Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, PC

Publisher

NIS

Developer

Nihon Falcom

Series

Ys

Genre

Action, RPG

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

7.08 GB

Release Date (NA)

Feb 2, 2021

Release Date (JP)

Sep 26, 2019

Purchase From

Amazon

Best Buy

GameStop

NIS America, Inc.

PSN Store

Steam

Ys IX: Monstrum NOX continues the story of Adol Christin after his escape from a deserted island in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA. After arriving at the Prison City of Balduq, he becomes a suspect in the disappearance of the Romun Fleet on the Atlas Ocean. Known for his other exploits, Adol is sentenced to prison and interrogated. However, this adventurer knows a few tricks. He escapes the prison labyrinth and encounters a mysterious woman with a gun. After being shot in the arm, he awakens, possessing powers of a Monstrum, a powered-up superhuman. Now known as the Crimson King in Balduq, Adol, along with the other Monstrums, look to free themselves of their cursed forms and leave the city.

Medieval Vibe

When looking at Adol’s newest form as a Monstrum, he has that classic vampire style to him. From his bright red ponytail down to his boots, Adol’s form is designed well, and he should definitely take this form with him for future entries. The other Monstrums are equally interesting. The White Cat, sporting cat ears, dresses in an elegant style fit for a thief. Raging Bull also plays the part with the horn-styled headband and a style fit for a heavy attacker.

Aprilis, the strange woman who shot and gave all the Monstrums powers, has a suitably mysterious vibe with her single, matted wing and scars on her body. She possesses a mysterious lantern to call upon all the Monstrums to aid in battle against the monsters known as Lemures. The monsters themselves are grotesque and are fitting for this era.

Balduq itself is the classic, medieval era city with its architecture and surrounding stone walls. The social class structure for citizens from that time is present as well, but it is not as noticeable until you learn more about the Balduq Prison, where those who have money can have a better living within the prison walls.

Lots to Cover

Many RPGs have players traveling the world. That isn’t the case in Ys IX. The idea of an RPG being constrained to the city of Balduq may make the game sound small, but similar to Ys VIII’s deserted island, there’s a lot to uncover. From inside the prison and downtown Balduq to beyond the city walls, players can rest assured that there’s enough to do. Players can tackle side quests to earn extra cash, items, and accessories, and to develop the story. Additionally, you can find graffiti and Azure Petals to earn rewards. Some graffiti can even boost stats for certain characters in your party.

The story unfolds in chapters, and new side quests are offered after every one. Some are pretty quick to finish, only requiring doing simple errands. Other times, you’ll have to explore new areas to earn those rewards. It’s wise to finish those quests early in the chapter to recruit side characters, gain a few levels before continuing the main story, and earn Twilight Shards.

Twilight Shards are a form of currency that can be exchanged for unique items. Earning these items can help upgrade weapons and accessories through blacksmithing, and more. Players could focus on earning gold instead of shards, but to actually spend less gold overall and to upgrade certain items, earn as much as possible.

Outside of blacksmithing, you can also cook to increase your equipment’s stats. While you aren’t actually making the food, you can find ingredients and recipes to make meals that’ll help you in battle. Such activities can be done at your headquarters.

When you’re ready to head back into the fray, check out the game’s map. It’s convenient once you’ve explored the area. You can pinpoint and teleport to many areas, even specific places inside dungeons. It’s very helpful when completing side quests and initiating battles.

Various Ways to Battle

Ys IX is not limited to one specific style of battle. In fact, there are a few ways battles are played, from within the city to a mysterious place called the Grimwald Nox. Every one of these areas are entertaining and keeps things from being too repetitive.

Across the city are black pillars of miasma with glowing orbs. Touching them shifts you into a monochromatic environment, sending you into battle against Lemures. Don’t worry: citizens cannot see them nor you as a Monstrum. After defeating them, you return to the colorful world of Balduq. At times, you are also given a small chest of rewards. Note that if you see pillars with a crimson-colored orb, expect a tougher battle. It’s a great way to give players a choice to fight or not. Early in the game, it’s worth tackling every one of these. Moreover, as you get stronger, so do the Lemures, so it remains a great way to help level up.

When traveling just outside the walls of Balduq or in dungeons, you can encounter enemies that are roaming freely. Unlike the battles within the city, they do not level up when you revisit them. After completing dungeons, you’ll do little retreading.

Fighting in the Grimwald Nox occurs if you meet certain criteria, mostly based on how many pillars of miasma you do or on specific story developments. When met, a giant miasma orb with tentacles will appear. Defeating it will open up the barrier to let you explore more of Balduq.

Entering Grimwald Nox, you have certain conditions to win. Most of the battles require you to prevent the Sphene, a giant crystal, from being destroyed by enemies spawning from black pillars of miasma. However, there’s another point during the game where you have to destroy enemy crystals and a boss-like enemy before time runs out. The pressure is on then, but it’s doable. When the mission is complete, you are graded on how well you performed: the higher the grade, the better the items you receive. If you want to retry the mission, you can. The game offers you the possibility to score that “S” grade.

As mentioned earlier, upgrades are important. Players can use the Twilight Shards to upgrade their Sphene, create decoys (which can also be upgraded), add traps, etc. Your battles can become easier if you can upgrade these items.

When in Grimwald Nox, you can only swap between characters you have recruited. The rest of the Monstrums are controlled by the game. Outside Nox, it’s only you and your recruits. As you progress through the game’s chapters, you’ll be able to learn their backstory and earn their trust to battle with you.

Let Me Finish

While battling within the city of Balduq, your battles can easily be interrupted and swiftly ended if you happen to trigger a cutscene event at specific locations. These cutscenes are marked on the map, and if you happen to battle too close to the location, the battle ends. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s inconvenient nonetheless. Plus, after the cutscene, the black pillar of miasma will be gone, so you can’t even go back in.

Some fights can become bothersome simply because of the environment you’re in. When setting the targeting on, rocks and other obstacles can get in the way. At least, the issue can be fixed by resetting the target or moving away.

Boss fights are straightforward but entertaining, but some battles are annoying. The giant spider battle can be cumbersome when having to deal with taking down a few spider legs while avoiding attacks and smaller spiders. A caged battle earlier in the game drops the battle ground to a level of spikes, making it aggravating if you don’t know how to stay clear of the spikes.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Each playable character has their own unique abilities called Gifts. These “cursed” skills are actually very handy, whether you’re exploring downtown Balduq, dungeons, or the outskirts. Some Gifts hold more value than others, such as White Cat’s ability to climb up walls or using Hawk’s wings to descend from high altitudes, allowing you to reach treasures and other items that are difficult to grab. Doll’s eye ability lets you see through walls for hidden treasures or items, but it’s only useful on certain occasions.

One of the best features of the game is that players don’t have to swap between characters to use these Gifts. Instead, the character that’s the leader of your party can use any of these abilities from simple commands. While you can have up to six characters, you need to recruit each one to use their ability. Get them all to become a Monstrum dynamo.

In battles, you can equip up to four skills per character. Each one can be upgraded for better stats. To use these skills requires racking up skill points (SP) during battle. Thankfully, SP can regenerate pretty quickly. Some skill moves can only be learned by items acquired from exploring. Be sure not to miss them, and set them to your controller, accordingly.

Players can swap between three characters in battle, and the ones not directly controlled can be given a simple command to go on the offense or defense. You shouldn’t have to be concerned with how they play, as the game’s system does a good job controlling them. Heck, at times, it’ll even make you wonder how they can avoid so many attacks during boss fights!

It’s Something!

Going from Ys VII to VIII was a large jump in the graphics department, even though there was an eight-year gap between the two. Ys IX releases about four years after VIII, and the graphics have improved somewhat more. Still, although textures, shadows, and the polygon structure are certainly better, overall, it doesn’t feel like a big enough jump between VIII and IX. It’s a bit underwhelming, especially for a game that’s launched at the tail end of the PlayStation 4’s lifecycle. Still, it gets the job done. The user interface has been modified to look sharper, cleaner, and simpler, which is always great. The map of Balduq may feel overwhelming at first, but tracking treasures and unknown areas makes it easy to hunt.

Playing the game on the PlayStation 5 doesn’t change much either, though loading the game is quick on the new console. Oddly enough, cutscenes within the game look more compressed on the PlayStation 5 compared to the 4. It’s not a deal breaker, but improvements could certainly be made.

Voice acting comes off strong in IX when compared to when Ys VIII first launched. NIS learned from their past mistakes to not stumble on this, though in some dialogue sequences, voiceovers come and go. After going through half the dialogue with nothing but text, voices begin to pop in for key moments. Why not have the lines fully voiced from the beginning or at least have more voiceovers, period? It’s a little baffling.

Fighting Spirit

If you’ve played previous Ys entries, then you will know how strong the franchise’s soundtracks are. Ys IX doesn’t disappoint, as most tracks are very uplifting, fast paced, and strong. Some of the best tracks are when you’re adventuring outside the city’s walls and are in the midst of battle. Of course, there is more than just the upbeat tracks here. A few calm and relaxed tracks and other scores are mixed in with chiptune-like music that brings that ‘90s RPG nostalgia. Even choral sound bites make an appearance for large-scale battles. Overall, Ys IX’s soundtrack is mostly filled with fantastic fighting scores which perfectly match its fast-paced battles.

The Final Transformation

With Ys IX: Monstrum NOX, Nihon Falcom continues its streak of creating fascinating worlds. Adol’s newest adventure, revolving around a mysterious prison in a single city, may sound like it’s small, but it offers layers of gameplay. With its various battle types, character abilities, collecting, and a rockin’ soundtrack, RPG fans will want to slash, fly, and scamper their way through Balduq, uncovering all its secrets. Whether you’re a veteran to the Ys series or a newcomer, the Crimson King awaits.

A PlayStation 4 review code was provided by the publisher for this review and gameplay footage.