Publisher NIS America has confirmed that the PS5 version of Ys IX: Monstrum Nox will release on the 9th May in North America, and the 12th May in Europe (as if the first half of the year needed an even busier schedule). Must like the current-gen edition of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, it doesn't look like there'll be an upgrade path if you already own the game on PS4, which does put a dampener on things.
The action RPG will still be worth checking out if you're new, though. We reviewed Ys IX back when it first released on PS4, and while we don't think it's quite as sharp as the aforementioned Ys VIII, it's still got some cool ideas and a fantastically fluid combat system.
It's also worth mentioning that the PS4 version of Ys IX is currently available through PS Plus Extra. If you're a subscriber, you can go get it downloaded right now — and it runs perfectly fine on PS5 at 60 frames-per-second.
Have you played Ys IX before? Will you be tempted to grab the PS5 version? Adopt a new persona in the comments section below.
Comments 9
I would love to play this again. But no upgrade path once again? Nah. Screw the NISA greed. Also this game really didn't need a PS5 version for any reason lol
I guess it will load better and they get to put that nice PS5 branding on the box
NIS is becoming my least favorite publisher this side of EA. This "upgrade" nonsense that doesn't even talk about much of an upgrade at full price is just becoming insulting.
@rawzeku The bigger question is will it actually upgrade anything? These games are visually kind of PS3 quality, and no "PS5 upgrade" is going to fix that without new assets. I doubt Falcom has much to do with these "upgrades", seems more like a publisher stunt.
@NEStalgia The PS5 version of Ys VIII barely has any improvements over the PS4 release. It has some slight visual enhancements and includes DLC, which also is what I expect from Ys IX on PS5.
It'll obviously still be a really good action RPG, but yeah, you could probably place it side by side with the PS4 version running on a PS5 and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
@ShogunRok To me it's still a bit of a kick in the nads. I'd have loved to played Ys VIII via free upgrade, no matter how minor the upgrade.
@AndyKazama Yeah the fact that it's such a minor upgrade is arguably why it should be free in the first place, or at least heavily discounted.
While it is a bummer that there’s no upgrade path, these ports are usually for people who either have never played the game before or would like another shot at the special edition. I’m playing through 9 on PS5 right now and the back compat works fairly well right now anyway. But I did get the PS5 native version of 8 and it runs as smooth as butter
@ShogunRok @AndyKazama Yeah, it's really insulting to customers. It's not a "new version" it's a patch, and it's barely one at that. "Upgrades" should absolutely be free for that, or at least sold dirt cheap like DLC. It's just the publisher exploiting the market. The "old" version will be just fine (at least until PS6 if they drop PS4 support or it breaks some games or something.) Maybe it fixes the terribly optimized framerate issues in the city, but, that's even more offensive if they want $50-60 to patch what was their own fault to begin with.
OTOH I originally bought the game on Switch on preorder and found the entire release horrendous, the city is both ugly and runs as a slideshow most of the time, it's very hard to tolerate playing it. Just selling that thing was insulting. Ended up re-buying the PS4 version for PS5 on PS Store sale just to fix the full price broken Switch release I bought. Now they want to sell the PS5 patch that may or may not FULLY fix the framerate that was still iffy at times in the PS4 version even on PS5 for another $50-60. I love Falcom, but NIS is really jumping the shark with their publishing. We can add Switch getting the superior version of Trails from Zero to the list of very questionable and cash grabbing actions from NIS...
Great news. Ys has been a solid series and I think it's easier to get into than more turn based JRPGs, but maybe it doesn't take off because of what seems like a low fidelity graphics.
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