Anyone who knows me is likely well aware of my proclivity for collecting games. Sometimes, this can happen as the result of a lucky find, but most of my acquisitions come from ordering things online. Over the years, I dare say I’ve given Amazon, GAME, ShopTo and other retailers a sizeable chunk of my disposable income, such as it is.

With that said, I’m still very careful about what I collect. My hoard of games may not have the appearance of quality over quantity, but there’s very little chaff amongst the wheat. I’ve been known to prune my collection from time to time as well, selling or trading in games which I don’t feel belong, though this is rare.

So to summarise, I normally buy games online, am very specific about what I buy and rarely ever trade in games. Let me tell you about how I bought Ys: Memories of Celceta.

It began when I realised I was once again running out of room to store my games. Since I have a tendency to own multiple copies of a single game (normally through Steam deals or free via PlayStation Plus), it occurred to me that I could trade in a few of my duplicates for some extra cash. I selected a dozen or so titles that were surplus to requirements and checked online to see how much I could get for them. A few went on eBay, since they still had decent monetary value, but the majority were sent off to GAME via their Online Trade-In program.

I only received a few quid per game, but given the slim chances of them selling for only a tiny fraction more on eBay (plus selling fees and postage costs), the GAME deal was definitely the best option. Within a couple of days of sending them on their merry way, my box of games was accepted by GAME and I was to receive a gift card for just over £36. This isn’t exactly cash, of course, but I always intended on spending the money on more games anyway.

It wasn’t until my gift card arrived that I read the small print – it couldn’t be redeemed online. This seemed a little backwards to my thinking, but I suppose they’ve got to keep their brick and mortar shops open somehow. With £36 or so burning a hole in my wallet, I kept my gift card safe until the time was right. You see, I don’t have a GAME store in my town (we don’t even have a McDonald’s, we’re so deprived). I would need to wait until I was in one of the two cities nearby (11 and 29 miles away, respectively) before I could use my gift card.

Skip forward a month or so to last weekend, when I was in the more distant of these two cities to meet up with a couple of friends. Nothing special, just watch some DVDs and order some pizza… but the time had come. Into GAME I went, fully intent on buying something completely different from what I ended up getting. Their 3DS collection was sadly lacking – no sign of Bravely Default, no Luigi’s Mansion 2 – so I decided to take a look at their Vita section. Since all of the games I own for my new Vita are digital purchases and free games via PlayStation Plus, I felt that I should own at least one physical title, if only to use the slot for something. That, plus my 16GB Memory Card is already full.

It was there I came across Ys: Memories of Celceta, sitting on a little shelf, looking rather forlorn. I had heard of the Ys series before, but never bought a single one. I remembered that Celceta had received excellent reviews – garnering a metascore of 83, with an even higher user rating – and decided that it couldn’t hurt to try. At that point, I didn’t realise that this purchase was going to be so monumental.

After getting home on Sunday evening, I popped out the tiny Vita cartridge and slotted it into my Vita. I fired it up and checked that it was all working, but didn’t really get to play it until the next day. I went into the game with few expectations, but hopeful that I would find another solid game to enjoy.

What happened next has occurred only a few times before; it’s what I call a “Doctor Who Moment.”

For years, I avoided watching the new incarnation of Doctor Who, because I dismissed it as being for kids. This was entirely based on its past image, which was a showcase of shoddy special effects and typical “old acting”, which is a series of very British accents talking politely and very fast. Eccleston didn’t do much to dismiss this image, but I didn’t exactly examine the new series in much depth. It wasn’t until the 2009 Christmas Special – which Who fans will remember as David Tennant’s exit – that I watched a single episode.

It was entirely by accident, too. I was flipping through channels, trying to find something to watch and decided that there was nothing better on. Intending to have it on in the background while I browsed the net, I didn’t expect to get drawn in. I ended up being entirely compelled to watch, even though I had dropped in mid-episode.

Perhaps it was due to The End of Time being a particularly magnificent episode, but I knew from only that minor glimpse that I needed more. In a blur of activity that I don’t fully recall, I ended up purchasing box sets of all the “New Who” series’ – right from its Eccleston beginnings – including all Christmas Specials. I even bought the box set for its spinoff series, Torchwood. I only stopped short of buying The Sarah-Jane Adventures because it really was a kids show.

This immediate fascination and impulse buying isn’t typical of me. I didn’t expect Celceta to induce another Doctor Who Moment, but induce one it did.

Ys: Memories of Celceta is one of the finest Japanese RPGs I’ve played in a long time. Of course, I’m not taking into account re-masters or re-releases such as Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, Final Fantasy VII and whatnot, but this is still high praise. Technically speaking, Celceta is an ARPG, but it’s definitely a JRPG at heart. I feared that they might be a dying genre, but if we’ve got games of this calibre coming out – even irregularly – then perhaps my fears are unfounded.

The gameplay is deceptively simple: I won’t spoil any of the plot, but your main goal is to map out a vast forest, which you explore as a series of instanced areas. Combat is real-time and consists of a mixture of standard attacks, special moves and an ultimate attack. Performing standard attacks charges your SP gauge, which allows the use of special moves, which in turn charge the EXTRA gauge for your ultimate attack. You can swap between up to three characters, with your two companions normally having a different method and “type” of attack – Slashing, Piercing or Striking. Some enemies are vulnerable to one of these types, making tactical character switching important as you explore.

When not being directly controlled by you, your companions will help out by attacking enemies on their own, or gathering from various mineral or plant nodes dotted around the area. Collecting items from enemies or these nodes is a big part of Celceta, as you can exchange these drops for better quality items, which in turn can be used to upgrade your weapons and armour. It’s got an almost Monster Hunter vibe to it, which scratches an itch I didn’t even know I had.

The graphics are excellent for the Vita, showcasing some really nice texture work and plenty of top-notch art. The level design, while basic, is fluid and functional, with areas never seeming a chore to explore and rewarding such endeavours with hidden chests or valuable gathering nodes. You might even find shortcuts between previously explored areas, augmenting the game’s mercifully present yet infrequently placed fast travel system. The map of the Forest of Celceta is much bigger than one might initially expect and charting such a vast expanse would be daunting if it weren’t so much damned fun.

I can’t put my finger on any one aspect of the game that appeals to me so much, but a big factor would certainly be the music. Everywhere I go, there’s a perfectly themed and excellently scored background track. Ranging from the faux-trumpets and wind instruments of a , to guitar-laden awesomeness (such as and ) in the forest, there’s not a moment that goes by without my ears being treated to some aural bliss.

But it wouldn’t be a Doctor Who Moment without what happened next – I went out and bought every single Ys game that I could get my hands on. I mentioned that there were other Ys games that I’d ignored over the years: I was determined to make up for lost time. Since the main series are all linked in terms of characters and storyline, I decided to stick to the canon games and leave any spinoffs for now. I checked Wikipedia, which told me that I could get just about everything on my Vita. I bought Ys I and II Chronicles, Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys: Seven from PSN. I managed to snag a cheap second-hand copy of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim from eBay, whereas I needed to turn to Steam to get Ys: Origin. A few other Ys games were also available on Steam, but they were more expensive than their PSN counterparts.

It was a perfect storm of things that I rarely do that lead me to this magnificent situation. First, I needed to have games that I didn’t want or need anymore, which is exceedingly rare due to my strict purchasing habits in the first place. Then, I needed to trade those games in, which I have done only a few times before in my life. Then I needed to actually visit a store to buy games, which never normally happens – because let’s face it, online shopping is cheaper and more convenient.

Would I have bought Ys: Memories of Celceta on its own, without all of this fuss? I can’t honestly say. There were a number of titles that I’d lined up to be my “sole physical Vita game” and with space on my Memory Card at a premium, coupled with it being part of an unknown series, there’s every chance that I’d have given it a miss, great reviews be damned. There are any number of games out there that have received high praise that I’ll never own and Celceta could have easily been on that list.

As it stands, I’m happy with how things turned out. The Ys pedigree is a track record of RPG excellence, which means I have yet more titles to add to the ever-growing backlog of gaming greatness that should see me well into middle age. Right now, I’ve got another solid reason to play my Vita, not to mention an excuse to break out my PSP one day and play the UMD Ark of Napishtim. Doctor Who Moments might not be great for my wallet, but they’re always a welcome experience. There are few better gaming experiences than being pleasantly surprised by something new, especially when it points out something you might have overlooked.

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