Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

Ys is one of those franchises I've heard about a lot, from roommates in college playing them to the 8-4 Play podcast's running joke of referring to them as "Yssssssss!" in the voice of Terry Bogart confronting "Geese" Howard but I never actually knew that, unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, or any number of incredibly long-running JRPGs: Ys appears to be a largely contiguous story of the lighthearted adventures of two heroes traveling the world and getting constantly shipwrecked on new lands with new mechanics for each. And that is, quite simply, a brilliant concept for a long-running series.

There are parts of this game that certainly feel like there's a joke that I'm not quite in on, a lot of references to past adventures and how Adol (the main character) has experienced more shipwrecks in his travels than most fleets ever do, but the game uses this to enhance rather than detract. I'm sure getting the joke adds a lot to the dialog, but the way it's structured, it's very easy to still feel in on it simply by knowing the various tropes of fantasy and adventure stories and, while not exactly groundbreaking, this is surprisingly refreshing in how confident it feels, and that's what the ninth game in this franchise does better than many I've played: it's comfortable in its own skin. Looking across a lot of recent releases, a turn that's being taken is when a game not only overpromises, but overreaches, and the folly that can come from that in a maturing medium that doesn't prize "novelty for its own sake" as much as it did 10 years ago. I still remember games that would come out on the original XBox or PS2 that would be lambasted for simply being "another well made JRPG" and would be criticized for all the things it wasn't, but that it wasn't trying to do. Ys IX plays like the NINTH game in a series that the developers still care deeply about making engaging and interesting.

Unfortunately that comfort and confidence can come with a rather large pile of things that come off as a bit more lazy than self-assured. While the characters all have wonderfully rendered, unique looks (often for two very distinct character designs) the background and setting looks like it wouldn't feel out of place on the Playstation 2 or Xbox. They're well rendered, certainly, and the draw distance is gorgeous, but for a game that came out on the PS4/Xbox One generation, I'd expect things like that to come with a much higher fidelity. Ground textures look bland and even a little blurry, the buildings are so similar that it's hard to navigate the main hub town without getting lost or constantly referring back to the map, and the writing and characters come off very well, but the overall plot and attempt at any sort of social commentary fall utterly flat and very much into "both sides, huh?" kind of messaging where everyone is right as long as they agree to meet in the middle. The story of an ultra-rich family slowly poisoning the slums' water supply with the runoff from their various moneymaking endeavors being relegated to: 'we'll open a flower shop and try to clean up our messes better' is almost charming in its childish naivete, but that's the kind of story that's being told: one where everyone is trying their best to do right, some people are just misguided or unintentionally negligent.

That might seem like quite a bit to dismiss the game from, but it's honestly my only complaint. Because what the game does well is be a JRPG in 2020/2021, and what it does better than so many games I've played of that ilk is: respect the player's time. Growing up in the 16-bit era as my personal "golden age," I grew accustomed to games ballooning their runtimes to 80-100 hours, but not really focusing on what that time was occupied with. Grinding, finding the same shops in some cities, endless fetch quests and useless dialog, these are the beasts that Ys IX slays without even trying. The game centers around Adol and his friend "the protagonist in most JRPGs," the lovable Dogi shipwrecking in city of Balduq in a nation that is very much "Not-Western Europe during the rise of the Holy Roman Empire." There he is cursed by a mysterious, mechanized woman to take on the form of a Monstrum, a legendary fighter from myth that can slay the demonic creatures incurring into the land from another dimension. And if this is starting to sound like a Persona game, there's a reason I was so drawn to its concept immediately.

Adol is imprisoned for his resemblance to another criminal, and after breaking out finds himself drawn to the other Monstrums (not Monstra, for some reason) and makes his home base in a small tavern with the most spacious basement in history. As you go along, you soon realize several citizens from the town you've interacted with are, in fact, the very Monstrums you've been facing the otherworldly demons with, some far more obviously than others, but you're also joined by scads of other, strange and often persecuted, individuals who make the simple act of playing the game much, MUCH better and easier. There's a person whose sole job is to be a one-stop shop for any item stores you've previously visited. Another forges your weapons into far stronger versions, and even upgrades them to whole new items if given the proper resources. Resources are more precious than gold, but eventually you'll have one of the strangest well-wishers I've seen in a game (he lives in a large vase and has a wonderful French accent) who'll sell you resources for your gold, making even the act of going out and grinding for resources obsolete. And grinding is even an easy task, the game's incredibly generous fast-travel allows you to visit ANY previous checkpoint, in our out of a dungeon, at any time, and these are things I mean specifically when I talk about how the game respects the player's time. This is a long game, and it's not always cranked up in terms of excitement or thrills, but I VERY rarely ever felt like the game was stretching, or wasting my time, and I cannot tell you how refreshing that is.

Combat is a simple realtime hack-and-slash with a meter governing special moves that comes back as you execute regular attacks. Each character can only ever assign 4 moves to their wheel, and it can feel a little like each one is overstuffed with abilities that feel redundant, but the variety is still nice to have. Frankly, the Raging Bull makes almost everyone obsolete with her incredible damage output and ability to tank, but combat is breezy and brief, or challenging enough, that it rarely begins to feel like a chore. And if it ever does, there's enough light collection to always have something else to do, each with meaty enough rewards in-game that it feels like everything you can do is progressing your characters and rarely feels like pure busywork.

I've said little about the plot and characters, because none of them ever rise to the level of truly groundbreaking but each is compelling in their own way. There's a living doll character who uses her role in some incredibly creative ways to solve problems, and each character at least passes the test of being affable and pleasant to be around, including the edgelordy Hawk and dour Renegade. Each has a backstory that explains the character well and gives them motivation beyond "I want to do the thing to help the world," but to get too into it would tip the hand a little too much, and there are some legitimately excellent plot twists involving magic and science joining together, and that's something I rarely ever get tired of. There's another Adol Cristin running around the prison in segments that are more puzzle-oriented than combat-oriented, and while the intrigue of a double-character is always present, the puzzles are unfortunately the game's low-point, as it was clearly not designed with them in mind first-and-foremost and often descend into frustration over satisfaction. But they never last long enough to become truly irritating.

The only thing really wrong with this game is the thing wrong with almost every JRPG ever made: it overstays its welcome JUST a little bit too much. Maybe because I wanted to see and do as much as I could, I wanted to fight the optional bosses that are massively overpowered on-purpose, but by the time the final dungeon was looming, I was certainly ready to call it on the game's main story. Still, it's far from a dealbreaker and truly the best thing about a long game like this is feeling like the time is filled rather than wasted, and Ys IX does that with all the confidence of an ongoing franchse that can stretch all the way back into the '80s.