Well, this definitely isn’t good.
If you were looking to pick up Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana on the PC. Please let me be the first to ask you to go play something else. Fellow PC gamers, it appears that the port you may have been waiting on for a year, well it’s a mess. A big mess.
We’re talking about audio issues, the full-screen mode not working properly, artifacts, issues with the font/text, VSync not working correctly and more. Oh, it crashes, a lot. I could barely go 15 minutes before my game started crashing on me. I’ll just say that I’m not happy about this at all. Despite this being delay for months, NIS America still managed to drop the ball. And it’s not just me having these issues, as multiple users on Twitter and Reddit are reporting the same issues. Currently, the title is sitting at 72% of the reviews on Steam being negative.
This is definitely not good!
Well, it seems that NIS America has seen and likely heard about the issues with the title, and has issued a statement. Though, somehow I don’t think playing damage control at this stage of the game is going to help them. You can see the statement below:
Hello everyone,
Today we launched Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for Steam and for GOG.com. Awareness of certain issues has arisen from both internal testing and from submissions from diligent players eager to dive into the game.
We appreciate your enthusiasm, and thank for your patience.
To begin, we have isolated one of the widest-reported bugs concerning crashes occurring on start and subsequent issues related to controller support. We have created a tutorial to temporarily solve the issue while we implement a permanent solution. You can find out more in our Troubleshooting Forum post here.
We are currently investigating all reports coming in to our Troubleshooting Forum, so please continue to report any and all issues you are encountering. We kindly request that you include additional relevant information such as the steps to reproduce and your system specs.
Known Issues as of 4/16/18:
-VSync is not working
-Audio Issues
-Slight flickering in light in Eroded Valley & Towering Coral Forest
-Full screen mode detection is currently not functioning well
-Irregular shadows
-Text errors
-Controller Issues (Detection, Joystick Input)Roadmap/Order we plan on fixing:
-VSync issue to be fixed within 48 hours
-Controller Issues (Detection, Joystick Input)
-Fix flickering in Eroded Valley & Towering Coral Forest
-Fix irregular shadows
-Remaining issues noted aboveWith your help, we will address issues with the title, starting with critical fixes first such as client crashes, and proceeding from there. We would like to apologize for issues encountered, and reconfirm our commitment to fixing these issues in upcoming patches.
Thank you for your support,
-NISA Staff
I really don’t know what to say. First, we had the localization issue with the PS4 and PS Vita versions. Then the PC version ended up being delayed and we were told that it was in good hands. Now, this happens. At this point, my faith with NIS is really floundering. I can see why fans of Falcom’s titles really didn’t want NIS getting their hands on the Ys’s titles.
What really hurts is the roadmap only has a timeline for the VSync issues. The more serious issues such as the controller detection, full-screen mode, and the other graphical issues are up in the air. Hopefully, the rest of the issues get a patch and soon. Otherwise, it looks like I’ll be returning this game and I really don’t want to do that. But if you really want to play the game, then I’d recommend the PS4 version. If you’re dead set on playing a Ys title on the PC, then check out Ys Origin. It’s actually really good.