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Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS4)
Adol Goes to Jail
Adol heads to the Romun-occupied city of Balduq, a city with a giant prison as its main landmark, only to be arrested for being central to too many near-miss apocalypses to write off as a coincidence. One thing leads to another and he becomes a Vtuber- I mean Monstrum, a sort of Stand user or mutant, doomed to fight creatures born of human malice in a dark parallel world.
The gameplay here expands upon the base of Ys 8. There are even still empty potion bottles even though you're in a city. The main gimmick is Monstrum powers, mostly traversal abilities, and any party member can access them as long as the original user has joined the party. Adol the Crimson King has the grappling hook ability to zip to specific places or to targeted enemies, while others glide or climb walls. The combat has been redesigned pretty significantly. While Ys VIII was all about spamming specials until you run out of energy, IX gives you less of it to work with, and restores it only by not using specials, or a charged normal attack once unlocked. Instead of the EX finisher move, there's an EX mode, boosting your power and giving you HP regen until meter runs out or you use the finisher. This fills quite quickly, so combat works as more of a strategic flow, alternating normal moves, Monstrum powers, special moves, dodge, parry, and EX activation, than the straight-up spam in VIII. The Grimwald Nox dark world battles replace Raids and are fairly similar. The story is still pretty wild but I think VIII's was crazier and more surprising.