Just received the Vita version yesterday, the day before the release date (directly shipped from Falcom to my address in Tokyo). Initial impressions:
Overall very good and engaging game so far. Game engine has been revamped, and the graphics are much improved over "Memories of Celceta". You can move the camera freely now like in any modern 3D game. Gameplay is still very similar to Memories and Ys Seven, though you now have both dash and jump. Gameplay is 3-character party again, with certain enemies being weak against one of the three characters' attacks. Still lots of crap to pick up on the fields, though I think they improved it a bit by not making the enemy carcasses remain so that you have to hit them again to get more crap like in Memories. (I found that a bit tedious.)
Speaking of crap to collect, they added "fishing" and "cooking" to the game. These are basically two ideas taken directly from their Legend of Heroes series. A bulletin board with optional quests on it is also back again. It's amazing how much Falcom repeats themselves (but we love them for it).
Somewhat new to the series, though, is the layout of the world and progression. You have a hub town that you keep returning to. You find other survivors who were shipwrecked along with Adol at the beginning of the game, and you return them to the hub town which gradually grows as you progress the game. You also gain the ability to access areas you passed by earlier in order to progress the game, so you end up retracing your steps a lot. Luckily, fast travel is unlocked very early in the game.
The music is pretty good so far, at least for the main fields and bosses. One big nitpick for me is that the music during the intro animation is slow and melodramatic instead of rocking. (I mean, come on, this is supposed to be an Ys game, right?)
During the important story bits, the characters are fully voiced. Adol is mostly silent, again, but still says a word or two incidentally when he catches a fish or levels up. I think he talks too much. Adol should be silent.
Overall, though, enjoying the game a lot so far and can't wait to get home and turn it on again tonight.