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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Developer(s)Nihon Falcom[a]
Publisher(s)NIS America[b]
  • JP: Nihon Falcom
Director(s)Takayuki Kusano
Producer(s)Toshihiro Kondo
Programmer(s)
  • Hideyuki Yamashita
  • Noriyuki Chiyoda
  • Atsushi Oosaki
Writer(s)
  • Toshihiro Kondo
  • Yoshihiro Konda
  • Syunsei Shikata
  • Yuuta Miyazaki
Composer(s)
  • Hayato Sonoda
  • Takahiro Unisuga
  • Yukihiro Jindo
  • Mitsuo Singa
SeriesYs
Platform(s)
PlayStation Vita
Release
July 21, 2016
  • PlayStation Vita
    • JP: July 21, 2016
    • NA: September 12, 2017
    • EU: September 15, 2017
    PlayStation 4
    • JP: May 25, 2017
    • NA: September 12, 2017
    • EU: September 15, 2017
    Windows
    • WW: April 16, 2018
    Nintendo Switch
    • NA: June 26, 2018
    • JP: June 28, 2018
    • PAL: June 29, 2018
    Amazon Luna
    • US: October 20, 2020
    Stadia
    • WW: April 1, 2021
    PlayStation 5
    • NA: November 15, 2022
    • EU: November 18, 2022
    • AU: November 25, 2022
    Android, iOS
    • WW: TBA
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana[c] is a 2016 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom and published by NIS America. A part of the Ys series, it was first released in Japan by Falcom for the PlayStation Vita in July 2016, with later worldwide releases for PlayStation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Luna, Stadia and PlayStation 5. An abridged version for Android and iOS, Ys VIII Mobile, is also scheduled for release. Ys VIII had sold over 500,000 copies by the end of 2018. The game was followed up by Ys IX: Monstrum Nox in 2019.

Plot

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Adol is on a passenger ship called the Lombardia that is headed from Xandria to the continent of Eresia, but the ship is attacked in the archipelagos of the Gaete Sea by a giant creature and is sunk, and when Adol wakes up, he realizes he landed on the shore of a cursed island known as the Isle of Seiren. On his search for other survivors, he teams up with the noblewoman Laxia von Roswell and fisherman Sahad Nautilus to help his fellow castaways to survive and find a way to get off the island. At the same time, he wants to find out what lies behind his dreams about Dana Iclucia, a mysterious girl from a prehistoric era who seemingly has a connection to the Isle of Seiren and Adol's fate.[1]

Adol's party is soon expanded to include Hummel Trabaldo, a transporter who was a passenger on the Lombardia, and Ricotta Beldine, a resident of the Isle of Seiren. While exploring the island for additional castaways, Laxia notes the creatures on the island are unlike anything known to the outside world. Citing her father's academic research, she concludes that the monsters are an extinct group of animals known as Primordials. Further exploration in the north of the island leads the group to the ruins of an ancient civilization known as Eternia, whose residents possessed a power known as Essence. It is here where the party discovers Dana, waking from a deep slumber, telling the group she is the last of the Eternians but does not know why, nor why she is alive in the current era, as she is suffering from amnesia.

The castaways begin to build a ship to escape the island; Adol's party continues to explore the island from clues on what sank the Lombardia. After research into the matter, it is discovered that a Primordial known as the Oceanus was responsible for the sinking of their ship, as it has historically attacked ships since before Dana's era. The castaways band together and defeat the Oceanus, allowing for safe travel in the surrounding sea. However, questions surrounding the Primordials and Dana's situation lead the group to continue to explore the island. By doing this, Dana begins to slowly regain her memories. She discovers that multiple meteorites crashed into Eternia long ago, killing many people and triggering events akin to a nuclear winter which led to the extinction of Eternians. This event was brought forth by a process called the Lacrimosa, which triggers an extinction event after the primary species on earth has run its course. During each Lacrimosa, one member of the species is chosen to survive and become an immortal Warden of Evolution, one who watches over the Lacrimosa and ensures the process is successfully carried out. Dana was chosen to be the protector representing Eternians; she resisted and put herself into a deep sleep until the next Lacrimosa would occur. Dana awoke in the present because the current Lacrimosa was beginning: the extinction of humans, to be accomplished through the revival of Primordials as the primary species. Consequently, Adol is selected to be the next Warden of Evolution, representing the human species.

With Dana's help, Adol's crew becomes the first group to resist the Lacrimosa, ending the process and ensuring the continued survival of the human race. Stopping the Lacrimosa does not go as planned, and the world begins to collapse. Dana uses her essence to disrupt the end of the world, but dies in the process. Shortly thereafter, while mourning the loss of Dana, the goddess of the world, Maia, makes an appearance, telling the group that Dana's sacrifice has led her to become the Goddess of Evolution, tasked with watching over the world. Dana and the other protectors appear; Dana wishes goodbye to Adol's group, while the other Protectors inform Adol the Lacrimosa may still need to be used in the future to prevent the world from collapsing. After the Protectors and Goddess' disappear, the castaways finish construction of their ship and sail home, parting ways and returning to their normal lives.

Gameplay

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. It builds on the gameplay foundation of Ys Seven and Ys: Memories of Celceta, where players control multiple main characters that can be switched between on-the-fly, each with their own play styles and unique skills. The player collects a variety of materials by defeating local wildlife and opening chests. These materials can be crafted into items that the player can use on their journey, such as healing items and stronger weapons. Various fellow shipwrecked passengers can be rescued and brought to the village where they will provide valuable services.[2]

There are three damage types, determined by a character's weapon: Slash, Strike, and Pierce. Enemies will take more damage from a damage type they are vulnerable against.[2] Skills can be assigned to a corresponding button and using skills requires SP, which can be refilled mainly by landing a fully-charged attack against an enemy. Each character has a powerful move called an EXTRA Skill that can only be used when the EXTRA Gauge is filled.[2]

Furthermore, players can attempt to parry attacks or evade them shortly before the attack lands. Successfully parrying an attack will activate Flash Guard for a very short period of time, where all damage from enemies is nullified and all your attacks will deliver critical damage. Similarly, successfully evading an attack by performing a dodge roll will activate Flash Move for a very short period of time, where everything but the player will move in slow motion.[2]

As the story progresses, the game continuously switches perspectives between its two protagonists—Adol and Dana. Adol's exploration of the Isle of Seiren can be affected by Dana's actions in her world, such as opening a new path or altering the landscape.[2] An experimental co-op multiplayer feature was added to the PC version in January 2020.[3]

Development

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Ys VIII was announced in August 2014 for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. It was released in Japan on July 21, 2016.[4][5] It is the first game in the Ys series to be released for PlayStation 4[6] as well as the first time that Falcom worked on a PlayStation 4 game.[7] First-print copies and pre-orders for the game included an art book.[8] The game was localized in English and French.[9]

Initially to be released in 2017, NIS America delayed the Windows version to a later date to improve its performance and localization, where it was released on April 16, 2018.[10][11][12] The game was released for the Nintendo Switch worldwide in June 2018.[13][14] A version for Amazon Luna was released on October 20, 2020.[15] It came in both standard edition and a limited edition with several collectibles.[16][17] A PlayStation 5 version was released worldwide in November 2022.[18]

The game's animated opening was produced by Studio 3Hz,[19] and was directed by Masayuki Sakoi. The CGI in the opening was produced by animation studio Orange. A port for Android and iOS, developed by Linekong Entertainment, was announced in April 2019 with a release date originally set for 2020 before being delayed.[20][21] Known as Ys VIII Mobile, it will feature a new party member named Rucol and reimagined locations.[21][22]

Reception

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana received "generally favorable" reviews for most platforms, according to review aggregator Metacritic;[23][25][26] the Windows version received "mixed or average" reviews.[24] Famitsu scored the game a 34/40.[29] They stated that the story is better than predecessors, and liked the pace of battle.[42][43]

The game's original English localization was met with criticism for its quality. In October 2017, Takuro Yamashita, the president and CEO of NIS America, issued a statement personally apologizing for it and announced intentions to fix it.[44] An update addressing these concerns, including fully rerecorded dialogue, was released in January 2018.[45] The game's release on Windows was also met with criticism due to its poor technical performance.[46] A patch addressing the issues was released in January 2020.[3]

The game won the award for "Best Action Combat System" at Game Informer's 2017 RPG of the Year Awards.[47]

Sales

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On its first week of release in Japan, the PlayStation Vita version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana reached second place in game sales charts with 43,753 units sold.[48] The PlayStation 4 version sold 27,741 units in its first week, surpassing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.[49] Falcom president and game producer Toshihiro Kondo stated that the Nintendo Switch version met sales expectations outside of Japan.[50] By October 2018, sales of the game surpassed over 500,000 copies,[51] and by August 2019, had reached over 600,000 copies worldwide.[52]

Notes

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  1. ^ PC and Nintendo Switch versions ported by Nippon Ichi Software.
  2. ^ Nintendo Switch version published by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan.
  3. ^ Japanese: イース VIII -Lacrimosa of DANA-, Hepburn: Īsu Eito -Rakurimosa obu Dāna-

References

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  1. ^ Tieryas, Peter (December 26, 2020). "Ys VIII's Compelling Story Makes You Care About Every NPC". Kotaku. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA - Official Site". Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA - Official Site. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Chalk, Andy (January 17, 2020). "Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana update includes major enhancements and 'experimental' co-op mode". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  4. ^ "『イース最新作（仮題）』はシリーズ初のプレイステーション4タイトル！". Famitsu (in Japanese). September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  5. ^ Romano, Sal (March 8, 2016). "Ys VIII for PS Vita launches July 21 in Japan, for PlayStation 4 in 2017 [Update]". Gematsu. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  6. ^ "イース』シリーズ最新作がPS4、PS Vitaで始動！ 発売は2015年に". Famitsu (in Japanese). September 1, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  7. ^ "イース最新作（仮題）』はシリーズ初のプレイステーション4タイトル！". Famitsu (in Japanese). September 4, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  8. ^ Sato (January 25, 2017). "Ys VIII's First-Print Copies On PS4 Come With A Neat Trails of Cold Steel III Art Book In Japan". Siliconera. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  9. ^ "Ys VIII débarque le 12 septembre en français". www.gamekult.com (in French). May 26, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  10. ^ Salbato, Mike (September 12, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana PC Version Delayed to Indefinite Date". RPGFan. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  11. ^ Lada, Jenni (January 10, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana Debuts On PCs On January 30, 2018". Siliconera. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  12. ^ Lada, Jenni (April 9, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana Comes To PCs On April 16, 2018". Siliconera. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  13. ^ Alexander, Julia (January 11, 2018). "Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana heads to Nintendo Switch this summer". Polygon. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  14. ^ Knezevic, Kevin. "Nintendo Switch Gets Definitive Version Of Well-Received Action RPG Ys VIII This June". GameSpot. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  15. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (October 20, 2020). "Hands-on with Amazon's Luna game streaming service". The Verge. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  16. ^ "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana coming to Switch this summer - Gematsu". Gematsu. January 11, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  17. ^ "日本ファルコム 近藤社長×日本一ソフトウェア 新川社長 両社長が語る、Nintendo Switch版「イースVIII」への道 | 日本一ソフトウェア". 日本一ソフトウェア (in Japanese). Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  18. ^ "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for PS5 launches November 15 in North America, November 18 in Europe". Gematsu. July 20, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  19. ^ "Studio 3Hz | スタジオ3Hz". Studio 3Hz | スタジオ3Hz (in Japanese). Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  20. ^ Romano, Sal (April 17, 2019). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana coming to smartphones worldwide". Gematsu. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  21. ^ a b "Ys VIII Mobile launches in 2020, playable at TGS 2019". Gematsu. September 10, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  22. ^ "Ys VIII Mobile TGS 2020 Online footage". Gematsu. September 27, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  23. ^ a b "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  24. ^ a b "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  25. ^ a b "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  26. ^ a b "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  27. ^ Veron, Red (September 1, 2017). "Review: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA". Destructoid. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  28. ^ Moore, Ben (September 16, 2017). "Review: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana". Easy Allies. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  29. ^ a b "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1441". Gematsu. July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  30. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (August 30, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Review". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Archived from the original on July 2, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  31. ^ Kemps, Heidi (September 14, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana Review". GameSpot. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  32. ^ Shive, Chris (August 30, 2017). "Review: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  33. ^ Sleeper, Morgan (June 18, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Review (Switch)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  34. ^ Gibson, Casey (June 19, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  35. ^ Jones, Jenny (August 28, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Review (PS4)". Push Square. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  36. ^ Ramsey, Robert (November 15, 2022). "Mini Review: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS5) - Falcom's Fantastic Action RPG Is Still a Joy". Push Square. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  37. ^ Moehnke, Mike (September 12, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Vita Review". RPGamer. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  38. ^ Papadimitriou, Charalampos (September 12, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana PS4 Review". RPGamer. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  39. ^ Heemsbergen, Derek (August 30, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana". RPGFan. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  40. ^ Hagues, Alana (September 12, 2017). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana". RPGFan. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  41. ^ Rogan, Rob (June 26, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana". RPGFan. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  42. ^ "イースVIII -Lacrimosa of DANA-（ラクリモサ・オブ・ダーナ）". Famitsu (in Japanese). July 13, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  43. ^ Sato (July 12, 2016). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Will Take About 40 Hours To Clear, Info On Day 1 Patch And DLC". Siliconera. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  44. ^ Yamashita, Takuro (October 10, 2017). "Important Notice Regarding Ys VIII". NIS America. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  45. ^ Romano, Sal (January 30, 2018). "Ys VIII relocalization update now available". Gematsu. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  46. ^ Glagowski, Peter (April 17, 2018). "NIS America has issued a statement on Ys VIII's poor PC port". Destructoid. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  47. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (January 7, 2018). "The 2017 RPG Of The Year Awards". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  48. ^ "Media Create Sales: 7/18/16 – 7/24/16". Gematsu. July 27, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  49. ^ "Media Create Sales: 5/22/17 – 5/28/17". Gematsu. May 31, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  50. ^ Crespo, Brad (July 3, 2019). "Falcom Interview With President Toshihiro Kondo". Noisy Pixel. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  51. ^ Romano, Sal (October 24, 2018). "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana sales top 500,000; 'Christmas Gift Package' edition announced for PS4 in Japan". Gematsu. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  52. ^ "『イースVIII -Lacrimosa of DANA- モバイル』日本向けサービスの事前登録を開始". Dengeki Online. August 15, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
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