History YMMV / YsVIIILacrimosaOfDana

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' is considered among the weakest installments in the series due to frustrating and unpolished mechanics like the CartographySidequest and the ItemCrafting. The story was deemed a misfire as it [[NoEnding ends abruptly after the climax with no real resolution]]. By comparison, Ys VIII is seen as a vast improvement and among the series' best. The third-person camera can now be fully controlled by the player, the world takes cues from the WideOpenSandbox genre and offers a greater degree of sidequests and optional content, the cartography sidequest and item-crafting has all the little frustrations shaved off, and the story told is far grander and complete with an emotional climax and epilogue.

*** Dogi could not be a party member because he stated he never saw Adol perform an "[[LimitBreak EXTRA Skill]]" or have to worry about damage types like piercing, slashing or striking attributes until after both arrived in Altago in ''Ys SEVEN'', so having him as a party member would have introduced a {{Retcon}}.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' is considered among the weakest installments in the series due to frustrating and unpolished mechanics like the CartographySidequest and the ItemCrafting. The story was deemed a misfire as it[[NoEnding ends abruptly after the climax with no real resolution]]. By comparison, Ys VIII is seen as a vast improvement and among the series' best. The third-person camera can now be fully controlled by the player, the world takes cues from the WideOpenSandbox genre and offers a greater degree of sidequests and optional content, the cartography sidequest and item-crafting has all the little frustrations shaved off, and the story told is far grander and complete with an emotional climax and epilogue.

* AssPull: Despite being referenced in ''VideoGame/YsSEVEN'', [[spoiler:Earth Goddess Maia]] revealed in the ending of the game (normal and GoldenEnding) and turning into what amounts as a psuedo-DeusExMachina didn't sit well with some players. That this character effectively changes the subtle lore/mythology of the franchise, alongside [[spoiler:pulling a {{Retgone}} of all that has happened on the Isle of Seiren]] makes any future installment going forward less significant when there's a [[spoiler:TopGod over-looking the background]]. This is before mentioning whether or not [[spoiler:the {{Retgone}}]] affects any previous ''Ys'' installments upon going forward with the story post-''Ys SEVEN''.

* NeverLiveItDown: NIS America's poor handling of the localization - while the publisher's localization track record has never been spotless, ''Ys VIII'' has been their most heavily publicized blunder. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Although they did re-translate the game to address the criticisms]], additional reactions to NIS America acquiring exclusive publishing rights to not only ''Ys'', but various Creator/{{Falcom}} properties, remain lukewarm at best, and heavily vitriolic at worst.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: With more than twenty castaways and ''Ys VIII'' introducing TowerDefense elements via Beast Raids and Beast Hunts, it's a waste the castaways except Adol's party only provide passive {{Status Buff}}s towards the party, [[StatusInflictionAttack status ailments against enemies]], or occasional attacks, all whose frequency rely on good player performance rather than continuously participating in these events on-screen.

* GameBreaker

* SequelDifficultySpike: {{Zigzagged}} - the party-based ''Ys'' games usually use a more zoomed-out top-down camera angle, but ''Ys VIII'' uses a third-person camera angle that focuses more on viewing the space in front of the lead party character rather than the space around them. This change makes it more difficult to deal with being surrounded and requires better depth perception to guard and dodge incoming projectiles. However, Flash Guard gives more benefits than in previous games, Flash Guard/Move effect durations are shown on the screen, SP gain from charged attacks is increased, and the SP gauge can be upgraded past its maximum.

** NIS America initially had Entertainment Support, Inc., a sister company to NIS America since both are owned by Nippon Ichi Software, do the initial PC port. This ort was one of these - UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users immediately reported problems such as undetected gamepads, random freezing, game crashes, audio glitches and graphical slowdown[[note]]Turning off visual options dropped the frame-rate below 20, which wouldn't truly solve crashes. Curiously, the best frame-rates were when the graphical settings were set on high. Furthermore, V-sync was non-existent (despite a menu option for it), but players stated there's obvious screen-tearing no matter what setting it was on[[/note]]. Another problem was that many Steam achievements didn't work unless a gamepad was used instead of mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, a replacement of the game's port released in January 2020 finally fixed the issues of the old port and even added an experimental 2-player co-op mode[[note]]Post-backlash, NIS America specifically contacted [=PH3 GmbH=], the company co-founded by Durante after his contract with [=XSeed=] Games ended, to redo the port. This would cement [=PH3=] as the go-to company for porting future Falcom games with NIS[[/note]]. Entertainment Support has since failed, so this porting disaster could have been a CreatorKiller for Entertainment Support.

** NIS America initially had Entertainment Support, Inc., a sister company to NIS America since both are owned by Nippon Ichi Software, do the initial PC port. This ort was one of these - UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users immediately reported problems such as undetected gamepads, random freezing, game crashes, audio glitches and graphical slowdown[[note]]Turning off visual options dropped the frame-rate below 20, which wouldn't truly solve crashes. Curiously, the best frame-rates were when the graphical settings were set on high. Furthermore, V-sync was non-existent (despite a menu option for it), but players stated there's obvious screen-tearing no matter what setting it was on[[/note]]. Another problem was that many Steam achievements didn't work unless a gamepad was used instead of mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, a replacement of the game's port released in January 2020 finally fixed the issues of the old port and even added an experimental 2-player co-op mode[[note]]Post-backlash, NIS America specifically contacted [=PH3 GmbH=], the company co-founded by Durante after his contract with [=XSeed=] Games ended, to redo the port. This would cement [=PH3=] as the go-to company for porting future Falcom games with NIS[[/note]]. Entertainment Support has since failed, so this porting disaster could have been a CreatorKiller for Entertainment Support

** The PC port eventually became this when a rebuild of its application code was released on January 2020, fixing most, if not all, of the issues the port had and even introduced an experimental 2-player co-op mode[[note]]It's not available in some parts of the game, notably within the first few minutes, and it only supports two controllers (no keyboard and mouse). Note that the rebuild was done by [=PH3 GmbH=], the company Durante founded after his contract with Creator/XSeedGames ended[[/note]]. Also, a new HQ Texture Pack dramatically improves textures in the game including higher resolution textures and mipmaps that are compressed to improve texturing quality and performance, though this DLC had a bug that crashed the game which has since been fixed.

** Initially, the PC port was one of these - UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users immediately reported problems such as undetected gamepads, random freezing, game crashes, audio glitches and graphical slowdown[[note]]Turning off visual options dropped the frame-rate below 20, which wouldn't truly solve crashes. Curiously, the best frame-rates were when the graphical settings were set on high. Furthermore, V-sync was non-existent (despite a menu option for it), but players stated there's obvious screen-tearing no matter what setting it was on[[/note]]. Another problem was that many Steam achievements didn't work unless a gamepad was used instead of mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, a replacement of the game's port released in January 2020 finally fixed the issues of the old port and even added an experimental 2-player co-op mode[[note]]Post-backlash, NIS America specifically contacted [=PH3 GmbH=], the company co-founded by Durante after his contract with [=XSeed=] Games ended, to redo the port. This would cement [=PH3=] as the go-to company for porting future Falcom games with NIS[[/note]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: With more than twenty castaways and ''Ys VIII'' introducing TowerDefense elements via Beast Raids and Beast Hunts, it's a waste the castaways except Adol's party only provide passive {{Status Buff}}s towards the party, [[StatusInflictionAttack status ailments against enemies]], or occasional attacks, all whose frequency rely on good player performance rather than continuously participating in these events on-screen.
* TierInducedScrappy:
** On the low-tier end, Sahad - the MightyGlacier of the party, he's able to deliver slow, but hard-hitting attacks and his beefier HitPoint count makes up for his lack of attack speed, but in a game that puts a lot of focus on fast-paced combat, this unfortunately makes him stick out like a sore thumb in regards to game-play. Sahad mostly sees real use during the first-third to first-half of the game when there are only three party members, making him essential at dealing strike damage against enemies weak to that type. Aside from {{Giant Enemy Crab}}s, most enemies with that weakness don't put up much of a challenge early on, making him effective, but limited. Once Ricotta joins the party during Chapter 3 she trivializes Sahad's usefulness by being a faster version of his damage type. Not only are Ricotta's attacks quicker to pull off, they're just as hard-hitting and she's able to consistently maintain the offensive momentum (see her entry in GameBreaker), whereas Sahad struggles in that field because of his slower attack animations. The only caveat with Ricotta is that she's a GlassCannon who can't afford to take many hits, but she can easily block and evade attacks from her more generous timing windows for Flash Guard and Flash Move, respectively, giving her another advantage. Considering how many late-game enemies (especially Primordials) are {{Lightning Bruiser}}s with attacks that require fast reaction times, there isn't much incentive to play as Sahad once Ricotta tags along, not helped also by his general movement speed being the slowest out of the party.
** For the FishingMinigame, Laxia - unlike the rest of the party, her throwing arcs when casting the fishing line are a lot more unpredictable and have a higher chance of missing the fishing targets entirely, requiring some restarts. While this is justified because of Laxia's inexperience with fishing, it doesn't change the fact that fishing with her becomes a LuckBasedMission.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the negative reception for the initial localization of the North American release, [[Creator/NipponIchi NIS America]] announced they were re-localizing the script to correct several scenes and brought voice actors back to re-dub several lines. The patch was implemented into the Sony UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation Vita}} versions on January 30, 2018, while the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and PC ports were released with it already in place.

* IronWoobie: Dana. [[spoiler: Having the ability to see vision of the future since a young age, as a child the ability was sealed with a ring so she could enjoy a normal life but loses her mother to a fire that she may have been able to prevent if it wasn't for her sealing her ability away. Then she becomes the Maiden of the Great Tree and sees visions of her kingdoms doom and, despite her best efforts, is unable to prevent to future from coming the pass and must slowly watch the few survivors slowly die out from the fallout of the disaster, [[CassandraDidIt many of whom blamed her for everything]]. On top of that, she learns that the culprit behind the disaster was the very tree her people have been taught to worship, one of her ChildhoodFriends knew the truth the whole time and had in fact been replaced by a prior race and had selected her to be a warden to oversee the same process be carried out in the future. Throughout it all she still never gives in to grief and continues trying to find a way to save the next race from suffering the same fate as the Eternians. The closest she comes to admitting just how badly things have gotten to her is when she confesses to Adol that she probably would have [[DespairEventHorizon been broken]] by everything if it wasn't for her bond with him alleviating some of her loneliness and allowing her to see hope in the future]].

** On the low-tier end, Sahad - the MightyGlacier of the party, he's able to deliver slow, but hard-hitting attacks and his beefier HitPoint count makes up for his lack of attack speed, but in a game that puts a lot of focus on fast-paced combat, this unfortunately makes him stick out like a sore thumb in regards to game-play. Sahad mostly sees real use during the first-third to first-half of the game when there are only three party members, making him essential at dealing strike damage against enemies weak to that type. Aside from {{Giant Enemy Crab}}s, most enemies with that weakness don't put up much of a challenge early on, making him effective, but limited. Once Ricotta joins the party during Chapter 3 where Ricotta does she trivialize Sahad's usefulness by being a faster version of his damage type. Not only are Ricotta's attacks quicker to pull off, they're just as hard-hitting and she's able to consistently maintain the offensive momentum (see her entry in GameBreaker), whereas Sahad struggles in that field because of his slower attack animations. The only caveat with Ricotta is that she's a GlassCannon who can't afford to take many hits, but she can easily block and evade attacks from her more generous timing windows for Flash Guard and Flash Move, respectively, giving her another advantage. Considering how many late-game enemies (especially Primordials) are {{Lightning Bruiser}}s with attacks that require fast reaction times, there isn't much incentive to play as Sahad once Ricotta tags along, not helped also by his general movement speed being the slowest out of the party.

* NeverLiveItDown: NIS America's poor handling of the localization - while the publisher's localization track record has never been spotless, ''Ys VIII'' has been their most heavily publicized blunder. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Although they did re-translate the game to address the criticisms]], additional reactions to NIS America acquiring exclusive publishing rights to not only ''Ys'', but various Creator/{{Falcom}} properties, remain lukewarm at best, and heavily vitriolic at worst given how ''Trails in Cold Steel IV'' was handled by them.

* NeverLiveItDown: NIS America's poor handling of the localization - while the publisher's localization track record has never been spotless, ''Ys VIII'' has been their most heavily publicized blunder. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Although they did re-translate the game to address the criticisms]], additional reactions to NIS America acquiring exclusive publishing rights to not only ''Ys'', but various Creator/{{Falcom}} properties, remain lukewarm at best.

* NeverLiveItDown: NISA's poor handling of the localization of the game. While NISA's localization track record has never been spotless, their handling of Ys VIII has been their most heavily publicized blunder. While NISA [[AuthorsSavingThrow did later retranslate the game to address the criticisms]], reactions to NISA acquiring publishing rights to various games remain lukewarm at best.

** The PC port eventually became this when a rebuild of its application code was released on January 2020, fixing most, if not all, of the issues the port had and even introduced an experimental 2-player co-op mode.[[note]]It's not available in some parts of the game, notably within the first few minutes, and it only supports two controllers (no keyboard and mouse). Also to note is that the rebuild was done by [=PH3 GmbH=], the company Durante founded after his contract with [=XSeed=] ended.[[/note]] Also, a new HQ Texture Pack dramatically improves textures in the game including higher resolution textures and mipmaps that are compressed to improve texturing quality and performance, though this DLC had a bug that crashed the game which has since been fixed.

** Initially, the PC port was one of these. UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users immediately reported problems such as undetected gamepads, random freezing, game crashes, audio glitches and graphical slowdown[[note]]Turning off visual options dropped the frame-rate below 20, which wouldn't truly solve crashes. Curiously, the best frame-rates were when the graphical settings were set on high. Furthermore, V-sync was non-existent (despite a menu option for it), but players stated there's obvious screen-tearing no matter what setting it was on[[/note]]. Another problem was that many Steam achievements didn't work unless a gamepad was used instead of mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, a replacement of the game's port released in January 2020 finally fixed the issues of the old port and even added an experimental 2-player co-op mode.[[note]]After the backlash, NISA specifically contacted [=PH3 GmbH=], the company co-founded by Durante after his contract with Creator/XSeedGames ended, to redo the port. This would cement [=PH3=] as the go-to company for porting future Falcom games with NISA.[[/note]]

** On the low-tier end, Sahad. He's the MightyGlacier of the party, able to deliver slow but hard-hitting attacks and his beefier HP count makes up for his lack of speed, but in a game that puts a lot of focus on fast-paced combat, this unfortunately makes him stick out like a sore thumb gameplay-wise. Sahad mostly sees real use during the first half of the game, where there's only three party members and he's pretty much essential for dealing strike damage against enemies weak to that type. But aside from the {{Giant Enemy Crab}}s, most enemies with that weakness don't put up much of a challenge very early on, making him effective but rather limited. That is until mid-way through Chapter 3 where Ricotta joins the party, and she essentially trivializes Sahad's usefulness by being the much faster version of his damage type. Not only are Ricotta's attacks much quicker to pull off, but they're also just as hard-hitting and she's able to consistently maintain the offensive momentum, whereas Sahad by comparison struggles in that field because of his slower attack animations (with some even making him a sitting duck to enemy punishment). The only caveat with Ricotta is that she's a GlassCannon who can't afford to take too many hits, but she can easily evade attacks because of her more generous windows for Flash Moves and Flash Guards, giving her another advantage. And considering many of the late-game enemies (especially Primordials) are {{Lightning Bruiser}}s with attacks that require fast reaction times, there really isn't much incentive to play as Sahad once Ricotta tags along, which is not helped by his general movement speed being the slowest out of the party.
** For the FishingMinigame, Laxia. Because unlike everyone else, her throwing arcs are a lot more unpredictable and have a higher chance of missing the targets entirely, requiring some restarts. While this is justified somewhat because of Laxia's inexperience with fishing, it still doesn't change the fact that fishing with her becomes a LuckBasedMission.