The PC port of "Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana" has now been put on an indefinite delay just a week before its original intended release date. The developers cite massive framerate issues and memory leak problems as the main reasons for the delay.
According to an official statement released on Steam, NIS America, the game's publisher, says these issues have been apparent ever since the earliest builds of the PC port and they have tried to address them early on. However, despite their solutions, they were still unable to fully optimize the game into maintaining a steady framerate that they were satisfied with. On a brighter note, the developers have stated that the memory leak issues are much easier to fix and should be resolved soon, but to do so would require modifying the game's core programming.
They have stated that they initially did not want to touch the game's core and instead wanted to focus on just optimizing the game for the PC platform. However, it has come to light that this is an unavoidable step if they want to make sure that the game runs smoothly upon release.
Finally, the company has announced that, by the end of the month, NIS America will hand over the reins of the port to a currently unnamed developer.
"Once the changes from the relocalization efforts have been implemented at the end of this month, we will be moving development to an entirely different developer who will primarily focus on frame rate improvements as well as other PC optimizations. Once that process begins, we will monitor the progress and determine the release schedule. We will also be sure to give regular updates to our progress," they said on the Steam post.
"Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana" was developed by Nihon Falcom and first came out for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in September 2017. The PC version of the game was originally scheduled to launch on Jan. 30 but because of these issues, a new release has yet to be announced. However, those who already own the title for PS4 and PS Vita have nothing to worry about as this issue will not affect the major relocalization patch that was supposed to come out alongside the PC port.
