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TL;DR

Another great entry into the Ys franchise. The Party System gameplay here is at it probably at its best thanks to the peak refinement and new additions. Story-wise it's good but it's boggled down by pacing issues. Having a game finally meant for home consoles and PC from the beginning greatly improves it's presentation.
Wholeheartedly recommend, especially after you have other Ys games under your belt.

FULL REVIEW; UNMARKED SPOILERS WARNING

Talk about a game that is simultaneously built different, yet also familiar and comfy. Maybe it plays into the game's theme perfectly. I understand where a friend of mine meant in that everything about it was so different from previous Ys games. However, unlike them, I found it a welcome change of pace and went through to the end to beat it.
As usual, we begin with the gameplay. Most of everything from Ys 8 and what that game improved upon is here. You have your three person party system with different attack types. You have a simple 3-hit combo with four mappable skills that do more damage. You also have your super special EXTRA move where you can unleash a big attack.
However, there are some small differences thanks to the new additions. Picking up from earlier, the EXTRA moves are actually gimped a bit here from what they were from Ys 7, Memories of Celceta, and 8. Why is that? Well, it's because of the new BOOST system, AKA Ys' own devil trigger. It does exactly what you expect a DT to do. Attacks are faster and do more damage, you go faster, SP and HP constantly regen, all while this Boost meter goes down. From there you can do flurries of attacks and skills, and the intended purpose of the EXTRA skill is to use it at the end of Boost Mode. Of course, you can also just execute the EXTRA skill right away, but that defeats the purpose of the Boost meter. This meter fills up and stays up by just constantly attacking, meaning it's super easy now to get EXTRAs in. It starts draining the moment you stop.
Easily the most important addition and the best part are the Monstrum Gifts. Each time you gain a new party member, you gain the ability to use their Gift with any character and each one is super helpful and useful in their own way. I did find the last one, Shadow Dive, not as useful and more situational. And Valkyrie Hammer is basically just the charge attack that refills SP from before but now it can break things. This means yes, you have to wait for the charge ability. It's a con for sure but considering it also refills from killing enemies and combat, and adding the Skill Finish system, in which half SP spent is granted back for killing an enemy with a skill, I honestly didn't find myself using it much to recharge SP.
Otherwise most everything here is the same but refined further. Material crafting, material trading, sidequests, etc. There are some new additions in Silhouette and Morbihan Mart, as well as the Nox Lantern. Silhouette basically acts as an instant shop so you don't have to go to all the shops in Balduq yourself. Morbihan is however EASILY the best addition. It lets you BUY MATERIALS WITH GOLD. I always appreciate more anti-grind features, especially after beating Ys 7's grinding hellhole. The fact that it gives so many new ways to get materials besides chests, grinding, and trading is great, especially since trading requires so much for so few of the next rank.
So you may be asking what's so different from previous Ys games, that thing I was mentioning earlier. Well, it's primarily because of it's structure. Normally, Ys is a semi-linear game in which you explore areas consecutively with rarely any backtracking, and usually any returns to areas bring along huge refreshes. This time instead, the game has Balduq and some surrounding areas as giant hubs and the dungeons being inside those hubs. So it takes on a more traditional "open-world" style of RPG.
Though however it still retains somewhat of the linearity as you have to fight in Grimwald Noxs or Eoses, which require 100 Nox points, to unlock new areas both for the story and for side areas related to completion. Nox points are earned either through fighting Lemures in the Balduq hub or completing sidequests.
The Grimwald Nox segments are essentially Ys 8's Raids but MUCH better. It's much more clear what the objective is and where the enemies are coming from, not to mention that the traps and stuff are also MUCH MORE useful. There's also an additional mode besides the usual tower defense. The additional gameplay is where you hunt down crystals before a timer runs out. When you get enough crystals, the Boss shows up and you can either fight the Boss and get an instant clear, or hunt down the rest of them. Definitely more fun.
The story is also very enjoyable and I found it well written for the most part. There's enough mystique and intrigue to keep you engaged, plenty of references to previous titles that had me hyped, as well as greatly enjoyable characters both in the party and in the NPCs that help you out at the Dandelion.
However its biggest problem is its pacing. The beginning is a slow buildup and you'll be stuck with two party members for a long time before getting your third, because through each consecutive chapter, you earn a new Monstrum and it generally focuses on developing them as characters. All the while, the main storyline looms overhead and the focus is constantly shifting between characters and overarching. Then, throughout the final two chapters, it proceeds to go extremely fast and constantly drop bombshells as well as not-so-subtle hints.
In combination with the sidequests, it felt like my attention was being pinballed everywhere as opposed to my favorite and my personal opinion of peak Ys, 8. 8 felt cohesive and well-paced throughout the game, sidequests included, because they were structured around the game's setting and story. 9's however, definitely feels like typical RPG sidequests at times and usually just serves in some particular quests to develop the main party more.
The only sidequests I felt that blended in well were the prison break sequences in which you gained a new NPC ally. It fits in with the story better and helps you see more of the mystery surrounding Balduq Prison. Which then leads me into my last bit about the story.
Though the bombshell's buildup was a bit on the poor side, the bombshell itself was quite well done and nuts. The fact that you were seeing two Adols was because of cloning, and that your entire party is clones too, is great. It brings up a lot of questions including: is the "real" Adol I just saw in that tube even the "real" Adol at all? Chatelard is one, and later you find out Marius is one of the Romun Emperor. How many other citizens are just homunculi of other people? It's great.
The best scene is easily seeing the fusion of Crimson King back into the real Adol's body. Lotta Kingdom Hearts type wacky imagery with the two selves being underwater and whatnot. It's also just great to hear Adol's voice for more than 3 seconds and hear him as a character speak. Not to mention the final boss, Atria, being ANOTHER Adol, all made from a mad alchemist who stalked you (which explains the reappearance of old Ys game bossfights), is just the cherry on top.
Because of the anti-grind features and peak storytelling at the point, the endgame is actually my favorite in all of Ys period, even surpassing 8 in that specific regard. And the ending images. Credo with Geis as a merc? Lost my shit. I knew there were way more references but considering my experience with the series is limited to 8, 7, and now this game, I probably would've appreciated them even more.
Despite it's faults, with everything else it did so spectacularly, I have a feeling even that as I play more Ys games and get to my friend's favorites, that Ys 9 will actually score pretty high on my own tier list. I still don't think it'll be number one, but top 3 for sure.