Parent's Guide: Ys: Memories of Celceta - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Ys: Memories of Celceta is not only a game with an incredibly tricky to pronounce name - it's also a Japanese role playing game with pick up and play appeal in spades. More action oriented than other, similar role playing games like Final Fantasy, or even the Tales of... series, Ys is a hack and slash button masher that's closer to something like Diablo than anything else.

In traditional JRPG fashion, you play as Adol, a man with a large sword who's lost his memory, and sets out on a quest to discover who he really is. Together with his friend Duren, and a number of other people they meet during their journey, they set out on quest to explore a huge, mysterious, sprawling forest, beating up monsters, collecting memory fragments, and charting the new territory as they go.

With surprisingly little in the way of a storyline for a role playing game, the focus in Ys is instead on the battles. Far from a safe forest, the woods are crawling with baddies that aren't happy about your presence, so it's up to you to defeat them. Hammering the Square button lets you perform your main attack, while X lets you dodge, and Triangle lets you block, giving the battles more of a focus on reactions than strategy. Defeating enemies and exploring the forest also nets you various bones, mushrooms, gems, and ores, which can then be used to upgrade your items at the nearest shop, adding a range of modifying effects, from letting you regain health while you have the weapon equipped, to giving you a chance of freezing your enemies.

In terms of things newer players may struggle with, Ys is actually surprisingly easy to pick up and play - but there are a few tips new players may want to keep in mind. At least when you start out, some of the monsters you'll come across are too tough to beat, but by hammering X to dash, you can mostly scoot out of their way and avoid them until you're tough enough to take them on. Beyond that, the only other real potential stumbling block is a lack of any voice overs, and some wordy tutorial/information screens, which mean a solid reading ability is required. Thankfully, most sentences are fairly basic, without any heavy accenting written into the text, from the desperately masculine barman's "Hrnnng.... I AM A MAAAAYUN!" to slightly more complex lines like "This blacksmith can also refine ore into metals and gems if you bring him some to work with", but in order to understand the menus, follow what you have to achieve during quests, and upgrade your weapons (which is essential to your progress), you'll need to a strong reading ability.

While there's nothing all that objectionable here, Ys: Memories of Celceta does contain mild violence and light innuendo. Early on in the game, you come across a woman who greets you by saying "oh my, aren't you two fine looking gentlemen... Would you care to have some fun with me? I'll give you the time of your life" - but that's about as strong as the innuendo gets. Similarly, while blood is used very sparingly, it is present, mostly when landing the final blow to defeat a particularly large beast, which sends out a pinky-red explosion effect. Even so, this is far from a realistic blood splatter, especially when there are so many other special effects and similar explosion effects happening that it could easily be mistaken for just another special effect.

In terms of swearing, however, "ass" is as strong as the game really gets.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: PS Vita