Attack Types
Each of the characters in Adol's party has an attack type -- slash, strike or pierce -- which determines how much damage will be dealt to different varieties of enemies. Most enemies in the game are weak to one of the three attack types, while resisting damage from another. Players will need to switch characters regularly during combat to deal with these foes effectively.
Slash
Slash attacks are performed with sharp weapons such as swords or halberds. These attacks are particularly effective against soft-bodied enemies, but tend to bounce right off of armored or shelled foes.
Strike
Strike attacks damage the enemy with blunt weapons such as gauntlets or maces. These attacks are particularly effective against armored or shelled enemies, but tend to miss or do minimal damage to soft-bodied foes.
Pierce
Pierce attacks damage the enemy from a distance. While piercing implements generally deal less damage than slash- or strike-type weapons, they are particularly effective against nimble or flying foes.
Guarding
By pressing the triangle button, the active character will take up a defensive stance, allowing him or her to reduce damage and avoid knockback from enemy attacks.
Flash Guard
By pressing the guard button just as an enemy attack hits, you can execute a Flash Guard. A successful Flash Guard negates all damage the attack would have dealt, and temporarily makes all attacks from the player character deal critical damage and earn additional Skill Points. Mastering the Flash Guard is a must for advanced players, and is the key to surviving at higher difficulties.
Evasion
By pressing the X button, players can roll forward to avoid enemy attacks and facilitate quicker movement on field maps. Knowing when to evade and when to guard is a key skill for surviving boss battles.
Flash Move
By evading just as an enemy attack hits, you can execute a Flash Move. A successful Flash Move negates all damage the attack would have dealt, in addition to making the party invincible for a short time and temporarily slowing enemy movements significantly. When used effectively, the Flash Move has tremendous offensive and defensive value alike.
Attack Bonuses
Skill Finish
A Skill Finish is a bonus received when defeating enemies using skills. If an enemy is defeated with a skill, you'll regain 100% of the SP that skill required instead of the standard 50%, and minor healing items will spawn to help recover any lost HP.
Excellent Kill
An Excellent Kill is a bonus received when an enemy is defeated by the attack type it is weak against (Slash, Strike or Pierce). Enemies defeated with an Excellent Kill drop all of their items and gold instantly, without the need to attack their remains. In addition, they also drop rare items more frequently, as well as additional gold.
Aerial Combo
An Aerial Combo is a bonus received when an enemy is attacked after being launched into the air. This results in attacks dealing additional damage, as well as gold, SP and life energy bonuses.
Party Abilities
Rare Item Drop Rate Up
This ability activates when characters with each of the three attack types (Slash, Strike and Pierce) are represented. When this ability is active, enemies drop rare items more often, allowing you to gather rare materials for refining with greater ease.
Increased Damage
This ability activates when there are two characters with the same attack type in the active party. This party ability allows parties which lack one of the three attack types to compensate for that weakness, in addition to dealing more damage against bosses and other enemies that have no weakness at all.
Skills
Skills consume Skill Points (SP) to perform a variety of powerful or useful effects, from pure damage to a temporary increase in the party's attack or defense statistics.
Learning Skills
Each skill has a set level at which a character becomes capable of learning it, after which point it will be learned spontaneously during battle. The stronger the foe, the more likely a character is to learn a new skill while fighting it.
Skill Leveling
As characters use skills, those skills gain experience, eventually leveling up. Each skill can be leveled to a maximum of 3, and will become stronger with each level gained. The ways in which each skill change, however, vary greatly: some will deal more damage, some will stun enemies more easily, and some will even begin damaging enemies in a wider area.
EXTRA Skills
EXTRA Skills are exceptionally powerful skills which can only be used when the EXTRA gauge is maxed out. Each party member has a unique EXTRA Skill suited to different situations, and effective use of EXTRA Skills can easily turn the tides of any battle.
It is said that an accessory hidden somewhere in the Great Forest allows party members to use an even more powerful secondary EXTRA Skill, but its location is unknown.
Unique Actions
Adol
Adol´s Unique Action allows him to regain his lost memories by touching orbs of light scattered throughout the Great Forest. Resting at a camp marks the locations of nearby memory orbs on the Map of Celceta.
Duren
Duren's Unique Action allows him to open locked chests by kicking them. Locked chests usually contain rare and powerful items.
Karna
Karna's Unique Action allows her to use her knives to slice through distant objects, opening up new paths through the Great Forest and its many dungeons.
Ozma
Ozma's Unique Action allows him to strike cracked walls or damaged objects with his spear in order to destroy them (though it only works underwater!).
Calilica
Calilica's Unique Action allows her to activate specially-sealed switches and other mechanical devices, resulting in a variety of environmental effects (some good, some bad).
Frieda
Frieda's Unique Action allows her to dissipate gaseous build-ups out in the forest, clearing a safe passage for further exploration.
Reinforcing
In the smithy at Casnan, certain materials can be used to upgrade weapons and armor. Each material upgrades one of eight attributes, and each of these attributes can be increased to a maximum of 9, allowing weapons and armor to be made significantly more useful than when first obtained.
Quests
Each town Adol encounters during his adventures has a Quest Board, upon which various requests from the town's residents are displayed. Completing these quests grants specific rewards, including rare and useful items which cannot be found anywhere else.
Certain quests must be completed before a specific point in the story, and these are clearly marked, so it pays to check the Quest Board regularly.
The Map of Celceta
As you explore the Great Forest of Celceta, the initially blank Map of Celceta will slowly begin to fill in, recording the geography of the area as well as the locations of harvest points, stone monuments, towns and other points of interest. In addition to being an invaluable tool for reference throughout the game, mapping the Great Forest yields rare and valuable rewards from Governor General Griselda.
A: Blame yourself or god.
2. Q: Can I start with this one?
A: Yes! Most Ys stories are standalone and this is no exception, however there is still an overarching lore and other threads or returning characters that make worth playing other games before this one
3. Q: What's the best order to play the series to understand everything then?
A: For this we want to play them in Japanese release order starting from Ys I & II Complete (but you'll likely be playing Chronicles instead). From there the order should be as follow
Ys I & II Chronicles
Ys VI The Ark of Napishtim
Ys The Oath in Felghana
Ys Origin
Ys SEVEN
Ys Memories of Celceta(this game)
With this release all of these are on Steam/GOG/Humble and with the exception of SEVEN can often be found on deep sales
4. Q: I heard this is a remake of Ys IV, how different is it from the original?
There were actually three versions of Ys IV before this one and each made by different developers other than Falcom resulting in different takes on the story, gameplay and soundtrack.
The first version, Ys IV: Mask of the Sun was developed by Tonkinhouse released for the Super Famicom in November 19th, 1993 in Japan
The second one, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys was developed by Hudson released on the PC Engine in December 22nd, 1993
Years later, Taito developed a new version of Ys IV for the PS2 titled Ys IV: Mask of the Sun -a new theory-
Compare some of their Music with Memories of Celceta's
Dawn of Ys- The great forest of Celceta https://youtu.be/UZqHkPu6fD4
Mask of the Sun - The Great Forest of Celceta https://youtu.be/LHzVAP2aLS4
Mask of the Sun −a new theory− - The Great Forest of Celceta https://youtu.be/75JamDhIkkM
5. Q: What difficulty should I start with?
If you're used to playing on Normal on other games it might be good to start this one on Hard as it is on the easier side of things
If you're more experienced definitely give Nightmare a go!
6. Q: I don't understand the OT title!
A: https://twitter.com/gematsucom/status/667439756586967040
7. Q: What is this blasted cat abomination?
A: It is Mishy, Falcom's mascot, love it and embrace it
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