NISA finished a PAX conference just now with some exciting news for Falcom fans on PC.

https://www.twitch.tv/pax

They had Durante (the guy who created the high quality PC ports of Trails of Cold Steel I and II) work on Ys VIII to do stability fixes and also added some of the graphic options the Cold Steel ports had (like high draw distance and high-def shadows) plus (finally) the ability to rebind all keys and proper mouse look that doesn't try to emulate a controller. (which caused the mouse look to either be too jittery or too sluggish) Durante's also adding an experimental local co-op feature to the game which is quite a feat. They say the game's updates are already live on Steam, not sure if the same's true for GOG already.

Durante also worked on a Trails of Cold Steel III port for PC which will be coming to Steam and GOG on March the 23th.

Pretty good news. Folks had a lot of reason to be skeptical of NISA, but Durante's widely trusted to deliver quality work and it's a relief to see Ys VIII getting some loving after-care.

Good news indeed. Looking forward to it now that I know it should be a good quality port. :) Only thing I'm wondering is if the save files from part 2 will be compatible for a transfer to part 3. *crosses fingers, eyes, arms, and legs*

There was never a carry-over transfer between Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III, in none of the versions on any platform.

Huh. Really? So Falcom just axed that part themselves? Weird. I would have thought at least some things would carry over like all the previous Trails games.

"Redemption arc" is too much hyperbole.

Is Durante going to add Achievements to Ys VIII just like the Steam version has?

Is Durante going to add Achievements to all the other NISA games on GOG that have Achievements on Steam but not on GOG (including the one that released on GOG just the other day)?

Is Durante going to add Achievements to the GOG version of CS3, or will he continue NISA's long-standing tradition of treating GOG customers like second-class citizens?

Is Durante going to re-translate the game in order to uncensor NISA's translation of CS3, which NISA admitted to censoring in another panel they also hosted this week? (note: of course he isn't, not that we should expect him to since that's not his job...but my point is that NISA has to do a lot more to redeem itself than just to hire Durante to make a port).