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Game Night #13: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Dec. 3rd, 2018 11:21 pmSo, finally got up the willpower to play through this game. I bought the ps4 version at launch and was seriously disappointed by the original localization quality.
I haven't played too many of the Ys games. but the few I did play I enjoyed quite a bit. So I had big hopes going into this game. (Given I had the localization patch) it did not disappoint. You start the game on a ship that you're working aboard as a crew member for passage. After you're given a chance to talk to everyone on the ship the story proceeds and you're attacked by a sea monster and everyone is stranded on a deserted island with a bad reputation.
I like how they tend to use these types of things to explain why Adol ends up with nothing all over again every game. :P I'm assuming the sword Dogie tossed him to fight the sea monster with was probably the most powerful sword from the previous game in the series. Which is now lost at sea forever!
Hours were lost playing this game. I'd sit down and work on various quests and gather materials etc for Castaway Village while rescuing others from the ship and it would feel like I didn't get a heck of a lot done but it'd be hours later by the time I shut it off.
Without using a walkthrough, I appear to have gotten the True Ending. All quests completed, all location points found, all fish caught, all meals cooked, 100% of the map revealed, all of Dana's flashback quests completed, etc. The gallery had everything but 1 image unlocked, which I suspect may be due to an alternate ending - likely one where not all of Dana's story was completed. Certainly the last chapter appeared completely optional to me.
So quick pros/cons
Pros:
Battle system. I enjoyed the general feel of fighting in the game. Where it's ultimately an adventure game with rpg elements to it rather than the other way around, the enemies appear on the map and you ahve to fight them in real time. jumping/slashing/etc as you go. Or you can try to run from them and have the entire map of enemies eventually chasing behind you! :D
Night Exploration. Several of the side quests you can complete can unlock night exploration of a few of the areas on the island. Basically same level, but darker with different and stronger enemies. Additionally, and this is usually the reason for going there, some material components are only available during the night.
Dinosaurs. Lots of them on this island. It's part of the main story as you'd find out quickly enough. Pretty powerful buggers at that, although you wouldn't believe how awesome it is to be able to mow down an entire valley full of rapters that were chasing you down at the same time. Good way to level up once you hit that point apparently.
Cons:
Inconsistent invisible walls. Not entirely a bad thing to have invisible walls to prevent you from walking off a cliff in a game like this, but there were places where it wasn't consistent. Some places you could jump down safely, certainly, but nope! Not allowed! Then there was the few places in the last few dungeons where you could walk off of every ledge. Don't go training people to expect the game to save them just so you can let them fall to their deaths repeatedly later where enemies have attacks specially suited for pushing players off them...
Bad Initial translations. Sorry, having the physical copy I paid full price for I can't let this slip. Mainly because this is a game I can easily see myself playing again sometime down the road. And when I do, if that's after the PS4 is no longer supported by Sony, I'll have to contend with the horrible localization that's on the disc. (As I can't afford to keep the game installed permanently I'm sure. My ps4 only has the 500gigs on it. I'll certainly try to keep it installed but eh.)
Clothing/Accessories. Am I disappointed they had these in there? No, not at all! The thing that pissed me off is that just about all of it appears to be paid DLC. Unlocking most everything in the game I only found 2 accessories to wear. One for Adol (A necklace from Ricotta and some glasses for Laxia.) Other than that Adol gets some adventuring clothes at the start of the game + has his sailor uniform. Nobody else has a change of clothes by default. So they obviously added this whole thing in just to sell DLC. Adol's Silver Armor is a free DLC item, which I downloaded. Pretty sure everything else was paid DLC and after the horrible localization that took massive outrage to get fixed many months later, I ain't giving NIS a single penny for DLC.
I found the game a bit too easy by the end. Bosses were falling without too much trouble despite all their HP but that's a case of how over leveled I was due to the exploration plus the liberal use of the str/def/life/etc pots you can find that permanently increase stats a little bit. By the end of the game, if you've actually done the right quests and found the right chests, you'll be able to brew up the str/def potions on your own anyway. The costs to do so are pretty steep and don't become available til the final chapter of course, but at least that means you can trade up your weaker materials into the materials used to get the "aura grass" needed to brew the potions.
Clearing the game unlocked a few post-game activities, including a dungeon. I'll probably go through that at some point but probably not before Christmas.
Ultimately I enjoyed the game. I wouldn't pay full price for it digitally still but that's because I can't get behind the prices being set for digital games. One of those promises devs and publishers use to bat around in the early days about going digital was that it would be cheaper. Sadly that isn't the case, and more often than not I see digital prices stay high far longer than physical copies. (Despite that being the excuse for keeping them launch-price high for years after release at times.)
If you get it digitally, get it on sale. It'd a good game (with the patches).
That being said, because of the quality of the localization on the physical disc, I wouldn't recommend getting that full price either. If you find it used or on sale AND you plan on playing it while sony still has the patches available for it, then by all means pick it up. If you have the "Day One Edition" (which basically means "badly translated edition" in this case) then at least you'll have the artbook and music cd to make up for it. Assuming it's included. If it's used or has been gutted by the store, you never know if you'll get what you're suppose to.
Anyway, next up for game nights will be Shining Resonance Refrain I guess. It promises to have real time action fights as well. Might be a bit unfair to play this coming down from a Ys game though. ;)
I haven't played too many of the Ys games. but the few I did play I enjoyed quite a bit. So I had big hopes going into this game. (Given I had the localization patch) it did not disappoint. You start the game on a ship that you're working aboard as a crew member for passage. After you're given a chance to talk to everyone on the ship the story proceeds and you're attacked by a sea monster and everyone is stranded on a deserted island with a bad reputation.
I like how they tend to use these types of things to explain why Adol ends up with nothing all over again every game. :P I'm assuming the sword Dogie tossed him to fight the sea monster with was probably the most powerful sword from the previous game in the series. Which is now lost at sea forever!
Hours were lost playing this game. I'd sit down and work on various quests and gather materials etc for Castaway Village while rescuing others from the ship and it would feel like I didn't get a heck of a lot done but it'd be hours later by the time I shut it off.
Without using a walkthrough, I appear to have gotten the True Ending. All quests completed, all location points found, all fish caught, all meals cooked, 100% of the map revealed, all of Dana's flashback quests completed, etc. The gallery had everything but 1 image unlocked, which I suspect may be due to an alternate ending - likely one where not all of Dana's story was completed. Certainly the last chapter appeared completely optional to me.
So quick pros/cons
Pros:
Battle system. I enjoyed the general feel of fighting in the game. Where it's ultimately an adventure game with rpg elements to it rather than the other way around, the enemies appear on the map and you ahve to fight them in real time. jumping/slashing/etc as you go. Or you can try to run from them and have the entire map of enemies eventually chasing behind you! :D
Night Exploration. Several of the side quests you can complete can unlock night exploration of a few of the areas on the island. Basically same level, but darker with different and stronger enemies. Additionally, and this is usually the reason for going there, some material components are only available during the night.
Dinosaurs. Lots of them on this island. It's part of the main story as you'd find out quickly enough. Pretty powerful buggers at that, although you wouldn't believe how awesome it is to be able to mow down an entire valley full of rapters that were chasing you down at the same time. Good way to level up once you hit that point apparently.
Cons:
Inconsistent invisible walls. Not entirely a bad thing to have invisible walls to prevent you from walking off a cliff in a game like this, but there were places where it wasn't consistent. Some places you could jump down safely, certainly, but nope! Not allowed! Then there was the few places in the last few dungeons where you could walk off of every ledge. Don't go training people to expect the game to save them just so you can let them fall to their deaths repeatedly later where enemies have attacks specially suited for pushing players off them...
Bad Initial translations. Sorry, having the physical copy I paid full price for I can't let this slip. Mainly because this is a game I can easily see myself playing again sometime down the road. And when I do, if that's after the PS4 is no longer supported by Sony, I'll have to contend with the horrible localization that's on the disc. (As I can't afford to keep the game installed permanently I'm sure. My ps4 only has the 500gigs on it. I'll certainly try to keep it installed but eh.)
Clothing/Accessories. Am I disappointed they had these in there? No, not at all! The thing that pissed me off is that just about all of it appears to be paid DLC. Unlocking most everything in the game I only found 2 accessories to wear. One for Adol (A necklace from Ricotta and some glasses for Laxia.) Other than that Adol gets some adventuring clothes at the start of the game + has his sailor uniform. Nobody else has a change of clothes by default. So they obviously added this whole thing in just to sell DLC. Adol's Silver Armor is a free DLC item, which I downloaded. Pretty sure everything else was paid DLC and after the horrible localization that took massive outrage to get fixed many months later, I ain't giving NIS a single penny for DLC.
I found the game a bit too easy by the end. Bosses were falling without too much trouble despite all their HP but that's a case of how over leveled I was due to the exploration plus the liberal use of the str/def/life/etc pots you can find that permanently increase stats a little bit. By the end of the game, if you've actually done the right quests and found the right chests, you'll be able to brew up the str/def potions on your own anyway. The costs to do so are pretty steep and don't become available til the final chapter of course, but at least that means you can trade up your weaker materials into the materials used to get the "aura grass" needed to brew the potions.
Clearing the game unlocked a few post-game activities, including a dungeon. I'll probably go through that at some point but probably not before Christmas.
Ultimately I enjoyed the game. I wouldn't pay full price for it digitally still but that's because I can't get behind the prices being set for digital games. One of those promises devs and publishers use to bat around in the early days about going digital was that it would be cheaper. Sadly that isn't the case, and more often than not I see digital prices stay high far longer than physical copies. (Despite that being the excuse for keeping them launch-price high for years after release at times.)
If you get it digitally, get it on sale. It'd a good game (with the patches).
That being said, because of the quality of the localization on the physical disc, I wouldn't recommend getting that full price either. If you find it used or on sale AND you plan on playing it while sony still has the patches available for it, then by all means pick it up. If you have the "Day One Edition" (which basically means "badly translated edition" in this case) then at least you'll have the artbook and music cd to make up for it. Assuming it's included. If it's used or has been gutted by the store, you never know if you'll get what you're suppose to.
Anyway, next up for game nights will be Shining Resonance Refrain I guess. It promises to have real time action fights as well. Might be a bit unfair to play this coming down from a Ys game though. ;)
