You know that feeling you get after you finally finish a book that you've been enthralled in for what feels like forever? The paradoxical feeling of contented and yet empty "well... what do I do with my life now?". After 37 hours in Ys IX, that's where I'm at right now.


I'm going to start with the story, because that has always been by far the shining part of the Ys games I've played thus far (though keep in mind that this only includes the last few installments, not the old-old ones), and here is no different. It's extraordinarily well-written to the point where, as alluded to above, I could genuinely see it being something I'd read from the fantasy shelf on my bookcase.
The pacing is very well matched, and at no point does it feel like there was anything that had been cut out, nor like there was extra fat/filler that could have done with being removed.
The plot itself does a very good job of throwing out just the right amount of breadcrumbs to let you slowly piece together what's going on, but conceals enough to keep you intrigued and wanting to 'turn the page' to find out what happens next. This culminates in some extremely satisfying and/or jaw-dropping reveals towards the end of the game.

The characters all have their own personalities, their own goals, and with that, their own individual development over the course of the game. You can see how each of the cast (main and side characters included) grows and changes, confronting their flaws or struggles in a way that makes this more engaging than most game stories I've experienced before.

Voice acting is very well done and fits the emotional context of scenes perfectly, with each voice actor clearly having put work into portraying their character rather than just reading the lines. Though I would note that Adol retains his usual semi-silent protagonist role.
That said, whilst voice acting is used for all of the major events where it really matters, I wish it was a little more consistent in other parts of the game, because you can have the voice acting cut out in the middle of a dialogue back to text-only.
The dialogue itself conveys the story well without being so verbose that it becomes tedious, though hearing the main characters reiterate their reasons for joining a particular quest/outing can get a little repetitive, and I was somewhat peeved that Adol's 'A' or 'B' responses are generally 'illusion of choice' rather than having any real consequences.

For the setting, we have an Ys fantasy spin on what is clearly the infamous French 'Bastille' fortress/prison and its surrounding city. In all honesty, before I started the game I thought that this more-confined setting might make the game feel a little repetitive, and, whilst the color palette is indeed a little bland (mostly the greys of stone walls with some grass), it actually feels a lot bigger than it might appear at first glance, and there is a nice level of uniqueness in the identity of the distinct areas of the city.

As for some small extra personal notes, it was nice to see the small references to some of the series's previous games dotted around, and an amusing amount of lampshading of some of the game's tropes and of Adol's past adventures. Also, White Cat is so freaking adorable omg ♥


Not that much to say about the graphics; they're clean and servicable and will age pretty well, but they're not going to win any awards.
The music is great as always from Ys games, and one of the most memorable soundtracks of this year for me, with a mixture of upbeat combat #choons and some nicer more sombre pieces for the emotional parts of the game. I should also note that both MP3 and FLAC versions of the songs are included in the game's base folder for all editions!


Moving on to general gameplay, Ys IX keeps the core concepts from the previous game, but has made some nice QoL improvements and added some new things to keep things fresh. The '3 character damage types' mechanic is still present, but it's nice that it's not nearly as essential as it was in VIII, so you have more freedom to play as whichever character you like. The map also feels a lot more intuitive to use and navigate, and collectibles are nicely placed so that 100%ing them doesn't feel like going too far out of your way.

We also have the new "Monstrum" abilities specific to this Ys game which (without wanting to spoil anything) make traversing the world lots of fun, though I would say that the final 2 abilities feel a little 'tacked-on' compared to the other ones.
Another thing I felt could have been done a little better is the unlocking of the legendary weapons/armor, which occurs at a pretty inconvenient time.

Next up is combat! - another of Ys's other time-honored strong points, and it feels as fun and snappy as ever. Inputs are responsive, and you can dodge/parry at a moment's notice which really lends a solid feeling of flow to encounters. Hitting those perfectly timed dodges/parries is rewarded and feels really good when you can consistently get it down.
Skills... hmm, I found them a bit of a mixed bag here. They feel fun to use, but there are also quite a number of them, and it's difficult to gauge which one I should be using beyond personal preference. This, and the often large number of enemies made encounters feel quite chaotic at times, and sometimes downright spammy.


Performance is great, and there are plenty of PC-specific settings to fiddle with along with a custom config file if you really want to fine-tune things. There is also an option of five button prompts for your gamepad (xbox, playstation, switch, stadia (lol), normal keyboard keys) which is honestly the best option I have seen in a game, let alone a port, so great job whoever ported this!

One issue I did have was the default binding of some of the controls. You have all of dodge, sprint, and wall-run bound to L1 by default, which can get extremely frustrating in parts when you, for example, want to sprint into a jump or run up a wall from a small surface. The controls can all be rebound, but I didn't manage to find a combination that worked very well for me and so ended up sticking with the default.

For 'DLCs', there are some nice alternative costumes, and I'd say that the nicer costumes are in the free DLC so thanks NIS/Falcom for those :D
However, the other costume bundle is pretty expensive for what it gives, and the consumable bundle is horrifically overpriced for what it is - I would suggest avoiding it.


It's easy to see that Falcom does a good job of iterating over their previous games, culminating in what I'd say is therefore the best entry into the series yet.
To quote Adol Christin himself, Monstrum Nox will no doubt be "another unforgettable memory of my adventures" in the Ys world, and although this time more than in any previous Ys game I'm almost sad that he's moving on, I'm looking forward to seeing where his next adventure takes him.



Pros
+ Genuinely fantastic story that'll keep you guessing and pushing to find out more
+ Characters and character development
+ Great quality voice acting
+ Combat is snappy and fun
+ Soundtrack
+ Port quality is on-point
+ White Cat ♥

Mehs
~ Final 2 "Monstrum" abilities feel lack-lustre compared to the others
~ Awkward timing for introduction of legendary gear
~ Graphics are servicable

Cons
- Inconsistent usage of voice acting, sometimes dropping out mid-scene
- Combat can feel spammy in places
- Gamepad button mapping can be infuriating at times

Overall rating:
9/10