Ys: Memories of Celceta (Vita)

Forming a part of the Ys IV lore and considered a game in the core series, Ys:  Memories of Celceta is a Vita exclusive JRPG following a protagonist called Adol.  With a cliche plot device, the game starts off with Adol as clueless as the player, having lost his memory and the whole game revolves around him regaining lost pieces of his memories.  The story starts off being slow, which is on par with the game play at that point.  You will spend a short painful while as the game presents a fairly comprehensive tutorial such that you can learn your ropes.  However, this also means that it's quite boring and uninteresting and it is only once you are introduced into the first dungeon does both the story and action get better and actually motivates you to keep going on.

As mentioned, the star, Adol, has lost his memories and through a series of events, he accepts the task of mapping out the Great Forest.  Adol is actually one of the only ones to ever have entered and come out alive (and sane).  Although this changes during the game in which any idiot can get in and out easily...  Your task is then then to map out the forest which translate to traversing every single area.  This game encourages you to explore and rewards you with milestone gifts as your map completion percentage rate inches closer and closer to 100%.  Of course, throughout the story, you will encounter characters who will eventually join your party, until you get six playable characters, each with distinct skills and weapons.  While each character's playing style isn't completely unique and distinct, there is enough variety.  For example, one character uses throwing knives which means you can attack some distance away while another uses gauntlets which are more powerful but you have to be right in front of an enemy.

Or another character would use a spear which only jabs in front and the main character uses a sword, which sweeps enemies allowing effective crowd control.  Couple this with continually learning new special attacks and it doesn't feel as if each character is just a palette swap with the same move set.  Memories of Celceta is an action RPG, throwing away the strategic turn based battles for a more hack and slash affair.  It is fast paced and is very fun to play.  While simple, there are enough options to keep it fresh and interesting.  Once you have had your first taste of a battle, you are itching for more and it's the prospect of more and more battles that keeps you charging forward and developing a "explore the next area before I put down the game" mentality.  It gets very addictive one you've learned a few more skills and get more party members.

It's a simple to learn battle system, one button to attack, one to guard, one to dodge, one to switch characters, one to use a variety of special attacks and one for an ultimate attack (okay, that sounded a lot more complex in text but trust me, it's easy to pick up).  There will be times where you will end up mashing buttons but there are some timing required for some enemy encounters.  Dodging or guarding at the perfect time right when an enemy attacks will give you an advantage boost, such as slowing down the enemy.  Also, each character has different weapons and one of three attack types, which you can exploit on enemies as they will have certain weaknesses.  That said, the brisk pace of the action often hits a wall with the numerous dialogue scenes which seems to go very slowly.

It's not that the content of cutscenes are boring, it's just that the text boxes have text appearing too slowly without an option to change it in the settles (you can keep tapping the button or touchscreen but it gets annoying and is still quite slow) and you're forced to wait for character animations to play through.  Voice acting is limited, there will be random words during story moments where it will be voiced but by and large, you will be reading most of it all (and you'll start to recognise that they have only recorded the same few words that gets repeated...).  As you would expect, you will encounter boss battles.  However, the way you defeat them is pretty much just how you would defeat a normal monster, it just takes a bit longer.  If you're playing on Normal difficulty, there is no real strategy involved as you would mash your attacks, firing off some skills here and there and still be able to make it out.

Yet, some bosses will spice things up a bit, such as taking down their legs before you can hurt them, figuring out a pattern or a minigame type boss battle set underwater.  Sadly, a lot of the boss battles (especially all of the earlier ones) are arbitrary.  They are there just for boss battles, they have no significance to the story and it is this fact that makes these bosses seem tacked on.  It's still a lot of fun, especially when bosses are usually much bigger than you are.  In terms of equipment and gear, you get the standard weapon and armour system (one weapon slot, one armour and two accessories).  However, there is a significant customisation process called refining and reinforcing.  Basically, you use the materials you obtained from defeating monsters to make better materials which you can use to reinforce your weapons and armour.  It'll give the equipment some specific traits.

For weapons, you can add traits such as poisoning the enemy, freezing it, healing yourself whenever you deal damage and more.  For armour, you can reduce the probability of attracting specific status effects.  I really like the way that you have the freedom of what type of status effect you want your weapon to inflict by this process, instead of being forced to have a specific weapon (which would be superseded) or a specific move.  Graphics are decent but will definitely not blow you away.  It takes on a shiny tinge and will feel low res, especially compared to some of the prettier Vita games out there.  It is not PSone level and feels more detailed than PS2 games but yet it still feels undefined and blurry.  Even the character models don't escape this low res feel.  I think I've read somewhere that it was based on the Ys Seven PSP engine which would explain this.

Character portraits, which are pieces of art, on the other hand, looks crisp and amazing.  It makes me feel that it would have been awesome if we could have gotten 2D cutscenes here and there similar to the vein of the Tales of series, Persona and other JRPGs.  The first thing you would notice in the beginning cutscene is the awkward and walking in which the characters appears to be half sliding across the screen.  Slightly disappointing there but you get used to it.  The music is great and there are some great tunes.  It's not really something that you listen to outside of teh game as it needs context but it pulls you into the atmosphere and I can't fault it.  It lends itself well to the action; this is an action RPG after all so we needed some fast pace music to match what's happening onscreen.

As the whole game effectively takes place around a forest and its surrounding areas, there are only so many different environments you can have.  Still, the developers has done a great job at making each section look different, you still get to explore the forest, underground ruins and cities (fantasy style.  Memories of Celceta don't have any futuristic machine heavy type cities).  Green comes up a lot, whether from the fields or vegetation lying around and that's what makes it seem as if the locality is limited when it's not.  One of the best things is the exploration, maps are unbelievably large.  Each time you get to a new area, it will take some time in order to uncover it fully, especially discovering all the collectibles and treasure chests.  Once you've uncovered the whole map, it's crazy when you realise how big it is.

Something that is surprising but I guess to be expected is loading screens.  There are loading screens between each area and while it isn't too long (a few seconds), as they appear so frequently it can get a little bit annoying.  You get the feeling that something as simple as entering and exiting a house shouldn't even have a loading screen.  Yes, it is a minor quibble but it is there.  On the other hand, warping from one end of the map to the other end is quicker is expected, there's still a brief loading screen but it's the same length as just exiting a house... I don't know whether to praise the developer or question them (you would expect loading a large map to take longer).  In addition to the main storyline and collectibles, there are side quests.  They are usually very simple affair, mostly being fetch quests.  It's still welcome and there isn't a horrible huge amount to pad out the game.

An awesome touch is that each time a story event is over and you return to a previous city, NPCs have updated dialogue to reflect those events.  This is something that a lot of other JRPG's need to do as it makes it feel less artificial and makes the world more immersive.  It also gives the player incentive to talk to NPCs again to gain more insight into the story.  It's good that Memories of Celceta threw away the JRPG tradition of save points, you can save anywhere, literally.  In the middle of the dungeon?  Check.  In the town or field map?  Check.  It allows you to pick it up anytime and stop anytime.

The whole journey will take approximately 20 to 30 hours, depending on how fast you like to go (e.g. finishing all quests, exploring everywhere, not skipping cutscenes).  Sadly, after all that investment, the ending is a disappointment.  Granted, this is a replacement game for the canon of Ys IV but at the very least, provide some closure to the story like what the characters' futures hold and what happened to them.  As it is, after the final boss battle, the game effectively just ends abruptly.  There is a New Game Plus mode in which you retain everything except key items but the only new thing in this mode is "Boss Rush".  This mode gives you your chosen party at predetermined levels and fight through all the bosses of the game, the aim is to defeat the boss as quickly as possible.

The game's hardest difficulty is Nightmare mode.  I wouldn't recommend playing this on your first go but if you choose it as New Game Plus, the game is still quite easy, except for the bosses.  The bosses in Nightmare mode provides a much bigger challenge, you will have to rely more on timing your dodges and guards.  You cannot mash the attack button to overpower bosses because the level caps at 60 and later bosses are near that level cap.  It makes you think and look out for attack patterns adding in a higher focus in strategy.  Ys:  Memories of Celceta is a fantastic JRPG.  It nails one of the most important elements:  which is fun gameplay.  While the story isn't the most captivating and the graphics can be improved, it is a solid game that's well worth your time.

-----------------------------------------------

For other Vita game reviews, please check out this page.

Book Review: Transformers: Retribution

Review:  #449
Title:  Transformers:  Retribution
Series:  N/A - sequel to Transformers:  Exiles
Author:  David J Williams and Mark S Williams
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The third in the Aligned Novels, it continues on directly after the events of Exiles, something that I was worried about when they had changed authors.  The blurb promises to depict how the Autobots and Decepticons happen to arrive on Earth.  Forget that, it does not stray anywhere near that promise until the last page in which it provides a passing remark.  Unlike Exiles in which there was a lot of planet hopping, Retribution takes place on a planet called Aquatron.  They fight a new foe, one that puts a twist in a classic enemy from the original cartoon.  This depiction of the new enemy (trying to avoid spoilers here) is believable.  Sadly, the Starseekers and their leader, Thundertron, of which they were prominent in Exiles, make only one entrance in the beginning.  This is disappointing especially when they felt hyped up before.  The premise of the story in which the new enemy’s cunning proves to be superior to the Transformers is interesting.  However, there is a notably change in writing and the novel’s flaws drag it down to be less enjoyable.  First of all, there are numerous characters/situations the novel is following in that it often cuts from place to place.  This breaks the momentum and can get slightly confusing.  The nature of the Transformers is slightly different to what you’d expect.  Traits of certain bots don’t seem to fit well with your perception, such as Soundwave showing emotion.  It feels as if the author hasn’t grasped the Transformers lore as well as the previous author.  This is further supported when you realize there is hardly any easter egg type Transformers references.  The Transformers here feel much more human than they need to be.  The story is not bad and there are a few good moments including when Megatron undergoes a Transformation but it feels lacking in many areas.

Rating:  6/10

Elysium

Elysium takes place in the future, where the wealthy live in a man-made space station (called Elysium) and everyone else in a polluted Earth.  It is supposed to explore issues such as class and immigration but it doesn't take a deep look in it (unlike, say, District 9).  It ends up degenerating into  film where the main character gets into Elysium and effectively breaks down the whole system.  A key point in this film is that the wealthy has machines that can cure anything, yet the Earth does not even have one.  Considering that there is one of these machines in every house in Elysium makes it odd that Earth doesn't even have anything remotely close to it.  No matter how poor they might be, this doesn't feel right.  The film takes it slow, even with all the gun fights happening.  It doesn't bring in a tense atmosphere so there isn't a sense of urgency.  The villains are effectively in that they make the viewer dislike them but the protagonists is another story, you don't feel as if you learn enough about them to care for them, and their sacrifices.  While Elysium doesn't provide the food for thought it promises, it doesn't enough things right to be worthwhile.

Toy Review: Transformers Robots in Disguise (RiD) Super X-Brawn

Review:  #196
Name:  X-Brawn
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Robots in Disguise
Year of Release:  2001
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 5)
Variations:  repaint of the normal release X-Brawn; the Japanese version has more accurate headlights

VEHICLE MODE:

X-Brawn transforms into a vehicle that is inspired by a Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV but with some elements changed to avoid the need for licensing.  The most obvious of which is the headlights being molded into small circles (which looks weird and odd).

Of note, I call him "Super X-Brawn" even though he was released as only "X-Brawn" to avoid confusion with the regular release.  Anyway, X-Brawn features a rally car deco which is striking.  Too bad the back is completely painted over, so no windows or rear lights.

This is a well formed vehicle and it is not immediately obvious that he can transform.  He can roll on his wheels but that's not his only play value.

However, while we're on the topic of his tires, they are rubber!  They also have "Transformers" molded onto them.

A really cool thing is that both the front doors can open.

Not to mention that the hood can open too to reveal a gold chromed engine block.  Very cool, even though opening the front doors means you expose his robot kibble (including his robot head in the driver's seat, something that was shown in the cartoon).

X-Brawn has a good amount of chrome on him including the front grill, brush bar, hubcaps and both side running rails.

There are various tampographs such as "Cybertron Wild", "24", "Wild 24" and "Cybertron".  Yeah, mostly just Cybertron.  "Wild" references his Japanese name of Wildrider and "24" is his Japanese toy's designated number.

On the underside, you can see that it is a packed vehicle with not much empty space.

X-Brawn feels hefty in your hands and is just slightly bigger than your recent Deluxes.

A shot of the Car Brothers, X-Brawn has a good vehicle mode and is an example of a redeco done right.  It's different enough to the original yet still retains the feel of the character.

TRANSFORMATION:

The transformation can only be described as unique.  It is asymmetrical and very interesting.  The legs form as you would expect, just by unfolding the back but the twists and turns needed for his arms and torso are complex enough to be satisfying and feeling like a puzzle, but not to the point of frustration.

ROBOT MODE:

The thing that jumps out at you in robot mode is the gigantic left forearm.  It is comprised of the whole car hood.  Surprisingly, this actually works although since so much of the car goes into that part, the rest of the robot can feel slightly too skinny.

There are plenty of kibble but they don't get in the way and I love the way the car doors are placed, giving X-Brawn so much personality and such a distinctive look.

The head is on a balljoint but it is placed in such a way that it can really only look up.

Despite the whole car shell being painted, the dedicated robot parts also have plenty of paint applications.  The teal used cements the fact that this is X-Brawn.

The side railings as well as the brush bar detach into weapons for robot mode.

His left fist is a spring loaded missile launcher (which is impressive considering the small size), you can use either of the railing weapons as the missile.  Doing so, the other missile can attach to his right arm to bulk up the bot.  His left fist is can hold the any of the weapons.

His weapons include a missile, a saw blade and a knuckle duster type of weapon.

Unfortunately, his right arm is molded in such a way that the fist faces upwards but it actually works quite well in this situation for some reason, probably because it looks like he is readying his missile weapon.

In terms of height, he can a little bit short but makes up for this in his bulkiness of his left arm.  Proportions might urk some people such as the long legs, small torso and of course, the giant arm.

He looks great with Prowl and Sideburn.  Also, if you didn't already know, in the cartoon, this color scheme represented the power up mode of X-Brawn.

You can swap the weapons around, giving X-Brawn a lot of versatility in terms of what you wanted to do.

His arms are also articulated enough to dual wield some of the weapons.

X-Brawn can hold the missiles with the chromed bits to use them as handheld weapons.

Articulation is fantastic.  He has double jointed knees which really helps.  You would have thought the giant arm to be a liability but the range you can from it is amazing.

Due to the way his feet is designed, you might need to fiddle around with him a bit more in order to get him to stay standing up in certain poses.

The detailing of the paint applications is amazing, just take a look at the torso and see the different amount of color and tiny splashes.  You just don't get that anymore nowadays.

His left fist is slightly articulation, only his thumb is movable.

A great robot mode.  It's rare to find something this ambitious which works as well as X-Brawn.

OVERALL:

X-Brawn is a really nice mold.  He has an accurate vehicle mode with a vibrant color scheme.  His robot mode is daring and it manages to blend all the ideas gone into him really well.  This is an amazing toy and one that is highly recommended, so get him if you have the means!

-----------------------------------------

Have a look at other Transformers toy reviews from this page.

Book Review: Wolf Cry

Review:  #448
Title:  Wolf Cry
Series:  N/A
Author:  Julia Golding
Read Before:  no
Comments:  A story following a Viking as she overcomes all her obstacles.  The story is weaved around actual history without any fantasy elements.  It is a fantastic novel, gripping you from the early chapters.  The characters are likable and the events move at a brisk pace.  It never gets boring and while you know that the main character will overcome her weaknesses and come out on top, you want to see how she does it.  Around halfway into the book, relationships take a stronger hold and while there might be some awkward moments, it never gets too much.  The novel had a good ending, which, while brief, was significant.

Rating:  7/10

Captain America: The First Avenger

While it's by no means a bad movie, it just feels bland and the least interesting out of the other Marvel Phase One movies.  Captain America seems to be the most normal superhero out of the Avengers, sure, he might have super strength, quick healing powers and his shield but it's not as fantastical as being a god or having high tech armour.  Anyway, the movie starts out interesting but it slows down and the mystery is lost.  There were a myriad of improbable stunts and events, being more obvious than normal and sticking out like a sore thumb.  It's hard to take the villain seriously when he bears a striking resemblance to the Mask.  Anyway, the climax was somewhat disappointing.  The time period's setting was unique and nothing something you would expect from a superhero movie.  It would be nicer if they could have explained better how he managed to survive for all those years.  Anyway, it does a good job as a movie itself and as a prequel to The Avengers.

Child of Light (PS3)

Child of Light is another one of those games with a fantastic and unique art direction, where you feel that every backdrop deserved to be screenshot, printed and framed.  The game looks beautiful and is one of the game's biggest draws.  Child of Light is a RPG, a classic 2D sidescrolling RPG to be exact.  Don't let the 2D aspect fool you, the game still places an emphasis on exploration.  It's really easy to get lost in and always an enjoyment when you discover treasures in hidden areas.  Each area is huge, just when you thought you've found a hidden area, there's another path that branches off to another huge area hidden within.  The developers had made this work very well.  A surprising aspect of the game is that there is no voice acting for any of the characters.  There is a narrator but otherwise, everyone else speaks in text bubbles.  It's a throwback to the early RPG games of the 1990s but I think I would have preferred some voices here.  Child of Light is completely presented in rhymes which is an interesting direction.  It doesn't get annoying or feel forced, it feels right at home with the fairytale-like presentation.    The crux of any RPG is the battle system, Child of Light presents its take on turn-based combat.  The twist here is that there is a bar along the bottom of the screen to show whose turn is coming up.

However, there's more, the icons move along from left to right and you have the ability to slow down the enemy's rate, i.e. fit in more of your character's turn.  You can only slow down one enemy at a time and you can interrupt their actions if you time your attacks properly.  To prevent abuse, you can only use the slowdown ability for a limited amount of time (determined by a gauge).  This adds in a huge strategic element which makes battles so much more fun.  It can get fast paced too when you are fighting three to four enemies at the same time, juggling between who to slow down, who to attack and interrupt and what moves to use.  As you would expect, you can use a physical attack or magic.  Each character has limited amount of magic and you are limited to using two characters at once.  This seems like a big limitation considering you end up getting something like seven playable characters.  That is, until you realize that you can change characters on the fly during battle.  Sustained damage and need to heal?  Switch out your attacker for a healer.  Need to take the brunt of an attack?  Throw out your character with high defense.  Combining all these elements makes each battle fun and engaging.

Each character has a specialization such that once you have a few characters, you will often switch out characters multiple times in a battle.  The best part?  There is no penalty when switching characters, you don't lose a turn or whatnot.  It's not a negative as such but since characters are introduced at a fairly quick rate, you will end up not knowing which characters are best for what.  This will come with experience after you've used the various new characters a few times.  Another good thing is that leveling up is easy, you will never need to grind.  The difficulty is perfectly balanced and by the time you near the end of the game, after each battle, at least one character would have leveled up.  Even if you didn't use a particular character at all during the battle, they will still gain experience at the same rate.  Therefore, you will never be penalized for favoring some characters over the others and encourages the strategic forward thinking of the battle system.  Enemies are a breeze at the beginning but once you get into the game, even if you have been fighting various enemies, they become tougher and you need to time your attacks better.  Will you attack now and risk being interrupted?  Or defend and wait for a more opportune moment?  The choice is yours but a wrong move might mean the battle will drag out longer.

These aspects make the combat a lot of fun and much more exciting than what you'd expect of a turn-based affair.  Child of Light features some light puzzle solving which actually does add to the experience and not break the immersion at all.  It's never too hard to make you spend minutes upon minutes to solve but not easy enough to feel like a breeze and waste of time.  The music of Child of Light is fantastic.  It creates a nice atmosphere that evokes mystery, tranquility and a child-like feel.  It encourages exploration and investigating everything.  The same melody perpetuating throughout most of the songs have a powerful impact.  From the battle theme to the field music, it is effective and amazing.  In terms of treasures you find on your journey, there are heaps and heaps of chests to uncover and get the contents of, to the point where it becomes a little bit dull and not very rewarding (particularly since the game is easy enough such that you don't need all the buff potions).  There is also a lot of DLC available, most of them are in-game items which provides stat boosts which you will easily find on your journey, making them a total waste of money.  The Golem pack includes a new quest and playable character (meaning that during events, there will be additional dialogue) and probably the only one you might want to consider.

The story follows Princess Aurora who must travel through this other world, recovering the stars, moon and the sun in order to return to the real world and save her father.  It's told as a fairytale and it feels like one too.  Of course, there is also an evil stepmother and while the overall story arc is predictable (good triumphs over evil), there is a nice twist about two-thirds of the way in.  The tale reaches its peak near the end when you are anticipating the final few fights.  The emotions that are bursting from the final cutscene, amplified by the music, creates a fantastic atmosphere as Aurora's friends team up to overcome the obstacle.  Child of Light does such a great job that you don't want the game to end, you want to keep going on, exploring other areas, discovering treasures and battling more enemies.  In that aspect, the ending felt a little bit rushed in terms of the final boss.  You expected something lengthier but it was still satisfactory.  While the story is somewhat simple overall, it suits the fairytale theme well and has the feeling of innocence and pure heartedness woven in its telling.  I can't fault it at all.  Post-game content is non-existent, regulated to exploring previous areas in the hopes of finding more secrets and leveling up your characters.  Child of Light is a brilliant and beautiful game, something that is definitely worthy of purchasing and playing.

------------------------------------------

Enjoyed the review?  Why don't you have a look at the Child of Light Deluxe Edition review?

Check out other game reviews here.