While it's been nearly 40 years since its birth, Falcom is an extremely small studio, launching one game per year in Japan, usually at the end of September. When PS4 exclusive Ys IX: Monstrum Nox launched on September 26, Falcom clearly didn't finish optimizing the game yet, and it currently has huge FPS drops in many areas of the game. It most notably happens whenever players trigger a fight in Balduq, the huge city where most of the story takes place.

While I personally don't think it's a big problem, certain players who swear by the FPS god are definitely irked by it. Falcom will finally fix that with an update coming on November 29. It took Falcom two months, but it's better than nothing, and it's definitely a feat considering their scale. There are much bigger studios who take forever to fix their games.

Thanks to this update, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox will pretty much be perfect when it comes over to the west. The game is awesome with its great story, gameplay, OST, characters, and even how fun and interesting the architecture of Balduq is. It's one of the best action RPGs there ever was.

The November 29 update will also add a new "Lunatic" difficulty level, aimed at those who are doing a New Game +. The patch also makes it so you can look up at a higher angle with the camera. The top screenshot is from the current version, while the bottom screenshot is with the upcoming patch. Being able to look up as much as possible is important seeing the verticality of the dungeons of Ys IX.

Besides that, here are the other changes the version 1.05 update of Ys IX will bring:

  • Players will be able to skip the "Prisoner" sequences when they're in a New Game +, and a retry button will be added when dying during these sequences. I'm purposefully not explaining what are these sequences as it's spoilers.
  • The in-game description for the Gale Shoes item was made to be more understandable.
  • Party member Renegade's Shadow Dive skill now lasts longer and has an HP drain effect.
  • Various balance adjustments for the party members.
  • Improved stability.
  • Various bugs and crashes fixes.

In other news, the Chinese version of Yx IX was just announced for February 6, so hopefully, we'll get a western announcement soon.

In Japan, the Ys IX -Monstrum NOX- Official Complete Guide + Visual Collection book will be launching on December 21. It includes a DLC costume for party member Red King.

In related news, Falcom recently teased, once again, that PS4 remakes of Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki are coming soon. You can also check out our interview with Toshihiro Kondo, as we asked him about it.