A Video Game Remake of the fourth game in the Ys franchise, Ys: Memories of Celcelta is the third version of Ys IV, preceded by Ys IV: Mask of the Sun and Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys. It was released for the Play Station Vita in 2012, and was ported to the Chinese version of Microsoft Windows in 2015. However, a Steam port was released on July 25, 2018, done by Hyde Inc., with XSEED Games handling the English localization, as well as the publishing. On May 16, 2019, the game was released on the PlayStation 4 as Ys: Memories of Celceta Kai.
Roughly a year after his adventures chronicled in Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter, the story starts with Adol Christin mysteriously suffering from amnesia, wandering aimlessly in the streets of the "Frontier City of Casnan" in the land of "Celceta". Information dealer Duren claims to have met him before; not knowing about his true identity and last objectives in Celceta, Duren provides Adol assistance in searching for his memories around the "Great Forest of Celceta", his last known location, to awaken the slumbering adventurer spirit within him and restore what he has lost.
Like its predecessors, Memories of Celceta is an Action RPG: most of its game-play mechanics are borrowed from Ys SEVEN, such as having an active party of three characters (one controlled by players, the others assisted by AI) whom players can switch between at any time during or outside of combat, specific attack skills and Limit Breaks for each party member, and the "Flash Guard" maneuver, where parrying an enemy attack will nullify all damage dealt by that hit from the attack and guarantees that a Counter-Attack will be a Critical Hit if made just after the parry. However, Memories of Celceta also introduces "Flash Move" - by dodging enemy attacks right before it hits characters, not only will the attack be negated, but enemy movement will be slowed down momentarily for players to get a bead on them. Finally, the game allows one to reduce damage via blocking, something neither Ys SEVEN and the succeeding Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox allow.
Ys: Memories of Celceta provides examples of:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After the party defeats Ribbi-Roi and his Ribbi minions, they offer up all of the treasure in their cave while groveling before the victors.
- Bait-and-Switch: Throughout the game, there's a woman in an alleyway behind the bar in Casnan who mentions she'd like players to pay her for her "services". At the end of the game, there's an option to pay her - turns out, she's a tour guide for the city.
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: Freeing people from mind control involves knocking them out.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The effects of Bami's magic; the power-enhancing masks don't hurt, either. Worse, those who had put on the masks are conscious the whole time, and they can't do anything about it.
- Continuity Nod: When Duren presents a worn-out journal that turns out to be Adol's log-keeping book, one of the drawings in the lower right-hand corner is a statue of a female Winged Humanoid - the name "Feena" is scribbled next to it with a question mark, a reference to the same-named character in Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ Omen and Ys II whom Adol meets and uncovers her identity as one of the two twin goddesses of Ys from the "Eldeen" civilization, of whom Eldeel is also a part of.
- Cartography Sidequest: Played with - exploring the Great Forest of Celceta and mapping it starts out as the primary objective, but as the game progresses, this falls into typical Sidequest material, where it's not necessary to map out the entire forest in order to complete the game. Moreover, mapping out Celceta merely awards players with monetary material and useful equipment, rather than something plot-significant.
- Clear My Name: Adol is repeatedly accused of crimes in various villages in the forest, on the grounds that since no local would have committed the crimes in question, it must have been an outsider, and he's the only outsider that they've seen come by recently. By the time Adol's team has reached the Highlands, Duren already expects Adol to be involved with the incident going on in there. Subverted in that instead they think Adol has died after losing his belongings near a waterfall.
- Death or Glory Attack: Some bosses, such as Bami, Gadis, and Eldeel, will charge up for a devastating attack, but at the cost of being stunnable, which they are normally immune to. If the boss manages to get the attack off before being stunned, they'll likely wipe the party. If not, the party will decimate the boss's HP bar.
- Demoted to Extra: Dogi only appears in memories and he isn't even named, only designated as "blue-haired man". This is done to avoid a Plot Hole because he never sees Adol pull off an "EXTRA Attack" until Ys SEVEN (chronologically five years after Memories of Celceta), which introduced the game mechanic first. However, the game ultimately justifies his absence due to Dogi escorting someone back to their hometown, leaving Adol to his own devices before the start of Memories of Celceta.
- Expecting Someone Taller:
- In Adol's memories, any time he meets someone from a new village in the forest, they're surprised by how generic and scrawny he looks. Likewise, those who have heard of Adol's reputation from his previous adventures, such as Gruda, state how unremarkable he is.
- After clearing the Casnia Mine, talking to a pair of children in Casnan has them say they thought Adol would be three melyenote tall, which Duren states to be twice his height in comparison.
- Foreshadowing:
- When returning to Casnan from their Selray shenanigans, Adol and Duren are greeted with news from Griselda about a new warship from Altago that turned the tide against the Romun Empire in the war. This is relevant in a flashback down the line because Eldeel gave an Altaginian the blueprints to build it, as told to Adol when he explains about his role in society.
- In a scene in Highlands, Duren will mention a "Frieda" in his sleep. This hints at his entire role in the story, with Frieda herself showing up once Adol arrives in Danan Village and joining his party shortly afterwards.
- Godzilla Threshold: Creating a "Galbalan" is generally a forbidden art because the result is an extremely powerful demon. However, the threat of "Dark Eldeel" in the past was so great, King Lefance of the ancient Kingdom of Celceta had one created named "Sol-Galba". Fortunately, this version isn't "evil" per se, but is currently under the control of a girl who can be tricked to misuse it while under extreme pressure.
- It's the Journey That Counts: Eldeel wanted to meet Adol in order to bequeath him the knowledge of how to reach distant lands (the In-Universe equivalents of Asia and the Americas). Adol refuses to take the knowledge, wanting to find his way there on his own.
- "Just Frame" Bonus: Flash Guard returns from Ys SEVEN and no longer has a penalty for guarding too early. Instead, the player character simply takes reduced damage. This game also introduces the Flash Move mechanic, which requires the player to use the dodge action just before the attack lands, resulting in temporary invincibility, slow enemy movement, increased overall speed for skills and guarantees the next normal attack to be charged.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Everyone summoned to Highland by Eldeel has their memories of their time there erased once they leave, with the visitors later "inventing" whatever Eldeel taught them about in what they think is spontaneous inspiration.
- The Lost Woods: The majority of Celceta is this, hence its moniker of "Great Forest", to wit the Japanese title of the game, Celceta no Jukai, means "Foliage Ocean of Celceta".
- Mask of Power: The Mask of the Sun and its counterpart, the Mask of the Moon. The villains also have access to masks that enhance a person's abilities, which is mostly used to make mind-controlled soldiers more of a threat, but a few non-brainwashed characters also have one.
- The Mole: Remnos; he was never acting in the Gruda's favor. His real goal is to give Adol's party information related to the Mask of the Moon and its whereabouts. Unfortunately, Bami suspected his wavering allegiance and nearly kills him by rigging Remnos' mask given to him by her to take his life when his true intentions are revealed.
- No Ending: After Adol defeats Phantom Gruda and recovers his final memory, the game abruptly ends with a lot of questions unanswered - What happened to the main cast? How does Griselda handle the existence of the Primeval Lands? Did Eldeel managed to conquer his dark side before resting? What was the wisdom Eldeen shared with Adol? Even the narrator ponders these questions in the end, as most of the details written in one of Adol's travelogues are left vague and open to interpretation.
- Non-Action Guy: Between the twins, Remnos is skilled with artistry and music, but doesn't share Karna's combat and hunting skills. Subverted when their father reveals her brother is so naturally gifted at everything he does, from fighting to hunting to entertainment, he deliberately Invoked this.
- Not Brainwashed: Remnos certainly is Brainwashed at first, but acts on their own later on.
- Orwellian Retcon: Within the series Continuity, Memories of Celceta supersedes Mask of the Sun and The Dawn of Ys.
- Our Homunculi Are Different: Nina, Freida's Fairy Companion, was created through alchemy and magic.
- Power Limiter: The Mask of the Moon was created to counteract Eldeel's Superpowered Evil Side.
- Promoted to Playable: Duren and Karna, in contrast to their Non-Player Character status in both versions of Ys IV.
- Shipper on Deck
- Eldeel for Adol and Leeza, playfully jabbing at how they look like husband-and-wife material in Adol's memories.
- Various people for Adol and Karna, including the latter's father. Karna surprisingly approves, despite being as oblivious as Adol, though her reasoning is because he makes a good sparring partner for her.
- Nina for Duren and Frieda, on the justification they grew up together; even Frieda's mother states her daughter should settle for Duren.
- Wise Tree: Played with - while the Roda Tree in the Kingdom of Celceta beckons Adol's group to the Roo's Nest to gather information on entering the Temple of the Sun, the one speaking for the Tree's behalf is actually the Grand Roo, who takes a Deadpan Snarker sarcastic approach in detailing the Roda Tree's wisdom.
- World of Action Girls: Karna, Frieda, Calilica and Bami; even Leeza gets in on some action upon summoning the Sol-Galba to fight on her behalf.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Congratulations, you just killed Gruda and saved the world! All that's left is do undo the damage caused by him by throwing the Mask of the Sun into a volcano. Easy, right? Cue Gruda's spirit trying to stop you.
