Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is part of the long running action RPG series. Despite being the “ninth” mainline title, the games are designed such that you can jump into any one of them without too many issues. While there is a plot, they are standalone and nowhere near the complexity of the Trails games (by the same developer). In fact, they’re light on story for JRPGs in general to be honest. That said, the game takes place after Lacrimosa of Dana, and there is a part early in the story where it references events from past games, which feels like a nice easter egg to fans.
This is an action RPG, and the game is designed to be fast paced, where you defeat enemies quickly and can dash through the levels. It’s simple and it’s fun. You start off controlling the main character, Adol, as he arrives in the prison city of Balduq, where he is promptly thrown into said prison. Being the knowledgeable adventurer that he is, he manages to easily escape but in the process is cursed and becomes a Monstrum. He gains a new outfit / form, and must protect the city from Grimwald Nox, an alternate parallel dimension where monsters invade, and he must fight it off.
He is joined by five other Monstrum, but they are not the typical party where everyone gets along with each other. It’s rough in the beginning but in typical Adol fashion, everyone will eventually warm up to him. As Monstrum, they are confined to the city, and this is evident in the gameplay. Unlike Lacrimosa of Dana where it emphasized exploration of a wide variety of areas, Monstrum Nox is dominated by city and underground areas, so it can feel drab and limited in comparison.
At least the gameplay remains as good and fun as ever. Adol can slash, dodge and block. Then you can map skills to the face buttons which consumes SP but deals more damage. Once a certain gauge is filled, Adol can get into a more powerful form and unleash an ultimate attack. Dodging or blocking at the right moment will slow time. Once you progress through the game, you’ll unlock new party members, and you can easily swap between them at any time. This is encouraged as different party members have different types of attacks which are more effective against certain enemies.
The city itself is big and a lot of exploration happens there. To aid in that, Adol can grapple to far away points. As you unlock new party members, they will give you additional abilities such as running up walls and gliding, allowing you to reach new places. The environment has plenty of collectibles, and the neat thing is that collecting every x number of them will give you another item, so that it does not feel pointless.
In typical Falcom fashion, there are a lot of missables in the form of quests. Most of these are optional but they are all timed, so if you progress too far into the story without completing them, they’re gone forever. At least this is alleviated by the ability to buy those rewards later. In fact, the game is generous with its accessibility. There are dungeons which have instant kill obstacles, which is a terrible design, but at least they allow you to skip them completely if you wanted to. You’re not so lucky towards the latter part of the game where they are compulsory, albeit easier. They’re still the worst and most annoyingly designed sections of the game though.
The graphics are nothing to be boasting about, however, the game makes up for it with its design aesthetic. It still looks great with its anime aesthetics, although the menus can be somewhat cumbersome requiring just one too many button presses. Using the special abilities to traverse isn’t as smooth or tight as it could be either, given that parkouring isn’t the game’s focus. However, it’s still well done enough that it is fun and adds a little bit of extra platforming into the game.
Despite the huge amount of missable content, the game gives you enough direction, hints and outright clues on where the collectables are by placing them on your map. All you need to do is poke around enough to reveal them. And while a huge portion of the game has Adol trapped within the city and underground, there are pockets of large open green plains to explore. The game’s difficulty leans heavily into the easier side, so you may want to bump it up on Hard if you’ve played Ys games before.
Unfortunately, the game is cookie cutter Falcom style. The first half of the game has a chapter dedicated to the introduction of each of the Monstrums, and thus your party members. It’s predictable and despite a whole chapter each, they’re not as deeply developed as you would have expected. The overarching arc is then laid on top, but you know that you must wait until your last party member before the story reveals itself. There is a deep mystery happening where there seems to be two Adols, so it’ll be interesting to see where that leads.
The final third of the game is where a lot of the plot reveals happen. Unfortunately, the twist that the writers went for felt somewhat lazy. It felt like a cheap way to explain what was happening. You’d expect more but it is what it is, and that twist doesn’t really justify the poor gameplay mechanics stemming from it either. A lot of the plot happens towards the end as it marches towards its conclusion, with big developments such as secondary villains being overcome, and the grand villain arising.
It is a rush towards the end although the final dungeon can start to drag on for a bit, given it can be uninspired, especially if you have played Falcom’s other games. It has that samey feel to it. The story takes around 25 hours to finish, which is a sweet spot and doesn’t allow the game to overstay its welcome. Yes, it can be short for JRPG standards, but we don’t need bloated filler just to get a long 50+ hours runtime. Unfortunately, hopefully you would have made a save before the final boss as the game then pushes you to New Game Plus afterwards, where you can carry over a bunch of stuff. It also unlocks a time attack boss rush, which is okay.
Overall, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a fun action JRPG. Yes, the environments and exploration of mainly being city landscapes can feel more limiting compared to Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, which had the whole island for you to explore. However, the movement abilities in this game make it a lot more fun to run and travel around in. Given more polish, there is huge potential for future games. The story is weaker than Ys VIII as well, but the attention to detail and worldbuilding that is typical of the developer is still present here.
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