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Ys VIII PS4 launches May 25 in Japan

I think everyone agrees the Vita is basically done as a platform. The point is though, there's a sizeable audience of 100-200k on it in Japan who for some reason never moved to PS3 even. Maybe they really like portable gaming. So where does this lead developers like Falcom if the PS4 audience doesn't grow and pick up where the PS3 and Vita left off? Could be scary.

i really don't think there's anything scary about supporting the switch. the issue is getting a fanbase established where there hasn't been one in over a decade, but that process could speed itself up if other ps vita/ps4 developers do the same thing.

alternatively, falcom might be thinking a little more internationally. it wouldn't hurt, to be honest, if they were thinking about the us and europe if it only came to supporting the ps4.
 
I hope they return the platforming sections and allow the characters to jump like on Oath. I really miss that as well as the uses it does in boss fight pattern.
 
I hope they return the platforming sections and allow the characters to jump like on Oath. I really miss that as well as the uses it does in boss fight pattern.

What do you mean? This game reintroduced jumping to the franchise. Were you referring to some sort of cut content or something?
 
i really don't think there's anything scary about supporting the switch. the issue is getting a fanbase established where there hasn't been one in over a decade, but that process could speed itself up if other ps vita/ps4 developers do the same thing.

alternatively, falcom might be thinking a little more internationally. it wouldn't hurt, to be honest, if they were thinking about the us and europe if it only came to supporting the ps4.

This is why they should try and have something for launch, where early adopters are willing to try new things and potentially become fans. For instance, if Koei Tecmo are smart they'll put Atelier Firis on Switch as well as PC, but I suspect they won't.
 
i really don't think there's anything scary about supporting the switch. the issue is getting a fanbase established where there hasn't been one in over a decade, but that process could speed itself up if other ps vita/ps4 developers do the same thing.

alternatively, falcom might be thinking a little more internationally. it wouldn't hurt, to be honest, if they were thinking about the us and europe if it only came to supporting the ps4.

No there's nothing scary about supporting the Switch, but I don't think we've seen much indication that these developers are moving in that direction at all.
 
I'm torn on the Vita version, which I have the LE of. I have round trip 14 hour plane rides next month, and this game is a good candidate for that, but I want my first experience with ys8 to be the best possible.
 
This is why they should try and have something for launch, where early adopters are willing to try new things and potentially become fans. For instance, if Koei Tecmo are smart they'll put Atelier Firis on Switch as well as PC, but I suspect they won't.

i don't think having a ton of ports right on launch is going to convince an audience to move over. it might prepare people for what's coming up next though: so that for the 24th or whatever atelier game comes out, they at least had something on there early enough.

No there's nothing scary about supporting the Switch, but I don't think we've seen much indication that these developers are moving in that direction at all.

to be fair, this has more to do with nintendo at this point. even developers who we know have games coming for the thing aren't talking in detail about them. in all honesty, between the ps4, the pc (for the worldwide market), and mobile, there aren't a lot of other options.
 
No there's nothing scary about supporting the Switch, but I don't think we've seen much indication that these developers are moving in that direction at all.

They won't have much choice since it's likely a decent amount of their audience only games on handheld or perhaps mobile. So either they move to the PS4/Switch model or they lose decent amount of their fanbase. We shall see if Switch picks in Japan first though, the initial price might be an issue (if the $250-300 rumors hold) and it will take couple years to build up that user base anyway.

The problem is that Vita was clearly holding back Falcom especially considering their limited dev resources (they aren't a large company) so from that perspective it was much easier for them just to go PS4 route and improve the graphics. Plus, consider that we are not talking 2016 but rather 2017 here and Vita population in Japan, Asia and the West is dwindling (PS3 sales in the West don't exist anymore).
 
Didn't stop them from releasing Ys games with differing feature sets on both PSP and PC.

You mean Oath in Felghana? Those games were released at different times for starters. and I feel the differences are a little more balanced between the two. (PC had better performance while PSP had more features and voice acting)

Here the differences are the Vita version has worse performance and less content. and they'd be releasing side by side so they'd be directly compared.
 
That'd be nice if XSEED has been doing the translation work this whole time and we'll get a simultaneous release.

Like, super nice...

:|
 
Considering how some Devs had to be dragged by their teeth from the PSP, it's real puzzling to see some migrating from Vita so readily. You'd think they'd try to squeeze in a couple more years until the Switch has a sizeable base.
 
You mean Oath in Felghana? Those games were released at different times for starters. and I feel the differences are a little more balanced between the two. (PC had better performance while PSP had more features and voice acting)

Here the differences are the Vita version has worse performance and less content. and they'd be releasing side by side so they'd be directly compared.

Well, that could justify the likely $20 price difference (unless XSEED decides to go for a lower PS4 price, but I wouldn't see them going below $50).
 
That'd be nice if XSEED has been doing the translation work this whole time and we'll get a simultaneous release.

Like, super nice...

:|

Falcom doesn't let licensees work on games until they're out in Japan, so that's not going to happen. It's possible that they've been working on the Vita version but the PS4 version is going to have new content, so that's more work they'll need to do and won't be able to even start on until May.
 
That'd be nice if XSEED has been doing the translation work this whole time and we'll get a simultaneous release.

Like, super nice...

:|

It would be, but I think the new content puts a wrench in those plans.

Even if they were working on the script from the Vita version, per Falcom's rules they wouldn't be able to touch the new content until it releases.
 
On the bright side, that would mean the wait between Japanese release and XSEED's release is a lot smaller than usual. I'd rather not wait until 6 years after Celceta's release to play Ys VIII, so it'd be great if XSEED's doing the Vita script right now before they're able to work on the new stuff for PS4. Worst case would be Falcom holding them hostage completely until the PS4 version's out, which just sucks for the next year and a half if so.

I'm not worried about sales for Falcom transitioning off the Vita yet. They have growing popularity in China and Ys/Trails are getting more and more renown in NA/Europe these days. Moving to Switch anytime soon would be frustrating and unproductive given how much the company relies on Sony's tools to help them increase scale and make such big games.
 
On the bright side, that would mean the wait between Japanese release and XSEED's release is a lot smaller than usual. I'd rather not wait until 6 years after Celceta's release to play Ys VIII, so it'd be great if XSEED's doing the Vita script right now before they're able to work on the new stuff for PS4. Worst case would be Falcom holding them hostage completely until the PS4 version's out, which just sucks for the next year and a half if so.

I'm not worried about sales for Falcom transitioning off the Vita yet. They have growing popularity in China and Ys/Trails are getting more and more renown in NA/Europe these days. Moving to Switch anytime soon would be frustrating and unproductive given how much the company relies on Sony's tools to help them increase scale and make such big games.

Let's also not forget that all of their games use Sony's PhyreEngine now (Cold Steel I & II, Ys 8, Tokyo Xanadu.) They'd have to change game engines. Yes I realize you're talking about that when you mention "Sony's tools" but I figured I'd reiterate that part.
 
i don't think having a ton of ports right on launch is going to convince an audience to move over. it might prepare people for what's coming up next though: so that for the 24th or whatever atelier game comes out, they at least had something on there early enough.

I think it will. Several quality titles benefitted from the "launch effect" at Wii U and 3DS launch: Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition moved over a million units, and Trine 2 and Little Inferno did very well at the Wii U's launch. Personally speaking, I wouldn't have tried Trine 2 if it weren't a launch title.

We know that only big developers and partners currently have Switch dev kits, so there's going to be a controlled set of about 30 launch titles for Switch as is the case with every hardware launch. Nintendo will heavily feature the best titles in the run-up to that launch, so there's the potential for free marketing support too.
 
Celceta didn't take this long for XSEED to localize/release already.

Celceta released in September 2012 in Japan and November 2013 in the west. Lacrimosa of Dana released July 2016 in Japan so we have until September 2017 to start calling it a long time yet.

OT: Could've sworn I also read about them not giving Ys VIII the Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ treatment. So much for that. I really hope this doesn't hurt the chances of the Vita version coming west...
 
Vita hopefully need to pray switch takes off and becomes the new landing spot for portable versions of ps4 games if their biggest selling point is portability.
 
Celceta released in September 2012 in Japan and November 2013 in the west. Lacrimosa of Dana released July 2016 in Japan so we have until September 2017 to start calling it a long time yet.

OT: Could've sworn I also read about them not giving Ys VIII the Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ treatment. So much for that. I really hope this doesn't hurt the chances of the Vita version coming west...
That's still an extra year between Celceta and Ys VIII vs. Seven and Celceta. Falcom's definitely taking longer as their development scope increases; I wonder who's going to become a company director next (Hisayoshi Takeiri?) and lead a new unit of recruits/veterans so they can work faster and better.

Kondo talked about the Dana episode as content they had to cut out from the Vita version, but was considered essential—he was already hinting that Falcom might put this and more into the PS4 version as double-dipping incentive. I still think XSEED will bring over the Vita version just for convenience (digital and physical also remains to be seen), but the PS4 port's going to last longer in its market.
 
Vita hopefully need to pray switch takes off and becomes the new landing spot for portable versions of ps4 games if their biggest selling point is portability.
Will the Switch even support PhyreEngine? Man, I'm just thinking about the work involved. I mean sure, there are PC versions of Sony's engine-made games, but I can't really think of any that were ported to a Nintendo platform and remained in that engine off the top of my head.
 
I still think XSEED will bring over the Vita version just for convenience (digital and physical also remains to be seen), but the PS4 port's going to last longer in its market.

I hope you're right about that. I've been burned enough times by companies skipping, though admittedly it's normally 'bigger' teams such as Koei-Tecmo/Square-Enix rather than XSEED who actually seem to care about the fans.

I just need it for my handheld Ys collection. With it I'd have 6 Ys games on one console!
 
Falcom doesn't let licensees work on games until they're out in Japan, so that's not going to happen. It's possible that they've been working on the Vita version but the PS4 version is going to have new content, so that's more work they'll need to do and won't be able to even start on until May.
This is clearly not true considering Chinese and Korean ports.

Edit: Speakingnof Xanadu, I don't remember anymore, is only PS4 version coming West?
 
Dengeki PS stuff is leaking. Regarding Ys8...

・日本ファルコム・近藤社長のインタビューが掲載。

以下、気になった部分だけ抜粋して要約

(Vita版からパワーアップしたポイントについて)
近藤「一番反響があったのがアクションなので、アクションゲームとしての遊びの要素を追加したいというのがあった。

Vita版では容量の関係でダーナ編はオマケ的な要素だったが、その部分を強化するためスタイルチェンジというシステムを追加した。

ダーナのエタニアクエストで精霊を救出するエピソードを追加し、その精霊の力によって変身する力や、その力をパワーアップさせるような要素が追加される。
ダーナ編では特定のスタイルでしか倒せない敵と戦ったり、このスタイルでしか解除できないようなダンジョンに挑んだりできる。


アドル編では、ダンジョンに巣食った敵を倒しに行く制圧戦が追加され、アドル達だけではなくドギ班も参加する迎撃戦とは違ったバージョンのようなもの。
迎撃戦自体も数を増やす予定。」

(PS4版のアピールポイントは?)
「風景の美しさが格段にアップしている。
60fpsでヌルヌル動くし、ロードもVita版より断然早くなった。
漂流村は画面分割がなくなり、シームレスで移動できるように。
また、4Kにも対応している。

イースファンから要望の多かったモードも入れる予定。お楽しみに」

Translation: Thanks for beta testing the game, Vita suckers!!!!!
 
Loved Ys 7 quite a bit, so hoping for localization news.

Direct shots of the Vita version I took while complaining about the game's opening




Yes, Adol is a sexual predator.

Though between the character design of one of the female character and these fan-service, I'm losing respect for Falcom.
 
(PS4版のアピールポイントは?)
「風景の美しさが格段にアップしている。
60fpsでヌルヌル動くし、ロードもVita版より断然早くなった。
漂流村は画面分割がなくなり、シームレスで移動できるように。
また、4Kにも対応している。

po5edn4qjet.gif
 
All they have to do is port them off of the proprietary sony engine they're using ...
You mean the propietary Sony engine that's already been ported to Windows, Mac, Xbox, etc?

Or maybe they should just dump it and move to UE4/Unity like everyone else?

Considering how some Devs had to be dragged by their teeth from the PSP, it's real puzzling to see some migrating from Vita so readily. You'd think they'd try to squeeze in a couple more years until the Switch has a sizeable base.
PSP sold 20 million, Vita sold 5 million. 3rd parties aren't going to hold on quite as long this time.
 
You mean the propietary Sony engine that's already been ported to Windows, Mac, Xbox, etc?

Or maybe they should just dump it and move to UE4/Unity like everyone else?


PSP sold 20 million, Vita sold 5 million. 3rd parties aren't going to hold on quite as long this time.

Has it? Maybe I'm just ignorant on the matter.
 
So, from the Gematsu article:

“Due to capacity restrictions in the PS Vita version, Dana’s chapter was a bonus element, but in order to strengthen that part, we added a system called ‘Style Change.’

“We’ve added an episode to Dana’s Etania Quest where you rescue a spirit, as well as added the power to transform via the power of that spirit, and an element to power-up that ability.

Must admit I haven't followed the release all that closely (was just planning to be pleasantly surprised with the western release) but does this mean that the Dana stuff is in the Vita version and they're just adding an extra mission to it?

If so, that's better than I expected at least.
 
i really don't think there's anything scary about supporting the switch. the issue is getting a fanbase established where there hasn't been one in over a decade, but that process could speed itself up if other ps vita/ps4 developers do the same thing.

alternatively, falcom might be thinking a little more internationally. it wouldn't hurt, to be honest, if they were thinking about the us and europe if it only came to supporting the ps4.

In order for that to work they probably should have moved on from the Cold Steel series, though. Cold Steel 3 is on a platform that is better suited for the US and Europe, but it's still a sequel to two games that were on two less than ideal platforms... and knowing Trails, they'll expect you to know what happened in CS1/2.
 
This is clearly not true considering Chinese and Korean ports.

Edit: Speakingnof Xanadu, I don't remember anymore, is only PS4 version coming West?

I think Sony did the localizations for the Asian language versions, so I'm sure Falcom was willing to make an exception for them. I'm just telling you what XSEED has stated on their forums.
 
All they have to do is port them off of the proprietary sony engine they're using ...

Let's also not forget that all of their games use Sony's PhyreEngine now (Cold Steel I & II, Ys 8, Tokyo Xanadu.)

Ys VIII does not run on PhyreEngine; it uses Ys Seven's base engine. Falcom has been improving it over the years.

Must admit I haven't followed the release all that closely (was just planning to be pleasantly surprised with the western release) but does this mean that the Dana stuff is in the Vita version and they're just adding an extra mission to it?

It means they are restoring the Dana content they had to cut (due to Vita's limitations) for the PS4 version.

C0GFs1kVQAA8_DP.jpg:large


C0GFwFYUoAEXdx3.jpg:large



It finally looks like a Vita game.

lol, that downscaling is terrible. The game doesn't look nearly as bad on a real Vita.
 
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