The story is comparable and honestly more or less the same. There are some new story scenes, and some scenes from the original (maybe 2 or 3 by my count) were removed. However, there's a new, self-contained (and largely unresolved) subplot about something called a "Triverse" that. It's really shoved off to the side, though. Galado fits in surprisingly well with the rest of the cast, and Chalcedony's new role as a party character works rather well and makes sense within the plot.connects the worlds of Innocence, Hearts, and Tempest. One of the new characters in Hearts R, Galado, is from another world, presumably Tempest's or somewhere else. Rumors are that the Triverse lore is what will expand the criminally short (10-hour-long) Tales of the Tempest into a much larger game if it is ever remade.
The triverse thing sounds shoehorned in. Not liking how that sounds. However since it doesn't seem to affect the main plot I'm down for this game. The original's team was the one that went on to make Xillia, right?
Seems major complaint is from people who preferred the 2D DS version, and weren't happy with the conversion to 3D or the design choices involved with that shift. Judging from other responses/feedback, it sounds like a fairly well received game for those that never played the DS one.
I can't speak to the quality of either version but I do find it so very strange that people begging for localizations don't want this one based purely off the idea it is inferior to a different version they have never played. I can appreciate being skeptical and listening to impressions of those that have, but people are acting as if this is the worst Tales game ever and shouldn't be touched. At the least Dimentionalist's posts seems to point to there being more to it than being outright awful as some people are trying to claim it is.
Wonder if it's a realignment of priorities? JRPGs typically don't do crazy well, but they DO have a stable base, whereas stuff like Inversion must've tanked bad, and if Enslaved was at all successful it must've been via positive word of mouth and an eventual Steam release. And with relatively few huge franchises, better to try to keep a hold on a stable one that's there.=\
Would've liked to try a localized DS version instead.
Up-port and localization of Rebirth? Please and thanks?
Well, Shahid did come through for Tales, the highest vote-getter. Just a shame that the game doesn't look great.
What's interesting to me though that Bamco is going all Tales crazy recently in the West. Tales is hitting the big time.
The negativity in this thread is mind blowing and makes me worry for the future of the franchise in the West if a long shot like this is treated with such contempt based on what seem to be mostly second hand impressions.
I don't care if it's not the DS version. Honestly, from what I've heard from friends of mine who have played Hearts R rather intensively, the game is great on its own terms. It does some really great things battle system-wise that Xillia and Xillia 2 lacked. It loses some things from the DS version, sure, but it seems to have its own features to offer.
I wonder how many of the people insisting that ToHR is not worth playing have even played the Vita version, much less the demo. I couldn't care less if the game doesn't measure up to other Vita games. Graphics honestly don't really matter to me and the 3D models seem just fine from what I've seen in screenshots posted here and elsewhere.
As a Tales fan? I am stoked for a long shot localization like this. Just as stoked as I was for Graces. I'm already planning on when to get my Vita for this.
I think most people's gripes is that they'd rather get a different Tales game than a mediocre, although playable remake. Of course ideally we'd just get everything...
Plus it's not likely if this came out here it'd sell very well. :/
I dunno, this is the same Namco that refused to release the Vita version of One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 in NA/EU despite going to the effort of localising the game, and somehow decided to make Dragon Ball Z on Vita a digital-only release in America so nobody would know it even existed. Namco doesn't give a shiiiiit about the Vita outside of Japan.
To be fair, a) I think Shahid and co. did also ask for PSP games, i.e. anything that could be played on a Vita, not just Vita games; b) while I'm sure lots of people would love to see Vita versions of those games, I'm also pretty sure that most just want to see those games localized in any form, PSP or Vita. I can't imagine there are many fans of those series who would turn up their nose at PSP versions with English translations.
Wonder if it's a realignment of priorities? JRPGs typically don't do crazy well, but they DO have a stable base, whereas stuff like Inversion must've tanked bad, and if Enslaved was at all successful it must've been via positive word of mouth and an eventual Steam release. And with relatively few huge franchises, better to try to keep a hold on a stable one that's there.
Seems kind of a shame that Gundam's peak here was seemingly when most of the games were awful though, hearing good things about Vs makes me wish those were localized. Though they seem to be a licensing headache even with the same international publisher.
If this is #JRPGvita then we shouldn't expect much for the Vita reveals come E3.
It's the Vita, it'd be lucky to even be mentioned by Sony at E3.
I think most people's gripes is that they'd rather get a different Tales game than a mediocre, although playable remake. Of course ideally we'd just get everything...
Plus it's not likely if this came out here it'd sell very well. :/
They may mention it again this year. "Hey guys ! Do you know that God of War 1 and 2 HD was just release last month? Yup Vita owners can play it right now!!!! Gamers enjoying the games will like to know about the future of God of war on PS4..........."Ugh don't even remind me of last E3.
We have a big title to reveal God of War 1 and 2 HD!
*crickets*
They may mention it again this year. "Hey guys ! Do you know that God of War 1 and 2 HD was just release last month? Yup Vita owners can play it right now!!!! Gamers enjoying the games will like to know about the future of God of war on PS4..........."
Wonder if it's a realignment of priorities? JRPGs typically don't do crazy well, but they DO have a stable base, whereas stuff like Inversion must've tanked bad, and if Enslaved was at all successful it must've been via positive word of mouth and an eventual Steam release. And with relatively few huge franchises, better to try to keep a hold on a stable one that's there.
Seems kind of a shame that Gundam's peak here was seemingly when most of the games were awful though, hearing good things about Vs makes me wish those were localized. Though they seem to be a licensing headache even with the same international publisher.
Then perhaps they need to establish connection to reality.
Namco released every new Tales of game for PS3 in west since Graces f
That means the only modern Tales of.. games without localisation are Vita remakes and Vesperia PS3- everything else is on long dead platforms and is years old.
Since Namco isn't touching Vesperia despite finding success with later games then it should be obvious there's some problem - likely legal one with Microsoft funding game for x360 first.
Considering this is Shahid #jrpg probably then there's Sony support involved.
Which means only game which could have been released instead would be Tales of ios remakes.
Despite all the negativity, I'll buy a Vita in a heartbeat it this turns out to be true.
I can only go off second-hand impressions myself, but my friends, who're pretty picky about Tales games in general (especially mechanics-wise), gave Hearts R a fair amount of praise. I don't get where the "mediocre" comes from aside from the graphics. Battle system seems to be subjective.
We can't get everything. I'm just happy to get whatever we get. And this is a new game that I haven't played before.
That can be said for Innocence R. And why would Namco release Innocence or Hearts for DS right now when the 3DS is on the market?
Wait what? MS really did found Vesperia? And paid for the PS3 version not to be localized outside of Japan? Well I can see scenario 2. I can even see how they moneyhatted one year exclusivity but funding an entire game and owning all rights to it for 6 years? Refusing to release it in Europe and basically killing of that one game? That sounds like a really stupid thing to agree on.
Noone outside of both companies knows what is in the agreement.
But PS3 was already selling well in 2009 when ToV PS3 was released in Japan and most of translation was done so there has to be something that blocks release in west.
Would be great, I'd love to finally play the game in English and understand the story.
The game's great, I don't get some people's hate for it, why would anyone playing the English version even care if the very different DS version is better for you guys? That's not gonna get localized anymore. But on its own Hearts R is a good game and the new battle system is a lot of fun.
Can't say much about the characters obviously, but I liked the skit art as you can see by my avatar.
Would be niced if they also localized Innocence R, though it's a bit more barebones and the battle system would be a step back if it's released after Hearts R, but its music is soo much better.
Noone outside of both companies knows what is in the agreement.
But PS3 was already selling well in 2009 when ToV PS3 was released in Japan and most of translation was done so there has to be something that blocks release in west.
The negativity in this thread is mind blowing and makes me worry for the future of the franchise in the West if a long shot like this is treated with such contempt based on what seem to be mostly second hand impressions.
As a Tales fan? I am stoked for a long shot localization like this. Just as stoked as I was for Graces f. I'm already planning on when to get my Vita for this.
I played the superior Tales of Hearts, much rather have Innocence R which seems to be superior to the DS version.
The conversion to 3D which looks terrible. The combat works but it doesnt hold a candle to the original and it loses the charm overall with the mediocre low budget conversion.
smh Shahid, this is the surprise? LMAO
Why the SMH? Shahid's just working to get more games on Vita, and it's not his fault that TOHR is the inferior version or if you're not interested. Besides, people who haven't played the DS version may still enjoy this game.smh Shahid, this is the surprise? LMAO
If this is true, I can't wait to see how they're going to handle name translations. This is one of the games with a lot of debate about names, specifically Kohaku and Hisui's.
Specifics please, never really cared about the game since I can't stomach having my nose in a "Lexicon" instead of the game and now with an English release I'm actually looking forward to it.
I know there was apparently some story changes that people weren't fond of, not too sure on the specifics. From a gameplay standpoint I know they removed a lot of Amber's and other characters' unique artes/spells from the original, and I know most people here aren't fond of Xillia's battle system over a CC battle system (Hearts DS used EG which is similar to CC, Hearts Vita's is basically Xillia's + Innocence R's put together). Removal of Hearts DS' assists is pretty lame too.
They also added the Chase system which is actually really interesting and a system I hope they bring back in future entries.
Makes sense that they would bring Tales of Hearts over.
I remember Hideo Baba saying he wanted western players to experience it.
In this interview:
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/09/12/tales-producer-says-you-should-play-tales-of-hearts/
Since Namco isn't touching Vesperia despite finding success with later games then it should be obvious there's some problem - likely legal one with Microsoft funding game for x360 first.
Recently, in Japan, you released Tales of Innocence R for PlayStation Vita, and in 2009, Tales of Vesperia for PlayStation 3. Are there still chances for these titles to come stateside?
Baba: The Tales series team is always working mainly on development of the new titles. Because the number of staff members are limited, the main focus is creating a new title, like Xillia or Xillia 2. So the number of titles which can be localized for western countries is limited, unfortunately.
Can you, at least, officially shut down a possible localization for Tales of Vesperia on PlayStation 3? There may still be fans holding back importing.
Baba: This is no official announcement that [localization of] the PlayStation 3 version is shut down. Of course, there is the still the possibility. But I dont have any plans or an official announcement about the localization of the PlayStation 3 version of Vesperia, as of now.
hmm, well that sucks but to be perfectly honest, the Xillia grew on me so I think I can deal.
Actually, who am I kidding? It's a Tales game, I'll buy it even if I don't have time to play it.
The whole "MS paid for Vesperia's localizaiton, hence it can't come over" is similar to people who used to say "Symphonia Chronicles won't come over because Nintendo paid for the script" (which I don't think was true, but either way we know what happened there).
I was under this mindset until the day the game came out. The demo was awful and as a fan of cel-shading, I was more than a little let down with the choice of graphical style. Then I sat down and played it for a few hours, and thought "okay, better than I thought, but still not what I'd want." The fact that they had another artist remix Sakuraba's own tracks didn't help matters.
However, I started to realize some of the smart fixes they've made to the game.
The original Hearts is notorious for being spammy. Shing gets an Arte called Shouseijin (no localized name yet from other Tales AFAIK) that deals good damage and knocks the enemy high into the air. It's possible to get an enemy to the top of the screen simply by repeating the Arte over and over again: by the end of the game, you'd be able to use the Arte up to 15 to 20 times in succession. In R, if you want to deal damage, you'll have to vary your combos.
Hearts R significantly reduces Arte damage output if you use the same move over and over again. Stunlocked enemies will also occasionally turn red and counterattack. When they do that, if you hit the guard button with perfect timing, you'll counterattack and continue your combo. You can get some neat bonuses for doing that in the form of skills that restore TP, HP, and TC (think Xillia's AC, but it doesn't deplete from normal attacks) upon a successful guard counter. There's also another cool defensive option that lets dash through enemies by pressing guard and forward.
There are definitely things I miss about Hearts DS that I wish they would have brought back (a non-traditional world map, Sakuraba, Emotional Gauge, Combination Gauge and Combination Artes), and I hate how enemies recover in mid-air, but I'd argue that Hearts R is much better than it's made out to be.
Boss★Moogle;107938218 said:Beggars can't be choosers, I'll take it.
Thanks for some actual details on the combat system, I honestly think this sounds like it'd be more up my alley than the original.
The Tales fanbase at large rarely seems to enjoy RPGs with any semblance of balance (boy do they love the spammy ones) so I don't tend to have the same sort of opinions as most do on which games have good/fun battle systems.
I think I'll go ahead and pick this one up, should be fun.
SNIP.