Topic: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

I've been playing this game docked for the most part nowadays, but just last night I took the Switch out for handheld play and wow I think this games just looks much better handheld than docked for some reason. This is definitely a game best suited for handheld play.

Still looks crisper to me when docked (as it should), but there's not really a huge gap in the presentation between the two modes (as it should be; talkin' to Monolith Soft here ).

I've mostly been playing handheld, though, as I just find it to be more convenient.

@JaxonH It hasn't been my experience that Nintendo Switch games tend to sink much in price, but I think TWEWY be a much more compelling purchase when it hits the $30 - 45 range.

Just look at something like Shining Resonance: a much more recent HD remaster of a game we never even got, making it effectively a new game, but it still has budget pricing. Also: every remaster from Sony is budget priced, even the ones with tons of work put into them.

Heck, if we get the Switch port of Valkyria Chronicles 1, I doubt it'll be priced over $20, even though it's effectively a new game for Nintendo audiences.

@Ralizah Idk, I might be talking out of my ass here, but it looks a bit sharper in handheld to me for some weird reason, and I'm using a 20" monitor at 1080p. It really looks pretty damn good in handheld when I look at it compared to when I dock my Switch.

@EvilLucario I've heard VERY different impressions from people. Some think it looks a fair deal sharper on the TV. Some think it looks better on handheld.

I have a large-ish 1080p TV at home, and, for me, it definitely looks nicer. Especially in really grassy areas, which look a tad rough in handheld mode.

Overall, though, I've been pretty happy with this port so far. It's not perfect, but it definitely doesn't deserve the negativity it gets from some people online.

@Ralizah Yeah this port is still pretty good. At the very least I'm glad it exists so I and others got a chance to play it, because damn I am just having such a blast playing this game.

Also I just noticed you posted in that Reddit thread about Ys in r/NintendoSwitch I have been getting pretty used to Flash Guards now, though Flash Dodges still feels weird to me. A lot of the clunkiness problems I had with Flash Guards/Dodges still persist, but it's been toned down massively for me now.

@EvilLucario Yep. The timing can take a bit of getting used to with the dodges, but I've had the same experience with Platinum games like Nier: Automata and Bayonetta. Only clunkiness I've experienced is with the targeting system. Specifically, how trying to move the camera will change which enemy you're targeting.

I had to improve my dodging skills to survive my encounters with those horrible sunflower enemies, since I'm playing on Hard difficulty.

I'm about 24 hours in and have just hit 50% completion of the map. The newest area I'm exploring, the Primordial Forest, is absolutely kicking my butt, especially those giant flying insects that I haven't figured out the Flash Step/Guard timing on, and those blue Primordials which hit hard & in packs.

Fished out a level 40 something or other the other day when Im like Level 10.... Needless to say 2 of us were dead before I even knew what was hitting.... I ran for my life... hahaha! The bravest live to fight another day....

Just got to Chapter 6 today at 33 hours, filling out 90% of the map. Damn, these chapters are pretty dang long. I totally thought that during that event in Chapter 5 that would be the end of that, but nope the chapter kept going, which I found interesting. No big deal.

Now I'm really getting the hang of Flash Dodges/Guards. Still think the timing can be wonky, but it's working better now.

Just beat the game with essentially 100% (All side quests, complete approval for all characters, caught all fish, etc.). Overall took me about 50 hours, maybe a little less counting the time I left it running without playing. Really glad I picked up this game! I'd recommend aiming for the True Ending, although it really shouldn't be that hard to get through a regular playthrough.

I have a couple minor complaints about the ending, but other than that I really enjoyed the game's story. I'd give the overall experience an 8/10.

I think I'll pick up the other Ys games, probably starting with Legacy of Ys: Books I and II on the DS.

Is there a shortage of this game in Europe? At least here in Sweden, neither GameStop nor the online shops seems to have the game in stock. Did they underestimate the interest from the consumers or has there been a delay in some parts of the world? It seems strange that the game would have sold out in a week.

@Quarth That may be the case, my copy arrived week after release and there was no info about release date being pushed back so i guess they either got the shipment too late or they didn’t order enough copies.

@Kaile
I'm really interested in this game, so might order it, but maybe it's good that it's not in stock at the moment seeing as Octopath Traveler will be released in a week.

Last I checked the game was at #22 on both the North American & Japanese eShop, which isn't so bad, considering it's had to compete with both Crash & Wolfenstein II (at least in NA). At least it has some exposure now.

I heard people talking about different games having a better quality in handheld mode, but from my experience they must have really bad, cheap or old tv sets or bad tv settings for that to happen.

How do you guys feel about Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, say in comparison to somebody who really liked Ys Book I and II on WII VC? Strong entry for someone who likes JRPGS?

@NiaBladerunner This is my first Ys game, but as a newcomer I've had a blast. I've beaten the game (almost) 100% on Hard difficulty within 43 hours, and if you even slightly like RPGs and/or action games, this game is for you.

The story and characters are above-average JRPG stuff which didn't blow me away (but still solid), but the gameplay is a ton of fun. At multiple times I was feeling like I was playing a lesser version of Bayonetta though, but it's not trying to be Bayonetta so I can let it slide. Regardless, combat is fast and fun, if a bit repetitive and button-mashy at times.

Highly recommend.

I almost finished the true ending of the game... arceusdamn, that twist is amazing though!

Really didn't see that, and I really enjoy what we'll do in the end

Edit: yeah, saw the ending and that's definitely something I really like :'))

@EvilLucario @Ralizah I suspect a lot of difference people don't realize with "docked" versus "undocked" is that their TV's or receivers have video processors that are actually heavily processing the image and thus it looks "so good" in docked, not due to Switch looking that much better, but due to power eating, heat spewing video processing hardware they have connected between the machine and the output (same goes for their disc players, streaming devices, etc. etc.) Like EvilLucario I play on a monitor, and indeed, even XC2 didn't look terribly great to me....I don't know that it looks "worse" than in handheld, but it doesn't look so great as you and some others portray it....it looked kind of outdated and similar to how it looks on handheld to me. The difference? No video processor in the receiver/TV. The monitor displays merely the pixels the machine feeds to it as long as it's the native resolution (and uses a cruddy scaler if it's not.) So us monitor users are just using the native Switch output. Some/many TV users are using video processors that may be costing anywhere from a $50 Faroudja processor in an average TV to $2500 Lumagen somewhere in their home theater setup.

I used that trick with the PS3 to process the blurred mess it produced into something sharpened and tolerable with the Anchor processor in my AVR. it worked fairly ok.

@NEStalgia 80% or so of the time I spent playing Xenoblade 2 docked was on a basic 1080p computer monitor in my bedroom, so... no. Once in a great while, when there's a ton of stuff going on in the game, the resolution will noticeably dip a bit, but even then it still looks a bit sharper than it ever does in handheld mode.

Maybe you're just really insensitive to resolution changes? It's not like there's any debate about how sharp the resolution drops in handheld mode are. If you haven't watched the DigitalFoundry video on it, I highly recommend it. The worst dips put it within spitting distance of a 3DS game. In general, the game's handheld resolution seems to be lower than what you would find in a native-res Playstation Vita game.

I don't really notice the difference between 720p and 1080p most of the time, but the dip from 720p to 368p is pretty drastic, even when you account for the smaller size of the tablet's screen. Thankfully, most of the time, the game doesn't look quite that bad.

UI elements are native-res in handheld mode, though, which means they look really, really sharp, especially next to the often blurry visuals.