but overall it feels pretty standard for an action adventure game. The characters were enjoyable and the main party at least gets their own little arcs (for the most part).
Overall, I think Celceta is a pretty comfy action/adventure. It's not gunna blow you away but it is satisfying and not terribly long (I did pretty well everything I could and got ~25 hours out of it). If you are into Ys, it's worth a playthrough.
As you explore the forest, your map is gradually filled in (with a percentage count to track your overall progress) and you'll encounter all sorts of enemies, gathering points, villages, towns, and NPCs throughout your journey. The towns and villages all have their own quest boards and shops that periodically update, so you'll be going back to each of them often. There's a fair number of dungeons too, some of which have some cool gimmicks and are satisfying to explore.
This is my first of the proper 3D Ys games, and the combat feels pretty good. You have your standard attack button to mash, as well as a number of skills which can be mapped to the four face buttons while holding down a trigger that cost SP. Adol in particular seems to have a massive amount of skills, as I unlocked multiple even during the final dungeon. As mentioned previously, there are also a handful of other playable characters that join the party who you can also play as. Up to three at a time can be out on the field, and you can freely swap at any time. All but one of them felt pretty good to play, so I definitely did not spend the whole game just playing as the main character.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me was the boss fights. In I, II, and Origin, bosses were memorable, had unique gimmicks, and in general were pretty tough. Celceta has maybe one boss on that level. Additionally, I harped on about this in my reviews for those other three games but the magic of levelling up is gone here. Your level doesn't feel very important and I don't even remember what level I was when I finished the game.
The story itself is okay, there are definitely a couple of fascinating ideas in the back half, but overall it feels pretty standard for an action adventure game. The characters were enjoyable and the main party at least gets their own little arcs (for the most part).
Overall, I think Celceta is a pretty comfy action/adventure. It's not gunna blow you away but it is satisfying and not terribly long (I did pretty well everything I could and got ~25 hours out of it). If you are into Ys, it's worth a playthrough.