• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tales of Zestiria will hit the West the same year it hits Japan

Soriku

Junior Member
http://gematsu.com/2014/06/tales-zestiria-will-hit-west-year-hits-japan

When Tales of Xillia launched in North America and Europe, it was two years after the game’s release in Japan. When Tales of Xillia 2 launches in August, it will also be two years following the game’s Japanese release. But with Tales of Zestiria, Bandai Namco aims to change that.

“One of the big things was, ‘It’s taking so long between the Japanese release and when the western releases come out,’” Dennis Lee, global brand manager for the Tales series, said during an E3 interview. “And so, over the past, I’d say, two years, they’ve been working really hard to shorten that time frame.

“We’ve gone from over two years with Xillia 1, and now we’ve gotten it down to a year, and we’re going to get it to less than that for Tales of Zestiria—it’s going to be in the same year as the Japanese release. So they’re working on shrinking that time down as much as possible.”

A release date for Tales of Zestiria is still to be announced.

2015 in Japan?
 

iavi

Member
Damn. Zestiria's probably gonna end up in the summer for JP and fall/winter for the US, if I'm to take a wild guess.
 
I'm glad they are finally getting the releases to within striking distance of each other. Many other series would benefit from this strategy.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Damn. Zestiria's probably gonna end up in the summer for JP and fall/winter for the US, if I'm to take a wild guess.

They're farther along than that. It'll probably hit Japan early 2015.

Also if it does happen that's the second year in a row with no mainline Tales in Japan. Hopefully they're really polishing up the game.
 

iavi

Member
They're farther along than that. It'll probably hit Japan early 2015.

Also if it does happen that's the second year in a row with no mainline Tales in Japan. Hopefully they're really polishing up the game.

The earlier the better

2015 is going to be the craziest year for RPGs. hooly shit
 

Videoneon

Member
It really is just so shocking to see the change in the Tales series in the West. Maybe this time I'll avoid spoilers and such =X
 
We're still PS3-only, right?
If freaking Compile Heart can find a way to have 2 PS4 games in development already one would hope Bamco would able to shift over. Maybe we can luck out and they'll announce a PS4 port at release. Well, NA/EU release lest they cannibalize their own sales. Sadly one thinks the reason they're boasting about shortening the localization time is because they've seen software trends this year and are desperate to account for, finish and publish all their past-gen titles as soon as possible. Atlus seems to be rushing to throw out all their content the same way.

I share this opinion with some friends; Persona 5 is sort of a backmarker for when RPGs can move ahead. We've waited for it forever and last we had a primary installment was at the very end of the PS2's lifetime. It's gearing up to be another unofficial ending to a generation. Of course I 100% expect a PS4 "Persona 5 Plus" version announced 2 days later and of course I will buy it because I'm weak-minded and lacking both in principles and consumer savvy.
 

Rpgmonkey

Member
Makes me curious to know the release date and what's going to take so long. From how their progress has been described over the past few weeks/months it really doesn't sound like the Japanese release wouldn't be ready within this year.
 
I think we'll see it in the Winter of 2015 while Japan gets it in the Spring.

That's fine with me, I'll probably still be trucking through ToX2 by then. I think it took me quite a while to finish ToX.
 

Aeana

Member
Makes me curious to know the release date and what's going to take so long. From how their progress has been described over the past few weeks/months it really doesn't sound like the Japanese release wouldn't be ready within this year.
Yeah, they're already in the promotional mode where it feels like it's only a couple of months away. Like, it feels like it could release in September as Tales games usually do, even. But no date...
 

Soriku

Junior Member
We're still PS3-only, right?
If freaking Compile Heart can find a way to have 2 PS4 games in development already one would hope Bamco would able to shift over. Maybe we can luck out and they'll announce a PS4 port at release. Well, NA/EU release lest they cannibalize their own sales. Sadly one thinks the reason they're boasting about shortening the localization time is because they've seen software trends this year and are desperate to account for, finish and publish all their past-gen titles as soon as possible. Atlus seems to be rushing to throw out all their content the same way.

I share this opinion with some friends; Persona 5 is sort of a backmarker for when RPGs can move ahead. We've waited for it forever and last we had a primary installment was at the very end of the PS2's lifetime. It's gearing up to be another unofficial ending to a generation. Of course I 100% expect a PS4 "Persona 5 Plus" version announced 2 days later and of course I will buy it because I'm weak-minded and lacking both in principles and consumer savvy.

This game likely started development a few years ago and is comparatively bigger than a Compile Heart game. Compile Heart games also don't sell much so platform doesn't really matter, unlike ToZ where most of the fans are on PS3 (have you seen PS4 sales in Japan?)

They've been talking about shortening releases for a while now and because of the long gap between the other games.
 
Maybe they mean within a year of each other.

That's exactly what i'm thinking he meant. Both Xillia games have been or will release nearly two years after they were released in Japan. So they're looking to get it down to within a year of the Japanese release.

The next Zestiria stream is set for tomorrow, so we might hear something about the date.
 

raven777

Member
A bit surprised that it will probably come out next year in JP. I expected it to come out this year.

But good to see the gap for localization is getting shorter. I might consider getting US version now if it does include JP voice.
 

RalchAC

Member
So Bamco won't release Zestiria in 2014? They usually release their big games on Fall, right? Not that I'm not happy with that. Xillia would have definitely benefited for a few months more of development.

Or they could be talkin in fiscal years. So releasing the game in Februrary 2015 in the West would be FY2014.

Next year will be amazing for JPRGs. Tales of Zestiria and Persona 5!

Year of the PS3?

For me probably, for people with normal tastes not so much.

But I have faith in those 2 games.
 

Semajer

Member
Namco's 180 regarding the Western release of Tales games is fantastic. I really hope they've hit a point where the localised versions are profitable for them.
 

Asd202

Member
So the game will probably skip December to avoid Persona 5 so January in Japan. which leaves only one option if it's 2015 in the West - December :p.
 

Coxy

Member
reads to me like he's saying "less than 12 months after", not literally the same year, so zestiria might still be winter 2014 in japan, summer 2015 in us/eu
 

RalchAC

Member
So the game will probably skip December to avoid Persona 5 so January in Japan. which leaves only one option if it's 2015 in the West - December :p.

What? Tales is more popular than Persona. They don't need to avoid anything.

They'll release it in Fall as they always do.

Xillia released in September 8, 2011.
Xillia 2 released in November 1, 2012
Symphonia Chronicles released in October 10, 2013.

So I'd say a September - November launch window is likely in Japan.
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
Lol, that's one why to announce a late release in Japan. I thought this would be released this year in Japan, seems it'll be 2015.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
So the game will probably skip December to avoid Persona 5 so January in Japan. which leaves only one option if it's 2015 in the West - December :p.

They don't mind releasing at the same time as mainline FFs, let alone a less popular series like Persona.

Also we don't know for sure if P5 is late 2014 or early 2015 for Japan.
 
Top Bottom