Re: "perfect localization" debating, I'm sure very, very few of us have asked for that from XSEED, NISA, or anyone. And it's realistic to say that not every localization must or can improve on the previous. But it wouldn't kill localization publishers to establish a gradually more consistent range of high quality to achieve when localizing games each year and the year after. XSEED's done this for the most part, having relatively few disappointments across their English scripts while pushing the limits of Japanese-to-English loc for games which, frankly, few expected to come out of Japan in such good condition (poor old Trails). They still blunder on occasion (Akiba's Beat), but then get to back on avoiding those mistakes for the rest of their releases. Compared to older and more poorly-managed studios like NISA or even Atlus, XSEED responds more transparently to customer feedback and recommendations, and comes across as less hollow because they don't put themselves on the back without having changed something in their release process for the better (almost always, at least).
I wouldn't trust XSEED more in this scenario if they weren't a small, swift team that seems to care about their history and what fans/customers haven't overlooked and criticized before.
I don't see what's to be gained by having a second publisher on Falcom's games when it might lead to us losing the one publisher that has done a reliably great job on the Falcom games they worked on. I can't imagine XSEED would have had problems with bringing Ys smoothly and timely to the west, either.
XSEED can probably handle all of Falcom's new games now since the number of viable old titles to localize has really dwindled (I'm holding out hope for Dinosaur Resurrection and BM Japan, specifically, but
y'all need to buy games like Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection to make that more likely). But I wouldn't mind Idea Factory International or another solid/good team handling and publishing a Falcom title like, say, Tokyo Xanadu's successor.
Thing is, XSEED's kept afloat partly because Marvelous JP's own games still sell well. I don't know how long that can last, assuming that Stardew Valley might encroach on Story of Seasons's market or that Takaki and his friends run into trouble keeping up Senran Kagura's momentum (and I still cant get over XSEED skipping Valkyrie Drive when that would have sold a bunch). At least the Fate spinoff games will continue to help them. XSEED needs to stay proactive by exploring a wide range of publishing opportunities, ranging from big new games (Falcom) to smaller visual novels or doujin titles (Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, coming next year) so they can maintain diversity.
What fan letter? What's the story behind this?
In short, some fans from r/Falcom wrote up a polite but thorough letter in Japanese, addressed to and designed for mass sending to Nihon Falcom, explaining why fans are disappointed with NISA's localization of Ys VIII and how that has negatively impacted their experience and potential enjoyment/immersion. The campaign didn't have to run long before Japanese news sites reported on the situation behind the e-mails, particularly the well-read Hachima Blog (known to industry followers and game developers in Japan). Commenters on these articles were sympathetic to what we've been going through and, more importantly, the news seems to have reached Falcom or at least Falcom's developer network where this would exert stronger peer pressure on Falcom and NIS to address the problem. Considering how NISA president Takuro Yamashita's apology released very close to this news getting big overseas, I think either Falcom proactively knocked on NIS's door to suggest a threat of retribution if NISA can't meet fan and brand expectations (the companies' presidents have known each other for a while) or that NISA's become so apologetic and defensive over this because they fear the possibility of losing future Falcom projects that much.
I agree with you to the degree that story was never Ys's strong suit, so that I'm more "okay" with a lacking Ys localization that I'd be with a poor Trails localization, but
Whoa, hold up. Ys VIII having a disappointing localization stings more than usual
because this Ys game has way more story than even Celceta before it, and the story here's even more integral to enjoying your adventure across the island vs. the relative disconnection between Celceta's story and some parts of the overworld and dungeons. I agree with most of what you've said already, but I think Ys VIII's case is particularly damning against NISA and also Falcom for allowing their biggest Ys game yet to suffer this treatment and misrepresentation. Import players told me the original story quality surpasses many parts of Cold Steel II, for example. Now I'll have to play this game in Japanese to know for sure whether or not I agree with that unless NISA produces a largely better English script somehow.
