Отдать швартовы: Состоялся релиз западной версии Ys X: Nordics
Издательство NIS America объявило о релизе западной версии ролевой игры Ys X: Nordics. Проект доступен на ПК, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 и Nintendo Switch.
Ys X: Nordics News
A Tour of the PC Features of Ys X: Nordics
Hi everyone,
I've previously talked about the optimization of our port, as well as the coop feature in some detail. In this final in-depth post about our version of Ys X, I want to provide an overview of some of the features of the PC version.
I'll start with some highlights, and there is a more complete list for reference at the end of this post.
Draw distance is really important to me personally, as I am quite easily distracted by pop-in. In Ys X, we have three separate settings governing various aspects of draw distance, and in the image above you see a comparison between all of those at their default setting (left) and at the maximum (right).
Note how this significantly affects three aspects:
Rather than talking specifically about "Ultrawide" or "21:9", when we work on aspect ratio issues, we aim to tackle the problem from the ground up. As I described in some previous posts on this subject, fully supporting arbitrary aspect ratios in a game not previously built for this is not trivial, but we've amassed a lot of internal knowledge and reusable tools for this purpose by now.
We've touched almost all of the UI and lots of effects individually to make them work at non-16:9 aspect ratios, and of course we also support a completely arbitrary choice of rendering resolution. Above, you see a screenshot rendered natively at 3000x1000 in a 3:1 aspect ratio, and of course the minimap is positioned correctly.
In addition to supporting direct mouse camera input (without any intermediate processing or conversion), and pointer-based mouse input in menus, we have also made more fundamental changes to some input mechanics to better accommodate players playing with mouse and keyboard. The most prominent example is how skills are invoked: on controller, there are not enough unique inputs so one button needs to be held as a mode switch. On keyboard, this would be more awkward, and it's also not necessary since there is a sufficient number of keys available and in easy reach of the "WASD" hand position. So, as you can see in the comparison above, the default mouse/keyboard bindings allow for directly using skills with 1/2/3/4, while the controller inputs function identically to console versions of the game.
As always, all actions can be rebound, and feature a primary and secondary binding, and all button prompts reflect any rebinding done by the user. For the first time in our ports, there is now also the option to alternatingly show both the primary and secondary binding for an action, if both are configured.
We fully support the new Steam timeline integration features for recording, meaning that the timeline changes to indicate the type of gameplay (in menus, seafaring, or standard exploration), and that various events are marked automatically. This includes things like fishing, map changes, finding treasure, or fighting bosses.
We also support dynamic cloud sync, which means that e.g. your Steam Deck saves are synced to the cloud even when you do not quit out of the game.
As usual for our ports, we offer a number of graphics settings to leverage the vastly different capabilities of various PCs, including some very high-end options. Like we did for the first time in Trails through Daybreak, we have also made almost all of these settings capable of being live previewed, as you can see in the screenshot above for the shadow filtering setting.
On your journey through the game's waters, you'll come across wind paths that allow you to rapidly traverse large distances. These can be quite polygonal in a few places in the original game, as seen on the left in the screenshot above. In our PC version, they are composed of a larger number of individual elements, as you can see on the right.
Note that this is not exposed as a user-exposed setting -- after some testing we could not find a notable performance impact on any hardware configuration, and it would also be very hard to adjust without a reload. If you are really curious to see what these looked like by default, you can set the "wind_path_quality" setting in the "Graphics" section of the settings file to "1".
I previously talked about game asset compression in a technical blog post, and introduced our archive format "P3A". We used this format and its associated caching features to great effect in Trails through Daybreak, resulting in rapid load times on systems with sufficient memory, despite using very little disk space.
This file format and caching make a return in Ys X: Nordics to equally great effect, with the game coming in at less than 7 GB without any reduction in asset quality, and with sub-second reload times on fast systems after the cache has been warmed up. This also includes the same mod support we featured in Trails through Daybreak, where any archive placed in the game's "mods" folder will overwrite existing game assets.
Here is a hopefully complete list of features unique to our PC port.
The bolded features were not discussed above:
One final thing: if you played the demo before and continue your save in the main game, your previous progress achievements will be unlocked when you complete chapter 3 (a bit further along after the end of the demo).
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the game!
- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3
I've previously talked about the optimization of our port, as well as the coop feature in some detail. In this final in-depth post about our version of Ys X, I want to provide an overview of some of the features of the PC version.
I'll start with some highlights, and there is a more complete list for reference at the end of this post.
Draw Distance
Draw distance is really important to me personally, as I am quite easily distracted by pop-in. In Ys X, we have three separate settings governing various aspects of draw distance, and in the image above you see a comparison between all of those at their default setting (left) and at the maximum (right).
Note how this significantly affects three aspects:
- The visibility of characters -- such as the fisherman and his dog on the left, the lookout in the center, and Magni at the right.
- The rendering of decorative "clutter" geometry, such as the barrels, boxes and netting everywhere around the docks, or some trees in the background.
- The level of detail of larger parts of the level, such as houses. As a good example, look at the roof details.
Arbitrary Resolution and Aspect Ratios
Rather than talking specifically about "Ultrawide" or "21:9", when we work on aspect ratio issues, we aim to tackle the problem from the ground up. As I described in some previous posts on this subject, fully supporting arbitrary aspect ratios in a game not previously built for this is not trivial, but we've amassed a lot of internal knowledge and reusable tools for this purpose by now.
We've touched almost all of the UI and lots of effects individually to make them work at non-16:9 aspect ratios, and of course we also support a completely arbitrary choice of rendering resolution. Above, you see a screenshot rendered natively at 3000x1000 in a 3:1 aspect ratio, and of course the minimap is positioned correctly.
High-quality Keyboard/Mouse Input Support
In addition to supporting direct mouse camera input (without any intermediate processing or conversion), and pointer-based mouse input in menus, we have also made more fundamental changes to some input mechanics to better accommodate players playing with mouse and keyboard. The most prominent example is how skills are invoked: on controller, there are not enough unique inputs so one button needs to be held as a mode switch. On keyboard, this would be more awkward, and it's also not necessary since there is a sufficient number of keys available and in easy reach of the "WASD" hand position. So, as you can see in the comparison above, the default mouse/keyboard bindings allow for directly using skills with 1/2/3/4, while the controller inputs function identically to console versions of the game.
As always, all actions can be rebound, and feature a primary and secondary binding, and all button prompts reflect any rebinding done by the user. For the first time in our ports, there is now also the option to alternatingly show both the primary and secondary binding for an action, if both are configured.
Steam Timeline and Dynamic Cloud Sync
We fully support the new Steam timeline integration features for recording, meaning that the timeline changes to indicate the type of gameplay (in menus, seafaring, or standard exploration), and that various events are marked automatically. This includes things like fishing, map changes, finding treasure, or fighting bosses.
We also support dynamic cloud sync, which means that e.g. your Steam Deck saves are synced to the cloud even when you do not quit out of the game.
Advanced Graphics Settings w/ Live Preview
As usual for our ports, we offer a number of graphics settings to leverage the vastly different capabilities of various PCs, including some very high-end options. Like we did for the first time in Trails through Daybreak, we have also made almost all of these settings capable of being live previewed, as you can see in the screenshot above for the shadow filtering setting.
Higher Quality Wind Paths
On your journey through the game's waters, you'll come across wind paths that allow you to rapidly traverse large distances. These can be quite polygonal in a few places in the original game, as seen on the left in the screenshot above. In our PC version, they are composed of a larger number of individual elements, as you can see on the right.
Note that this is not exposed as a user-exposed setting -- after some testing we could not find a notable performance impact on any hardware configuration, and it would also be very hard to adjust without a reload. If you are really curious to see what these looked like by default, you can set the "wind_path_quality" setting in the "Graphics" section of the settings file to "1".
Small Size and Rapid Loading With P3A
I previously talked about game asset compression in a technical blog post, and introduced our archive format "P3A". We used this format and its associated caching features to great effect in Trails through Daybreak, resulting in rapid load times on systems with sufficient memory, despite using very little disk space.
This file format and caching make a return in Ys X: Nordics to equally great effect, with the game coming in at less than 7 GB without any reduction in asset quality, and with sub-second reload times on fast systems after the cache has been warmed up. This also includes the same mod support we featured in Trails through Daybreak, where any archive placed in the game's "mods" folder will overwrite existing game assets.
And much more!
Here is a hopefully complete list of features unique to our PC port.
The bolded features were not discussed above:
- A BGM info UI option.
- Configurable camera field of view.
- Various PC ecosystem quality of life options, like configuring what happens on alt-tab etc.
- Several draw distance settings for various aspects of the game.
- Full arbitrary framerate support, solving many subtle bugs that only affect high framerates.
- Arbitrary resolution support.
- Arbitrary aspect ratio support, including adapted HuD positioning for any aspect ratio.
- HDR support.
- High-quality Keyboard/mouse support with dedicated actions which make sense for M/KB (like direct skill access)
- Co-op, as discussed in its own separate post.
- Full rebinding for both controller and MKB, support for primary and secondary bindings, and mixed use -- all reflected in button prompts and help messages.
- Various advanced shadow filtering and quality options, including PCSS.
- A more functional save/load menu, based on the menu used in Trails through Daybreak.
- Steam timeline integration.
- MSAA/SGSSAA options.
- Several other graphics quality options and improvements, e.g. for volumetric lighting.
- Live graphics settings previews.
- Steam dynamic cloud sync.
- Character/enemy animations update every frame regardless of distance.
- Asset caching for extremely rapid reload times on systems with sufficient RAM.
- Higher quality Wind Path meshes.
One final thing: if you played the demo before and continue your save in the main game, your previous progress achievements will be unlocked when you complete chapter 3 (a bit further along after the end of the demo).
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the game!
- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3
Unlock Early Purchase Bonuses for Ys X: Nordics
Enjoy a special launch and claim exclusive bonuses when you purchase Ys X: Nordics before November 7. The Ultimate Edition provides the best value, bundling all items at an attractive price.
Please note: Except for returns as stipulated by Steam, upgrades to the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition (and obtaining the applicable launch exclusive bonuses) are not available during the launch deal period. After the launch period ends, upgrades can be made for the price difference.
+ Wishlist today and stay tuned for updates leading up to the game's release!
Please note: Except for returns as stipulated by Steam, upgrades to the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition (and obtaining the applicable launch exclusive bonuses) are not available during the launch deal period. After the launch period ends, upgrades can be made for the price difference.
+ Wishlist today and stay tuned for updates leading up to the game's release!
Demo Version 1.0.4 Patch Notes
Hi everyone,
today we are releasing another patch for the Ys X: Nordics Demo.
Here is the full list of general changes and improvements:
There are also some coop-specific changes:
Cheers,
Peter "Durante" Thoman
today we are releasing another patch for the Ys X: Nordics Demo.
Here is the full list of general changes and improvements:
- Fix a very rare crash which could occur during game startup.
- Update the Steam Deck controller button glyph for the "View" button (was previously based on the pre-release Steam Deck design).
- Improve rounding when scaling render targets, potentially very slightly increasing quality where there was an off-by-one sizing error before.
- Some minor text fixes (Japanese, French and English).
- Fix Japanese UI text font in some situations.
- Remove the "Portrait Supersampling" option. MSAA/SGSSAA now also applies to the scenes where this applied, so it is rather superfluous and could lead to excessive VRAM usage.
[expand]If you have a lot of VRAM and for some reason really want to render e.g. 16 samples for every single pixel on the equip screen you can still access it via the "danger_portrait_supersampling" option in the settings file.[/expand]
There are also some coop-specific changes:
- Improve the behaviour when falling off cliffs with both characters. (Prevent a potential long falling and warping loop)
- Disable automatic camera adjustments in coop, regardless of setting. This is very distracting in coop, and as explained in the previous post on this feature, the suggested method is to have one player in charge of the camera.
- Tune the chain power parameters to be slightly more effective more quickly. Previously it was possible to get to a distance of >30 meters between the characters with some deliberate movement, this should now be impossible.
- Prevent coop in a few very small maps, where it is also not meaningful.
Cheers,
Peter "Durante" Thoman
Ys X is going to feature local coop at launch on PC!
Hi everyone!
I am really happy to announce that Ys X: Nordics will support local cooperative play for 2 players at launch. Before moving on to discussing the feature in more depth, there are a few very important facts I need to clarify:
With that out of the way, let's talk coop!
Those who have been following the franchise on PC for a while might know that we first introduced local coop in our patch for Ys VIII. It was an extremely experimental feature, restricted to just combat areas, but a core group of people (including yours truly) greatly enjoyed it even with those limitations.
For Ys IX, I spent quite some time improving cooperative play in many aspects, and in addition to sporting some quality-of-life improvements coop now also worked for many non-combat interactions -- such as opening chests or initiating dialogues with NPCs were supported for both players. However, the Ys IX local coop patch was only completed substantially after the game was released.
With Ys X following a different overall development strategy and timeline, it was possible for me to start working on coop much earlier, with the goal of completing it in time for release. This was not easy, and it is only possible because I spent some time almost every weekend since March working on it. A particular challenge was the fact that Ys X is built on top of an entirely new engine and technology stack compared to Ys IX -- so while I could re-use a lot of the implementation from VIII to IX and spend time focusing on polish and adding new features, coop in Ys X basically meant starting from scratch.
Nonetheless, I think the coop feature in Nordics ended up being the most intricately developed and polished across all the games so far, and I hope that coop aficionados everywhere enjoy it.
To get started playing in coop, you first need to enable the general feature in the "Coop" tab of the settings menu:
You can then press the "Select" button (or equivalent) on the second controller to enable or disable coop.
Towards the top right corner of the screen, an icon will display the current "Coop State", with the following options:
These mean, respectively:
In addition to this icon, player indicators (as seen in the screenshot on top of this post) can also be displayed. The visibility of both the coop icon and this indicator can be adjusted in the "Coop" -> "User Interface" section of the settings menu.
Basic per-character combat in coop is pretty straightforward, and works just as if you were controlling the given character in single-player mode. However, there are a number of special situations which need specific handling, especially given the nature of Ys X:
Perhaps the most difficult part to get used to when playing coop is the camera. We highly recommend the "Functional" coop camera option: it will sometimes clip through walls or floors, but will do a better job of keeping both characters in frame and staying stable, so it is a much more playable option. When either player is behind some object, a circular cutout will appear to allow for at least some control until one of the players re-positions the camera:
In our experience, it makes the most sense to figure out who of the two coop partners is more comfortable with controlling the camera, and having them primarily in charge of doing so. It also usually makes more sense to have a somewhat higher-up camera perspective, rather than a straight over the shoulder view.
Another tip is to not be reluctant to use some mechanics to your advantage, or to get past rare situations where coop does not work well. Remember that it's easy to turn off and on again for just a few seconds by using the P2 controller. You can also use mechanics to your advantage, e.g. if one player fell they can be teleported up by the upper player invoking a duo skill.
I'm very happy with how the coop feature turned out, and with the fact that I managed to get it done before the game release.
To give a brief impression of late-game combat in coop, here is a short recording of a battle (story spoiler free). This is cut from a "real gameplay" background recording, which is not too happy with the amount of effects on display, and Youtube compression doesn't help, so please excuse the image quality:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The action probably looks extremely chaotic, but it's far more manageable than it might appear when you have been playing in coop - and starting with much less flashy skills - for many hours.
While I realize that committing to playing an entire JRPG story in coop is a big hurdle, I also believe that it can be very rewarding, and it's a shame that the few franchises which used to be known for supporting this type gameplay have stepped back from it. I hope this work on Ys X (and its predecessors) makes up for that to some extent.
Enjoy!
- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3
I am really happy to announce that Ys X: Nordics will support local cooperative play for 2 players at launch. Before moving on to discussing the feature in more depth, there are a few very important facts I need to clarify:
- This is still an experimental, unofficial feature, developed by me personally with a budget of 0 €, and some pretty wild hacks.
- While the standard single-player game has had many full passes from dozens of in-house and external beta testers, to the best of my knowledge the only people who completed the entire game in coop are my friend and I. Please keep that in mind.
With that out of the way, let's talk coop!
Background & Development
Those who have been following the franchise on PC for a while might know that we first introduced local coop in our patch for Ys VIII. It was an extremely experimental feature, restricted to just combat areas, but a core group of people (including yours truly) greatly enjoyed it even with those limitations.
For Ys IX, I spent quite some time improving cooperative play in many aspects, and in addition to sporting some quality-of-life improvements coop now also worked for many non-combat interactions -- such as opening chests or initiating dialogues with NPCs were supported for both players. However, the Ys IX local coop patch was only completed substantially after the game was released.
With Ys X following a different overall development strategy and timeline, it was possible for me to start working on coop much earlier, with the goal of completing it in time for release. This was not easy, and it is only possible because I spent some time almost every weekend since March working on it. A particular challenge was the fact that Ys X is built on top of an entirely new engine and technology stack compared to Ys IX -- so while I could re-use a lot of the implementation from VIII to IX and spend time focusing on polish and adding new features, coop in Ys X basically meant starting from scratch.
Nonetheless, I think the coop feature in Nordics ended up being the most intricately developed and polished across all the games so far, and I hope that coop aficionados everywhere enjoy it.
Coop Overview
To get started playing in coop, you first need to enable the general feature in the "Coop" tab of the settings menu:
You can then press the "Select" button (or equivalent) on the second controller to enable or disable coop.
Towards the top right corner of the screen, an icon will display the current "Coop State", with the following options:
These mean, respectively:
- Coop Disabled: Coop is disabled, you can enable it by pressing select on the second player's controller.
- Coop Impossible: Coop is enabled in principle, but currently it's impossible to play in coop due to some factor, e.g. only one character being available, or one of a few very rare restricted scenes happening.
- Coop Active: Coop is active during normal gameplay, and each player controls their assigned character (as per the settings that govern coop character selection).
- Ship Coop: Coop is enabled while sailing around on the ship. How this is handled depends on the "Coop Ship Control" setting, either with shared or split control, or assigned entirely to one of the players.
- Fishing Coop: Coop is enabled while fishing. The meaning of this depends on the "Coop Fishing" setting: either just one player plays the minigame, or both have to contribute but it's harder.
In addition to this icon, player indicators (as seen in the screenshot on top of this post) can also be displayed. The visibility of both the coop icon and this indicator can be adjusted in the "Coop" -> "User Interface" section of the settings menu.
Gameplay Information
Basic per-character combat in coop is pretty straightforward, and works just as if you were controlling the given character in single-player mode. However, there are a number of special situations which need specific handling, especially given the nature of Ys X:
- Blocking is shared between players (for story reasons), and perfect block requires both players to have good timing - otherwise it would be too easy.
- Unlike the single-player game, normal duo attacks do not warp both partners next to each other. However, invoking a duo skill does.
- Both players can independently use the Mana String, but there is only one shared target (because there is also only one camera). This needs some coordination.
- Adol and Karja can only afford to use one Gullinboard at a time. Either player can mount it using the normal action binding, and the other will magically join them when also pressing the same button while one player rides the board.
- When trying to move too far apart, Adol and Karja start being pulled together by a dark version of the mana chain, as shown in the screenshot below. It becomes gradually more powerful depending on the distance between the players, and the time it has been active for.
- All menuing is controlled in a shared way by both players. This means that it's very easy for each player to e.g. do their own equipment and skill management.
- For the first time in Ys coop, each player can independently set up their preferred action button bindings in the input menu. Note that P1 bindings will be displayed on screen.
Gameplay Tips
Perhaps the most difficult part to get used to when playing coop is the camera. We highly recommend the "Functional" coop camera option: it will sometimes clip through walls or floors, but will do a better job of keeping both characters in frame and staying stable, so it is a much more playable option. When either player is behind some object, a circular cutout will appear to allow for at least some control until one of the players re-positions the camera:
In our experience, it makes the most sense to figure out who of the two coop partners is more comfortable with controlling the camera, and having them primarily in charge of doing so. It also usually makes more sense to have a somewhat higher-up camera perspective, rather than a straight over the shoulder view.
Another tip is to not be reluctant to use some mechanics to your advantage, or to get past rare situations where coop does not work well. Remember that it's easy to turn off and on again for just a few seconds by using the P2 controller. You can also use mechanics to your advantage, e.g. if one player fell they can be teleported up by the upper player invoking a duo skill.
Conclusion
I'm very happy with how the coop feature turned out, and with the fact that I managed to get it done before the game release.
To give a brief impression of late-game combat in coop, here is a short recording of a battle (story spoiler free). This is cut from a "real gameplay" background recording, which is not too happy with the amount of effects on display, and Youtube compression doesn't help, so please excuse the image quality:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The action probably looks extremely chaotic, but it's far more manageable than it might appear when you have been playing in coop - and starting with much less flashy skills - for many hours.
While I realize that committing to playing an entire JRPG story in coop is a big hurdle, I also believe that it can be very rewarding, and it's a shame that the few franchises which used to be known for supporting this type gameplay have stepped back from it. I hope this work on Ys X (and its predecessors) makes up for that to some extent.
Enjoy!
- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3