Two new games from two of my favorite Japanese RPG series have crashed at the same time, and I’m driving myself crazy trying to give them equal time. It seems that I entered into a polyamorous relationship with Yes IX: Monstrum Nox and Atelier Ryza 2: Lost legends and the secret fairy, and I’m trying desperately to show them that I love them both the same.
If my circumstances were different, this would be a good problem. Between the two games, I have over 100 hours of fighting, exploring, gathering, crafting and, in general, screaming about attractive anime characters doing cool things before me. If I were not in a profession where there are constantly new games on the horizon, I feel obliged to play, I would not feel so anxious dividing my time between these two. If I didn’t have kids to help raise and ongoing medical issues to take care of, I would be in the paradise of Japanese cartoons (or wild boars).
Instead, I log onto my PlayStation 5 and switch between these two game icons. I play the PS5 version of Atelier Ryza 2 for some hours. I start to feel negligent and change to the PS4 version of Yes IX.
It would be useful if one of those two games was bad, but it was not so lucky. Atelier Ryza 2 can be the best Atelier game since the 24 year old series transitioned from 2D to 3D. The totally charming alchemist Ryza and his friends have never looked better than in the PS5 version of the game. The dynamic combat system, a combination of turn-based fighting and active time, is even more exciting than it was when it was redesigned in Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout in 2019. I love the simplified alchemy system, which sees Ryza using skill points to unlock new recipes in a vast skill tree. And it is good to accompany the young alchemist as she travels from her home island to a vast metropolitan city.
Meanwhile in Yes IX: Monstrum Nox, we received a new version of Adol Christin, the incredibly unhappy adventurer who has been struggling with the Nihon Falcom series since his debut in 1987. Upon arriving in Balduq Prison City, Adol finds himself “gifted” with the ability to transform himself into a Monstrum, supernatural warriors with strange powers charged with protecting the city from invading evil spirits known as Lemurs. Adol soon discovers that the name of the city has a double meaning and that, like a Monstrum, he is unable to escape the expanding city. Adol and his constant companion, Dogi, established a store in the city, gathering allies for their cause as they tried to unravel the mystery of the Monsters.
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What’s really cool about the latter Yes The game – in addition to finally recognizing how much Adol has become a magnet for problems over the years through his fun and cheeky dialogue – is the game’s new travel system. Instead of just running through the streets, Adol and friends can use the powers of Monstrum to climb walls and warp to fight points, adding a new dimension to the action RPG. Along with a combat system that allows you to switch between characters in real time, it’s a very exciting thing.
I should choose just one game, go to the end and move on to the next. That would make sense, but I can’t choose. Both Yes IX and Atelier Ryza 2 feed the different desires of JRPG. Atelier Ryza 2 it’s a matter of combing through the elaboration of menus and casually exploring ancient ruins with friends. Yes IX it is more immediate and action-packed. Atelier Ryza 2 makes me jump, dive, swim and swing in search of ancient secrets and ingredients of alchemy. Yes IX it shows me struggling to enter a prison through a sewer called Cloaca Máxima. Go ahead and search for “sewer” on Google. You may not be looking for images.
That is why, instead of being in the middle of one game or another, I am only five or six hours in both. I play Ryza a little bit, so I start to miss Yes. In the middle of the game Yes, I suddenly remember where to collect materials for an alchemy recipe in Ryzaand I’ll be back. If the PlayStation 5 had the fast resume feature of the Xbox One S / X, the two games would run consecutively to facilitate switching.
Long story short, Yes IX: Monstrum Nox and Atelier Ryza 2: Lost legends and the secret fairy are two very good and very different JRPGs that are worth your time. Just maybe not simultaneously.
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