Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Characters

Areas

Walkthrough

Equipment & Items

Enemies & Bosses

Music

Trophies

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Developer	Nihon Falcom Corporation Nippon Ichi Software (Switch version)
Publisher	/ Nihon Falcom Corporation / NIS America, Inc. Nippon Ichi Software
Release date	Playstation Vita July 21, 2016 September 12, 2017 September 15, 2017 Playstation 4 / May 25, 2017 September 12, 2017 September 15, 2017 Microsoft Windows April 16, 2018 Nintendo Switch June 28, 2018 June 26, 2018 June 29, 2018 May 28, 2020 Streaming services April 1, 2021 2021 Playstation 5 November 15, 2022 November 18, 2022
Rating	CERO: B ESRB: T PEGI: 12
Official Websites	Official Site English Site
Release order
Previous game	Ys: Memories of Celceta
Next game	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
Timeline order
Previous game	Ys V: Kefin, Lost Kingdom of Sand
Next game	Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim

Truly, nothing is more awe inspiring than one who unceasingly pushed himself beyond the threshold of his courage and will. I had hoped to embody such an ideal myself. Even now, many decades later, my awe for her remains unwavering. ~ Excerpt from "Travelogue of the Gaete Sea"

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (イースVIII -Lacrimosa of DANA-) is the eighth mainline installment in the Ys series. It follows the story of Adol Christin and Dana Iclucia on the Isle of Seiren.

Synopsis

Preface

"We are not the tools of any higher power. Each of us is the very embodiment of free will.
Even so, there comes a time in every man's life when he must answer a call to destiny beyond human understanding. How will you respond when that moment strikes you.
Truly, nothing is more awe inspiring than one who unceasingly pushed himself beyond the threshold of his courage and will.
I had hoped to embody such an ideal myself. Even now, many decades later, my awe for her remains unwavering."

~Adol Christin
Preface to "Travelogue of the Gaete Sea"

Setting

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana covers Adol Christin's adventures written in his diary, Periplus of the Gaete Sea, which is set 2 years before the events of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim and Ys Seven.

The game takes place on the Isle of Seiren, which is located south of Greek, along an archipelago in the Gaete Sea. They say any ship that drifts too close to the island sinks under mysterious circumstances. The island is named after the mythical Seiren, a creature whose song would lure wayward ships and their enraptured crews to their doom. For this reason, the island is considered to be cursed. Not a single human soul lives on the island, and those who sail the high seas know to steer clear of it.

Story

Adol Christin is on a passenger liner called the Lombardia that is sailing from Xandria to the continent of Eresia. He and Dogi were recruited as a crew for the ship in exchange for their boarding. The ship's captain, Captain Barbaros, tells Adol the story of the cursed Isle of Seiren, where ships have vanished while passing by its perimeters. However, Adol's voyage was interrupted by an enormous sea monster attacking the ship. He and the other passengers were flung overboard as it dragged the ship to the bottom of the sea.

Adol later awoke on the coast of the Isle of Seiren's beach. An island with ancient, untamed wilderness, populated by creatures seen nowhere else in the world. He later discovers other people who also washed ashore the island, so to aid their search for other survivors, and to better defend themselves from the primordial beasts that roam the island, Adol and his fellow castaways establish a settlement for themselves called Castaway Village.

It was not long before Adol found himself experiencing cryptic dreams about a mysterious young woman with flowing blue hair, whose world Adol had never encountered before.

Characters

Main Characters

• Adol Christin: The main protagonist of the Ys Series, he wanders the world in search for adventure and has the luck to be involved on godly destruction scenarios. After drifting to the shores of Seiren Island, Adol searches the land for other survivors while making a whole map of the island at the same time.
• Dana Iclucia: An Eternian who lived as the last Maiden of the Great Tree. She is also a Warden of Evolution but has defected to stop the Lacrimosa once and for all.

Party Characters

• Laxia von Roswell: A Garman noble who boarded the Lombardia with her family butler. She was drifted ashore to the Isle of Seiren and accompanies Adol in search for other survivors.
• Sahad Nautilus: A Greek Fisherman who boarded Lombardia to return to his homeland, he was also a survivor and accompanies Adol in his quest.
• Hummel Trabaldo: A Romun citizen who works as a Transporter. He has the knack to not talk much and serious to his only job. Hummel is also a survivor and supports Adol's group while holding a mysterious briefcase for his "client" at the same time.
• Ricotta Beldine: A child who lived on the Isle of Seiren long before the arrival of Adol's group. She lives in a hut on Gendarme Mountain with her foster father who researches the Primordials.

Sub Characters

• Captain Barbaros: The red-bearded captain of transport ship the Lombardia. After drifting to the Isle of Seiren, he demonstrates his true potential as a leader by taking full responsibility for the castaways' safety.
• Dogi: A vagabond with nearly superhuman strength, he is Adol's long-time adventure partner and best friend. He was tossed into the sea when the Lombardia was attacked, and proceeds in governing the Castaway Village with Captain Barbaros.
• Little Paro: A goofy parrot that Captain Barbaros found in the island. It was taught with human language and speaks in incomplete sentences. It mainly serves as a messenger; delivering messages from the captain to Adol across great distances.
• Olga: Dana's oldest friend and closest confidant. A diligent young woman who upholds high standards. She often chastises Dana when her actions cause trouble for others, nevertheless accepts Dana's bold, free-spirited behavior.
• Sarai: A young woman who grew up alongside Dana and Olga. She has a calm, serene disposition and gets along with everyone she meets.
• Kathleen: a female blacksmith who carries herself with dignity. She is a descendant of a renowned blacksmith family who served the Romun Empire.
• Euron: Military Officer for the Romun Empire. He boarded the Lombardia in pursuit of a wanted criminal, but after the ship was attacked, he was cast adrift near the southern region of the Isle of Seiren.
• Master Kong: An enormous musclebound monkey that taught Ricotta how to fight.
• Kiergaard: A calm, well mannered doctor with a wealth of medical knowledge and experience. He establishes a small medical clinic at Castaway Village where he uses his medical knowledge to keep other castaways healthy, assisting Adol by brewing curative medicines for him.
• Sir Carlan: A rude arrogant Romun Noble. Stubborn, unhelpful, and self concerned for his safety and comfort, her refuses to accept any situation and thumbs his nose at other castaways.
• Alison: An honest and elegant seamstress. Boarding the Lombardia with her husband, she was cast adrift to the isle and has not seen him ever since.
• Dina: An energetic young merchant. She boarded Lombardia to attend a business negotiation, but was tossed overboard and cast adrift on the Seiren Island. She sets up a trading post to better manage the materials coming in and out of Castaway Village.
• Quina: A precocious child found all along on the island. She enjoys her new life as a castaway; delighting herself in pulling harmless pranks on Dogi and occasionally pulling a fast one on Adol as well.
• Shoebill: A placid bird that showed up at Castaway Village one day. Ricotta refers it to have protected her when she was young, teaching her to survive on the island and refers it as her mentor.
• Reja: A bratty, stuck up child and heir to the wealthy Dior Family of Greek. He was originally in Xandria with his father but decided to return to Greek ahead of his father, boarding the ship on his own.
• Miralda: An energetic housewife who helps out at her husband's restaurant in Greek. She is the mother of six children, all are awaiting for her return.
• Katthew: An earnest crewman of Lombardia who admires Captain Barbaros. He learned the existence of adventurers when he met Adol and Dogi, who boarded the ship as temporary sailor.
• Griselda: An upstanding woman of the Romun Empire and appointed Governor General of Celceta. Possessing a fearless and compassionate character, she recognized Adol's potential and asked him to assist her in exploring lands of the Celceta region three years ago.
• Austin: A young noble from Gllia who loves to paint, sculpt, and perform. He is passionate about all artistic endeavors except music.
• Sister Nia: A pious nun who had visited Xandria on behalf of the Church before returning to Romun. Her religious devotion can be overwhelming and at times she comes across as a bit of an eccentric.
• Licht: A timid young man who easily is easily startled by unfamiliar situations. He boarded Lombardia as a substitute doctor only to end up among the castaways after the ship sank.

Gameplay

Battle

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. It builds on the gameplay foundation of Ys Seven and Ys: Memories of Celceta, where players control multiple main characters that can be switched between on-the-fly, each with their own play styles and unique skills. The player collects a variety of materials by defeating local wildlife and opening chests.

Damage Types: There are three main damage types each with their own characteristics, the damage will vary depending on enemy strengths and weaknesses:

• Slash: Slash attacks are best used against enemies with soft bodies and can absorb impact hits.
• Pierce: Attack types with long reach to fight in mid to long-range battle. While they may not be as strong as Slash and Strike attacks, they’re able to hit zippy enemies with pinpoint accuracy.
• Strike: Attacks that deal damage through impact. These are best used against enemies with tough shell-like attributes.
• Break: While not a regular damage type, it revolves around hitting enemies with an attack of their type of weakness, causing them to enter a Break Status. When in Break Status, the enemy becomes weak against all three damage types. Additionally, Break Status can make monsters drop rare items, drop flying enemies, among other bonuses.

Adol performing the Force Edge skill.

Skills: Skills are the main method of attack in the game, they can be assigned to a corresponding button, and they require Skill Points (SP) to use. SP can be refilled mainly by landing a fully-charged attack against an enemy. Skills are gained either by leveling up, finding Skill Manuals, or by learning them from Master Kong.

EXTRA Skill: Each playable character has a wide-range, powerful ultimate skill named an EXTRA Skill. It can be used after the EXTRA Gauge is fully charged.

Flash Guard: By timing your guard and defending right as the enemy attacks, Flash Guard will activate. When performed successfully, it’ll completely nullify all enemy attacks, and all attacks that the player delivers will deal critical damage for a short period of time.

Dana performing the Flash Move during combat.

Flash Move: Evading right before an enemy attack lands will activate a Flash Move. When activated, it will temporarily put the enemy’s movement in slow motion.

Difficulty

When the player begins a new game, the difficulty can be selected from "Easy," "Normal," "Hard," "Nightmare," and "Inferno." With the exception for Inferno difficulty, the rest can be changed at any time. The difficulty statistics are:

Difficulty	Damage Dealt	Damage Received	EX Refill	EXP	Map Hazards	SP	Stun
Easy	x1.5	x0.5	x1.5	x1.5	x0.25	x1.5	x1.2
Normal	x1.0	x1.0	x1.0	x1.0	x1.0	x1.0	x1.0
Hard	x0.95	x1.75	x0.8	x0.75	x1.25	x1.0	x0.85
Nightmare	x0.81	x3.5	x0.5	x0.5	x1.5	x1.0	x0.4
Inferno[1]	x0.81	x5.25	x0.5	x0.5	x2.25	x1.0	x0.4

• ^[1] Inferno Mode places some extra restrictions in the form of a max item capacity, limited bottle uses, and faster enemy movement.

Systems

Ys VIII introduces new systems never before seen in the series and brings back ones from previous games, including:

Shared Consciousness: As the game progresses, Adol and Dana will share their consciousness and experience the other's world. Dana's actions in her world can affect Adol's world, which can open up new paths on the Isle of Seiren.

Adventuring Gear: Special items known as Adventuring Gear can be found while exploring the Isle of Seiren, or when certain conditions are met. By equipping Adventuring Gear, the entire party will receive a special benefit that can greatly aid their exploration and open up new paths

• Castaway Village after gaining facilities.
• Lodge.
• Farm.
• Blacksmith.
• Craftworks.

1/5

Castaway Village: While the party is out exploring, the other castaways remain safely inside Castaway Village, their base of operations and home on the island. At first, the village is surrounded by rocks and little else, but with Captain Barbaros and Dogi at the helm, the village will gain a lodge, a kitchen, a farm, and other facilities. You can recruit new castaways by finding survivors on the island then spending time getting know them, giving them gifts, and making use of their new facilities such as blacksmithing, crafting, tailoring, and trading. As the village's population increases, you will be able to perform Help Requests which enlist the help of everyone in the village to clear obstacles like uprooted trees, giant boulders, and other obstacles that can be found on the island, opening new avenues of exploration.

The Bulletin Board where Adol can check for requests.

Quests: On the bulletin board posted in Castaway Village by Captain Barbaros, there are posted requests from the captain and other castaways. Adol's party can take on these requests as quests.

Landmarks: Once you arrive at a new area, Little Paro will inform you of event points in the vicinity, which can lead to the the party finding distinct landmarks or scenic views while exploring. These landmarks will be automatically recorded on the map as Location Points, and later on, you could use Location Points as teleportation points, allowing greater efficiency while exploring the island.

Beast Raid.

Beast Raids: While exploring the island, Little Paro may come and report to Adol that beasts are approaching Castaway Village. If Adol returns to the village at that time, a raid battle will be available, and by participating in it, Adol will help defend the base and help other castaways stand their ground. Waves of enemies assault the base, and using the help of allies and defensive structures, Adol can force back the raiding beasts. After completing the raid, a score and rank based on the player's performance will be displayed, and if a high rank is achieved, rare materials and other bonus items will be awarded.

Laxia after catching a fish.

Fishing: The party can go fishing in any body of water, as well as aim their fishing rod wherever they want. Fishing skill differs among each character, so the fish they are most likely to catch with vary as well. For example, Sahad is a dependable fisherman who doesn't have much trouble catching fish, whereas Laxia has next to no fishing experience but is more likely to catch rare fish due to beginner's luck.

PS4 Content

The PlayStation 4 version of Ys VIII, which would be used as a basis for all future ports of the game, added extra modes, features and content which are not present in the PlayStation Vita version.

Beast Hunts: Similar to Beast Raids, except the player launches an attack on the beasts. As you progresses through the main story, you will have the chance to invade the bases where the beasts of the Isle of Seiren have built their nests. You can place bonfires inside the circles within the area, which weaken enemies in the area surrounding the bonfire. The goal is to attack and destroy enemy nests to stop the outbreak of beasts in the area, ending with the area's boss.

• Gratika.
• Luminous.

1/2

Style Change: In the Dana chapters of the game, you can switch between three styles—“Iclucian,” “Gratika,” and “Luminous”—each with their own playstyles and special abilities.

Spirit Rescue: Also in the Dana chapters of the game, there are spirits that can sometimes get caught in disorderly places. By finding and rescuing spirits in various places, you can receive various benefits, including new styles such as Gratika and Luminous, style ability upgrades, and stat increases for Dana.

• Sanctuary Crypt in Dana's time.
• Sanctuary Ruins in Adol's time.
• One-Person Party.

1/3

Sanctuary Crypt: A huge underground dungeon in the Dana chapters. It makes use of the style abilities in order to solve puzzles, platform, and advance to the next room. By reaching the depths of the dungeon, a door will open allowing you to proceed to the next level, but some won’t open if Dana hasn’t built up enough “virtue.” You’ll be able to build up “virtue” by clearing various quests and rescuing spirits. The same dungeon can be visited again as a post-game dungeon in Adol's time, this time called Sanctuary Ruins. After clearing it, you can obtain special accessories that can change a character's attack attribute, as well as the ability to set what is normally a three-person party to one-person or even two-person party.

Night Exploration at Mt. Gendarme.

Night Exploration: You can explore three dungeons at nighttime. The enemy types are completely different and enemy movement patterns also change. Some Primordials can also be seen sleeping, and if you make any noise, they rise in a fit of rage and attack the player.

Gallery.

Gallery: From the title screen, you can enter the Gallery, which lets you view cutscenes, CGs, illustrations, and movies from the game. In addition to story cutscenes, you can also view the max approval scenes for each character from Castaway Village.

Downloadable Content

There is a variety of DLC such as costumes and accessories. Most of the cosmetic DLC is exclusive to the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch versions of the game, with the PlayStation 5 version having all of them, in addition to ones that used to be exclusive to Japan.

Adol's Adventurer Clothes

Laxia's 'Eternian Scholar' Costume

Adol's Silver Armor

Tropic Swimwear Adol

Tropic Swimwear Laxia

Tropic Swimwear Dana

Tropic Swimwear Ricotta

Deserted Pirate Adol

Deserted Pirate Laxia

Deserted Pirate Sahad

Deserted Pirate Hummel

Deserted Pirate Dana

Deserted Pirate Ricotta

Hug Hug Feena

Hug Hug Lilia

Hug Hug Dark

Ancient Mask Set

Stylish Glasses Set

Stylish Sunglasses Set

Avatar Pack

School Swimsuit Laxia

Hug Hug Instructor Rean

Laxia's Greek Summer

Development

• Artwork featuring Dana.
• Adol standing against Giasburn.

1/2

2013

Ys VIII was initially teased as a top-secret “large-scale title”. Falcom provided two pieces of artwork, one depicting Dana, and the other depicting Adol standing against Giasburn.

2014

The next Ys was officially announced at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan’s pre-Tokyo Game Show 2014 press conference, coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2015. It was revealed that the game would feature the usual series protagonist Adol Christin, and would take place in the Gaete Sea, an archipelago of South Gllia. Falcom stated that they plan to take advantage of the PlayStation 4 in producing the game’s rich colors and vast world in high-definition.

In a Dengeki PlayStation Magazine issue, Falcom revealed that the game's story is expected to take place just before Ys Seven, at some point between Ys V: Kefin, Lost Kingdom of Sand and Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, and that the game is 30 percent complete.

1/4

2015

During the Nihon Falcom shareholder meeting on December 16, Falcom announced that Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana would launch in Summer 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, along with four new screenshots. They also indicated that the game would take place on the Isle of Seiren.

2016

On March 8, Falcom announced that Ys VIII would launch for PlayStation Vita in July 21, and for PlayStation 4 in 2017. Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo stated that both versions of the game are progressing in development at the same time.

In a Dengeki PlayStation interview with Toshihiro Kondo, it was stated that the game's development went on longer than planned, but it would be the most substantial game in the series. Since Ys: Memories of Celceta was received highly favorably, it was used as Falcom's starting point for ideas. Falcom wanted to tell the story from the perspective of someone other than Adol, so they came up with the idea of dual protagonists. It was also stated that the PlayStation Vita version of the game would take about 40 hours to complete if you only do the minimum, but with side elements, the game would take about 60 hours.

During Nihon Falcom's shareholder meeting on December 20, Falcom announced that the PlayStation 4 version of Ys VIII would launch in Japan on May 25, 2017, and it would feature several improvements such as a higher framerate, higher resolution, 4k support, better load times, improved controls, improved graphics, and additional content such Beast Raids and an additional scenario with Dana that would later be known as the Sanctuary Crypt.

The game's animated opening was produced by Studio 3Hz, and was directed by Masayuki Sakoi. The CGI in the opening was produced by animation studio Orange.

PS4 version of Ys VIII from Falcom's office.

2017

On April 21, Falcom tweeted that Ys VIII on PlayStation 4 has gone gold.

Release

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was originally released for PlayStation Vita on July 21, 2016 and for PlayStation 4 on May 25, 2017 in Japan.

On May 25, 2017 NIS America announced English and French localizations of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for release on September 12, 2017 for both PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, both also available as Limited Editions.

On October 10, 2017 Takuro Yamashita, the president and CEO of NIS America, issued a statement apologizing for the quality of Ys VIII's English localization, and announced a free patch to address the quality issues by the end of November. The patch was delayed to early 2018, and eventually came out on January 30, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The free patch included changes to the script, item names, in-game terminology, monster and boss names, graphical text, and a fully re-recorded English dialogue.

The Steam version, which was supposed to be released on the same date as the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions, was delayed multiple times due to stability and translation issues. It was eventually released on April 16, 2018. On January 17, 2020 NIS America released a major update for the PC version in collaboration with PH3 Games that improved graphics, performance, stability, input, and the user interface, and also added an experimental local cooperative mode.

On January 11, 2018 Ys VIII was announced for Nintendo Switch in a Nintendo Direct Mini, and released on June 2018 for all regions.

On October 24, 2018 Falcom announced a “Christmas Gift Package” edition of the game for PlayStation 4 in Japan on December 20 2018, to commemorate the game selling over 500,000 copies worldwide. This special edition of the game included two message cards with a product code to download an original PlayStation 4 theme with Christmas-style arranged background music and an avatar set.

On March 31, 2022 NIS America announced a PlayStation 5 version of Ys VIII which released November 2022 in North America and Europe. In a blog post, NIS America detailed the PS5 version's features including: native 4k resolution, 120fps support, improved draw distances, improved shadows, keyboard and mouse support, and all the cosmetic DLC from all previous versions of the game, including DLC that was previously exclusive to Japan.

A mobile version for Android and iOS, developed by Linekong Entertainment, was announced on April 2019 with a release date originally set for 2020 before being delayed. Known as Ys VIII Mobile, it will feature a new party member named Rucol and reimagined locations.

Related Media

• Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Mobile: A mobile game based on the setting of Ys VIII.
• Ys VIII Super Ultimate: A full-arrange album with new arrangements and recordings, selected from the most popular songs of the game.
• Ys VIII Christmas of DANA: A limited single commemorating the Ys VIII -Lacrimosa of DANA- Christmas Gift Package. Two popular songs from the game are arranged with the Christmas season in mind.

Game Collaborations

• Crusaders Quest (mobile RPG by LoadComplete) includes Adol, Dana, Laxia, Ricotta, Sahad, and Hummel as playable characters.
• ClaDun Sengoku (PS Vita Action RPG by Nippon Ichi Software) includes Adol as character creation data.
• Highland Sky Elestoria (mobile RPG by Vector Inc.) collaboration event from October 31 to November 21, 2018.
• Maken Densetsu (mobile MMORPG by 4399en game) includes Adol, Dana, Laxia, and Hummel as collaboration avatars from January 28 to February 24, 2021.
• White Cat Project (mobile Action RPG by Colopl) collaboration event from January 27 to February 16 2022, includes Adol, Laxia, Ricotta, and Dana as playable characters.
• Dot Yuusha (mobile RPG by Efun) collaboration event.

Reception

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic, while the PC version received "mixed or average" reviews. Famitsu scored the game a 34/40. They stated the story is better than predecessors, and liked the pace of battle.

The game won the award for "Best Action Combat System" at Game Informer's 2017 RPG of the Year Awards. Polygon ranked the game 31st on their list of the 50 best games of 2017. The game won the "User's Choice Award" for PlayStation Awards 2017 in Japan.

Sales

On its first week of release in Japan, the PS Vita version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana reached second place in the Famitsu game sales charts with 47,681 units sold. The PS4 version sold 30,764 units in its first week. In a Noisy Pixel interview, Falcom's President Toshihiro Kondo stated that the Nintendo Switch version met sales expectations in the West, but struggled in Japan—only selling 6,817 units in its first week.

As of October 2018, the total sales of Ys VIII had surpassed 500,000 copies worldwide, and by April 2019, this number had further increased to over 600,000 copies globally.

Gallery

Covers

Japanese PlayStation Vita cover

Japanese PlayStation 4 cover

Super Price PlayStation 4 cover

Christmas Gift Package PlayStation 4 cover

North American PlayStation Vita cover

Day One Edition PlayStation 4 cover

European PlayStation Vita cover

European PlayStation 4 cover

European Nintendo Switch cover

Ys VIII and IX Super Price Set PlayStation 4 cover

Deluxe Edition PlayStation 5 cover

Key Art

Mural: Giasburn

Mural: Adol

Mural: Dana

Adol & Dana

Ricotta & Sahad

Laxia & Hummel

Main Party

Logo

Pre-release screenshots

Trivia

• Ys VIII is the first time Falcom worked on a PlayStation 4 game, as well as the first Falcom game on Nintendo Switch.
• This is the first Ys game to feature its main heroine as a playable character.
• Nihon Falcom President, Toshihiro Kondo, said in an interview that this is his favorite game.