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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Review Thread

I've never played more than a few hours of any Ys game (and I have a Vita). Which game will I have the best time with as a newcomer?
 

preta

Member
I've never played more than a few hours of any Ys game (and I have a Vita). Which game will I have the best time with as a newcomer?

Any game is a perfectly fine place to start except Origin, which should be played after I and II as it is a direct prequel to them. Oath in Felghana, Origin, Seven and Memories of Celceta do all contain references to VI, but these are mostly pretty minor and not essential to understanding the story.
 

Ascheroth

Member
Any game is a perfectly fine place to start except Origin, which should be played after I and II as it is a direct prequel to them. Oath in Felghana, Origin, Seven and Memories of Celceta do all contain references to VI, but these are mostly pretty minor and not essential to understanding the story.
I disagree. Origin was my first Ys game. Only 1 & 2 shouldn't be played in reverse order, everything else is fair game if you ask me.

Either Origin or Felghana are the best entry points. Well, and possibly VIII now.
If you have a PC (or a toaster) there is a free demo for Origin on Steam.
 

preta

Member
I disagree. Origin was my first Ys game. Only 1 & 2 shouldn't be played in reverse order, everything else is fair game.

There are some cool parts in Origin that won't have as much/any impact if you play it before I and II. For example, the revelation that
Toal wrote the Books of Ys
, or that
Darm was Cain Fact all along
.

I would definitely not recommend Origin as a starting point at all. It really bothered me when the PS4/Vita OT title said you could start with it.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
I've never played more than a few hours of any Ys game (and I have a Vita). Which game will I have the best time with as a newcomer?

Oath or Seven in different ways

Depends on if you want a solo adventure with one character and minimal story and fast yet simple refined gameplay. Boss fights have a focus on jumping to avoid attacks or using the earth spell later on to block every now and then. Fighting in general is a simple attack string with holding a button down to charge one of 3 magic attacks for use when needed but as simple as it all is. It is very well done.

or

A more story based adventure with multiple characters you can control but jumping was removed in this release so the exploration is pretty flat on the plus side the combat feels a bit better and more energetic. Fights rely on using characters attack attributes for weakness building meter with normal attacks to do special attacks and parying/dodge roling to avoid attacks. This game has a bit more RPG to it.

And the secret answer is play some awesome rock'n bumper cars with Ys 1 & 2
 
I went Origins>I & II>VI>Felghana>Celteta>Seven so when it comes to order of playing I will say mine is one of the weirdest. I don't regret it though.

I won't say that Origins is a bad place to start the series obviously; I wouldn't have continue playing the series if that was the case. I did had a rough start with Yunica route in Origins (which is probably the first route people choose in that game) so if I were to recommend a place to start, it will either be Felghana or Seven. I feel after that after playing VIII I would recommend it over Seven, though.
 
I'm surprised there isn't a thread for the game.

I played the demo not knowing what to expect, and now I want to go to Best Buy and pick it up.

It's like Zelda meets Kingdom Hearts in 60 fps.
 

preta

Member
Any info on PC port quality yet?

Beta testers are under an NDA.

I cannot seem to decide whether I want the PS4 version or the Vita version... Such a struggle.

You absolutely want the PS4 version. It's 60 fps and has a very substantial amount of added content, including multiple new dungeons, bosses, and quests, a little extra story content, and other additions like suppression battles, which are almost Musou-like events. In contrast, there is nothing exclusive to the Vita version.
 

Eusis

Member
This is NISA's second highest-rated title on Metacritic, they did great by securing this game for them.
Much to the chagrin of Xseed and their most loyal fans admittedly. But it seems to have pushed the higher ups to get more PC ports so maybe it'll just be a temporary hiccup that ends up having us see a bunch of their non-PC games show up.
 

btkadams

Member
Beta testers are under an NDA.



You absolutely want the PS4 version. It's 60 fps and has a very substantial amount of added content, including multiple new dungeons, bosses, and quests, a little extra story content, and other additions like suppression battles, which are almost Musou-like events. In contrast, there is nothing exclusive to the Vita version.
Thank you! That’s all I needed. I cancelled my vita order and will just get the PS4 version.
 
I want the vita version as well. Have there been any reviews specific to the vita? How does it run compared to Celceta on vita?
 

StereoVsn

Member
This is NISA's second highest-rated title on Metacritic, they did great by securing this game for them.
Unfortunately by all reports localization took a hit because of NISA. That said yeah, at least we got PC port day to day.

I actually cancelled my PS4 pre-order and will wait for reports on the PC port state. Decide that I would rather have it there if it's decent.
 
Any gameplay of the crafting system?

I can make some later, but basically everything is done with a bartering/trading system since there's no currency on the island. There's an NPC that exchanges items, and offers "rare" items like accessories and trinkets that increase affinity when given to other NPCs. It's different from most other JRPGs since there's no money, but it's also nice how almost every material I've found can either be exchanged or upgraded to the next tier. Exploring, fighting monsters on the field and finding harvest points feels great when you can instantly complete quests and purchase new items because of it.

I'm past the halfway point, and my biggest complaints just come from the remnants of it originally being a Vita game; lots of invisible walls that make little sense (the wall will block jumping off a certain part of elevation, but won't be there a few steps away) and loading zones. The pacing is also a bit off with cutscenes that end with player control, only for the player to run forward for a few seconds and get dumped in another cutscene. I find myself questioning why the player has control during these narrative-heavy sections as a result. It's nothing the nice cutscene skip feature won't fix, but it does get tiresome to gain and lose control of the characters several times in a few minutes. The load times are never more than 2-3 seconds long, and after thinking about it, removing the loading zones and invisible walls would have required a complete redesign of how the enemy and material respawns work. None of these things are dealbreakers, but when you have to go the long way around due to an invisible wall or get stuck in a long chain of cutscenes, it can become a nuisance.
 

Jolkien

Member
As expected the localisation is lack luster, wish it was Xseed that did it, or that more company copy Xseed excellence.

Good reviews all around, I can't wait to jump in !
 

jamsy

Member
Played through the demo of this and ehh...It would be fine on the Vita, but on the PS4, it's a bit lackluster. I kept falling off those fucking vines you need to climb, which was incredibly poorly designed.

Also, I hate hate hate how these type of games have minimal voice acting. Either have it or don't. Hey you meet a character and the first 2 lines are voiced and the rest is text. Like, why even bother with voice acting at that point?
 

Tohsaka

Member
As expected the localisation is lack luster, wish it was Xseed that did it, or that more company copy Xseed excellence.

Good reviews all around, I can't wait to jump in !

If it was XSEED there would likely be no PC version, at least not anywhere close to launch and it'd be dub only. It also probably wouldn't be getting released this year. I'm glad NISA got it, honestly.
 

preta

Member
If it was XSEED there would likely be no PC version, at least not anywhere close to launch and it'd be dub only. It also probably wouldn't be getting released this year. I'm glad NISA got it, honestly.

I think you'll change your tune when you actually see the localization quality. And the dub is not great - the voice cast is good and fitting for their characters, but the direction is unfortunately poor.

As for the PC version - Falcom themselves appear to be pushing for PC ports of their games these days, so I think that there would be a fair chance that XSEED would do one.

Yes, it almost certainly would have been released at least a few months later, but I'd take quality over getting a game a little sooner. Remember that NISA didn't even start working on the game until this year - for a game this size, there's no way that translation, editing, and QA could not have been rushed to some degree.
 
I hope the port is good, I have every title of the series released west, except for Celteta, in steam/gog.

Taking into account that the game shouldn't be too demanding I should be able to play this on my latop. I hope I don't need to get the ps4 version.


Edit: Saw your response, thanks.
 
Oath or Seven in different ways
Definitely not Seven, that was the first one with the new combat system and the first one with heavier story, and as such, it had flaws due to being first of its kind. Such as the 20 minutes of story slog at the beginning of the game before you are allowed to leave town to fight stuff. For someone who may not know if they like the series or not, better to start with a less experimental game - Ys: Oath in Felghana is a great one for that (it is the evolution of the experimental Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim’s gameplay), or Ys: Memories of Celceta (the evolution of Ys Seven’s gameplay), or maybe this game if it really is as good as the reviews say.
 

Tohsaka

Member
I think you'll change your tune when you actually see the localization quality. And the dub is not that great - the voice cast is good and fitting for their characters, but the direction is unfortunately poor.

I don't like dubs, which is why I mentioned the dub only thing. XSEED does good localization work usually and I'm grateful to them for bringing over games we probably wouldn't get otherwise, but they are definitely not infallible. They're not above completely rewriting lines to say something else, which stood out multiple times while I was playing Akiba's Beat earlier this year and the Japanese voices said something different than what the English text was displaying. I know translation is not a 1:1 thing but I don't want complete rewrites when there's nothing wrong with the original dialogue and it's not some sort of obscure cultural reference westerners wouldn't get.
 

preta

Member
I hope the port is good, I have every title of the series released west, except for Celteta, in steam/gog.

Taking into account that the game shouldn't be too demanding I should be able to play this on my latop. I hope I don't need to get the ps4 version.



Is that bad? I was under the impression that the effort could have been better and It seems to have negatively influenced reviewers on the story, but you're starting to get me worried here.

Seeing multiple reviewers cite the story as weak is concerning to me, because the story was overwhelmingly considered to be very good by everyone else I had talked to who'd played the JP version. (And I would agree with that.) From what I've seen of the localization, it's very flat and stiff and has occasional outright errors, although I've been told by someone who had a review copy that there aren't any errors major enough to cause issues with understanding the main story.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
I don't like dubs, which is why I mentioned the dub only thing. XSEED does good localization work usually and I'm grateful to them for bringing over games we probably wouldn't get otherwise, but they are definitely not infallible. They're not above completely rewriting lines to say something else, which stood out multiple times while I was playing Akiba's Beat earlier this year and the Japanese voices said something different than what the English text was displaying. I know translation is not a 1:1 thing but I don't want complete rewrites when there's nothing wrong with the original dialogue and it's not some sort of obscure cultural reference westerners wouldn't get.

Why not just import it then
Seeing multiple reviewers cite the story as weak is concerning to me, because the story was overwhelmingly considered to be very good by everyone else I had talked to who'd played the JP version. (And I would agree with that.) From what I've seen of the localization, it's very flat and stiff and has occasional outright errors.
Knowing the scene I wouldn't be too shocked if the community slapped together a translation patch
 

preta

Member
Why not just import it then

Knowing the scene I wouldn't be too shocked if the community slapped together a translation patch

Well, more of a re-edit. Which is actually already being worked on, though it'll probably be a bit before it's released. (I am not part of this project, to be clear.)
 

Tohsaka

Member
Why not just import it then

I do import games sometimes, but I'm not fluent in the written language. I can understand much more of the spoken language than I can kanji, which makes the localization differences stand out when there is voiced dialogue. Besides, "just import it" is not a valid rebuttal when someone wants an accurate translation and not a rewrite by an editor who thought their idea was better than the people who wrote it originally. I'm not saying NISA did a better job translating this game than XSEED would've since I've only played the demo of the English version, but I'm also not going to write it off without playing through the whole thing like some people apparently are.
 

Holykael1

Banned
Excellent reviews, hopefully the preorder will come in quickly, I'm thirsty for some Ys action, the series never disappointed
 
I have heretofore remained largely unspoiled.

I will do my best to remain that way, however I freely admit that Ys pulls me in ways that few other games do.

I'm getting the Vita version. And I might get the PS4 version at some point too.
 

dreamfall

Member
Where are the hell are PC previews? I understand that there's an NDA for the beta but this gives me no confidence. I mean, is this going to be a good port? Why are they not letting anyone speak on performance? The game is out in a matter of days, with no information for real. I'd like to play it on PC, as I've heartily enjoyed the releases on the platform (and I'm very grateful). But what is going on?
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
Leave it to me.

Yes.

Where are the hell are PC previews? I understand that there's an NDA for the beta but this gives me no confidence. I mean, is this going to be a good port? Why are they not letting anyone speak on performance? The game is out in a matter of days, with no information for real. I'd like to play it on PC, as I've heartily enjoyed the releases on the platform (and I'm very grateful). But what is going on?

I've heard from people a couple days ago the pc version is in suspect state and people have doubts they will be able to fix everything until release. So basically your fears in this case might not be unfounded.
 

Aeana

Member
Yeah I'm not going to get anyone in trouble but I've heard there's some pretty big bugs still left to work out.
 

Eila

Member
All this stuff sure is disheartening. I already pre-ordered on PC, and I hope it's playable day one.
 

Strings

Member
want to pick this up on vita

anybody beat it on vita and have opinions on it?

Played through Japanese release on Vita. Was rad - runs well, great game. That said, I'm going to be grabbing the PS4 version now because the added content is pretty significant, and it's definitely the definitive version.

Oh no -_- On both platforms I'm assuming ?

This would be just PC?
 

hongcha

Member
want to pick this up on vita

anybody beat it on vita and have opinions on it?

Yep, I beat it and loved it on Vita (took me about 50 hours, iirc). I prefer portables for these games, and it's one of the most visually impressive games on the Vita.
 
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