i'm finding it really hard to enjoy this game...

[Felvine]

i just completed the ancient burrow and... this game is failing to engage me in any shape or form.

don't get me wrong i love the ys games
i own and have beaten all of the ys games on steam except ix (some even to 100% completion like seven and 8) and never had this problem before.

i got really into them after just playing for a few minutes (yes even 1 and 2, i seriously loved 'em, i still have the ost burned into my ears) and no i'm not burned out on the series, since the last ys game i played was last year.

i'm not quite sure what a game like ys seven has that this game doesn't and i'm really confused as to what/why so i'd like to hear some ys's experts opinions on the matter.
(is the ost bland? is the game too easy even on the harder difficulties? or is the story straight up bad?)

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Well for me it is the weakest among the Modern Ys games, for reasons:
1. Map is too big, but nowhere as in-depth in terms of enemies, treasures, traps, secrets, and biome themes.
2. Some how it ruins the checkpoint teleporation by being over complicated, and clunky, and this feature is always known as quick and convenient for the rest of the series.
3. The inclusion of Skill Finish slow-mo that breaks the pacing of the action, and then there is Flash Move which is quite useless compared to Flash Guard. Only Ys VIII onward FM feel awesome to pull off.
4. I don't know if devs intended it but perhaps they made the game felt "wondering, lost" for the first half, as you have to travel to a great extent to be able to jump into the storyline. It would be fine if it was like Ys VIII where you still engaged in a good amount of activity for first two chapters, but sadly Celceta wasn't.
5. Unnecessary upgrading armors and weapons. Only with NG+ you would even bother with it
6. And it introduces the worst Heroine of the whole series
7. And to add more salt to it, the game even ends abruptly
8. Quite a good amount of bosses can just be tanky requiring you to wait for their weak spots are revealed, which reduces your activeness in engaging.
9. The puzzles were decent, however, some of them can be time-banding when you need to hurry up.
10. The combat voices can be too squeaky loud, I had to switch to JP voices to make them tolerable.
11. Lastly, bad camera angle, keep zooming in while I just want it to be zoomed out.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

For me it has the same problems as Ys Seven. The story is boring and the environments are mostly bland. I liked exploring the forest at the start but hardly remember it. Compare that to Dana or Origin where I can picture levels years later because of how distinct they are.

[Ikagura]

It's suffering from being a bit weak as a remake.

Originally posted by EdgarAllenSwole:

For me it has the same problems as Ys Seven. The story is boring and the environments are mostly bland. I liked exploring the forest at the start but hardly remember it. Compare that to Dana or Origin where I can picture levels years later because of how distinct they are.

Ys Seven is a quality game.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Originally posted by Ikaruga:

Ys Seven is a quality game.

I didn't like it. It felt like a rough draft for the new engine in the same way that Napishtim did.

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by EdgarAllenSwole:

Originally posted by Ikaruga:

Ys Seven is a quality game.

I didn't like it. It felt like a rough draft for the new engine in the same way that Napishtim did.

Was it perhaps because you cannot jump? xD

[Felvine]

Originally posted by Ikagura:

It's suffering from being a bit weak as a remake.

Originally posted by EdgarAllenSwole:

For me it has the same problems as Ys Seven. The story is boring and the environments are mostly bland. I liked exploring the forest at the start but hardly remember it. Compare that to Dana or Origin where I can picture levels years later because of how distinct they are.

Ys Seven is a quality game.

I agree, i think Ys Seven is a substantially better game than Celceta.

the setting (Altago), plot hook, characters and boss fights are all superior imho.

the boss fights on the nightmare difficulty are challenging and fun (especially the ones in the latter half of the game) unlike celceta where so far, most boss fights have been mind numbingly easy and boring.

i also really liked the equipment/skill system, it's similar to games like tales of vesperia and FFIX where skills are attached to equipment and after using it for a set amount of time you unlock it permanently.

[Felvine]

also something i just noticed about celceta.

the soundtrack feels... off? i don't know how to explain it.

it doesn't have the "YS vibe" that i'm quite used to... a bit similar to YS VI in that regard, it feels kinda off. (still loved YS VI's soundtrack though, my favorites are YS I&II's and Felghana's btw)

[EdgarAllenSwole]

I just didn't get much out of it. Altago is an okay setting but ultimately you're just wandering through generic biomes (desert, forest, mountains). Rooms are flat boxes with no distinguishing features; enemies are forgettable sword fodder with one attack each. Story hinges on "twists" that don't matter because you barely know the people betraying you.

[Mondae Sundae]

Celceta Issues:

1. Easiest in the series -- tank nearly anything with 99 of each Healing Item.
2. Many bosses are mostly about waiting -- not enough engagement during wait time.
3. Antagonists lack development -- why are they doing this again?
4. Exploration fails to reward -- many areas feel like they should lead to something unique, but disappoint.
5. Celceta Lore = Ys VI -- but it does a poor job of being Ys VI.
6. Camera Auto-Zoom -- disable and fully Zoom Out.

Easiest Ys:

99 of each Healing Item -- due to this, there is little need to master the gameplay, or spend lots of time learning bosses. However, it's also worth noting that the gameplay rarely felt like it was being pushed to its extremes.

Bosses:

Bosses designed around waiting aren't necessarily bad in and of itself (there are plenty of examples in the series where this is done well). However, in this case, the waiting isn't filled with desperate survival in most cases.

Though even in cases where the wait is desperate, 99 Healing Items are a great way to tank any kind of desperation.

Antagonists:

The antagonists say "why" they are doing what they are doing. However, what is provided are complex reasons that require development to support and explain them. Such character development does not exist for the antagonists. As a result, the reasons for "why" don't really answer why -- the motivations of the antagonists are not clear.

This also has the consequence of weakening the development of the protagonists -- the antagonists seem like they were meant to be "the dark mirror".

Exploration:

Celceta doesn't feel like it has enough dungeons and secrets relative to the size of its overworld. As a result, exploration doesn't feel as rewarding as it should.

Lore:

Celceta's lore is mostly a derivative of Ys VI to the point that Celceta adds very little of anything unique or interesting to said lore. The most interesting bits of Celceta lore seemed to be small details here and there.

It's worth noting that many other elements of Celceta mimic Ys VI to varying degrees. In many respects, Celceta feels more inspired by Napishtim than Mask of the Sun or Dawn of Ys.

Camera:

I found the camera most usable only when auto-zoom was turned off and the zoom level was set to fully zoomed out.

Final Points:

While it's a low point in the Ys series, Celceta is not, by any stretch, the worst game in the series (maybe the worst on Steam though). At worst, it's an average action-RPG.

[Felvine]

anyways guys, i finally finished the game just recently and my opinion on it changed slightly

it's not really a bad game at all, it's just painfully average... i'd rank it slightly below VI tbh

i will admit though, it gets better once you reach the primeval lands, (loved the discount Darm Tower) i had a lot of fun breaking the end game with maxed out sun stone weapons, it's really satisfying to just tap an enemy and inflict on them every negative status effect possible lol.

[hypercybermegatron]

Originally posted by Melon Sc//ence:

Well for me it is the weakest among the Modern Ys games, for reasons:
1. Map is too big, but nowhere as in-depth in terms of enemies, treasures, traps, secrets, and biome themes.
2. Some how it ruins the checkpoint teleporation by being over complicated, and clunky, and this feature is always known as quick and convenient for the rest of the series.
3. The inclusion of Skill Finish slow-mo that breaks the pacing of the action, and then there is Flash Move which is quite useless compared to Flash Guard. Only Ys VIII onward FM feel awesome to pull off.
4. I don't know if devs intended it but perhaps they made the game felt "wondering, lost" for the first half, as you have to travel to a great extent to be able to jump into the storyline. It would be fine if it was like Ys VIII where you still engaged in a good amount of activity for first two chapters, but sadly Celceta wasn't.
5. Unnecessary upgrading armors and weapons. Only with NG+ you would even bother with it
6. And it introduces the worst Heroine of the whole series
7. And to add more salt to it, the game even ends abruptly
8. Quite a good amount of bosses can just be tanky requiring you to wait for their weak spots are revealed, which reduces your activeness in engaging.
9. The puzzles were decent, however, some of them can be time-banding when you need to hurry up.
10. The combat voices can be too squeaky loud, I had to switch to JP voices to make them tolerable.
11. Lastly, bad camera angle, keep zooming in while I just want it to be zoomed out.

I was surprised by the absence of any keys for chests or anything else for that matter. I mean Duren has the lockpick, but that seemed like a bit of a cop out.

The animation was really strange at times, some times my party was running around faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. The graphics in general had really "floaty" physics which was really off putting. Having said this, my experience is with the PS4 version.

I disliked the quick time events while solving puzzles the most. I don't thing it's needed to have a quick time event every single time a switch is pressed, it spoils the flow of the game.

Puzzles way too easy. Easy = boring. Don't read the following if don't want spoilers. The maze at the end was kinda cool, that was the best puzzle but still easy

In general, I found a lot of interruptions to playing this game which shouldn't be there. I don't want to see instructions popping up at all, even at the start of the game, this is annoying as hell. I would rather read the manual for the game and just play the thing and find my way around.

Unskippable cut scenes when there's no way to avoid these with a save point sucks. Yes, you can "try again" if you die at a boss but this is inconvenient as you can reexamine your party and equipment.

Out of the Ys games I've played so far I prefer Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles. I've finished Origins and Celceta but they didn't do it for me, I dislike Origins more than Celceta because there are some parts of Celceta I liked, like exploring the map and didn't mind the bosses although nothing that comes close to Dark Fact, the hardest boss in video game history.

Also the voice acting was only partially done, maybe a few words here and there but mostly written dialogue. Kinda pointless having any voices at all, if there's only gonna be a sentence and then having the rest in text.

Anyway, yeah this game is meh but could have been better. I will say that I probably would have had a better experience playing this on a hand held like a Vita, perhaps it's quirks are because it was designed with handhelds in mind.

[Atlanter]

Originally posted by Mondae Sundae:

Celceta Issues:

Exploration:

Celceta doesn't feel like it has enough dungeons and secrets relative to the size of its overworld. As a result, exploration doesn't feel as rewarding as it should.

I can totally relate to that. The woods are feel bigger than anything in Ys 1, 2 or Oath. After some hours in forest at start of the game I thought i missed the 1st dungeon, which should be impossible in a Ys game.

There have been so many dead ends from which you have to get back by foot. Which is boring af.

Originally posted by Mondae Sundae:

Celceta Issues:

Final Points:

While it's a low point in the Ys series, Celceta is not, by any stretch, the worst game in the series (maybe the worst on Steam though). At worst, it's an average action-RPG.

I don´t know jet.

But the story is pretty bland so far.
- Especially introducing me to a new village 2 times via imprisoning, because bad things happend just after he left the village. I already knew falcoms storytelling is getting very repetitive lately, but is this really cheap storytelling.
- Designwise it feels very close to Ys VII and Ys VIII. The hole game feels like Ys VII Round 2 with a pinch of Ys VIII, and the isle feels like a more bland version of Ys VIII with a town and less open spaces.
- A villian teleports to the heros to say hi, without even the slighest reason.

[admiral1018]

Originally posted by Mondae Sundae:

Celceta Issues:

1. Easiest in the series -- tank nearly anything with 99 of each Healing Item.
2. Many bosses are mostly about waiting -- not enough engagement during wait time.
3. Antagonists lack development -- why are they doing this again?
4. Exploration fails to reward -- many areas feel like they should lead to something unique, but disappoint.
5. Celceta Lore = Ys VI -- but it does a poor job of being Ys VI.
6. Camera Auto-Zoom -- disable and fully Zoom Out.

Easiest Ys:

99 of each Healing Item -- due to this, there is little need to master the gameplay, or spend lots of time learning bosses. However, it's also worth noting that the gameplay rarely felt like it was being pushed to its extremes.

Bosses:

Bosses designed around waiting aren't necessarily bad in and of itself (there are plenty of examples in the series where this is done well). However, in this case, the waiting isn't filled with desperate survival in most cases.

Though even in cases where the wait is desperate, 99 Healing Items are a great way to tank any kind of desperation.

Antagonists:

The antagonists say "why" they are doing what they are doing. However, what is provided are complex reasons that require development to support and explain them. Such character development does not exist for the antagonists. As a result, the reasons for "why" don't really answer why -- the motivations of the antagonists are not clear.

This also has the consequence of weakening the development of the protagonists -- the antagonists seem like they were meant to be "the dark mirror".

Exploration:

Celceta doesn't feel like it has enough dungeons and secrets relative to the size of its overworld. As a result, exploration doesn't feel as rewarding as it should.

Lore:

Celceta's lore is mostly a derivative of Ys VI to the point that Celceta adds very little of anything unique or interesting to said lore. The most interesting bits of Celceta lore seemed to be small details here and there.

It's worth noting that many other elements of Celceta mimic Ys VI to varying degrees. In many respects, Celceta feels more inspired by Napishtim than Mask of the Sun or Dawn of Ys.

Camera:

I found the camera most usable only when auto-zoom was turned off and the zoom level was set to fully zoomed out.

Final Points:

While it's a low point in the Ys series, Celceta is not, by any stretch, the worst game in the series (maybe the worst on Steam though). At worst, it's an average action-RPG.

Good summary of the issues. I'd say that Celceta is the weakest of the Ys games on Steam. And that's sad, because I love the idea for what this game could have been. I wish it had been completely non-linear, allowing you some actual freedom in mapping the forest and creating lots of different gameplay paths. You could forge your own adventure and discover new things organically. I wish exploration had actually been rewarded, rather than just being something you do on the way from one fixed story point to another.

This game feels much less epic and smaller in scope than the earlier titles, and that's actually okay with me. There is room for a scaled down game that creates a more intimate setting that focuses on story and character rather than just another existential threat. But Celceta fails to be engaging. The dialogue is genuinely poor, and I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters. This game has one too many anime tropes for me (Sol is an example), and they break the world in a way that I never felt in the Nap/Felghana/Origins games.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by admiral1018:

Originally posted by Mondae Sundae:

Celceta Issues:

1. Easiest in the series -- tank nearly anything with 99 of each Healing Item.
2. Many bosses are mostly about waiting -- not enough engagement during wait time.
3. Antagonists lack development -- why are they doing this again?
4. Exploration fails to reward -- many areas feel like they should lead to something unique, but disappoint.
5. Celceta Lore = Ys VI -- but it does a poor job of being Ys VI.
6. Camera Auto-Zoom -- disable and fully Zoom Out.

Easiest Ys:

99 of each Healing Item -- due to this, there is little need to master the gameplay, or spend lots of time learning bosses. However, it's also worth noting that the gameplay rarely felt like it was being pushed to its extremes.

Bosses:

Bosses designed around waiting aren't necessarily bad in and of itself (there are plenty of examples in the series where this is done well). However, in this case, the waiting isn't filled with desperate survival in most cases.

Though even in cases where the wait is desperate, 99 Healing Items are a great way to tank any kind of desperation.

Antagonists:

The antagonists say "why" they are doing what they are doing. However, what is provided are complex reasons that require development to support and explain them. Such character development does not exist for the antagonists. As a result, the reasons for "why" don't really answer why -- the motivations of the antagonists are not clear.

This also has the consequence of weakening the development of the protagonists -- the antagonists seem like they were meant to be "the dark mirror".

Exploration:

Celceta doesn't feel like it has enough dungeons and secrets relative to the size of its overworld. As a result, exploration doesn't feel as rewarding as it should.

Lore:

Celceta's lore is mostly a derivative of Ys VI to the point that Celceta adds very little of anything unique or interesting to said lore. The most interesting bits of Celceta lore seemed to be small details here and there.

It's worth noting that many other elements of Celceta mimic Ys VI to varying degrees. In many respects, Celceta feels more inspired by Napishtim than Mask of the Sun or Dawn of Ys.

Camera:

I found the camera most usable only when auto-zoom was turned off and the zoom level was set to fully zoomed out.

Final Points:

While it's a low point in the Ys series, Celceta is not, by any stretch, the worst game in the series (maybe the worst on Steam though). At worst, it's an average action-RPG.

Good summary of the issues. I'd say that Celceta is the weakest of the Ys games on Steam. And that's sad, because I love the idea for what this game could have been. I wish it had been completely non-linear, allowing you some actual freedom in mapping the forest and creating lots of different gameplay paths. You could forge your own adventure and discover new things organically. I wish exploration had actually been rewarded, rather than just being something you do on the way from one fixed story point to another.

This game feels much less epic and smaller in scope than the earlier titles, and that's actually okay with me. There is room for a scaled down game that creates a more intimate setting that focuses on story and character rather than just another existential threat. But Celceta fails to be engaging. The dialogue is genuinely poor, and I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters. This game has one too many anime tropes for me (Sol is an example), and they break the world in a way that I never felt in the Nap/Felghana/Origins games.

The only open part was one path towards the beginning about which village to do first (like Seven in the second half of the game)...

I don't like the idea of an Open World Ys game but the forest should've taken a much more important part of the game than just being a hub.

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by Ikagura:

I don't like the idea of an Open World Ys game but the forest should've taken a much more important part of the game than just being a hub.

Actually Ys being open-world is not a problem. The problem is what are you going to fill the world with? Celceta simply suffers from lack of activities, monster variety, map biomes, side-quests and exploration rewards, map feel stretched too much yet lack of shortcuts.

Ys 8 straight up solves every problem that Celceta has - huge variety of monsters, different map biomes (plains, hills, sand beaches, different forests, caves, underwater combined with different heights, levels, etc.), actually have fun side-quests related to the map, resources,story, and of course great exploration rewards, great shortcuts, interconnected map designs (on par with Dark Souls I would say).

Technically, Ys 8 can be called an open island (given you ignore the area transition loading), and Ys X and future games simply just need to contain Ys 8 designs quality, but in bigger scale, then there is our dream open-world Ys.