REVIEW: Ys IX Monstrum Nox — The epitome of the franchise

Table of Contents

1. The World and Adventures in Ys
2. Adol the Red
3. Far beyond the Monstrum Nox
4. Between swords and magic
5. Sound in the box, my bard
6. Ys IX Monstrum Nox

Within Japanese RPGs we have a huge variety of genres. If a player is looking for something more strategic, they can choose to play Fire Emblem, for example. If you're after turn-based battles, you can play Person ou Octopath Traveler. If you want something with more action, you can choose any title from the franchise Tales of ou Ys.

While Tales of is already recognized around the world, the Ys series, which is older - its first game was released in December 1989 - still doesn't have all the recognition it deserves. Each game in the franchise tells us a year in the life of its protagonist, Adol the Red, as he ventures across the continent – Ys IX Monstrum Nox it's the ninth entry in our hero's journey and, for this one, it's the epitome of the franchise.

The World and Adventures in Ys

Ys is the name of the world where the adventure takes place. The names and locations present in the game are based on real life, for example, we have the empire Romun, clearly the Roman Empire, a continent called Afroca, our Africa, a region called The British, based on United Kingdom, among many others. Some events that happened in our history also have counterparts in the game, such as the Hundred Years War, fought between the England and France between 1337 and 1453.

In short, many of the locations and legends present in the game are based on real life, but always with a special touch seen in Japanese RPGs. So, in addition to focusing on discovering what is happening in the place where the adventure takes place, we have several beautiful spots to delight us.

In Monstrum Nox, we're in the city of balduk, which in the past was a fortress that had been used during the War. Over the years, and Romun's domain, the place has turned into a gigantic prison filled with secrets to be uncovered. The site has recently come under the control not only of Romun, but also of the Hieroglyph Knights, who are doing something in one of the areas of the prison.

There are a total of 21 areas in the game to discover. Many are beautiful and show the characteristics of the region of Gllia, analogous to Gaul, a French region. Also, there is a whole mythology with gods and their servants. Finally, the Hieroglyph Knights are part of the Church, analogous to the Catholic Church.

Adol the Red

As said before, everything in Ys revolves around Adol Christin, who, as he says, is a professional adventurer. He devotes his life to traveling from region to region, uncovering secrets and discovering new places. His actions almost always change where he is forever, as we see in Monstrum Nox.

Each of the games that make up the franchise, except Origins, presents us with a year in the life of Adol and how his adventure forever changed the flow of the world. For example, in the previous game, Ys VIII, he had direct contact with the primordial, legendary creatures that have gone extinct, the equivalent of our dinosaurs. As in our world, the Primordials are studied, and their fossils are a source of interest and fascination. Laxia, one of the people who were with Adol in island of seiren, site of the eighth game, is a scholar of this field. In other words, everything she witnessed on the island forever changed the way studies are conducted.

Another example is the adventure seen in the sixth title of the franchise, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, where Adol discovers an ancient civilization that possessed a machine that could control the weather. In short, wherever our adventurer goes, he leaves a chaotic trail that many can understand as something bad. During the beginning of the game, this is revisited during an interrogation, which I particularly found hilarious. Also, they joke about the fact that Adol ALWAYS find legendary or special weapons and lose along the way, which justifies him always starting at level one in the next game.

Adol is for the world of Ys almost like the main gear, everything moves because of him, and when he does something, everything moves.

Far beyond the Monstrum Nox

The game starts with Adol escaping from prison and fighting some creatures. After reaching what appears to be a dead end, our hero is greeted by a woman wearing a hood. She has a gun in her hand, and shoots towards Adol, who, after suffering a little, transforms into a powerful creature, a Monster. Then he makes his way out of the prison. The scene changes.

10 days before, a beautiful scene appears: Adol is 24 years old and accompanied by his faithful friend Dogi, when they finally reach the city of Balduq, in the kingdom of Glia. There, they discover that the place is, in fact, a large city with a gigantic prison. While talking to those responsible for the gate, Adol is informed that he is being wanted by the government of the Romun Empire and is arrested.

After having his interrogator probed, and having his previous adventures under suspicion, Adol is sent to his cell. There he befriends an inmate who is in another cell. After some time, the man shows how to escape from prison and shows a way. The events described above finally happen. Adol meets with Dogi and they decide what to do next: find out who that woman was, what she did to Red and the reasons that keep him in that city.

In the course of the journey, we discover that the girl is called In April responsible for turning our hero into a Monstrum, and now he's obligated to help the other five warriors when called upon. The mission of the six is ​​basically to contain the Grimwald Nox, a sort of parallel dimension infested with monsters called Lemurs. Over time, we discover that the Nox have been going on for 500 years and Adol needs to figure out ways to break the curse and finally be able to leave Balduq.

Many twists happen and we discover things about the real protagonist of the game: the city of Balduq and his prison. The history of the city and its happenings are fascinating and with each new detail we discover, we are more and more fascinated. There is an exorbitant amount of story to unravel, so doing the extra quests and character conversations is extremely important. I'm being vague on purpose to pique your curiosity.

Also, all the other members who help Adol in the Nox have deep stories, which makes the journey even better. I say this because our protagonist is a silent hero, that is, he only has lines when he needs to make a choice, letting the plot rotate between the city and the characters that are relevant at that moment. To complement, we can buy some gifts and deliver to team members. This causes new points of the personal story of each of the characters to be introduced to us, bringing greater depth to all of them. Add to that the various extra missions, which present us with other facts and news.

Between swords and magic

One of the highlights of the game is its excellent combat. Ys has always been very dynamic, with powers and moves capable of filling the eyes. This also happens in Ys IX. Each of the six playable characters has special traits and moves. Adol uses a long sword, White Cat uses a gauntlet, that is, I went out distributing punches to opponents. Hawk uses two small swords, Bull uses a giant hammer, Doll uses a weapon that is a mixture of sword and whip, and finally, Renegade uses a staff and powerful spells.

Each of them has a unique gameplay, and liking this or that one depends on who is in control. I particularly enjoyed playing with Adol, White Cat and Renegade – I believe this trio has the perfect balance, but which setup to use is up to your personal taste.

In addition to weapons, what makes them unique are their equipped accessories. Some can greatly increase strength or defense, or focus on other stats like dodge, health boost, or whatever you find. As a customization, we can buy, with real money, different clothes for the characters. This does not change absolutely anything in the gameplay, and during the campaign we gained some items, but I confess that I never used any.

If the combat is good, the same can't be said for the camera. Since the demo released at the beginning of the year, this is the worst point of the game. For the first time since playing video games, I had to reverse the camera command and change the movement speed, it's so bad. Using the auto-aim system is absolutely horrendous because of this, but without using it, you can't help but feel how bad it is.

Sound in the box, my bard

Since the creation of Nihon Falcom, developer of the game, the soundtrack of all titles made by her is of very high quality. They manage to mix elements of classical music with heavy metal and create the best possible combination. This makes the songs memorable and pleasant to listen to. Another point to be praised is the graphics. Ys has always had a reputation for bossing big monsters, and that continues here. As the game came at the end of the last generation and beginning of the current one, they made the most of the game creation tool.

I would like to register here one of my biggest criticisms of the Ys IX Monstrum Nox: he is too easy. As I've played other titles in the franchise, I started right at the hard level, but even then I had almost no difficulties. I even stopped buying new and better weapons to have a little more challenge, and still I walked through the game. If this is your first title, it might be best to start off normal, especially to get used to the pace of the action.

Ys IX Monstrum Nox

This was one of the games I've had the most fun playing in my life. After I finished the previous game, Ys VIII, I was extremely excited about Adol Christin's new adventure and, luckily, it absolutely exceeded all my expectations. Meeting Balduq, the other Monstrum and game characters brought me immeasurable joy. I highly recommend Ys IX Monstrum Nox and I'd like to take my hat off to Nihom Falcom for the excellent game and also to NIS America for bringing quality localization. I hope that Red's next adventure arrives as soon as possible, so now we just have to wait.