Ys VIII Introduces Raksha And Sahad, Details Its Tokyo Xanadu-Like Battle System

We previously got details on Falcom’s upcoming RPG Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana’s story and protagonist, and the company shared more with an introduction to Raksha and Sahad in this week’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation. [Thanks, Hokanko-Alt.]

Raksha:

Age: 19

Weapon: Rapier

Raskah is a daughter of a noble Roswell house of Garman. As a noble, she has a polite personality, but at the Drifting Village she finds herself a bit lost in their way of living. Nonetheless, she provides help with her knowledge of ancient ruins, animals, and plants as she works together with Adol and company.

While in battle, Raksha has high speed and good reach, but but she doesn’t have much range, so she might find herself in trouble while surrounded by enemies.

Staff comment: The Garman region is located on the Romun Empire’s northeastern parts, where you’ll find many simple and sturdy people. The way she meets Adol will be different than other encounters we’ve seen before. Since she excels at reach in battle, she can get preemptive attacks and follow up with more hits. She also has jump action.

Sahad:

Age: 41

Weapon: Anchor

Sahad is a fisherman from the Greek region, and has a personality that can’t be hated. In order to return to his hometown where his family awaits, he decides to work with Adol. In battle he has high attack power and range, but it seems like he can get punished due to his delay.

Staff comment: He’s the oldest playable character from the series. He’s one of the castaway from the same ship.

Adol:

Staff comment: In battle, he’s a balanced character.

System:

• There are three attack attributes of “Slash,” “Shoot,” and “Hit.”

• By hitting an enemy weakness, it’ll put them in “Break” condition which makes all attributes put in more damage.

• There is said to be a mysterious ancient creature on Siren island.

Staff comment: There’s a lot of focus in the refreshing feeling for the Break feature. There are plans of using the PS Vita’s touch functions for parts of the game. Ancient-type attacks might wipe out Adol and friends in just one hit. These Ancients are completely different creatures from Dragons and they’re not related to the Five Dragons of Altago. Character switching and jump actions might make it seem similar to Tokyo Xanadu, but all the party members will show up on the screen.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana will release in Japan in summer 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.