I just played Ys Celceta for PlayStation Vita, and it seems to be a pretty good handheld action RPG. Players of this demo controlled a party of three, which of course included Ys mainstay, Adol. A tap of Square shifted control to a different character, and at times, changing proved a strategic move. Need the girl to launch her long-range special attack? Switch to her and do it. Once I got the hang of it, I was rolling pretty well. Our party was in a lush, green area with a marsh that I foolishly jumped into. Aquatic monsters attacked my group as the three of us swam around and hacked our way to safety. Battling in water was still possible, and the gang would half-swim through the chest-high water.
Within the demo’s 10-minute time limit, we took down the marsh monsters gand a giant purple troll with a club, who kept poisoning us. The action was very, very fast-paced, the game flowed well, and there were no technical hangups that I noticed. The visuals were nice, and in true Ys fashion, the high-tempo music matched the on-screen fury. It was overall a highly entertaining experience.
The Ys series is a lot more popular in Japan than abroad, but it’s the other way around with the PS Vita, so hopefully the game can push some more Vitas out the door here in its homeland. We have some screenshots from last month here, and perhaps more will come soon.
