Ys VIII's PC launch will boast a better localisation
Durante is helping with technobits
There is one unexpected benefit to the PC version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana [official site] being delayed: ours won't launch with wonky localisation. Western publishers NIS America have apologised for the poor state of the game's localisation when it hit consoles in September -- when it was originally due to hit PC too -- with oddities, errors, and assorted wonk. Fresh folks are reworking the localisation now and NISA say the PC version will launch with that included. They've drafted Durante to help the technical side on PC too.
NIS America president and CEO Takuro Yamashita issued a public apology yesterday, saying the localisation was unacceptable and should not have happened. "We have begun internally to investigate the causes of this situation as well as to implement steps to ensure that a similar situation does not occur again," he said.
"As for Ys VIII itself, we will have a new translator and editor go over the entire localization to fix grammatical errors, typos, inconsistencies, and also to take a fresh look at the dialog and characterizations. For the script, where necessary, we will re-translate and re-edit the game including updating voicework to reflect these changes."
This Imgur album collects a lot of wonky words and supposedly some item descriptions are switched too. But these shouldn't be problems for us.
NISA delayed the PC release of Ys VIII the day before it was due to launch, saying it needed more time. That was a shame, as Ys VIII was to be the first in the long-running JRPG series to hit western PCs and consoles simultaneously. NISA do seem to be using the extra time well, though.
They have called in Peter "Durante" Thoman to consult on PC performance issues, NISA explained in a dev update yesterday, and this has led to "significant" performance improvements. Durante is the fella whose free tools have fixed up shonky PC ports from Dark Souls to Deadly Premonition, who recently also chipped in on The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.
NISA haven't finalised a release date for the PC version of Ys VIII but estimate it needs about another two months. Mid-December-ish then, I suppose.