Video Game / Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

"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 pushes 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"

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is the ninth primary installment of the Ys franchise, developed and published by Falcom. Initially released on the Sony PlayStation Vita in Japan on July 21, 2016, Ys VIII was ported to the Sony PlayStation 4 on May 25, 2017. NIS America, rather than long-time partner XSEED Games, published the localization, releasing it for North America on September 12, 2017 and on September 15, 2017 for Europe, coinciding with the franchise's 30th anniversary. A PC release was planned for the same date, but was delayed until April 16, 2018 due to a need for further code patching and re-work on the language localization. Further ports include the Nintendo Switch launched in June 2018, a Google Stadia version released on April 1, 2021 and a Sony PlayStation 5 port in November 2022, also courtesy of NIS America. In 2019, Chinese developer Linekong and Falcom announced a Video Game Remake built from the ground-up for iOS and Android, featuring updated graphics, new character designs and a new character called Rucol; its release date is currently unknown. An official novelization written by Anna Kashina and published by Dragonwell Publishing was released in October 2023.

An Immediate Sequel to Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand, series protagonist Adol Christin boards the Lombardia, a passenger ship taking him and traveling companion Dogi back to the Eresian mainland from the city of Xandria on the Afrocan continent. However, while passing through the mysterious Isle of Seiren, the ship is destroyed by a giant sea creature, stranding Adol, Dogi, the surviving crew of the Lombardia and its passengers on Seiren. Adol must cooperate with these "castaways" to survive on the island until they can find a means of escape. Throughout his stay on Seiren, Adol begins having dreams about a blue-haired woman called Dana Iclucia, who has a connection to Seiren from the distant past in the ancient Eternian civilization. These dreams slowly unravel the mysterious bond between the two, revealing there is more to the Isle of Seiren than meets the eye.

Continuing the party-based game-play from Ys SEVEN and Ys: Memories of Celceta, Ys VIII features a full three-dimensional world where players are encouraged to explore every nook and cranny of the Isle of Seiren. Featuring returning mechanics such as "Flash Guard" and "Flash Move", Ys VIII includes a new "Break" status, where-in enemies hit with attacks they are weak to causes them to become weak to all weapon attributes of piercing, slashing and striking. Furthermore, as the castaways are stranded on Seiren, players will help build a settlement and repel the island's hostile fauna in Beast Raids using Tower Defense elements. Finally, due to the narrative of Adol's dreams, the game will occasionally shift to Dana, who shares the headlining role with Adol in Ys VIII.

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana provides examples of:

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• Absurdly High Level Cap: Downplayed. If you do a good amount of side content, enough to reach the True Ending, your party will likely reach around the high 70s (out of 99) by the end of the game. This gets averted entirely by the postgame dungeon, where enemies range from the low 80s to 99.
• Action Girl: By default, Laxia von Roswell, Ricotta Beldine and Dana for the active party; out of the castaways, Silvia qualifies on the surface, but the trope is applicable to every female from Castaway Village as they all participate (off-screen) in beast raids and beast hunts.
• Advertised Extra: Giasburn, the dragon at the top of Mt. Gendarme, appears in both promotional art and the game's opening. However, he is simply a mid-game boss and isn't particularly relevant story wise nor gets much in the way of appearances and build up. Contrast this with a smaller Primordial who makes for a recurring boss during the first half of the game.
• Age of Reptiles: The Isle of Seiren is a holdover of a time when dinosaur-like beasts called Primordials ruled the earth, long before humans and modern beasts came into existence, and forms the last refuge of these creatures in present day.
• All in a Row: Whomever is in the current party will be shown as this throughout the game, except at Castaway Village outside of mandatory events; the rest of the party are in reserve off-screen.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: At mandatory points in the game, Adol's party must rest for the night. When he dreams, the story shifts to Dana — depending on the point in the game, players will gain control of her.
• Antepiece: The Archeozoic Chasm introduces explosive spores which you can use to snipe enemies from a distance. Later, those same spores appear in the Oceanus boss fight, where you'll have to use them to bring down the Oceanus and expose its weak point.
• Anti-Frustration Features
  • The fast travel system from Memories of Celceta was cumbersome during the early parts of the game, as players can only warp to locations based on its corresponding color to warp crystals in its area on the map (red crystals cannot allow warp to blue crystals, for instance); only later is there a mandatory Warp Whistle acquired that finally unlocks fast travel to any crystal. Ys VIII allows fast travel to any crystal discovered or campsite unlocked at the start of the game, including a simple button press for returning to Castaway Village upon bringing up the map; later, Location Discoveries are also added as fast travel points.
  • Adventuring Gear (items granting passive abilities like breathing underwater or Double Jump) in prior Ys games were limited to a single slot, thus players must pause the game to swap one for another in order to use different abilities. Ys VIII makes it possible to increase the number of Adventuring Gear slots permanently, upwards to six, by finding key items around Seiren, rewards for completing Sidequests or acquired through giving gifts to people at Castaway Village.
  • Similarly, it was not possible to increase the SP Gauge (used for attack skills) beyond its maximum in Ys SEVEN and Memories of Celceta^note Certain accessories lowered the cost of SP used for attack skills; the gauge's length remained the same, but Ys VIII features "Spirit Elixirs" (also acquired as Sidequest rewards from castaways) that once consumed will permanently increase the gauge by ten points, to a maximum of two hundred, allowing characters to use attack skills more often as possible without fear of depleting the gauge.
  • Several trophies in Memories of Celceta required 100% Completion in every category of Adol's Journal; by missing accessories, armor, consumable items, materials and weapons (some of which are exclusive to one play-through), players must go through the game again on New Game Plus to get them. Not only does Ys VIII feature Post-End Game Content, the sole trophy that can be missed relates to not completing all Sidequests from Castaway Village, thus vigilant players who check the village's bulletin board after every story event will never miss one. Also a case of Throw the Dog a Bone to players: the trophy for completing the Monster Compendium does not require Angry Catches, the randomly spawning enemies that can be caught in the Fishing Minigame, which would otherwise be a huge Luck-Based Mission.
  • The mapping sidequest in Memories of Celceta only provided the overall completion level. This game tracks the completion percentage of individual regions, so that when you're down to the last few percentage points, it's clear where the missing parts of the map are. It's also pretty optimized in comparison to the previous game, no longer demanding the player to kiss every wall in the map to complete it.
• Anti-Grinding: In addition to the usual diminishing returns algorithm Falcom uses on XP, the game makes it impossible to grind for equipment upgrades by making the resources needed to purchase upgrades in various tiers only be available if you advance into new areas. Weapon upgrades in particular require Fire Stones to unlock a new tier of weapons, and apart from the first one (which the smith has on her when she's recruited), these can only be acquired by defeating bosses.
• Apocalypse How: At least a Class 3 is known to have occurred to the Eternians; it's later discovered there have been at least five Class 3 events in prehistory, the eponymous "Lacrimosa", with humanity on the edge of the next one. Taken to the ultimate extreme where a Class X-4 occurs as a result of the party trying to prevent the current Lacrimosa.
• Artifact Title: Like some of its preceding installments, Ys VIII has nothing to do at all with the formerly floating island of Ys.
• Barrier Change Boss:
  • Io in her dragon form at the end of Dana’s Sanctuary Crypt dungeon switches between three different forms. Each is weak to a different one of Dana’s styles.
  • The last phase of Theos De Endogram does this, switching its weakness between each attack type of the Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors triangle as its health decreases.
• Beef Gate: "Bullfroodons" in the Eroded Valley block certain paths in these caverns, with more Hit Points than prior dungeon bosses at that point in the game, can spew poison to inflict the status effect, will cause rocks to fall from the ceiling, and are capable of swallowing party members whole (on "Nightmare" difficulty, it's a guaranteed One-Hit Kill, yes, even when you're on New Game Plus at Lv 99). The team will even give a What the Hell, Hero? to whomever aggravates one the first time a Bullfroodon is engaged in battle if the party has Character Levels that are too low to have a reasonable chance of defeating it (unless players are capable of pulling off successful Flash Guards and/or Flash Moves).
• Big Boo's Haunt:
  • The Elfetheria, the ghost ship you visit in Chapter 5, combines this with Gangplank Galleon. As you explore the ship searching out for Captain Reed's logs, you'll have to contend with his undead pirates, who by this point in the game, are the first enemies you encounter who cannot be killed permenantly without the Purification Bell (an item you won't get until much later).
  • The Valley of Kings is a once sacred Eternian temple crawling with undead Primordials. Since it is the area where you first get the Purification Bell, it is required to defeat the guardians who guard the doors with their own souls.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Paracelsis Primordials may look adorable and harmless on the surface, but they are actually vicious and use their cuteness to their advantage to lure and trap prey so they can devour them as a group. They attempt this with Ricotta by luring her to their lair before being thwarted by Adol's party, who arrive just in time to save her.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Golden Ending. Adol and the passengers of the Lombardia manages to escape the Isle of Seiren alongside Thanatos and Ricotta. But Captain Barbaros is dead, no one but Adol and his team remembers the events that transpired throhough the game (such as the Primordials, the Eternians, the Ghost Ship, the Tree of Life and Dana) and the Lacrimosa, while stopped for now, will return one day to continue the cycle of Selection and Rejection. However, Dana, who sacrificed her existence to create a new world, is now the Goddess of Evolution and is is charge of the Lacrimosa and the process of evolution alongside Sarai and the now former Wardens of Evolution.
• Blackout Basement: Some areas like the Waterfall Grotto and the cave systems in the Eroded Valley are entirely pitch black with nothing to illuminate their surroundings, and usually requires the Glow Stone item you get from the mid-boss in the Eroded Valley to traverse through. While it is possible to explore these areas without the item, doing so requires paying careful attention to the mini-map and knowing where enemies are.

• Boss in Mook Clothing: Many of the non-boss Primordials are capable of dealing more damage than non-Primordial bosses of the same level or higher.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Since the "Ares Seal" Adventuring Gear is awarded for 100% map completion, it can't be acquired until immediately before the Final Boss, limiting its usefulness.
• Broken Bridge: Various terrain obstacles (one of them a literal broken bridge) around Seiren cannot be cleared until Adol has either found a certain number of castaways or Dana has changed something in the past, usually by planting a prayer tree.
• Brutal Bonus Level:
  • What remains of the Sanctuary Crypt becomes available for Adol's party to explore after completing Dana's last memory and finishing the normal game - five full floors jam-packed with high-level enemies, mini-bosses that respawn upon leaving the dungeon, and Save Crystals available only at the beginning and end of the dungeon. At the end of it sits Melaiduma, a Super Boss that puts Mephorash to shame.
  • Once you finish the game after completing all raids, a final one appears at the end of the game for you to deal with, called "Neverending Threat". It pits you on the mountain clearing into a five-wave battle for your life, starting with a boss fight with Mephorash. As the waves go on things only go more insane from there, with the final wave throwing numerous copies of Mephorash at you and finishing it with a Mephorash at level 110. Good luck.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The Schlamm Jungle and Lodinia Marshland are swamp areas filled with murky water that severely hinders movement (including your jumps), and require the Floating Shoes to traverse through.
• Calling a Rabbit a "Smeerp":
  • Primordials (known as Saurians by the Eternians) are the setting's versions of Dinosaurs.
  • Thanatos has a quest to find a particularly massive fish, of a species called in-universe "Piraru". It's essentially the real world fish "Pirarucu".
• Call-Forward: In Chapter 2 when the party asks Dr. Kiergaard about Nameless, one of the things brought up is the Kingdom of Altago.
• Cartography Sidequest: After reuniting with Captain Barbaros of the Lombardia, Adol is tasked with finding other survivors and mapping the island, though the former takes priority. Filling the map at 10% intervals will reward players with items or materials.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Averted like Memories of Celceta, where Adol does not need to be part of the active party; as long as one remaining character isn't knocked out in the current line-up, the game continues until all are unavailable to use.
• The Chosen One: A rare example where Adol and Dana are this; Deconstructed as they're "chosen" by the Lacrimosa to become the last living representatives of their respective species (human and Eternian) to witness every other of their kind in the world be wiped out to make room for the next dominant species to inhabit the world, and continue the cycle forever.
• Closed Circle: Apart from the prologue, the entire game takes place on one island, with the party spending the game trying to find a way off it.
• Colony Drop: Several incoming meteors would have destroyed Eternia if nothing was done, but Dana managed to predict it just in time to have an Essence-fueled shield around Eternia put up to stop all but the one that would have destroyed the royal palace if she did not plant a prayer tree to protect it by supporting it. Unfortunately, the meteor shower caused enough dust clouds to be thrown into the atmosphere, creating an Endless Winter that caused the Eternians to become extinct except for Dana.
• Continuity Nod
  • The sword Dogi tosses to Adol when fighting the Oceanus at the start of the game, the Isios Sword, is the same Infinity +1 Sword acquired from Ys V.
  • As Ys VIII takes place years before Ys SEVEN, Adol's attempts and desire to get to the Kingdom of Altago are mentioned several times.
  • Upon encountering Mishy in the caves of Seiren's mountains, one of Adol's dialogue options is mentioning he met Mishy before during his time in Celceta. Additional nods from Memories of Celceta include telling Captain Barbaros he has experience at charting maps and setting up camps in the wilderness to the party.
• Continuity Snarl: Ys VIII is set straight after the events of Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand, with Dogi even commenting about leaving Xandria on the prologue. There's just a small problem: Dogi is nowhere to be seen in Ys V, which occurs after Dogi stayed behind to help restore Redmont at the end of Wanderers From Ys/The Oath In Felghana. So how exactly did Dogi rejoin Adol's side? Keep in mind this particular snarl was already present in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, whose prologue similarly had Dogi already with Adol, Ys VIII only happens to move that snarl to an earlier point, implying he was with Adol on the events of Ys V.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Players used to the controls in Ys SEVEN and Ys: Memories of Celceta will initially get heavily mixed up due to the way Falcom rearranged the controls. Extra Skills are now done by pressing the L+R buttons, dodging moved to the L button, the button usually used for attacking is now the jump button...
• Darker and Edgier: Considerably darker and more bleak than usual for Ys, starting with a Serial Killer plotline that utterly averts Interface Spoiler, and continues with watching the slow death of an entire civilization, and going all the way to Adol and company briefly causing the end of the world.
• Death Mountain: Mt. Gendarme, the huge mountain at the center of the Isle of Seiren which dominates the scenery. Chapter 3 is entirely dedicated to scaling the mountain, complete with more platforming than anywhere else, precarious footings that crumble the moment you step on them, and areas where boulders roll down the cliffside. From its summit, you can see almost every location in the game with gorgeous Scenery Porn.
• Developer's Foresight
  • Kiergaard has an approval rating in the character entry, just like the other castaways, at least until this person is revealed to be the Nameless Ripper. Similarly, Sir Carlan's maximum approval is two stars, not three like every other Non-Player Character. However, once players discover he's Not Quite Dead and returns to Castaway Village, his rating increases to three.
  • Various party conversation snippets will change depending on who the player is actively controlling at the time. If Laxia is in the lead during an ivy climbing segment in the Towering Coral Forest, she will complain that "A gentleman would have offered to go first", while having Adol or Sahad in the lead causes the latter to "Flex too hard", implying that Sahad farted in her direction. Others include various responses based on who is active the first time the party agitates a Bullfrodoon in the Eroded Valley.
  • It's possible to explore the cave where the ghost ship is docked after obtaining the Double Jump ability, but before clearing the Tower of Baja. Not only does Hummel ask, "Should we even be here right now?" but the ship is nowhere in sight and the treasure chest containing the item that causes the ship to open up for exploration does not spawn. That said, visiting it before the time when you're supposed to causes Laxia to mention it to Dogi and Euron when discussing the ghost ship.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • Adol and group ultimately manage to destroy Theos-De-Endogram, the draconic avatar of the Tree of Origin, and by extension the Lacrimosa and the Tree itself. This ends being a very bad thing, as without the Tree of Origin the Earth Goddess wakes up and erases all of reality. Thankfully, it doesn't stick.
  • The Golden Ending has Adol and group 'make contact' (read: fight) the Origin of Life, an ancient entity that looks like a dragon made out of tree roots that is implied to be the origin of all biological life, and ultimately defeat it, though whether or not its dead is never really specified.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Oceanus, the Primordial sea creature that has served as the primary obstacle to escaping the island for the whole game.
• Domesticated Dinosaurs: The Eternians once used Primordials (then called Saurians) for their own benefits. For instance, they used a Protoceratops expy for hauling carriages, while murals depict them using other species as mounts.
• Dream Apocalypse: The Golden Ending shows the world of the Ys series is merely the Earth Goddess Maia's dream, and the party accidentally woke her up by trying to prevent the upcoming Lacrimosa. She later falls asleep again and prefers to continue to stay asleep in order to dream about Adol.
• Dream Land: The Golden Ending shows the world of the Ys series is merely the Earth Goddess Maia's dream, and she prefers to continue to stay asleep in order to dream about Adol.
• Dream Weaver: Earth Goddess Maia is able to construct the world within her dream as she sees fit, even interacting directly with its inhabitants.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: Played with; while Ys VIII features a Bad Ending, it requires players to defeat the Final Boss with a "Reputation" rating of less than 75 points. It's certainly doable by avoiding Sidequests like the plague, not giving gifts to characters, not finding optional castaways on Seiren and doing really poorly during Beast Raids and Beast Hunts. To put this into perspective, if you find all castaways as soon as possible, complete all sidequests as soon as possible, and S-rank all the raids, you'll have a reputation of 65 at the end of chapter 2 (of 6), and a perfect approval rating at the end of the game is at 314 points (318 if you do the bonus content unlocked for finishing the game).
• Endless Winter: A nuclear winter caused by several meteors striking the Earth caused the extinction of all Eternians except for Dana.
• Escort Mission: The sidequest "Prayers to God" has you escort Sister Nia to the top of Weathervein Hill as Adol solo while protecting her from the beasts, and should either of them fall will result in a Game Over. While Nia herself cannot fight, she can heal Adol with her prayers.
• Exposed to the Elements: The Stripperiffic clothing of the typical Eternian is totally unsuited for the Endless Winter brought about by the Lacrimosa. Many of them freeze to death, while the rest starved because their crops and/or animals for food froze to death.
• Fanservice: Notably more so than previous titles.
  • Many of the characters' outfits are very Stripperiffic, especially Dana and the Eternians in general. Downloadable Content also has swimsuit costumes.
  • The are many cutscenes where the camera is positioned in a way to give a prominent shot of Laxia's butt.
  • Adol's first meeting with Laxia in Seiren is a fairly standard Accidental Pervert scenario where he walks on her bathing in a river. Granted, she's wearing a Modesty Towel, but it doesn't stay on for long since her reaction is to reach for her nearby rapier and attack him, but when Adol parries the attack it causes her to lose her grip on the towel, which pools at her feet. The player doesn't see anything beyond a Shoulders-Up Nudity shot of her covering herself while having a Naked Freak-Out. The scene ends with a Skyward Scream followed by a slap sound.
• Fartillery: "Warsadessa", a Killer Gorilla, will attempt to paralyze the party by farting.
• Fishing Minigame: Present via fish appearing near the surface of water sources. It's possible to catch treasure chests thanks to tell-tale signs of glittering, while there's also a chance players might not catch fish, but rather an enemy monster.
• Fling a Light into the Future: Dana, or rather she is the light. In the past, Dana learned the truth of the Lacrimosa too late to prevent it from wiping out the Eternians. Having been made immortal as a Warden of Evolution, she puts herself into stasis in the hopes of eventually awakening in the future to prevent the Lacrimosa from wiping out the race next in line for extinction; humans.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Late in the game, it's discovered that Dana is a Warden of Evolution, which grants her complete immortality. However, she can still get K.O'd just like every other character and results in the usual game over if the party is wiped.
• Genre-Busting: On the surface, Ys VIII is an Action RPG like Ys SEVEN and Memories of Celceta though wider in scope thanks to its Wide-Open Sandbox premise. However, beast raids are really a Tower Defense mini-game, where players must defend fortifications against waves of invading enemies, while beast hunts use the inverse - players attacking fortified enemy strongholds.
• Gratuitous Latin: Part of the subtitle of the game, Lacrimosa, means "weeping" or "tearful" in Latin and is a discrete part in a requiem, and is derived from the title of The Virgin Mary, "Our Lady of Sorrows".
• Green Hill Zone: Pangaia Plains is a huge sprawling grassland on the northern side of the island just east of the ruined Eternian capital. Most of the Primordials here are docile unless provoked (with the exception of the very territorial Guanodons), and it initially served as a highway for travel in the Eternian era.
• Gusty Glade: Dana's introductory dungeon, the Great Valley, has strong gusts of winds that will blow you back, so you'll have to take shelter behind rocks and inclines to avoid the winds.
• Hammerspace: Zigzagged between party members - Adol will always sheath his sword when he's not using it since he carries a scabbard, but the rest of the party simply pull or sheath their respective weapons from nowhere.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Zigzagged; while eating food (ie. fruits and nuts) and drinking potions heals characters instantly, gourmet dishes can also provide passive Status Buffs for a period of time. However, consuming one dish prevents the party from consuming another until the cooldown of the current buff dissipates. In order to eat a second dish instantly, players must consume one of Miralda's Fresh Vegetable Juice, thereby getting rid of the Status Buff immediately to allow a new dish for consumption.
• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • Adol gets the Mistelteinn sword in an endgame story event, which is even stronger than the Isios Sword that he lost at the start of the game. Unfortunately, the true ending segment downgrades him to Hyperion Blade because history was rewritten so that he never gains access to the Tree of Psyches to get Mistelteinn.
  • If Dana finds all the spirits in the past, she can enter an optional event where they transform her Edelsphere blades into the Spirit Ring Celesdia.Due to the spirits returning to the Earth, her weapon reverts back to the Edelsphere before she's recruited in the present. After completing the "White Memory" time crystal, Dana's weapon in the present will transform back into the Spirit Ring Celesdia.
  • At the end of the game, Kathleen can craft the best male and female body armors, Shining Chronos and Lechesis Flare respectively, from Pure Orichalcum.
• Insistent Terminology: Certain fauna on Seiren are classified by Laxia as "Primordials" because of their evolutionary roots, while Dana states they are known as "Saurians" to the Eternian civilization. To players, they are clearly dinosaurs or resembling other prehistoric animals (the kraken for the Oceanus, for example). Justified in Dana's case - she lived in an era where her people co-existed with them since the Eternians were descended from them.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Being chosen by the Tree of Origins means watching an entire race die out in some form of orchestrated disaster, yet live forever and observe the Tree elevate another race to dominance on Earth, only for the Lacrimosa to wipe them out as well, over and over again.
• "Just Frame" Bonus: Flash Guard returns from Ys SEVEN and Ys: Memories of Celceta, with no early guard penalty or reduced damage. Instead, a successful Flash Guard will result in a short period of invincibility. Flash Move, like in Celceta, grants temporary invincibility and slow enemy movement. Unlike previous games, the effects of both Flash maneuvers have their duration displayed.
• Killer Gorilla: "Warsadessa", an ape-like monster, will use Fartillery against the party to stun it.
• Limit Break: Each character has an EXTRA Skill, a powerful attack that not only deals massive damage, but temporarily stops enemies so it can't be interrupted. It can only be used when the appropriate EXTRA Gauge is full.
• The Lost Woods: The Towering Coral Forest and the Titis Primeval Forest are dense forest areas. The former introduces the gimmick of climbing ivy with the Grip Gloves, while the latter merely serves as a junction between Mt. Pinnacle Trail (the northern end of Mt. Gendarme) and Pangaia Plains.
• Lost World: The Isle of Seiren itself. Due to how fearsome and "cursed" the island is, many sailors prefer to stay clear of it at all costs, and anyone unlucky enough to get stranded on it likely won't live to tell the tale. Because of this remote isolation, the island is the last holdover of the Primordials; prehistoric creatures that are long thought to be extinct in the present, as well as contain the remnants of the lost Eternian civilization, completely unknown to humanity.
• Multiple Endings: Ys VIII is the first game in the franchise to feature a normal and Golden Ending, including a possible Bad Ending depending on how much "reputation" (IE, how much you did in-game) you accrued by the end.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands
  • Until the introduction of Orichalcum into the story, Adol's party can stun or knock out, but not kill Primordials; once Kathleen forges the party's weapons using the element can these creature types be killed like every other monster in Ys VIII.
  • On a more general level, various pieces of Adventuring Gear that allow for overcoming obstacles (climbing ivy vines, illuminating dark areas, breathing underwater, purifying the undead, etc.) are obtained in mandatory dungeons where they serve the most plot relevance.
• Only Shop in Town: Justified since Castaway Village is the only "civilized" location on Seiren and is built specifically by the survivors to function like a town with every facility imaginable (farm, medical clinic, tailor, trading post, smithy).
• Outside-Context Problem:
  • Precursors like the Eternians are nothing new to the franchise, as prior games featured the Eldeen, who had one of the most technologically advanced societies before their collapse. That Ys VIII reveals there have been more species in the ancient past preceding the Eternians with their own civilizations, of which one of them were extraterrestrials, suggests there's far more to the lore of the world than players previously thought.
  • The Lacrimosa basically functions by introducing one to the race that has been marked for extinction. If they manage to survive it, the Tree of Origins will just crank it up to eleven and keep going until the race in question is no longer able to handle it.
• Palmtree Panic: The beach areas along the southern lagoon: Nameless Coast, White Sand Cape, Longhorn Coast and Nostalgia Cape. There are also the small isolated beaches at the end of the southern dungeons where you find some of the castaways in: Roaring Seashore, Sunrise Beach and Odd Rock Coast.
• Pals with Jesus: Adol has befriended a few deities in his adventures, but none with too much natural order intervention since said deities weren’t all-powerful to begin with, that changes here; the climax of the game reveals the existence of Maia, a goddess shown to be an all-powerful creator with range over many worlds, if not all of existence altogether, who states she is very fond of Adol’s adventures, life itself to her is like a dream and Adol’s adventures are some of the best parts of her dream. Maia has directly interfered with the conclusion of VIII’s story so it would have the best outcome for Adol and friends.
• Point of No Return: An unusual example in that you are, in fact, returned to Castaway Village after the fight against Theos De Endogram, but you all you can do before setting off to fight the True Final Boss (if you qualify for the Golden Ending) is talk to people. You are not able to shop, upgrade your weapons, or cook.
• Practical Currency: Justified; because the castaways are stranded on an island with no direct contact to civilization, gold is not used as money in Ys VIII. Instead, materials must be acquired by defeating enemies, scouring the environment or bartering with fellow castaways. Inevitably, nearly every material in the game is used as Item Crafting for everything, ranging from accessories, armor, consumable items to weapons.
• Ragnarök Proofing:
  • The ruined structures of the former Eternian capital of Aegias are still largely intact despite eons of neglect, weathering and tectonic shifts altering the surrounding landscape beyond recognition (according to Hydra), and many Essence devices like doors, switches and monoliths (essentially Eternian computers) are still operational for the most part.
  • The prayer saplings that Dana plants to help Adol in the future manage to live for eons without decaying and withering through natural processes. Likely justified as the prayer trees seem capable of channeling Essence, allowing them to not only be extremely long-lived, but are also durable and can instantly grow into their mature forms if need be (such as the sapling that protects the Eternian palace from the meteor that creates the Archeozoic Chasm).
• Rank Inflation: Aquatic creatures caught when fishing will display their rarity in ranks, ranging from D (lowest), C, B, A to S (highest); likewise, the same ranking is used when finishing beast raids and beast hunts, with higher ranks unlocking better rewards.
• Recurring Boss: Avalodragil; Justified because conventional weapons can't physically kill Primordials until New Powers as the Plot Demands kicks in.
• Ret-Gone: Nearly every prehistoric and supernatural element on Seiren (Primordials, Eternians, ghost ships, the Tree of Origins, etc.) explicitly never existed to the castaways by the end of the game, including Dana. Averted in the Golden Ending, where only Adol's party is able to remember everything thanks to the Earth Goddess Maia restoring their memories of it occurring.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory
  • The party explicitly remembers points where Dana in the past changes the future by planting a prayer tree so its gigantic roots in the present allows them to traverse the environment (or fixing a reservoir or pulling out a huge rock blocking a path); they don't learn the actual cause until Dana actually joins up with them in the present.
  • Exemplified with Adol's bond with Dana via dreams: he's still able to recall the game's events in full despite the Ret-Gone in all endings of the game.
• Running Gag: Once again, Adol is shipwrecked and loses his best equipment from the previous game. Lampshaded by Dogi who exclaims, "Oh, come on!" as he falls overboard when the Oceanus sinks the Lombardia.
• Screw Destiny: The attitude everyone has towards the titular Lacrimosa in the game's final act, but Subverted when Lacrimosa is an inevitability ordained by the Earth Goddess Maia and destroying the source that fuels Lacrimosa results in The End of the World as We Know It.
• Schmuck Bait: See those huge, docile Brontosaurus-esque Primordials? See how their level is far beyond that of even the other huge Primordials in the zone? The game pretty much goes out of its way to tell you to not mess with those.
• Sequence Breaking: The skill that Ricotta learns from Master Kong allows the party to bypass small cliffs that require the Double Jump Adventuring Gear to clear normally.
• Sinking Ship Scenario: This game starts with the Lombardia sinking with its passengers, its captain, and one surviving crew member washing up on the Isle of Seiren.
• Sequential Boss: The Final Boss, Theos de Endogram, has three phases as you ascend its body, letting you swap party members between each phase. The True Final Boss, the Origin of Life, has two: One where it summons several waves of enemies to attack you, and a second in which it fights you directly.
• Sleepy Enemy: The Bullfroodons in the Eroded Valley are giant sleeping frogs who, when disturbed, will enter an enraged state and relentlessly attack your party with poison smog and falling boulders. They're at a higher level than what your party should be at that point, meaning it's recommended to avoid them until you're strong enough to take them on later. Your party members will even call you out if you attack the Bullfroodons prematurely.
• Spanner in the Works: After Adol, Laxia and Sahad defeat the Nameless Ripper: Kiergaard Weissman, the latter attempts to make a quick escape, intent on meeting them again the future, until the Avalodragil shows up and puts a stop to his plans immediately by knocking him out with a headbash and then devouring him, all because it was hungry for its next meal.
• Spotting the Thread: The clue leading to the identity of the Nameless Ripper is the culprit mentioning having spent some time in Altago before the shipwreck - a nation almost impossible for outsiders to enter due to it being in conflict with the Romun Empire.
• Stance System: Dana in the Eternia gameplay segments can switch between three different stances, unlocked as the player progresses. Each of them corresponds to a type in the Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors triangle of normal gameplay.
• Stripperific: Nearly all the outfits from the Eternian era, especially Dana's. although this may be due to the hot and humid climate of the isle of Seiren.
• Strong Enemies, Low Rewards: Early in the game, you'll frequently encounter Primordials who're very tough to fight at that point. Your attacks will only do Scratch Damage against them so running away is the ideal option, but if you're bold and skilled enough to take them on anyway (using the Flash Move and Flash Guard mechanics to evade their attacks), you'll find that depleting their HP to zero will just temporarily knock them out instead of killing them and they'll quickly get back up with full health, denying you experience points and high-quality materials. This is because Primordials can only be killed with Orichalcum weapons, and until you get those midway through the game, they're nigh-undefeatable.
• Superboss:
  • Powerful Awakened Embryo, Mephorash. He is found in the Silent Tower, which is the last area the player can unlock through having all the members of the Castaway Village helping to take out rubble. It is very visible at the end of the area, but the player is not required to fight it at all. It is a very powerful enemy, and at the time the player is there, the boss will be quite overleveled (unless grinding, the player would be not even level 70 while Mephorash is level 80).
  • Melaiduma sits at the end of the Former Sanctuary Crypt, an area unlocked after doing the game's Golden Ending, and boy is it brutal. Melaiduma is a souped up version of one of Dana's bosses, with enhanced attacks, tremendous agility, the ability to inflict every abnormal status to the party and metric tons of HP and defense to burn through. Thanks to the monsters in the area you will likely be above level 90 when you reach it (Melaiduma is level 99), but that still doesn't spare you from having to deal with an incredibly agile and strong boss.
• Super Drowning Skills: Downplayed. While none of the party members can swim and they sink like rocks, they can still go underwater, albeit with an Oxygen Meter that rapidly depletes and forces a respawn above water with some HP damage when empty. It isn't until you get the Hermit's Scale from the Archeozoic Chasm that underwater areas become fully explorable.
• A Taste of Power: Twice in the game - during the prologue, Adol's first fight against the Oceanus' tentacles has him wielding the incredibly powerful Isios Sword that makes easy work of the creature. The first time players take control of Dana, she is at double the Character Level compared to Adol's party.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon:
  • Octus. A dimension inside of the Tree of Origins itself, filled with pocket dimensions of various eras destroyed by the Lacrimosa. And after getting Mistliteinn, the final area is unlocked: The Sphere of Selection, where Theos de Endogram looms in the background.
  • If you're on the True Ending route: The Abyss of Origin, a dark, water-filled location in which the Origin of Life is located.
• Temporary Online Content: Several introductory DLC packages for the Steam and GOG versions were free for a limited time after release, but are no longer available or now cost money.
  • The Adol Adventure Essentials DLC, which is no longer available, included several items listed below:
    • Adol's Silver Armor costume. This resembles Adol's silver armor from Ys I and II.
    • Adol's Adventurer Clothes. This is a blue costume for Adol.
    • Adol's Survivor Kit. This includes a Blade Ring II (a strength buff ring), an empty bottle, and 10 iron ores.
  • Digital Mini Art Book. This is no longer available. It is a PDF of an art book that came in physical form for the Play Station Vita version.
  • Digital Soundtrack Sample. This is no longer available. It contained several tunes from the game.
  • Laxia's "Eternian Scholar" costume. This was free, but now has a base price of $1.99 in Steam. It is a costume for Laxia where she wears Eternian-style clothing.
• Time Lapse: By the end of the story, the castaways have spent at least eighteen months on the island.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: How the playable Dana flashbacks interact with the main game. The reason why there's a big tree here now when there wasn't one there yesterday is because last night Dana planted the tree thousands of years ago. Understand?
• Translation Train Wreck: The initial NIS America localization was a "Blind Idiot" Translation at best, but digging deeper into the text and it becomes this trope, with an egregious amount of redundancy ("I-I was actually a medical student..."; "A medical student...?"; "That's a student who studies medicine."), nonsensical nomenclature ("Ancient Species"), and blatant name/term changes when there were perfectly good ones from the original Japanese source ("Archeozoic Big Hole" from "Crevice of the Archeozoic Era"). It's little wonder fans were in an uproar and complained directly to Ys developer Falcom, leading to the head of NIS America apologizing for the localization, ordering a complete re-do of the whole thing.
• 20 Bear Asses: Many of the Sidequests tend to be of a "bring me X so I can make some improvement to the settlement"; Justified due to Money for Nothing.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The fights through to the end of Chapter 1 are relatively easy, up until Adol's party encounters the Avalodragil, the first Primordial in the game. Suddenly, players are against a very plausible chance of death, as the Avalodragil hits harder and has more attacks than any other monster thus far, forcing players to take advantage of Flash Guard and Flash Move, as well as learning that some creatures in the game have deliberate weaknesses.
• Wham Episode
  • The end of Chapter 2: Sir Carlan is killed by the Oceanus, and Captain Barbaros bleeds to death from one of Kiergaard's deviously laid traps.
  • Chapter 5 reveals the true nature of the Tree of Origins: it instigates the titular Lacrimosa, a worldwide cataclysm that kills every member of the dominant species in the world, having reached the pinnacle of their evolution, allowing their successors to reap the benefits of evolution.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The Golden Ending provides a blurb of text for each playable character detailing what happens to them after escaping the island.
  • Hummel rejects a marriage proposal from a noble, in favor of continuing his trade as a black market transporter within the Romun Empire while simultaneously looking after the same orphanage he was raised in.
  • Sahad returns to Crete, reuniting with his wife and daughter; all records about him are scarce, but it's said he lives in relative peace.
  • Ricotta and her adoptive father Thanatos head to central Afroca, following a peace treaty between the Romun Empire and the Kingdom of Altago; their whereabouts are unknown.
  • Laxia finds her father again at the Gllia Academy, dedicating her time into studying about the Primordials, becoming one of the foremost experts on the subject.
  • Adol stays for a brief while in Greek before deciding to head west, a setup for the chronological events detailed in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim.
• Wistful Amnesia: Laxia and Sahad experience this in the bad ending, not quite able to remember Dana but feeling like they're forgetting something.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The journal entry for the Oroodanyo in the Path of the Sky Era says that its true form is this to the human mind.