izigame.me

This was my first YS game, but after playing I am definitely going to dive into the rest of the series. It's hard for me to give YS 9 a number rating because I have some issues with performance and visuals, and I was not truly invested until the latter half of the game, but when I did get invested and everything clicked with me, man did I love it. It's not that the first half of the game isn't good either, it just feels a bit repetitive or at times you're not given a lot to go off of to keep you motivated. Overall, this game rocked and I didn't really expect to like it so much, so it was a very nice surprise. I came in not knowing if I'd play much at all, and by the end I was committed to basically 100%ing it (which I might still do in a 2nd playthrough).
I am an action game and JRPG enjoyer, and I reeeally liked everything gameplay-wise that this game had to offer. Very fast-paced and fun to mess around with skills and different playable characters and to do so while listening to the OST in different areas was a blast. All the abilities for traversal through dungeons and areas was fun, and I enjoyed going back and exploring areas when I unlocked new ones. It feels a bit metroidvania in that sense, breaking through walls or sneaking into areas that you couldn't before. There's a lot of difficulty options which I really like, I played on Hard which was perfect for my entry into the series, but I would definitely go up from there in the future. I would imagine most people could handle Hard as their start to the series as well. Combat and how fun it is to control the different characters was a big highlight of YS 9.
This game has style. While I do think the 3D textures, character models, and some of the animations the character models have are outdated for sure, the art, design, and music of this game really hit for me. The art and designs for characters, enemies, and set-pieces in YS 9 are a treat. Go check out the art-book for this game online, it's nuts. All the art you see that's 2D in this game is 10/10. Edgy designs are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so the way the Monstrums look hits for me for sure. For the music, you're hearing a LOT of guitar and high-energy tracks in the OST in this game and I love it, but I can understand some criticism if you're not into that. There's some OST variety for sure as well, but seriously some of the tracks are downright exhilarating to the point I'm bumping 'em while working out.
Story-wise I was a bit bored or confused for the first half or 2/3 of the game, and then I was locked-in and enjoying it a lot after that. Love all the characters though, really really do. Hawk, Yufa, and Aprilis my beloved. I was very happy in 100%ing all the character entries in the journal and maxxing affinities to see more of these characters. Getting resolution at the end and seeing the credits made me a bit emotional, like wow I'm gonna miss these guys. YS 9 was a great adventure, and I definitely will remember it fondly, even as I start playing other games of the series (unlike Adol).