Ys (pronounced as /ˈiːs/) is a series of action RPGs developed by Nihon Falcom. The franchise started in 1987 when the first Ys title was released for Japanese PCs as Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished. Since then, there have been numerous sequels, prequels, and spinoffs, the latest of which being Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. These games center around their main protagonist Adol Christin, and the many journeys he experiences as he travels the world searching for adventure. Adol values adventure above all else and loves to travel to new lands and learn all he can about them. It just so happens he repeatedly has to save these lands from whatever crisis is happening at the time, and he may or may not have to fight some gods on his way.
But why am I telling you all of this? The reason is pretty simple. I just wanted you to know that this is a man who lives and breathes the spirit of adventure. So much so that he can never settle in one spot no matter how many love interests want him to. Take adventure away from this guy, and you are essentially taking all that he is, his very being.
This brings us to Ys IX, which was released on September 26, 2019, for PS4 in Japan, February 2, February 5, and February 12, 2021, in North America, Europe, and Oceania, respectively, with an additional release for PC and Nintendo Switch in July 2021. What makes this game notably different from all previous entries in the series is that it all takes place in a single city. The preceding titles saw Adol charting unknown continents and uncovering ancient mysteries in a variety of environments, so this change is quite significant and intentional.
Ys IX’s setting is that of the city of Balduq. Also known as the Prison City, Balduq is a walled city with a massive prison located in the middle of it. By looking at some of the maps of the in-game world (which is based on the world for the most part), we can deduce that its real-life counterpart would be Paris.
Map from the Ys Novel
Balduq prison is the largest penal institution in the Romun Empire. Originally the structure was a fortress with the goal of defending the nation’s borders. This can be seen with the prison’s characteristically steep walls and canals surrounding it. This design has made the prison famous for being impossible to escape from. However, the residents of the city do not hold the prison in high regard due to the government's tendency to throw in anyone suspected of criticizing the government or acting as a spy.
One quick note, in my research, I found that Balduq prison seems to resemble the Tower of London. This may just be conjecture, but by comparing the gothic architecture of Balduq to that of medieval London, there are just too many similarities. It's weird to me that a city that is located where Paris is would be more based on London.
View of Prison From Outside
Front of the Prison
The Tower of London
City of Balduq
Balduq Cathedral
Westminster Abbey
The similarities do not end with just how the prison looks, though. As far as the way the prison is run, that also seems to be based on medieval English prisons. Similar to these prisons, Balduq Prison has individual cells for every prisoner and does not allow for any contact with those outside the prison. While not explicitly shown in-game, it is implied that Balduq Prison does torture its prisoners if the authorities believe the prisoner has information that they need. This is not dissimilar from how the Tower of London was operated, where torture was a widespread occurrence.
One thing about Balduq Prison that has always interested me is the inclusion of its Special Sector. This is a part of the prison where the prisoners' population is made up of social elites and other important figures. Here, the prisoners have free reign to walk around a designated space, interact with each other, use the chapel, or even get drinks from a bar. At first, I thought this was simply a commentary on how rich people can avoid lawful punishment. But in my research of the Tower of London, I found out that it has a history of allowing wealthy or powerful prisoners to have additional commodities. For example, many nobles would bring their servants with them to prison, and the richer they were, the more food and drink they could bring in. King John II of France held frequent feasts in the Tower of London.
That was very interesting and all, but what does any of this have to do with Adol? Well, at the beginning of Ys IX, Adol is detained by the town guard when entering town for the first time and is imprisoned due to his suspicious past and because he is labeled a witness to the disappearance of a Romun fleet. Adol’s stories are too unbelievable in the eyes of his interrogator Ingrid Celda. But hey, who can blame her? Fighting the gods of evolution, discovering still-living dinosaurs, and fulfilling who knows how many ancient hero prophecies is a bit too much to believe without proof. Unfortunately, Adol is unable to back up his claims since, between every game, he loses all his possessions due to his notoriously bad luck with traveling by boat. Adol is then labeled as a threat to the Romun Empire, and his imprisonment begins.
Adol, rightfully feeling like his imprisonment is unjust, quickly decides that he needs to break out. With the help of a fellow prisoner, Adol makes his way through the depths of the prison, ill-equipped to deal with the beasts that live down there. Unable to find his way out, Adol comes face to face with a mysterious woman, Aprilis, who uses an alchemic bullet to turn Adol into a Monstrum. A Monstrum is a person who has been gifted with special powers and forced to fight demons called Lemures in an alternate world known as the Grimwald Nox. Adol is then told to investigate the secrets of the city and break the curse of the Nox. He is also given a new Monstrum alias, The Crimson King.
The curse associated with the Nox has a couple of conditions. The first is that all Monstrums are forced to battle Lemures during each Grimwald Nox event. These events happen at random, and if the Lemures are not defeated, they will cause harm to the real world. The second condition of the curse is that the Monstrums are not able to leave the city of Balduq. So even though Adol has technically escaped his imprisonment, he is imprisoned in a new way. In a literal sense, Adol physically cannot leave town, but spiritually he is unable to fulfill his desires of exploring and adventuring until he finds a way to break this curse. In order to achieve this and break the chains that bind both him and the other Monstrums, Adol dyes his iconic red hair black and goes into hiding in order to investigate the city and the curse with the help of the other Monstrums.
Adol (left), Crimson King (right)
Now, I have already mentioned how Adol’s physical imprisonment has ended and turned into a spiritual one. But what if I told you that was not true? You see, between the in-game chapters, there are short gameplay sections where you play as an Adol who is still imprisoned in Balduq prison. In these sections, prisoner Adol is commissioned by a corrupt guard to obtain certain information about the inside of the prison. The info the player gets in these sections is sold to the Monstrum party to help them with whatever their current objective is. It's a little confusing, and for the sake of spoilers, I’ll just say this. Both of his imprisonments, the literal one, and the curse, strip away what makes Adol himself. Even though he is not in prison, Monstrum Adol (who I will just be referring to as Crimson King from now on to differentiate the two characters) might as well be. There is no joy in being outside the actual prison when the town itself is one too.
If I were to ctrl f this document and search for the name “Adol,” I would get 23 results. Surprising though it may seem, Ys IX does have other relevant characters; the Monstrums. Counting the Crimson King, there are 6 Monstrums in total who bear the curse of the Grimwald Nox. Each one is wanted by the local knights and is feared by the citizens of Balduq. Similar to the Crimson King, they are also more or less imprisoned by their curse, but I’ve already talked enough on that front. Dissimilar to Adol, the other Monstrums are not just silent protagonists; they have fully fleshed-out characters and all go through their own arc over the course of this narrative. Therefore, I would quickly like to talk about each of their experiences with imprisonment. While none of them are ever literally put in jail, each of them has something in their lives that they cannot run from and are trapped by.
Going in order of party acquisition, first up, we have Krysha Pendleton, also known as the White Cat. Krysha is a shy young woman and is the adopted daughter of the Pendleton family. The Pendletons are a family of merchants, perhaps the most powerful in Balduq, but Krysha has always felt a disconnect with her adoptive father and sister. Despite being a skilled merchant in her own right, Krysha struggles to follow her family's motto of ruthlessly defeating any and all competition for monetary gain. Comparing herself to her sister Carla has left Krysha with low confidence and the inability to speak up against her father. Being unable to speak her mind leads to her feeling trapped by her family's reputation, and the only time she can do and say what she really wants is as the White Cat. Initially, her goal as the White Cat was to use her powers to steal money from the rich, including her own family, and give it out to people living in Shantytown, the poor section of Balduq. She believes this is the only way to use her family and its connections to make a positive change. However, it turns out that the more money she gave away, the lazier the residents of Shantytown became. After meeting the Crimson King and reconciling with her sister, Krysha resolves to be an inspiration to those in need by opening her own flower shop in Shantytown, actively working to make the slums a better place. Her experiences with the other Monstrums helped her gain the confidence she needed to negotiate with her father and break free from her insecurities.
Krysha (left), White Cat (right)
This next one is a real winner, let me tell you. Credo Aiblinger, or as most people know him, the Feral Hawk, is the most notorious of the Monstrums and is the main reason for their bad reputation. You see, one of his favorite things to do is to randomly assault people in the streets and call it “divine retribution.” In fact, he enjoys the curse because he gets to fight all the time (though he does wish he could leave town). Believe me, though; he is actually a good guy deep down. Okay, in all seriousness, Credo actually has more going on internally than any other character. Starting with his backstory, Credo was a war orphan who grew up in the church’s orphanage. A prodigy at most things, his ability to quickly master any skill led to him never being able to feel accomplished and isolated him from the other kids. However, after he got into a fight with a noble who mocked the orphanage, the noble’s family sent bandits to attack the orphanage. Credo ended up killing one of the bandits while fighting back, but the bandits killed Sister Lisa, the only person who ever listened to his problems. With nowhere left to go, he joined the knights, but the thrill he experienced from fighting for his life became ingrained in him and is what led to him challenging people to fight all the time. Later on, we also learn that Credo is a type of person known as a Berserker, which is also a large factor as to why he is always looking for a fight. Trapped by the feeling of never being accomplished and the battle-hungry nature of the Berserker, Credo’s only hope of being satisfied is by finding someone stronger than him. He finally finds this in Adol. After a one-on-one duel, he learns to control his anger towards the world and becomes a true rival to Adol. A master swordsman in his own right, Adol becomes a symbol to Credo for what real strength is and is someone he can compare himself to and aspire to surpass. His time with the other Monstrums gave him other people he could confide in and be honest around. After fighting the darkness within himself, Credo finds a way to move forward and bring real meaning to his life. After the events of the game, Credo joins a mercenary group so that he can travel the world and one day have a rematch with Adol.
Credo (left), Feral Hawk (right)
Moving right along, we have the Doll, Anemona Rijndael. Literally a sentient doll, Anemona just one day found herself with consciousness, and her desire to see the world resulted in her being able to move, but she could shake the feeling that she was supposed to be looking for something important. Her powers as a Monstrum awoke in response to this desire, and she believes that Adol is the key to unlocking her memories and uncovering her purpose. Acting on these feelings without knowing why she has them leaves her feeling trapped by a past she doesn’t remember. Her salvation only comes when the party discovers who her original owner was and why she was given a will of her own. With her past no longer being her objective, Anemona can move on and discover whole new feelings she didn’t know before.
Doll
Up next, we have the Raging Bull, who is anything but Yufa Gamberg. Yufa is a hardworking girl who hides her burdens under her usually sunny disposition. After her adoptive parents died in the Erdlingen War, she was left to raise her three younger siblings all by herself. Because of this, she not only works on her family farm but also as a waitress at the Dandelion bar. Add some Monstrum responsibilities on top of this, and you have one tired woman. Trapped by all her responsibilities, Yufa is constantly on the verge of collapsing, but she grins and bears it all for the sake of her family. After allying herself with the other Monstrums, she learns that her burdens do not need to be shouldered by her alone. All of her new friends, as well as her boyfriend Felix, all support her and help her whenever her load becomes too cumbersome.
Yufa (left), Raging Bull (right)
And lastly, phew, I feel like I’ve been up all night writing this, is that the sun rising, anyway, the Renegade. He is the only other Monstrum apart from Hawk, who initially likes the curse because his true identity is that of one Jules Noah. Jules suffers from an incurable degenerative disease that leaves him bound to a wheelchair and is expected to die from it pretty soon. His Monstrum powers are the only way Jules can experience being able to walk around be free from his prison of a body. But even in his Monstrum form, Jules is still physically weaker than all the other Monstrums, which is reflected in his gameplay as he exclusively fights using projectiles and other spells with his staff. Jules has a very pessimistic outlook on life due to the hand he has been dealt. But hope is on the horizon as his adoptive father, a scientist, tells Adol in the epilogue that he has found a lead for curing Jules’s disease. The stories of Adol’s adventure had filled Jules with boundless curiosity, and the two promise to meet again someday.
Jules (left), Renegade (right)
In closing, I guess all I can say is that if Ys IX has taught me anything, it’s that the prisons we build inside ourselves are just as if not more effective at holding us back and keeping us from being who we truly are than actual prison is. Whether it be some curse, expectations, responsibility, their own body, or a literal jail, there are many things that can prevent someone from being free.
Works Cited:
Sartore, Melissa. “What It Was like to Be a Prisoner at the Tower of London.” Ranker, Ranker,
12 May 2022, https://www.ranker.com/list/daily-life-in-the-tower-of-london/melissa-sartore.
Winter, Christine. “Prisons and Punishments in Late Medieval London.” Prisons and
Punishments in Late Medieval London | Royal Holloway Repository, 2012,
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/66be0e74-3911-4bf7-b32e-17597027f1bf/1/.
Image credits:
All Ys-related pictures were taken from the Ys wiki. Isu.fandom.com
Tower of London and Westminster Abbey pictures were taken from Wikipedia.
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