Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

Ys IX is only my 2nd Ys game that I've played (I don't count the non-canon Ys: Wanderers From Ys for the SNES), so my whole point of comparison is going to be with YS VIII which I have also loved.

On the whole it seems that this 9th entry is an improvement over it. Just from the graphics you can tell that it's more modern, VIII was designed for the Vita in the first place before being ported. Some of the character models looked kinda dated, but here everything has a fresh look and how you would expect a newer game to look like. There's a lot of QoL compared to it too, it's mostly the same systems but just the navigation of everything works better. Overall gameplay wise it's mostly the same game, the combat is nearly identical with the fast spammy skill attacks and the party of 3. I was very comfortable going in right away, because I knew exactly how things functioned already. It's perhaps not its best trait if you are looking for a totally new experience, but this is more of a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach as instead there are minor improvements here and there. You have new mobility movements to explore the areas (running up on walls, a sort of grappling hook) and that feels like a pretty neat addition.

There was a certain charm to the deserted island in VIII, and the city of Balduq here isn't quite the same. Instead of rescuing villagers to be able to move more obstacles, instead the areas of the cities are locked and you have to accomplish certain tasks in order for them to open up. It's a similar concept and you'll be going through a similar loop. The equipment kinda works the same way, except that here you will buy new weapons on each chapter instead of just upgrading your old ones... which makes upgrading them a little bit useless (as the new weapon in the next chapter will always be better), and that's one of my minor disappointments here. There's a lot of things to collect over the map and gathering certain amounts will grant you special items, again a similar concept to VIII.

The story gets a little batshit crazy as you get into the later chapters, but that seems to be Falcom's thing here with this series as it has their weird start and then slow build until you eventually start to understand everything. Definitely strong in that aspect and do love the world building and even connection with the previous games. Overall I thought this was a great game, it perhaps lacks a little bit of innovation, but if you want more of what Ys VIII offered it surely delivers. The combat is not the most amazing as you'll mostly just be smashing your buttons constantly, but the game does have you do a bunch of different things so it never really gets stale. Definitely recommend both games to fans of Action JRPG, Falcom were able to push their flagship series into the modern era and create some of the best entries I assume. This definitely got me into them and will continue exploring the series.