Why You Should Play Ys IX Monstrum Nox

[@Insert_Bland_Name_Here]

One of my personal favorite moments in this game was when you get Adol's strongest weapon. You get two options for how to reply to Tito's question, with one of them being pretty unremarkable, and then the other being "I'm going to lose this too someday, aren't I?" It's just such a fun little reference to how Adol tends to lose all those exceptionally valuable weapons he finds in his adventures. Biggest let-down was that Aprilis never became a playable character... She was one of the most intriguing characters in my opinion, so being able to control her would have been awesome. I also kinda felt the soundtrack was stronger in Ys VIII. Not to say that Ys IX had a bad soundtrack, it just wasn't really as memorable. The story was just great, though.

[@Repeatuntilend]

lol .. i was watching your vids this afternoon while playin ys ix and i thougt to myselft, that the review is missing for this one :D im glad you delivered! thank you in advance ... gonna watch now :D

[@CommRio]

Perfect timing then! I was waiting for it to come to PC before making a video on it so I could have all the Ys games in one place.

[@ophidianmind333]

I think you are spot on about both the party members and NPC allies being very well written and that they do really feel like part of a team even more than in other Ys games, that is one of the reasons why Ys IX is one of my favorite games in the series. That, and how the combat system is the best functioning of any game of the series, which may also be why it seems to feel relatively easy for an Ys game. Though I had played many earlier games in the series, I ended up playing IX before VIII and as a result it took me a bit longer to get really into the latter because the combat system seemed primitive in comparison to the former. However, once I did get really into it, I realized just how great that game was as well and it became another of my favorites. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with any of the Ys games and I even include Ys III: Wanderers from Ys in that assertion. That one just takes a little bit longer to learn how to play it correctly.

[@CommRio]

Yeah I had to adjust since I went story order rather than gameplay order while playing through Ys. Going to Ys Seven after Celceta and Napishtim after both Felghana and Origin were adventures, but there's still so much good in the systems that it plays well anyway.

[@AceWing905]

Good timing. Just finished the game and thought you might have done a review, and here it is. And what a game it is. While this game has no Dana, it sure makes up for that in so many other ways. Very excited to see where Ys goes from here.

[@CommRio]

Pretty much echoes my thoughts

[@Javifaa]

About the character animations, Falcom started using MoCap in this game. I think they did speed up the animations a bit, to fit the pace of the gameplay.

[@CommRio]

Makes sense

[@TainoMoya]

Incredible series and great game from the demo alone. Bought it and will play it after finishing seven. Ys ❤️

[@CommRio]

Hope you enjoy both Seven and IX when you get to it

[@Veo87]

Ys 8 will always have a special place in my heart and I think I prefer its setting a lot more, but Ys 9 was still excellent. The gameplay is still all there, but 9 has great characters that all get a good amount of time and have satisfying endings. I literally cheered out lout at the endings for some of the characters. I can understand people not caring about the city setting as much, but I thought it worked well for the games theme. Adol and his new comrades are basically the Ys version of Justice League or The Avengers. They're superheroes with unique abilities and "secret identities" and they go around helping individual people throughout the city and saving the city from calamities. The game, like you said, is also a lot bigger than you might expect from just taking place in a city's territory. While the story can be enjoyed stand-alone, I felt that it referenced previous adventures of Adol a lot more than other games in the series, so you'll have to play a number of the other previous games to really appreciate the references and callbacks. At least playing Ys 8 first will help. The only thing that may be a big problem for this game is the difficulty. It's pretty darn easy. I don't think I died once throughout the game. Other Ys games in the series are much more difficult. Now, I'm getting old enough and impatient enough to where I wasn't too bothered by this. It allowed me to make consistent progress through the game. I know some people like challenge in their games though, so those people may want to play at a harder difficulty. I played this on PS5 and it plays perfectly, so people who managed to get a PS5 will have no issues running this game. Anyway, I recommend people play Ys 8, and if they like it, definitely go on to Ys 9.

[@CommRio]

I am hoping the difficulty gets upped for future games, but that might just happen by default with a possible new system. I do prefer Ys 8 to Ys 9, but undoubtedly Ys 9 is a great game.

[@eldowenn]

Wow, i am only at chapter 6 after 20 hours of in-game playtime (well, with full exploration and on nightmare difficulty i guess), so i am surprised you completed it already. So far so good, the story is really engaging with all those mysteries and i agree that pace is pretty right. I would say that this story feels better than the previous one, while that was really good too. The combat feels harder, but more fair in terms of enemy attack animations than in previous game, also it is not as generous in terms of consumables as VII, which is a good thing for me. The exploration is also pretty engaging, definitely feels better than in previous game, just because of verticality. The game is like a better Lacrimosa of Dana, i would only say that the sense of adventure in VII is felt much better than in Monstrum Nox, because you constantly move forward across unknown territories, anticipating what can you find over the mountain, while in new game it's kind of the same city all the time

[@CommRio]

Well, the coverage copy helped since I was able to start playing earlier than most people, hope you continue to enjoy the game!

[@KudaGeatsune3821]

Just when Ys 8 was seemingly nuts this game has a Catgirl cowgirl living Doll A very angry bird and very lax ghost boy Alongside our Crimson haired hero Frankly it's just awesome

[@CommRio]

Clearly they should have hired you to do the Monstrum names. Or maybe Very Angry Bird's nicknames for everyone else.

[@KudaGeatsune3821]

@@CommRio well hawk has good taste if you ask me Your highness - adol Kitty- white cat Cow-raging bull

[@PewPew_McPewster]

I'm about 4 hours into Monstrum Nox and it's already satisfied the singular thing I found lacking in Ys games since Seven: verticality. Celceta and LoD made me worried that the team forgot how to make vertical levels, and I found map designs in these game a little lacking even though they were fun romps. The moment I got my first party member in IX, all fears were assuaged. Monstrum Nox may not have the prettiest setting, but it has my vote for the best map of any party Ys game.

[@CommRio]

Verticality should be a continued emphasis for Ys from now on I think

[@shostys_glasses]

Dang now I gotta bump this up on my backlog

[@CommRio]

Do it!

[@xerodragon21]

Anything I should know in advance about 9 that you might not have addressed in this video? Just started it

[@CommRio]

Hmmm I don't think there's much that won't just reveal itself over time. If you intend to get a lot of the side content of the game make sure to fight quite a few (not all) of the little pockets of enemies you can encounter while going around the city.

[@xerodragon21]

@@CommRio why not all?

[@CommRio]

@@xerodragon21 because there’s a lot and you just need to gather a certain amount to unlock new areas. If you did all of the battles it would get repetitive and wouldn’t have much point

[@xerodragon21]

@@CommRio fair enough I just finished dolls chapter. I typically try to unlock a main area for the story and one side area if I can. I've also been making sure to get 100% on all dungeons at least on treasures...map % is silly sometimes

[@xerodragon21]

@@CommRio beat ys 9 even beat the optional lvl 95 boss when I was 71 bc I walked in not aware of what I was walking into lol. That said I'm working on ys origins and valkyrie elysium now

[@kirkcavenaugh758]

Looks like the castlevania game we were never going to get

[@lnsflare1]

I really wish that Nihon Falcom would shift to cel shading, to save both time and resources so that the performance will be less effected when the combat gets heavy, while also making the art look more like the gorgeous anime cutscenes and leaving the staff have more time to add things like stained glass and other touches to keep the game from looking so drab, especially following Ys 8's bright and varied palette.

[@CommRio]

There's an idea, but I'm not sure they'd go through with it. However Kuro looks beautiful so I think we're good on the future of Falcom games for the moment.

[@nekulustrar6072]

Really we need an anime for adol.

[@brandonthomas6602]

Damn now I have to buy it I’m good sir would you recommend this over Duke Nukem: forever? I can’t figure which to purchase

[@CommRio]

Never played any Duke Nukem games so I'm definitely biased towards Ys, but I would still say Ys just based on reviews.

[@KudaGeatsune3821]

Yes yes yes for all that is Good yes DO NOT BUY DUKE NUKEM FOREVER this game is the holy grail compared to the garbage bin that is Duke nukem forever

[@brandonthomas6602]

@@KudaGeatsune3821 Alright I’ll go with Ys, I only was thinking of Duke Nukem because it’s on sale for 30$ and I heard it was good from my friend

[@kais2078]

So, I have to ask - Napishtim system vs Seven Engine?

[@CommRio]

You mean which do I prefer? Hmm I think I gotta give it to Seven, but it's close. I really like the Napisthim system as well and I wouldn't mind a blend of the two at some point.

[@guardianrandy]

I've been a huge Ys fan for years, starting with Ark of Napishtim on PS2 and then playing all the other games. I feel like I'm shifting away from Falcom's current target audience because when I saw this game revealed my first thought was "Ugh. Weeaboo Hot Topic the video game, now with a cat girl and more anime trope characters." I held off on playing it until it went on sale recently, and I keep walking away from it. I hope the next game shifts the focus back to solo Adol and more of a fantasy adventure.

[@CommRio]

It does seem Ys X is heading towards solo Adol again, but we shall have to see once more information is released about it

[@mpo48]

another American playing Japanese games while excepting them not to be Japanese, many such cases.

[@Sahri81]

Personally I found Ys 9 less impressive than 8. They tried to mimic 8 a bit too much.

[@CommRio]

There are far worse games to mimic than Ys 8, but I get your point. The raids at bare minimum shouldn’t have been carried over in my opinion

[@NovaSniper12]

NNNNNNNNNNo make me

[@danielguerrero1438]

Huh I don't know know which Ys IX you played. I mean, grimwald was pretty dragging and the music was ok at best. A good game but nothing as great as Lacrimosa of Dana. Enjoyable game but nothing else. Also no animated cut scenes or intro. Really.

[@CommRio]

I will admit I have no desire for the Grimwald type mode to return in future entries, VIII and IX did not endear me to it. For IX I do think it is a great game that is just a step below Felghana and VIII on my Ys list, but I understand that some people think differently.