DANA may cry
While Ys VIII is a pretty accomplished game, one of the biggest complaints fans had with the title was its localization. Names for specific locations were simplified to a hilarious degree and the voice acting was generally subpar, unless you opted for the Japanese VO. As such, NIS America vowed to rework any lacking parts of the localization with a patch that was slated for later this month. That patch was a much larger undertaking than the publisher previously thought.
In a blog post on the company’s official website, Alan Costa (the Senior Associate Producer for NIS America) stated, “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. 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.“
As some of you may remember, the PC version of Ys VIII was delayed at the last minute to polish up the port. While that probably wasn’t because of any localization woes, that port is now being pushed back as well. Costa also brings this up, saying, “On that note, as we want this version to be the definitive release of the title, we will be holding the PC version back to coincide this this release 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.”
While this will be a bit of sad news for PC fans looking to finally get Adol’s latest adventure, at least the company is being vocal about the process. I can accept a delay based on quality assurance better than a game having 15 patches over the course of its life. That being said, I’d definitely understand if console fans were a bit cheesed off about this.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA Localization Update – Entry One [NIS America]