Licromoso of Dana vs Monstrum Nox

[oz Helix oz]

Which of the two is more open? I see that graphically it has not changed much, but which do you think is better?

[Banshee]

The story == Both are good, but I found the VIII more quickly interesting, where the 9 left me unimpressed a good part of the beginning. However, towards the end it is really excellent and well written. I also enjoyed the parallels to the real "Hundred Years War". But it was really the beginning that I found less intriguing.
The VIII is cool with its timelines.

Gameplay wise, it's very close, but I preferred the fights of VIII, as well as I preferred the defense phases with the camp rather than the defense of the crystals of 9.
The passages with Adol solo of IX are not particularly interesting, I preferred those of Dana (who is a very endearing character).

For the level design, the vertical side of the 9 is really nice, but in the end I found the level design not very ingenious, and the power of the Red King (I don't know what is his exact name, sorry) not used enough, and on the other hand the power of the cat is overused. In the end it makes the power quite frustrating, and at the end of the game, in the outer areas it's completely stupid, since once you get to the top you can unlock the teleportation areas, but it's useless because you only go there once for a chest, there's little point in coming back there (the resources and monsters are the same as down below, and at worst there's a "quick trip" a bit further to come back to these areas more quickly)
The wild side of VIII (and the warm colors of the beach + jungle) are more interesting, as well as the fact that you sometimes find yourself face to face with very violent dino that it is better to pass discreetly. In IX this never happens, we are always in areas of our level +/-, we are a little more guided in a straight line because of the barriers that open only with the scenario, and I find the outside areas rather empty of interest....

Characters -> I really loved Dana and some of the secondary characters, I didn't like Aprilis until the end of the game in IX because we hardly see her. On the other hand there are also excellent characters in IX: Chatelard, Zola, Smirnov, Renegade... Overall they are very well written.

So overall I prefer the VIII (I may not be objective because it was my entry point into the series). But if you haven't played either of them, it's always good to do it first because IX has a lot of references to VIII (but it's not mandatory to do it in this order, it's not blocking for the understanding of the scenario.

[landkit]

i didn't finish 9 yet (20 hours in), but i think 8 is much more interesting.

[Yekkusu]

I think on the Structure, Ys VIII is better. It gives you more freedom and tons of stuff to do.
Ys IX also has a ton of stuff to do, but the game is way more closed, only allowing you to go certain places on a scripted pacing.
Storywise, both are awesome, and both gave me chills by the end. I think 8 has better envrioments, while IX has better level design in dungeons and so on. That being said, it seems YS IX has some map completion stuff that are locked through quests, a thing Ys 8 doesn't have, while Ys 8 has that annoying condition that gives you three endings depending on how many sidequests you do.

Raids on YS8 starts feeling like a chore, while on YS9 it feels like a necessity. That being said, Raids on Ys9 seems to be easier, while Raids on YS8 are harder, on HArd I've got S on every single raid on 9, while on 8 sometimes I need to train to get the same.

In the end, both are good, Lacrimosa of Dana is more likely to get into some deals on Steam since it's here for a while.

Oh, yeah: YS9 has better 3D models for everyone, they are way more expressive on 9. While Ys8 have better lush envrioments. I don't think the game is Grey because of Balduq, it's grey because of the filter, even on lush areas the game doesn't pop like VIII.

[「Choobs」]

Originally posted by Inspector Gesicht:

VIII has the benefit of a lush setting, though i'd argue IX has better replay value. The combat is more flexible with SP regen and no party member is outclassed like Sahad.

I don't agree with this. I think that Anemona especially, but also Jules to an extent are way worse than their counterparts. In comparison, Adol beats her on single target damage and has VASTLY better AOE skills. Anemona is lacking in all categories unfortunately, though she is fun to use early on. Compared to Credo, Jules can only deal damage in a straight line and his more damaging skills have extremely long animations. Credo is more versatile and has better damage.

[Sage Pirotess]

I dont know. Last night I jumped from lvl 50 to 96. Off mobs in chapter 7. Like ys9 Intentionally made leveling easier. Thus I out lvled an already easy game.

Couldn't do that in ys8.

[Vesperion]

Imo the main issue for me was this "forced Nox farming" after you completed a chapter and then had to do it all over again just to unlock another area of the city + its side area or later an side area in the fields that you visit for 1 time to find a special place that either has a chest or some extra gathering spots but never needs to be visited again.

In terms of the story i was a bit confused at first Why are there now 2 Adols in the game? but the further i progressed the more i started to understand what was going on.

For the Characters they have their personal stories and stuff and are interesting but in terms of development most of them fail pretty hard aside from Krysha imo.

Aside from the lack of any boats that can sink YS IX is once again a story about Adol and how alone his presence seems to be enough to reveal a lot of stuff on a place that already is going on but starts to escalate even more with him around and considering how many Adventures he has encountered it is a wonder at the end that the world he lives in still is existing :D.

[Cynical]

Originally posted by Vesperion:

Imo the main issue for me was this "forced Nox farming" after you completed a chapter and then had to do it all over again just to unlock another area of the city + its side area or later an side area in the fields that you visit for 1 time to find a special place that either has a chest or some extra gathering spots but never needs to be visited again.

You're aware that the Grimwald Eoses that gate the side areas don't require any Nox to open, right?

Anyways, Ys IX is a return to form for the series after two really bad games in a row (Celceta and VIII). The flash guard/flash move combat system is still awful, but the platforming makes exploration really fun, and they've even tried to bring some of the platforming into the combat to make the game less about "push the block button when the animation tells you to".

[Vesperion]

Originally posted by Cynical:

You're aware that the Grimwald Eoses that gate the side areas don't require any Nox to open, right?

Well for me it was not the case and it required another 100 Nox after the Grimwald Nox gate was down before the Grimwald Eos did show up so i had in most chapters always 200 Nox minimum that needed to be aquired to have the Nox and Eos Gate down for that chapter + my Nox counter went down by 100 when i have beaten an Eos Gate.

[TheCombatButler]

you need 100 for the main grimwald and then another 100 for the secondary area. you can usually get ~150nox just through sidequests, but after that you need to grind the lemure spots in balduq for a bit. I didn't mind this at all though, because it usually takes less than 10 Minutes to get the required nox because the lemure spots can get cleared so fast. red dot spots give more points as well

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by TheCombatButler:

you need 100 for the main grimwald and then another 100 for the secondary area. you can usualy get ~150nox just through sidequests, but after thats you need to grind the lemure spots in balduq for a bit. i didn't mind this at all though, because it usually takes less than 10 Minutes to get the required nox because the lemure spots can get cleared so fast. red dot spots give more points as well

Still really unnecessary. Waste of time. Same for adol in jail story.

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by TheCombatButler:

you need 100 for the main grimwald and then another 100 for the secondary area. you can usualy get ~150nox just through sidequests, but after thats you need to grind the lemure spots in balduq for a bit. i didn't mind this at all though, because it usually takes less than 10 Minutes to get the required nox because the lemure spots can get cleared so fast. red dot spots give more points as well

Still really unnecessary. Waste of time. Same for adol in jail story.

[TheCombatButler]

Its definitely padding, but at least not the worst kind

[That's ich!]

Adol in jail sections could've been much better if they were even 10% as good as Dana sections
But they were really zzz
Just let Xavier give him a power up ever section or something and design a dungeon around that, and not zzz puzzles

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by That's ich!:

Adol in jail sections could've been much better if they were even 10% as good as Dana sections
But they were really zzz
Just let Xavier give him a power up ever section or something and design a dungeon around that, and not zzz puzzles

Well thats what makes the game inferior to 8.
And no mega or hard bosses in hard to reach places outside city
no rare resources by those spots, so never go back
]the skkirimishes are to easy vs 8

and why put lvl 80-90 mobs in chapter 6-7 that the player can kill insainly fast to get lvl 90+ in 15-30 minutes. Totally unneeded.