NIS America President Apologizes For Ys VIII Localization, Promises A Fix

It’s no secret that many are displeased with various aspects of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana’s western release and it has now reached a point where even NISA President Takuro Yamashita has decided to address the matter by issuing an apology, as well as promising a fix that will come in the form of a patch due out in November.

Here is the full letter from Takura:

To All Customers of Ys VIII,

Thank you for all the feedback and support we have received since the launch of Ys VIII. It has come to my attention that the quality of the Ys VIII localization has not reached an acceptable level by our own standards, but most importantly by yours. As president of NIS America, Inc. I want to apologize to you personally for this grave error. This situation should not have happened – especially to a game as wonderful as Ys VIII and by a company that strives to deliver the very best customer experience in each title. We have begun internally to investigate the causes of this situation as well as to implement steps to ensure that a similar situation does not occur again. As for Ys VIII itself, we will have a new translator and editor go over the entire localization to fix
grammatical errors, typos, inconsistencies, and also to take a fresh look at the dialog and characterizations. For the script, where necessary, we will re-translate and re-edit the game including updating voicework to reflect these changes.

We plan to have this work done by the end of November and will offer the updated localization free of charge for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game via patch. The Steam version of the game will include this localization in its initial release.

We humbly request your patience in this process. Again, as the president and CEO of NIS America, Inc, I deeply apologize and vow to you that we will bring the quality of the localization of Ys VIII up to the high standards that it and you deserve. Please allow us this opportunity to restore your faith in NIS America, Inc.

Sincerely,
Takuro Yamashita

The localization of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana became an issue for fans when NISA obtained the publishing and localization license for Nihon Falcom’s latest title. Traditionally, XSEED was the one who usually localized the series — something that many took note of when NISA announced it would be publishing this instead.

Throughout the game’s localization, NISA assured fans that it was doing everything it could to be “consistent” with the localization efforts done by XSEED. But its clear now that whatever it did wasn’t enough and it wound up angering a good portion of the Ys fans in the process.

At any rate, this announcement illustrates NISA’s willingness to do Ys VIII justice, which is certainly a good thing to see.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana launched for the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in North America on Sept. 12 and in Europe on Sept. 15. A PC version was supposed to come out at the same time, but has since been delayed to an unannounced date.