Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

 Switch
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 36
  3. Negative: 4 out of 36
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  1. Steyraus
    Dec 16, 2022
    2
    Terible performance on switch, ugly and chopy.....Even worse, To much dialogue and reading, ended up giving up on the story and just enjoyed the stock Ys combat. Ys games have always had great stories told in a way that dosent detract from the gameplay. Ys 9 fails in this completely, there hours of mind numbing dialogue mixed with Dull quests that simply have you running from one npc andTerible performance on switch, ugly and chopy.....Even worse, To much dialogue and reading, ended up giving up on the story and just enjoyed the stock Ys combat. Ys games have always had great stories told in a way that dosent detract from the gameplay. Ys 9 fails in this completely, there hours of mind numbing dialogue mixed with Dull quests that simply have you running from one npc and back again..Easily the weakest Ys game I've ever played. How did they go from a Masterpiece like Ys 8 to this????.Even though the combat is still good it's not as good as Ys 8 either.. Please get a smarter writer for the next game.… Expand
  2. Tortor
    Jan 3, 2022
    4
    This game is ugly and dated. Honestly this could be mistaken for a late Playstation 1 or early Playstation 2 game. This isn't helped by the mostly city and grey dungeon environment you're being surrounded by for 80% of the game.

    Be prepared to see a lot of grey, everywhere, all the time. It gets really old seeing these sort of repetitive environments. Unlocking a new area didn't excite me    This game is ugly and dated. Honestly this could be mistaken for a late Playstation 1 or early Playstation 2 game. This isn't helped by the mostly city and grey dungeon environment you're being surrounded by for 80% of the game.

    Be prepared to see a lot of grey, everywhere, all the time. It gets really old seeing these sort of repetitive environments. Unlocking a new area didn't excite me because it was nearly completly like the last area you were in.

    The plot and quests felt like a chore. It really felt like a very old school style Jrpg from the early 2000s. This game really didn't try at all to do anything new and instead stuck with this really dated quest structure. I felt like I was running one meaningless and lifeless errand after the next. Occasionally the side quests add some personal stories but nothing grand or adds to the main plot it really felt like fluff material.

    The only saving grace with this game though is the fighting feels really fun. The real time action is super fun to see how to combo moves together and mix and match certain abilities. The RPG mechanics though don't go much more then that. Armor and equipment do not add any significant differences that are noticeable other then survivability. The amount of abilities for each character is also limited so the mixing and matching definetly hits a wall at some point. The lack of custom options really causes a lot of the mechanics with this game to run dry. I was definetly bored out of my mind by the time I reached the end. All those flashy moves do, in fact, get old when you see it over and over. Frame rate takes a dive when things get too crazy too (which is often). When more then 4 monsters show on the map and every character is blasting off their moves with all these particle effects the frame rate drops to like 10fps to 15fps for nearly a whole fight until it slows back down. So this is like hitting a wall from having too much fun. The moving around the map felt nice. I found all the options to run up walls, drift through the sky and use a wire to get to places made zooming through the city fun and finding collectibles.

    The plot is so basic of basic. You're essentially just trying to escape a city that you're trapped in. Everything you do is a step closer to escaping. The subplots going on with politics feel so poorly paced that it's barely something you could ever care about as not enough time is given to these other subjects to care about them. You're essentially confined to a check list you need to do to achieve your main objective to get out of this ugly grey city.

    The characters are fine. They each get a chapter dedicated to them which I found very interesting at first. Everyone felt fleshed out in their own ways thanks to this. They do sorta run out of steam by the end though as the story doesn't spend a lot of time revisiting any of them after their chapter is over.

    Overall, this isn't a game I'd recommend to anyone. I'd honestly be too embarrassed to recommend something so ugly but once you start playing the issues with the characters, plot and gameplay just pile up.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. SECTOR.sk
    Jan 24, 2022
    80
    Ys IX will delight you if you expect dynamic gameplay, world exploration, a bunch of challenges and fast-paced battles.
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  2. RPG Fan
    Nov 17, 2021
    80
    Overall, I quite enjoyed my time with Ys IX. It is a generally fun and entertaining game, with action elements that are wonderfully honed. It is a shame that the graphics in the Switch port diminish the experience as much as they do, because otherwise the title fits rather nicely on a handheld system thanks to its polished control scheme and wealth of content. What could have easily been one of the best action RPGs on the Switch is held back by the visuals, though it is a testament to just how strong of a game Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is that I view it so fondly despite this port’s obvious flaws. I certainly hope that Adol the Red’s adventures will continue if they persist with Ys IX’s entertaining gameplay.
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  3. Starbit
    Oct 11, 2021
    60
    Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is the latest addition to the Ys series and at its core, this is a fine game that brings with it a marvelous combat system and good exploration mechanics. Unfortunately its poor performance on the Nintendo Switch, whether on a television screen or on the console's screen, makes the experience very frustrating, to say the least, and when situations with more than two enemies on the screen become extremely difficult to handle due to a loss of fluidity, it makes it a hard game to recommend.
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