Blood knots, barbed wire, political fires! Innocent people being raped by napalm fire! The schizoid man of the first century!
Unlike most of its predecessors, Ys IX actually focuses a lot on what happened in the previous Ys games. Our redheaded protagonist, an awkward Adol Christine, is arrested for basically being a troublemaker. The military and local authorities want to understand why he’s always there when apocalyptic cataclysms occur, and how he’s supposed to be an accomplice in so many impossible adventures and scenarios.
Adol continues to escape from the giant prison, eventually meeting a mysterious (and super sexy) lady named Aprilis. She eventually curses him and gives him superpowers, but at the price of banishing him from the city he’s currently in until he manages to kill all the monsters hunting him, in addition to the Limbo dimension he can sometimes travel in. Adol joins a local team of super-strong (and super-cursed) people called Monstrums, and it’s up to them to save the town from demonic invasions and lift the curse.
This is not a Fire Emblem game, although it looks like one.
As you can see, the story of a sunny adventure on a desert island is gone. Ys IX is by far the darkest, most broody and mysterious iteration of the franchise, almost comically so. It’s both good and bad. This initially had a negative effect on the game, as it was more like a young adult novel that should have been a hit with the Hot Topic audience in 2009. After a few chapters, things get exponentially more interesting, as Ys IX takes the time to bring to life almost every major and minor character you encounter on your journey. There were also some unexpected (and very welcome) twists.
The stop is at the beautiful island known as Ys VIII. The city of Balduk is not so attractive and vast, but it more than compensates for this with its verticality and depth. Think Ocarina of Time and Mask of Majora: Sure, Hyrule OoT was bigger in size, but you could easily say that Terminus had more options and things to do. Balduck is full of unique (and surprisingly well-written) ticks, shops, characters, and hidden boxes. The latter surprised me the most, not because of the number of items found in the town itself, but because of the way these chests are discovered.
Welcome to Paris… I mean, Balduk!
Adol will meet new monsters during the adventure and recruit them for his team. Every time a new monster joins the party, you also get a whole new supernatural ability. For example, Adol can use a hybrid/teleport grapple on certain edges of buildings, as well as a double jump. The second skill you gain is the ability to walk over walls, and the third allows you to slide for short periods of time. At this point, Ys IX becomes more than just a JRPG, as it borrows elements from platform games and even Spider-Man. Since Balduq is filled with tall buildings and platforms, everything becomes exponentially more explorable with each new skill you acquire.
But that doesn’t mean the entire city is at your disposal from the start. Balduq is plagued by miasmic barriers that block certain areas until you’ve killed enough monsters or completed enough side quests to fill the Nox counter. The monsters don’t move freely on Balduq’s surface, but instead reside in small portals that lead you to the battlefield where you can hunt them down. Beat them and you get some Nox points. When you reach 100, you can participate in a defensive tower battle against different waves of Ys VIII-type monsters. Take the wave and a new part of town will be at your disposal.
As always, Ys IX has a fast-paced combat system. It’s essentially the same system as Ys VIII, with the same rock-scissors weapon system, the same control scheme (which is still fully customizable), the same progression system, and the same equipment. If you liked Lacrimosa from Dana’s Battle, you’ll also love Monstrom Knox’s Battle. I’ve had a few problems this time, but before I go any further, let me reiterate that these are not real problems, just minor ones.
Damn, Fly III looks like a bomb!
One of the problems is the camera. Since the game takes place mostly in small dungeons or in city streets full of nearby buildings, I sometimes had to fight with the camera to get it to play in my favor. Ys IX has some automatic cameras, but I ended up turning them off because they were boring. The other side issue is something I really liked in previous Ys games: the grind. No, upgrading is not a problem here, but constantly having to fight monsters in the supernatural world to unlock new areas can get tiring after a while. This Knox counter acts as a bottleneck against the natural course of history.
Every anime or JRPG has its own Vegeta. This is Vegeta Ys IX. It’s very sharp.
The biggest problem with Ys IX, however, is the visual. It’s not necessarily an ugly game, far from it, but it doesn’t seem like something that would push the boundaries of the PS3 hardware, let alone the PS4. It clearly runs on the same engine as Ys VIII, with similar animations and character models, with the aforementioned Hot Topic twist. What I didn’t like at all, however, was the grainy, shredded appearance. It doesn’t seem to work in high resolution, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the game runs at the same resolution as the Switch port. Thankfully, unlike the Switch versions of these more modern Ys games, Ys IX runs at 60 frames per second no matter where you are or how many enemies are on screen at any given time.
But the best thing about this game is the sound design. The soundtrack may not be as stunning as Ys VIII’s, but it’s still excellent, much better than that of most JRPGs. In one respect, however, Ys IX’s sound department is superior to that of its predecessors: The voice acting is much better than in Lacrimosa Dana or Memories of Celceta. Finally, it looks like a competent dubbing of an anime, not an amateur YouTube video.
Ys IX has its share of questions, but the fight remains intact.
Ys IX: Monstrous Nox is another great game in this long-standing JRPG franchise, even if it suffers from some rhythm and gameplay issues. It retains the artistic style that is characteristic of the series, a quality sound department and, most importantly, a fun combat system that makes you ignore the technical flaws. Adol’s awkward goth phase may have occurred on his 34th birthday. The birthday party began, but thankfully she looked properly gothic. Someone who listens to 19th century and nocturnal literature. Not the phony who hangs out at Hot Topic and thinks Keanu Reeves’ role as Dracula from 1992 is competent.
Despite a fantastic setting and very good character design, Ys IX barely goes beyond what the PS3 was able to achieve, let alone the PS4. | The battle system is very similar to that of Ys VIII. It’s always fast and fluid, and the controls are fully customizable. Due to the level design, the game suffers from a few camera issues, but nothing that could annoy the player. |
The soundtrack is still pretty good, although not as catchy as in Ys VIII. Still, he has a much better voice than any of his predecessors. | Ys IX suffers from a very poor first act that can demotivate players. Once you get through the first few chapters, you’re greeted by a great action RPG with excellent combat mechanics and a story that isn’t bad. Nevertheless, he has a Hot Topic level of teenage angst and irritability. |
Last block: 8.0 |
Ys IX: Monstrous Nox is available now for PS4, PC and Switch.
Reviewed on PS4.
A copy of Ys IX: Monstrum Knox was provided by the publisher.
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