Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for PC major update improves graphics and performance, adds experimental local co-op mode

Publisher NIS America has released a major update for the PC version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA in collaboration with PH3 Games that improves graphics, performance, stability, input, and the user interface, as well as adds an experimental local cooperative mode.

Here are the patch notes:

Graphics and Performance

• Arbitrary main rendering resolution enabled.
• Improved frame-pacing and animation sync accuracy at all frame rates.
• Improved menu opening / closing behavior.
• Character and enemy animations now correctly timed at 100-plus frames per second.
• Support for high-refresh monitors and over 60 Hz V-sync
• Replaced ineffective anti-aliasing blur filter with high-quality screenspace anti-aliasing.
• Bloom, refraction, and glare post-processing effects now scale with resolution.
• Minimap rendering resolution now adapts to rendering resolution, preventing pixelated map at high resolution.
• Greatly improved quality of menu backgrounds (replacing low-res screen capture).
• Improved standard shadow filtering without performance loss, plus two new, higher quality filter options.
• Added option for rendering additional environment shadows.
• Added supersampling / subsampling option (which also affects secondary 3D rendering).
• Improved shadow rendering performance by preventing unnecessary memory traffic.
• Fixed animation speed of HUD elements at over 30 frames per second (e.g. full health bar).
• Improved the quality of volumetric lighting.
• Implemented HBAO+ ambient occlusion as alternative higher-quality SSAO option.
• Added a draw distance setting which applies to grass / clutter, monsters and NPCs.
• Implemented anisotropic filtering setting.
• Added high-quality texture pack (generated from original sources, partially with AI upsampling, and full mipmaps).
• Character poses in the equip menu now update at over 30 FPS.

Input and User Interface

• Improved camera mouse controls, replacing joystick emulation with direct 1:1 control.
• Movement keys are now individually bindable.
• Added keybinding for walking (slow movement) with keyboard / mouse controls.
• Changed default bindings to fit common usage by PC gamers.

Stability

• Fixed multiple video memory leaks.
• Fixed potential crash when switching between languages.
• Switched to 64-bit build to prevent address space fragmentation issues in long sessions.
• Improved render thread synchronization to prevent specific types of race condition crashes.
• Removed superfluous asset encryption.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed unlocking of some achievements when playing with mouse / keyboard controls.
• Fixed several typos and dialogue/text issues throughout the game.
• Fixed slightly-too-low cloud save limit when using a very large number of saves.

Co-Op Mode (Experimental)

• Two-player local co-op mode has been added.
• About co-op mode:
  • Need to supply two Xinput controllers.
  • You must have two or more characters in the party in order for the second player to join the game.
  • SP is shared.
  • Second player does not receive the “AI cheats” (i.e. AI-controlled characters only take half damage, whereas second player in co-op mode will take the full amount of damage).
  • Not officially supported and limited support will be available for troubleshooting.
• To enable co-op mode:
  • Open Steam libraries through the Steam client.
  • Right-click on Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, and click “Properties.”
  • Click “Set Launch Options.”
  • Input “–coop” into the parameter and click “OK.”
  • Launch the game.
  • Press “Start” on the second controller to enable second player.

The PC version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA is currently available via Steam at a 50 percent discount price of $29.99 until January 20.