Innovative Enhancements in Ys X’s PC Port
Peter “Durante” Thoman, known for his transformative work on the original Dark Souls PC port, has once again made waves in the gaming industry. After founding PH3 Games, he has collaborated closely with Nihon Falcom to deliver meticulously optimized PC versions of their action RPGs. The upcoming release of Ys X showcases a remarkable level of detail and innovation that sets a new standard for game ports.
As the latest chapter in the beloved Ys series approaches its Western launch, in-depth analyses have unveiled significant modifications to the PC version, courtesy of Thoman’s studio. Gamers can anticipate a host of exclusive features, including local co-op gameplay, enhanced loading times, and frame rates that soar beyond 300 fps.
Nihon Falcom, a stalwart in the action RPG genre since the mid-1980s, has consistently brought its franchises to various platforms. Today, the company relies on Durante’s expertise to ensure that its PC ports are devoid of the common pitfalls associated with performance and missing features. Thoman’s earlier creation, the DSFix mod for Dark Souls, introduced essential functionalities such as custom resolutions and unlimited frame rates, laying the groundwork for his current endeavors.
In a recent interview with RPGSite, Durante revealed that he played a pivotal role in developing the local co-op mode for Ys X, dedicating his personal time to ensure it included customizable key bindings for both players. The enhancements provided by PH3 extend beyond co-op features, encompassing:
- Improved draw distances
- Higher-quality shadows
- HDR support
- Steam gameplay recording capabilities
- Asset caching to minimize load times
- Multiple supersampling methods for superior anti-aliasing
Moreover, extensive CPU optimization has enabled a maximum frame rate cap of 360 fps. Despite the lightweight graphics of Ys X, Durante and his team successfully elevated the CPU-bound frame rate from 106 fps during the July beta to an impressive 314 fps at launch.
The testing process employed by PH3 involved a strategy familiar to CPU performance benchmarkers: executing the game’s most demanding scenarios at lower resolutions on high-end graphics cards. This approach effectively redistributed the computational load from the GPU to the CPU, allowing the team to pinpoint and rectify issues related to drivers, parallelization, and input optimization. Achieving stable frame times—a detail often overlooked in larger productions—was also a key focus.
As a testament to their efforts, Ys X boasts system requirements that promise smooth 60 fps gameplay at 1440p resolution with just an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, alongside a modest storage requirement of only 7 GB.
Having launched on consoles in Japan last year, Ys X: Nordics is set to make its English debut on October 25 across Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. A free demo is currently available until October 21, allowing players to carry over their progress to the full game upon release.
