Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana came to PC in April 2018, but despite a multi-month delay leading up to that release it was in rough shape when it arrived. Several quick patches followed to smooth out the worst of the problems, tapering off in June of that year, and the "mostly positive" user reviews on Steam suggests that the worst of the issues have been addressed.

Today a major new update went live, courtesy of Peter "Durante" Thoman, and this one promises to go a lot farther than the others, with improvements to graphics, performance, and overall stability, plus the addition of an experimental two-player co-op mode. It sounds a little limited—there must be two or more characters in the party in order for the second player to join, spirit points are shared, the second player will not benefit from "AI cheats" like AI-controlled characters do, and there will only be limited support for troubleshooting because none of this is officially supported—but it's a way to enjoy the game with a bud that we didn't have previously.

The new Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana update is live now. It's also on sale on Steam for half price—$30/£22.50/€27.50—until January 20. The full changelog is below.

Graphics/Performance:

• Arbitrary main rendering resolution enabled
• Improved frame-pacing and animation sync accuracy at all framerates
• Improved menu opening/closing behavior
• Character and enemy animations now correctly timed at 100+ FPS
• Support for high-refresh monitors and >60 Hz V-sync
• Replaced ineffective anti-aliasing blur filter with high-quality screenspace AA
• Bloom, refraction, and glare post-processing effects now scale with resolution
• Minimap rendering resolution now adapts to rendering resolution, preventing pixelated map at high resolution
• Greatly improved quality of menu backgrounds (replacing low-res screen capture)
• Improved standard shadow filtering without performance loss, plus two new, higher quality filter options
• Added option for rendering additional environment shadows
• Added supersampling/subsampling option (which also affects secondary 3D rendering)
• Improved shadow rendering performance by preventing unnecessary memory traffic
• Fixed animation speed of HUD elements at >30 FPS (e.g. full health bar)
• Improved the quality of volumetric lighting
• Implemented HBAO+ ambient occlusion as alternative higher-quality SSAO option
• Added a draw distance setting which applies to grass/clutter, monsters and NPCs
• Implemented anisotropic filtering setting
• Added high-quality texture pack (generated from original sources, partially with AI upsampling, and full mipmaps)
• Character poses in the equip menu now update at >30 FPS

Input/UI:

• Improved camera mouse controls, replacing joystick emulation with direct 1:1 control
• Movement keys are now individually bindable
• Added keybinding for walking (slow movement) with keyboard/mouse controls
• Changed default bindings to fit common usage by PC gamers

Stability:

• Fixed multiple video memory leaks
• Fixed potential crash when switching between languages
• Switched to 64-bit build to prevent address space fragmentation issues in long sessions
• Improved render thread synchronization to prevent specific types of race condition crashes
• Removed superfluous asset encryption

Miscellaneous:

• Fixed unlocking of some achievements when playing with mouse/keyboard controls
• Fixed several typos and dialogue/text issues throughout the game
• Fixed slightly-too-low cloud save limit when using a very large number of saves

Co-op mode:

• Need to supply two Xinput controllers
• You must have 2 or more characters in the party in order for the second player to join the game.
• SP is shared
• Second player does not receive the “AI cheats” (ie. AI controlled characters only take half damage, whereas second player in co-op mode will take the full amount of damage.)
• Not officially supported and limited support will be available for troubleshooting

To enable co-op mode:

• Open Steam libraries through the Steam client
• Right-click on Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, and click “Properties”
• Click “Set Launch Options”
• Input “--coop” into the parameter and click “OK.”
• Launch the game
• Press “Start” on the second controller to enable second player

Nihon Falcom has confirmed that a new Ys title is in development.

RPGSite reported that in an interview with the French website ActuGaming.net, Nihon Falcom President Toshihiro Kondo stated the company is working on a new Ys game, and that it will be a direct sequel to Ys VIII.

Translated from the original French, Kondo said “Regarding the Ys series, we are working on a new game. It will not be a remake but a brand new title. It will be about Adol and it will be right after the events of Ys VIII. I hope you will look forward to it.”

The Ys series has been gradually trickling onto PC for the last five or six years. The most most recent entry, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, arrived on PC in April after a sequence of delays led publisher NIS America put the project on hold and replace the team who had been working on the port up to that point. 

The problem, apparently, was getting the new engine to run smoothly on PC. It seems the new team met with mixed success, as many of the game’s Steam user reviews complain about performance issues.

No further details regarding the new Ys game were revealed by Toshihiro, although the announcement of a whole new Ys game is in itself a fair surprise, as fans were anticipating a remake of Ys V. Hopefully we'll hear more about the sequel soon.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was originally meant to launch last September. But in the days leading up to its release date, publisher NIS America announced that the PC port would be delayed indefinitely. In November, the publisher elaborated that the JRPG would release in 2018, and while localization issues were emphasized, there were also clearly some technical issues that needed addressing.

Skip to April 2018, and Ys VIII is finally on Steam, but don't get your hopes up: the game is currently sitting on a "Mostly Negative" average, with the vast majority of reviewers reporting a technical mess. 

"It's a lazy PS4 port through and through," reads the most upvoted review on Steam. "Barebone graphical options, fixed internal resolution... gamepad issues, horrendous keyboard+mouse support... a Dark Souls 1 PC tier port, if you want a comparison."

That's the prevailing sentiment, though there are a few outliers. Sadly, it's not unusual for NIS games to receive poor PC ports: the original Disgaea released in less than ideal circumstances in 2016,  though it appears most of the problems have since been fixed up. More infamously, the PC port of Tales of Symphonia was woeful upon launch, though that has since been fixed as well. So I'm hopeful that Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana will also be fixed over the coming weeks. In the meantime, you might want to wait. 

The PC release of Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana (which has not yet happened) has been an ugly affair. One day before its originally scheduled launch in September 2017, it was delayed. In November it was delayed again to 2018, and then in January of this year, yet again. The situation was so far out of control that publisher NIS America put everything on hold indefinitely and brought in another developer to take over the job. 

The new guys appear to be working out, as NIS America president Takuro Yamashita told Greg's RPG Heaven that the game is now slated to be out in April. I have no idea what Takuro Yamashita actually looks like, and so I reached out to NIS America to ensure that the guy in the video wasn't just someone they found at a coffee shop on the corner. A studio rep confirmed that the person in the video is in fact Yamashita, and that he did say Ys 8 will come to the PC in April. 

That's a positive development, although given the game's history I'm not sure I'd look at it is a carved-in-stone guarantee. But if nothing else, it's nice to know NIS America isn't just throwing in the towel and going for a drink. The rep said the "April window" will be confirmed next week, along with "more details about the progress with the PC development." 

Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana's PC port has been delayed indefinitely, just 10 days after it was given a concrete release date of January 30. The game is suffering from massive framerate drops in certain sections, and publisher NIS America is bringing in a new developer to sort it out. 

It's disappointing, especially since the game has already been delayed by a few months because of localisation problems. NIS America said all of its PC builds had suffered from "low framerate issues and memory leak problems" but admitted that it "underestimated the severity" of the issues. It wasn't until the latest beta test (presumably during the past week or so) that it became clear that the game could not release in its current state.

The company had intended to leave the "core programming" of the game alone and just focus on porting it to PC, but now it's going to have to play around with the innards. The memory leak problem should be solved in the next couple of days, but fixing the framerate is a bigger job.

"As the PC version of the game was originally envisioned as a port, we avoided touching the core programming as much as possible and focused on PC performance optimization. However, in light of the feedback of those who have participated in the second beta test, we have concluded that we cannot avoid modifying the core programming," it said in a Steam post.

The new developer, which was not named, will come on board at the end of the month to help fix the issues. NIS America will monitor progress and then decide on a release schedule, giving regular updates in the meantime.

"Again, we truly regret that we underestimated the severity of the issues that have surfaced (and how long it would take to resolve them), and for that, NIS America sincerely apologizes to all of you for this unexpected delay. We are fully aware of how much our fans have been anticipating this release, and will do our very best to launch the game the way it is meant to be launched: without any issues, game-breaking bugs, or errors."

Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana hit a few snags last year on its way to a launch that was ultimately pushed into early 2018 because of some unexpectedly deep-rooted localization problems. With early 2018 now upon us, publisher NIS America has firmed that up to January 30, and also opened its doors to beta testing applications. 

"Included in the PC release are game optimizations and the localization revisions originally announced in late 2017," the company said on Steam. "The localization revisions include improvements to the game’s script, adjustments to graphical text, and re-recorded audio and will be implemented across PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions simultaneously." 

For the first week following the game's release, owners will also be able to download Adol's Adventure Essentials, a mini art book, a soundtrack sampler, and Laxia’s “Eternian Scholar” Costume for free. And in case you didn't see it in the tweet, NIS America is also taking applications for the beta, which is worth signing up for even if you're not interested in testing: Everyone accepted into the beta test will be rolled over to the full version of the game when it's released for free. 

Ys Eight: Lacrimosa of Dana, which was originally slated to debut on Steam in mid-September, has been delayed once again. Publisher NIS America announced early this week that the localization overhaul it began in October is a bigger job than expected, and so the game won't actually be out until sometime in 2018. 

Senior associate producer Alan Costa said in a blog post that NIS America is "addressing the localization of Ys Eight from the ground up," which includes revising the translation with a new translator, a complete re-edit of the script with corrections to item names and descriptions, new voice recordings, and "debugging the new build." The developers are also seeking "external feedback" on the changes made. 

"This is going to come as no surprise to many of you, but after beginning this revision, we have realized that due to the scope of this undertaking, we will unfortunately not be able to release by the end of this month as we had originally intended," Costa wrote. "I don't want to throw out a hard date then have to backtrack again, but, barring any unforeseen issues, we are currently looking to get this out early next year." 

He added that, because NIS America wants this to be "the definitive release of the title," the PC version will be held back as well. "While this does constitute a further delay of the PC version, please rest assured that this time will be used to further optimize the game," he wrote. 

The first delay of Ys Eight came just one day before its scheduled release; localization issues were initially blamed, but this "update and progress report" from mid-October also points a finger at underlying technical problems. Peter "Durante" Thoman came on to help, which resulted in "significant improvements in performance." But it also led to "an overwhelming number of system issues from both our internal QA Team and our Beta testers," which NISA said "will take considerable time to repair."

Thanks, Gematsu.

Ys Eight: Lacrimosa of Dana was supposed to come to the PC in mid-September. But one day prior to its scheduled release it was delayed, with no word of a new release date, "due to continued efforts in improving gameplay quality." Exactly what that meant wasn't made clear, but it may have something to do with the English translation. Via DualShockers, the president of NIS America has apologized for its poor quality, and said that an updated localization is in the works. 

"It has come to my attention that the quality of the Ys VIII localization has not reached an acceptable level by our own standards, but most importantly by yours," Takuro Yamashita wrote. "As president of NIS America, Inc. I want to apologize to you personally for this grave error. This situation should not have happened – especially to a game as wonderful as Ys VIII and by a company that strives to deliver the very best customer experience in each title." 

Yamashita said that an internal investigation has been undertaken to figure out how the shoddy translation was allowed to pass, and to ensure that it doesn't happen again. He added that a new translator and editor will go over the entirety of Ys Eight "to fix grammatical errors, typos, inconsistencies, and also to take a fresh look at the dialog and characterizations," and edit—with updated voice acting—wherever necessary. 

"We plan to have this work done by the end of November and will offer the updated localization free of charge for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game via patch," he wrote. "The Steam version of the game will include this localization in its initial release." 

The Google translation is very rough, but Japanese site Automaton (via NeoGAF) suggested that at least some of the problems with the translation are the result of the move from XSeed Games, "a marvelous affiliate company," to NIS America. It also includes a link to an email posted to Pastebin which breaks down the issues more clearly. 

"There is a clear lack of editing, which has resulted in stiff and awkward text in tutorials, item and area names and dialogue, as well as homogenization of character personalities and quirks. This harms the fantastic character writing and compelling plot," it says. There is also "an occasional lack of consistency with terminology established in past Ys locations." 

Assuming nothing else gets in the way, the end-of-November timing on the localization update would suggest that the PC release of Ys Eight: Lacrimosa of Dana will take place sometime in December. I've reached out to NIS America for more information, and will update if I hear more. 

Update: Following GOG's confirmation that its version of Ys Eight would be delayed as well, NIS America said in an email that it would actually release on schedule—that is, today—and that only the Steam edition has been pushed back. And the game is in fact still available for purchase on GOG. I have reached out to all involved for more information, and will update yet again if and when the situation becomes even more confusing.

The Steam version, by the way, no longer indicates a 2017 release, but now says simply that it's "coming soon."

Original story:

We noted in our list of six NIS America games coming to the PC this year that Ys Eight: Lacrimosa of Dana is the first in the series to come to Western shores in nearly a decade. In fact, it was supposed to arrive tomorrow, September 12, alongside the PS4 and Vita releases in North America and Europe. But just one day ahead of its scheduled release, the publisher has put everything on hold, and there's now no indication as to when it will be out. 

"We regret to inform everyone that the release date for Ys Eight: Lacrimosa of Dana on PC has been pushed back due to continued efforts in improving gameplay quality," NIS America wrote. "We sincerely apologize to our fans who have been looking forward to this release. Ultimately, our goal is for fans to enjoy a high-quality game. We are providing the extra care in the PC development of the game by taking time to enhance the overall quality of gameplay." 

The publisher said that a new release date will be announced as soon as one has been set, and also provided a link to instructions on requesting a Steam refund for those who prepurchased and want out. "For any purchases or pre-orders made outside of the Steam channel, please contact the corresponding refund support for that channel," it added. 

Unfortunately, NIS America hasn't said anything more specific about exactly why the game has been delayed on PC, and in fact it retweeted a link to Steam pre-purchases just two days ago—so whatever happened, it was presumably a very recent development. Regardless of the details, it's a very inauspicious beginning for NIS America: Coincidence or not, at least a couple of Steam users have pointed out that Ys Eight is actually its first kick at that particular can—previous YS games have been published on Steam by Xseed.