Actually liked this a lot, felt like a big improvement on Ys VIII in terms of gameplay. Encounters, bosses and raids are now better balanced and you aren't spending 10 minutes to kill an enemy with fat HP. The monstrums are probably the most memorable and likable cast out of any of the party system games and traversing Balduq with the "gifts" is pure classic video game fun. I'd say the art direction could have been a lot better in terms of both Balduq itself and character art; I understand what they were going for, but it felt like they just settled for something half-baked rather than refining the game's aesthetic to be something truly stylish. There are a fair few things it does worse than VIII but the improvements to the basic gameplay in IX gives it the slight edge over its predecessor.

The worst 'good" game I have ever played. The concept design is excellent - the idea of Adol exploring a deserted island is a fantastic spin on the Ys series. The narrative is crafted nicely and moves along at the perfect pace. The castaways and barter system adds a cool simulation rpg/town-building element to the game that somehow works perfectly within the confines of being an Ys game. I wasn't too fond of the party as a lot of them just felt like they were merely taking up space, but I didn't outright dislike them.

The gameplay is...not good, really it's mediocre at its best. And gameplay is king in Ys. The enemies are HP sponges to the point where even normal encounters become extremely tedious. Items break the game by an absurd amount to the point where anything below Nightmare is a non-game with zero stakes. Anything above Nightmare just mandates use of the Flash Guard to cut down on the HP-filled behemoths. The bosses no longer feel memorable in a series where bosses are extremely memorable and the raids are a fun idea, but feel way too drawn out.

Ys VIII has the markings of a great game, but as someone coming from earlier titles I can't help but be a bit skeptical when its most important element isn't up to par. I liked Ys VIII as an experience, but - here it comes - it's a good game, not a good Ys game.

A weird, weird game. I have always called it the Final Fantasy VIII of Ace Attorney. It's ambitious yet profoundly strange and tends to miss the mark a bit in regards to what it originally set out to do. Some of this is a result of Capcom forcing Takumi to put Phoenix in the game, some of it is not. It's a game that should have started its own arc but instead became a sequel in a long-running narrative. I think it's a bit overhated and I did enjoy it (aside from 4-3), especially the last case, but I do understand the criticism.