Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

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Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS5)

In this entry of the long running action JRPG, Adventurer Adol & his travelling buddy Dogi arrive at the gates of the "Prison City" Balduq (in the nation of Gilia, but occupied by the invading Romun Empire). Seeing as how Adol always finds himself in the center of all sorts of shenanigans, the Romun authorities deem him dangerous and lock him away in the towering prison. With a bit of wit (& some help) he manages to escape the facility, but not before a mysterious figure shows up and inflicts him with the "Monstrum" curse, giving him supernatural abilities at the cost of not being able to leave the city's walls. Not only that, but he (and a small group of others cursed) are tasked with protecting the city from legions of invisible (to ordinary people) monsters called Lemuries. In order to seek out the truth of the curse (& to see if it can be broken) he must explore the city & all roads seem to lead back to the prison!

Combat:

• Across the adventure Adol will be joined by 5 other party members (though you can only have 3 active at a time), with each one having an attack style effective against "soft", "armored", or "flying" enemies (meaning you'll generally want one type of each amongst your currently active party), which encourages you to swap out the character you're directly in control of often (some enemies, including most bosses, are neutral type & aren't weak nor resistant to any attack styles). Furthermore, if you dodge or block just as an enemy attacks you'll engage a Flash Dodge (slows down time) or Flash Guard (temp attack boost). It's overall not much different than the last several entries in the series, but it's still one of the most fun & slick action JRPG battle systems in the business.
  
• While most of your time will be spent doing sidequests, battling monsters in the overworld, dungeon crawling & your other typical RPG stuff, events that stick out here are Grimwald Nox & Grimwald Eos challenges (the only seeming difference between the two being that Nox are mandatory, Eos are optional). They come in two varieties and either see you protecting a giant blue crystal from waves of Lemuries or trying to destroy a bunch of red crystals under a strict time limit. These are unique in that all party members, even ones who aren't in your active party (heck, even when they haven't even yet joined you elsewhere) are active as AI allies (you can only swap between directly controlling the three in your active party like normal though). At the "Dandelion" (your home base) you can expend resources to build & enhance traps/decoys that are automatically installed across Grimwald maps that help you keep the enemy waves at bay during these battles. You can also replay these challenges to aim for a better ranking (you're scored at the end, which dictates which rewards you earn upon completion). These are essentially like the "Raid Battles" from Ys VIII, but they all happen at telegraphed, set points, which I liked.
  
• While there are healing items (no magic system though), you'll automatically regenerate health if you stand still for a bit (this initially only applies outside of dungeons, however you obtain an item very early on that does away with that restriction) and only the character you're currently controlling takes damage (meaning you can swap to someone else with more health if you're low on health), so take advantage of these features when you can to save items (and while you can save at any time from the menu, there are also the traditional save spots before boss rooms & such that will auto heal you).

Exploration:

• Once things get going most chapters have a similar gameplay loop. You'll start out completing sidequests & battling monsters around town in order to build your Nox gauge, which summons a Grimwald Nox once it reaches 100. Once you complete the Nox a barrier comes down allowing you to explore a new district of the city or field area just outside town (if you filled the Nox gauge high enough, a Grimwald Eos will appear afterwards as well, which unlock an optional area upon completion). Story events in the new area will lead to the chapter's dungeon (during the first 2/3rd's of the game, a new party member will join you around this part as well). Each chapter ends with a little epilogue where you'll play as a surprise character still inside the prison, providing some big narrative twists.
• The city itself has an open world quality to it (especially once the barriers start coming down) with lots of shops (places to buy/enhance weapons/equipment, medicine, and more), as well as treasure chests, collectable "azure petals", and graffiti to find. Monsters don't wander around town, instead there will be these little Grimwald portals all over the place that will summon a few if you touch them (the world & people around you will freeze in time whenever you're in one of these fights). While monsters in dungeons & field areas have a set level, the Lemuries that appear in town are scaled up each chapter.
  
• Most sidequests DO expire, however as they are the most effective way to build the Nox gauge in order to progress the story, you'd have to go well out of your way to miss one. They can be pretty deep/important too, as you'll gain extra allies who'll hang around the Dandelion (they provide buffs during Nox/Eos events, and open up special shops inside the Dandelion that mitigate your reliance on running around all over town).
• In previous games you would collect "Sacramentals" that are party wide equips (some of them were mandatory for working through dungeons, like being able to breathe underwater, giving them a Zelda like quality, while others offered QOL effects like increased EXP earned), but these are largely replaced by "Gifts" here. Essentially, each Monstrum has a unique Gift, and it can be used (no matter who you're playing as) once they join your party. Same idea though in that the dungeon/boss of a chapter will be built around the utilization of your newest party member's Gift (examples: White Cat can run up walls. Feral Hawk can glide. Doll gives you a sixth sense that allows you to see enemies/collectables through terrain, see invisible platforms, see otherwise invisible weak points on certain bosses, etc.) Gifts also make exploring the city a lot easier as well, and in some cases let you reach areas/rooms otherwise inaccessible. The game still has Sacramentals for the QOL features though (such as the aforementioned one that lets you idle heal in dungeons).
• You're very much rewarded for thoroughly exploring the world, as there are characters who will reward you with goodies for filling up your map, finding "Landmarks" (scenic locations in the game world), finding azure petals, reading all the graffiti, and more. Most of these characters hang out at the Dandelion, but there are a few elsewhere in town.

Visuals:

• Graphically it's nothing mind-blowing (it's a mid budget title originally designed for PS4 & Switch), but it looks nice due to the art direction, and it runs at a rock solid 60 fps on PS5.
• Now, the pallette can look a little grey as it largely takes place within & beneath the boundaries of a city/prison/fortress (which I know was a disappointment for some coming off the vibrant tropical island locale of Ys VIII), however there are still a few areas where they manage to inject a bit more color, and I still thought that the main dungeons were distinct enough to feel unique (especially the spooky atmosphere of the catacombs). If you're worried about it being grimdark though, don't be. The vibe isn't any darker than your typical JRPG and there are plenty of colorful cast members & costumes (as an aside, all the DLC costumes from it's original release are part of the standard purchase on PS5).
  
  
  
  
  

Story:

• The narrative has some very cool twists with plot points I was eager to find out more about (especially that surprise character I mentioned in the prison segments), but at the end of the day it ends up being pretty standard JRPG stuff (power of friendship, felling a "god", & all that). Still, at least it was very interesting to get there.
• If you wonder why I've been referring to characters by names like "White Cat" & "Feral Hawk", it's because their Monstrum moniker is different from their regular name, and finding out who they are in their daily lives is in spoiler territory (some of them you meet long before they're revealed as a Monstrum, though in most of those cases it's easy to figure out).
  
• As an aside, I kinda find it amusing how they don't even try with their (broader) world building & come up with names for their fantasy countries like Romn (Rome), Garman (Germany), Ispani (Spain), and I kid you not Afroca. Heck, a big part of this game's specific background lore is inspired by Joan of Arc in Britain & France's Hundred Years War, with Saint Rosvita's role in Britai & Gilia's (Gaul?)... Hundred Years War, lol.

Conclusion:

• Maybe a bit of a step back from Ys VIII (largely in terms of locale variety), however it's still a very solid JRPG and I think there are a few things I think it does even better (I like that environmental exploration abilities are just natural upgrades & not tied to Sacramentals, freeing up Sacramental slots for QOL effects like extra item/gold drops & the like, and that the Grimwald Nox battles were at set points & don't interrupt you exploring like VIII's Raid Battles could sometimes do).
  

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Blue Reflection (Steam)

On her first day of high school, Hinako discovers that she (as well as a couple of mysterious classmates Lime & Yuzu) is a magical girl called a Reflector that can enter the subconscious of others in order to connect with them & resolve emotional turmoil. Across the events of the game she'll bring her class together, perhaps save the world, and if she plays her cards right may even realize a dream she thought shattered.

Gameplay:

• You'll split your time between the real world where you'll go about your day around school hanging out with friends & chatting online, and delving into the "Common", a dungeon built by the connected subconscious of humanity, where you'll battle monsters in turn based fashion.
  
• It actually has some pretty unique systems. The big thing is the Ether gague in the lower left corner. Managing it can be important as if it's full enough you can expend it to give a character extra moves via the "Overdrive" command (up to four moves in one turn if it's full enough). However in-between each character (& enemy) turn you can expend some Ether in order to regen party HP/MP, guard against the next attack, or advance your turn order. A few of a character's skills may deplete (or charge!) Ether in addition to their MP pool, and you can choose to have a character bypass their turn to charge Ether as well (I believe this also regens some of their HP/MP). Unfortunately all this management only becomes relevant during boss battles, as regular enemies become pushovers after the first couple hours. By the endgame I could one shot most mobs with Yuzu's Grapevine attack (this eats up a lot of MP, however HP/MP are fully restored after each fight, meaning there's no incentive to hold back during normal encounters).
  
  
• Other oddities include not being able to use items during combat (all usable items either permanently or temporarily increase a character's stats), you don't level up by obtaining EXP from battles (rather, you earn skill points at set points or from building affinity with your classmates that can be spent on certain stat profiles for your party members. While all stats increase during level up, you can choose if you want a character's attack, HP, MP, or defense to get an extra boost), and there is no gear to equip (in place of this, you'll obtain emotional "Fragments" from your classmates that you can equip to a character's individual skills, which alter or enhance that skill's effect. For example you can give an attack the ability to inflict a status ailment, or add HP regeneration to a support skill that buffs it's target's stats).
• Boss battles are pretty fun (and the only time you really need to get to grips with the unique battle system quirks) and see you facing off against giant Kaiju like foes with some absolutely killer visual design. While you don't gain extra party members throughout your journey, all the new friends you meet along your journey do assist (exclusively) in boss fights providing buffs to your party or attacking the boss. Only annoying thing is that boss phase transitions nullify any extra damage (for example, let's say a boss transitions to it's final phase once it's down to 5,000 HP. If you hit it with an attack that does 5,000 damage while it still has 6,000 HP, instead of starting the final phase with only 1,000 HP left, it'll only take the first 1,000 damage, and still start the final phase at 5,000 HP).
  
  
• Most chapters have the same gameplay loop and start out with you taking on sidequests (9/10 times just basic stuff like "take out X number of this monster" or "pick up X number of materials in a dungeon") and hanging out with friends in order to build affinity, and once you hit certain thresholds (in affinity points & character level) you can report your progress to Yuzu & Lime to progress the story. Unlike other similar games there is no day or time limit, so as long as you don't report your progress to Yuzu & Lime as soon as the threshold is hit, you can spend as many days as you want hanging out with friends & building affinity. Friends who are located outside won't appear on rainy days, and everytime you go home at the end of a day you are given a few different prep options (take a bath, study, or make lunch) which will occasionally give you a small random stat increase.
  
  
• Otherwise there is a little Tamagotchi like minigame called "Dark Cave" (although I played it a bit, I'm not sure what if any reward it grants in the main game), a Jukebox where you can listen to music, and once the game is complete you unlock art & cutscene galleries. One of your classmates will also hide a pink bear plush somewhere around the school every other chapter or so, but I'm not sure if there's a point to it (even when found there's no way to interact with it that I discovered), or if it's just for fun.
  

Visuals:

• There's not a lot to the game world, with the largest environment being the school grounds (and even then there are a few rooms like the music room you can't access), and only 4 dungeon environments (though the environments can mesh together, creating more), however it looks lovely all around. The school has a kinda grounded lived in look, while the dungeons are all very fantastical & magical. I'm not even sure how many rooms each dungeon has, as 99% of the time you can complete your objective by simply clearing out whichever room you're dropped in at the beginning (there is some sort of warp point at each end of a dungeon room, and sometimes it'll just send you to the other side of the same room with all enemies respawned, & sometimes you'll go to a different room. I don't think they're procedurally generated though as you'll see the exact same room like 3 or 4 times repeatedly on your dives. You exit the Common from the menu, so I don't think there's even an official begining or end to them either).
  
  
  
  
  
• It has a lovely "Shojo" looking art direction, which makes the pretty prevalent fan service feel kinda out of place. From a personal standpoint I don't mind it (just look at the outfits I chose to wear in my Fatal Frame & Ys IX review screenshots, lol), but the vibe in general seems much more Sailor Moon and less Senran Kagura, so the fact that the rain makes school uniforms transparent & there's a pretty common amount of bathing/shower scenes as well as shots of the cast mostly undressed in the locker rooms feels kinda random, like I don't know exactly who they were aiming this at. Apparently the sequel tones this aspect down though.
  

Story:

• Story kinda picks up towards the end with a few decent twists & lore revelations, however overall I wasn't too engrossed with it. It's probably 80-90% "cute girls doing cute things" and it's looking more & more likely that it's just not my jam (I felt similarly after playing Atelier Lydie & Suelle years ago, so maybe Gust as a whole isn't for me).
• Kinda annoying that the one "gamer girl" archetype in the cast is all about mobile games. I know it's a Japanese game but c'mon, lol. This isn't a serious complaint (or really a complaint at all), but are there really people THAT into mobile games?

Conclusion:

• It's by no means a bad game, but I don't think it was exactly for me although it had some cool parts. I understand the sequel is apparently a lot better so I may look into that in the distant future.