Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta review: Ys 4-ever

Celceta's vision is finally realized, at least if you have a Switch 2.

Ys is weird because it has a linear timeline, but between new games jumping around and a spotty localization history, it can be hard to perceive accurately without help. Falcom also loves to retcon things, especially when it comes to scrubbing out odd moves from its past. Take Ys 4, for example. There are two different Ys 4 games, neither of which was actually developed by Falcom itself. Years later, Falcom made its own Ys 4, retconning both previous versions with Memories of Celceta on the PlayStation Vita. Being a Vita game, Celceta struggled to find an audience due to the game’s performance issues and the platform’s short reach. XSEED has ported Celceta to PC and PlayStation 4 in the past, but bringing it to Nintendo Switch with the new Ys Memoire branding seeks to bring justice to the original vision. The mission is a success, albeit specifically for Switch 2 owners.

Now titled Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta, what you have here is mostly a port of the PlayStation Vita original, which first came out in 2012. The big new feature is a rearranged soundtrack, with the original still available with a simple toggle option. Otherwise, you’re looking at the return of Falcom’s in-house vision of Ys 4, back on a handheld platform unless you count whatever your preferred handheld PC gimmick is. On the Switch, Celceta still has some performance issues that hold it back from being anything more than a new port on a different platform. But on the Switch 2, the handheld boost mode gives Celceta the console-level performance on the ergonomic promised land of a dedicated handheld experience. Sure, the Switch 2 is like twice the size of a Vita, but a win is a win.

No shipwreck... this time

If you’re new to Celceta, here’s the rundown. This is one of series protagonist Adol Christin's (bright red hair, king of crashing ships) earliest adventures, previously taking place between Ys 2 and 3 (before Ys X was recently wedged in-between 2 and 4). The region of Celceta is home to a massive forest, equally dangerous and mysterious. Nobody has really mapped it out, making it a perfect target for adventurers. Adol, still cutting his teeth in the adventuring business, shows up before the game itself starts and makes significant progress exploring the forest. But something goes wrong, and he comes stumbling back into a town in the outskirts on the verge of death and suffering from amnesia. After making friends with a local informant and saving some miners from a monster outbreak, Adol gets official government support to head back into the forest and start working on a big boy map.

The post-PSP Monster Hunter era

Celceta is an action-RPG for the PS Vita, which means it came out at a time when everyone was trying to dip in on the secret sauce that made Monster Hunter the top dog in handheld gaming (in Japan). In this time you saw a lot of games copying the same basic format, largely revolving around a quest board, crafting systems, and large, sectioned maps, and seeking out their own ways to expand on that idea in their own ways. The Vita was full of games like this, and Falcom was no exception to this endeavor. This is still a Ys game, but the Monster Hunter influence is visible. What you mostly end up with here is a bunch of extra side quests that feel like busy work, which feed into some rudimentary equipment upgrade options. It feels a bit padded compared to Ys games before it, but you can also see where the series continued to play with and iterate on these ideas in ways that paid off in the long run. It’s always neat to check out these franchise entries that feel like bridges between major evolutionary shifts, years later.

The Vita to Switch (2) pipeline is real

Ys games can be up and down when it comes to storytelling, with more emphasis on it in recent games. But the series’ origin is in action, and Celceta delivers as usual in that department. While it can feel kind of button-mashy at first, there’s a decent amount of depth to what Celceta has you frantically smashing buttons for. Skills tend to have some kind of impact on combat, be it a status effect like poison and paralysis, or something like a knockdown, stun, or juggle state. Between having options set up on individuals and the ability to swap characters on demand, there’s a lot of self-expression and combo potential at your fingertips, at least when it comes to regular enemies. Bosses tend to put you more on the defensive, with lots of armor and big moves you’re meant to try and dodge or block with timing-oriented bonuses. Older Ys games are more about getting the heck out of the way than blocking or dodging, so there’s more of that MonHun influence in action.

The biggest drawback there is when the Ys game wants to still be a Ys game. There’s something about the mix between new defensive options and 3D visuals that lend to more bombastic visual effects and more stuff happening on the screen at times, particularly when you’re fighting human-sized enemies and bosses. When things really pop off it can be hard to see, making responding to anything with precision a pain in the ass. The 2 and 2.5D Ys games always struck a strong sense of balance between action and visual clarity, but Celceta often struggles here.

Memories of Celceta isn’t my favorite Ys game, but if you have a Switch 2, Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is probably the best way to play it. It’s a Vita game very much of its time, with some growing pains as a Ys entry, but the extra juice you get from Nintendo’s new platform helps realize the original vision as a 3D Ys delivering a higher fidelity experience on a handheld. Playing on a TV or monitor just isn’t the same, as these handheld-oriented RPGs don’t hit as well when you’re locked in at your desk or on your couch. If you’re still using a Switch 1 this is harder to recommend, as you’ll still encounter performance snags that don’t exist on other versions. Regardless, if you’re looking to check out the whole series, it’s now easier than ever to play Ys 4. Hopefully we can say the same for Ys 5 sooner rather than later.

Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is available for the Nintendo Switch. Other versions of Ys: Memories of Celceta are available for the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and PC. A code was provided by the publisher for this review.

Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.

Review for
Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta
8
Pros

• Great performance if playing on Switch 2
• Newly arranged soundtrack option
• A somewhat obscure Vita game is available on the Switch!

Cons

• Performance issues remain on Switch 1
• The most YMMV entry in the modern Ys series
• Visibility issues in some fights