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Namco Bandai Has A "Surprise" For Tales of Fans In The West [Up: Japan Expo]
- Thread starter ULTROS!
- Start date
Uh... for my own safety, I don't think I want one. I mean... I don't want to have another meltdown like the Xillia 2 thread.
To be fair, Xillia 2's MC looks a lot more likeable than Emil.
Yeah. Tis very true my friend.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
You mean like Phantasia or Destiny?
The only handheld remakes we've gotten were of handheld games (Narikiri Dungeon, Innocence) and both bombed. Symphonia's too big a title, it'll get the full HD console treatment.
Symphonia Vita is a no go from any angle, the system just isn't strong enough market wise and it already has other remakes lined up. If it happens on 3DS, it'll just be a port like every previous console to handheld Tales was (Phantasia, Eternia, Destiny II, Rebirth, Abyss).
My point is that there will be no "full HD console" remake treatment at all. Why would they waste money to remake an old game when they could invest that money for a new one that will most likely sell better.
Metallix87
Member
Exactly.
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
Oh wow.
I'm hearing one of the pre-order bonuses in a Emil costume for Ludger.
That's creepy.
Well its the same character designer so I suppose it was inevitable.
It's not like the fanbase makes it hard to do so. They're the only fanbase I have ever seen that continued to bitch after getting the announcement for what they wanted. They're one of the few fanbases I've seen who'd invade announcements for other franchises and voice their displeasure that a game that's going to sell considerably more than theirs is getting released when a port of an already localized game isn't. Scamco bred this community to be like this, and given the community itself seemingly doesn't want to grow up than they deserve whatever Scamco throws at them.
Pretty much sums up how I feel about the Tales franchise and its western fans.
Probably the worst thing is that Scamco put these fans on notice that this year's western releases had to sell well for this franchise to continue having a presence here. So of course the same 60k who always show up do so, and no one else cares. As I've said before, Scamco doesn't help the situation (What's marketing? Strategic Release dates? Huh?) but it's definitely shared blame.
I've noted this before. It's a vicious cycle between the community and the company. Both expect things from each other and neither relents making the problem always existent. It's like two children yelling at each other and never giving up.
or buy a damn 360 and play it in damn english.
Fanbase wouldn't be split if Namco did a better job at advertising the game and explaining how it's from a different team than the recent Vesperia/Abyss/Symphonia. My friend that casually likes tales games and buy new releases in the series but doesn't follow the news about them online was quite disappointed with it. He was expecting similar to those games and felt like he got burned by buying it. Reading posts here, it seems many shared that feeling.
Hopefully Namco take the chance and localize Xilia but J-GAF didn't seem to like the game a lot so it doesn't bode well again.
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You know it's a slow news thread when the elitism, condescendence and circle jerking begin...
Hopefully Namco take the chance and localize Xilia but J-GAF didn't seem to like the game a lot so it doesn't bode well again.
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You know it's a slow news thread when the elitism, condescendence and circle jerking begin...
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I think people will like Xillia more than Graces because its presentation and pacing might be more palatable than Graces to some people. The character writing and character relationship writing aren't as lacklustre as Graces either.
I loved Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia, even liked Legendia outside the combat, but the story, pacing and characters are so boring to me in Graces, even if it has the best Tales combat, I just have no motivation to continue playing through it.
If Xillia is at least more interesting and better paced, then yes please.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Historically, console remakes sell just as well as original games. I don't see the "wasting money" line really supported in how the series performs, Phantasia PSX and Destiny PS2 were huge sellers. Where remakes don't seem to sell well is, regretably, on handhelds.
They'll probably do Symphonia R for the game's 10th anniversary or something.
It was also considerably easier to do remakes for those games back then than it is for full HD remakes. If this was the case then why aren't we seeing popular video games getting HD remakes left and right? It's because it's not worth the time or money.
Uh... there's a difference between elitism/condescending/circle jerking and maturity/realistic comments.
I liked Xillia's story a lot better than Graces. so yeah.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Uh, relative to what? It was easier to do original games back then than full HD games, following your logic Namco should just dump consoles entirely and stick with 3DS/Vita.
And wait, we aren't seeing popular games getting HD remakes? Are you sure that's what you meant to say?
There's a difference between remaking and remastering. Secondly, it's easier to remake games in the previous generation than it is to remake a game in this generation. HD makes it heavily cost inefficient to remotely remake something from the previous era, which is why we get remasters and not remakes. Thirdly, we'd see Final Fantasy XII HD Remake for a console before we'd see a Tales of Symphonia HD Remake for a console. I can believe a remake for the Vita or 3DS because it doesn't cost as much but for a console? No way.
As for Namco dumping consoles, Tales mothership titles tend to be on consoles. Why waste the potential of a console on a remake of an older game? I've already said that it would most likely make less money and people are less inclined to buying something old compared to new, even if it is a remake.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
We JRPG fans always do our part. Yet, the part necessary to be done would require JRPG fans to buy every one that came out on 8 systems and counting That has never happened and will never happened; it isn't the point. No, we always do our part, but others who didn't, not necessarily on ToGf, but somewhere, occasionally, did not.
I figure they'll wring out a couple more off on the PS3 (nice strong home base), and maybe Wii U next gen if that shakes out as a force. It's time to reiterate on that comfy familiarity with that system for quite a while.
KiteGr
Member
If only they had bothered to create Some European fans.
The Tales franchise have been avoiding the Sony consoles in Europe since their very launch. The only tales games we've got are the few that came for non-sony consoles, a very late port, and graces f... That's five in total, with the 3 of them dated ports...
So right now, despite recearching and anticipating any Tales game that we didn't get, any hype I had for that series had completelly dissapeared, and I'm more interested in the Star Oceal Franchise.
The Tales franchise have been avoiding the Sony consoles in Europe since their very launch. The only tales games we've got are the few that came for non-sony consoles, a very late port, and graces f... That's five in total, with the 3 of them dated ports...
So right now, despite recearching and anticipating any Tales game that we didn't get, any hype I had for that series had completelly dissapeared, and I'm more interested in the Star Oceal Franchise.
electroplankton
Banned
Was the surprise no more Tales of in the West?
Hours Left
Member
At least Namco Bandai Europe is actually reaching out to Tales fans now (new and old) with a dedicated community rep. After the initial Graces f announcement, it was like pulling teeth to get Namco USA to say ANYTHING about it, let alone promote it.
The problem isn't current Tales fans, it's attracting new ones. This series needs visibility, and the onus for that should not be placed predominately on the existing fan base, which Namco USA loves to do.
There will be more Tales localizations in Europe in the future than there will be future Star Ocean games. I'm sorry dood.
That's pretty much the case for all non-Tekken Scamco US published games. Scamco's US community manager is big into fighting games and not much else. As a Dragon Ball fan Scamco's US division almost never posted trailers, it was always the EU side that would.
KiteGr
Member
To my knowledge there are no european fans aside from pirates. In order to play a Tales game in Europe, you had to own a non-sony console (which was uncomon given how PS2 beated the competition), and even with that, you could only get access to one game (Simphonia). The other sollution of course was to get them through piracy, but unfortunatly pirates don't pay, so they don't count here.
European Sony console owner's first encounter with a tales game that is released on time ("on time" means a 3 year delay from it's original release) was Tales of Graces that incidentaly was the worst tales game they've ever made for home consoles, with the current gen version looking and playing like a Wii port and the original Wii version being actually unplayable.
Now Xilia and Xilia 2 might get a EU release in the future, but there is no denying that they look very ugly by current day standarts.
They have to try VERY VERY HARD if they wan't to convince us after all these years that they care about us and they still make good games...
WHY THE FUCK DID THEY HAD TO WAIT FOR THE QUALITY OF THEIR GAMES TO REACH BOTOM TO REMEMBER THAT WE EXIST!
The same thing happened with Xenosaga, where we got only the second episode (That's right! No episode 1 or 3...)
I agree with you. We've certainly discovered what most Tales fans around here care about, and those things are better in Xillia.
BassForever
Member
Most English Tales fans consider Symphonia to be the shining best example of what a Tales game is :/
wut? Graces was fine barring the story (for most people, I liked it well enough).
This is crazy! I'm sure there are plenty of Euro Tales fans based on Symphonia alone. We also got Eternia for PSP, and Abyss for 3DS.
michaelius
Banned
Are you counting 2 or 3 PSP tales games that we got ?
lucablight
Member
I don't understand why Graces gets so much hate for its story. The characters are well developed and characterised and although the plot drops off a bit near the end of the game it's far from terrible. In fact Yuri aside I would say Graces is a superior to Vesperia in terms of characters and plot.
I didn't hate Graces (as a whole) at all, but I strongly disagree with you.
lucablight
Member
Which part do you disagree with and why?
Yeah, we got a bunch of Tales games, enough to have a fan base. As far as I remember:
- Tales of Phantasia GBA
- Tales of Eternia PSP
- Tales of Symphonia
- Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
- Tales of Vesperia
- Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
- Tales of the Abyss 3DS
- Tales of Graces f
The only Tales games the US got and Europe didn't (in any form or remake) are Tales of Legendia and Tales of Destiny, I think.
I'm a pretty simple person and this probably isn't the answer you want, but all I can tell you is I liked the entire main cast of Vesperia (even Karol, which I guess some people can't stand) whereas I didn't care for about half the Graces main cast. I was also more indulged in the Vesperia storyline (up until the 3rd part anyway) in comparison to Graces, which never really grasped me.
I did quite like the battle system, and the dualize system. Iffy on the titles system, didn't care for the inn requests system.
lucablight
Member
In Vesperia I thought Karol was annoying and Repede and Judith were just there. In comparison the Graces group felt alot more close knit. I guess Pascal felt like she was just there but I found her hilarious and she had a strong personality. The title system really added a whole lot of depth and customisation that was lacking in Vesperia as the titles were useless. I really thought Yuri carried that game otherwise it would have been relatively lacklustre. Don't get me wrong I thought Vesperia had a decent cast as well but I find it strange that it gets so much praise whereas Graces gets blasted in this area. I guess Graces does have a bit more if a "shonen" flavour to it and it may be related to that.
For those who have played Xillia:
Without spoiling, is the primary antagonist any good? I find that most Tales games have some of the worst antagonists. In my mind, Dhaos and [ToS
otNW Spoiler]
are the only decent ones.
EDIT: Wasn't thinking and wrote a spoiler, while asking for no spoilers....ooops. I'm pretty sure Dhaos though isn't really a spoiler.
Without spoiling, is the primary antagonist any good? I find that most Tales games have some of the worst antagonists. In my mind, Dhaos and [ToS
otNW Spoiler]
Richter
EDIT: Wasn't thinking and wrote a spoiler, while asking for no spoilers....ooops. I'm pretty sure Dhaos though isn't really a spoiler.
Entirely true, I've only played 3 Tales games, but all of them have terrible or forgettable villains.
I don't even like Yuri all that much, to be honest.
...then again, I really like Cheria so maybe I'm just broken.
Yeah, we are bunch of people who love Tales games here in Europe. I've even gotten som friends interested in the games. But more or less you needed a US or modded PS2 to buy all the good JRPGs that we where denied.
Just hope that fanbase will continue to grow and hope Namco Bandai will keep releasing games..
I do have a few issues as a Tales fan in the EU.
First of all, my first Tales game was Symphonia. At that point I'd never even heard of Tales yet. I'd just played Star Ocean and wanted something similar, and was recommended this. I ended up loving the game. I then went hunting more Tales games.
I discovered Legendia and Abyss, but to my dismay they weren't available in EU. Having already flashed my PS2 so I could play imports (Xenosaga), I went ahead and imported the two games (Note imported via cash and not pirated). Legendia was okay, but I really liked Abyss. Loved the battle system and the whole field of fonon's thing, although the less said about Luke the better
Vesperia came out not soon after, but there was no EU release date in sight. In the end it was nearly a whole year before we got it. Sure after the PS2 games I should be happy I got it at all, but it was still annoying. The fact that Vesperia is my favourite Tales kinda helps though. Symphonia 2 was also a full year wait and we're still waiting on Graces F (Got 3 pre-orders down! Trying to get other people into the franchise).
It's just really annoying waiting what seems like an age. Sure I could import, but when I know it's coming in the EU, I have to support it here to help further localisations. But at the same time I can't really get games like Eternia and Abyss when they are extremely late versions of games that I've already played. I mean I'd buy Vesperia PS3 for the extra content despite having played it on 360. Don't see any reason I should get Abyss 3DS.
There's another problem with Tales in the West. There's too much platform hopping that it makes it hard to foster a fan base. Symphonia does brilliantly? I know we'll go PS2 next. As a quick run down off the top of my head, you have 1 GBA game, 2 PSP, 1 GCN, 1 Wii, 1 360, 1 3DS and soon to be 1 PS3. That's just crazy. I mean it's okay for someone like me since I tend to own all platforms. What about everyone else? And then you need to consider that there is no EU Tales for PS2 and DS, easily the strongest consoles in that region by an enormous margin
I guess I'm just kind of jaded. I hope for more, but I don't really expect it. If Namco release them here, then I'll buy them. It's as simple as that. I guess it's not exclusive to Namco with EU issues of Japanese titles though. Other companies such as Atlus give us pain as well, although at least we know if the US gets it, Ghostlight will bring it here.
First of all, my first Tales game was Symphonia. At that point I'd never even heard of Tales yet. I'd just played Star Ocean and wanted something similar, and was recommended this. I ended up loving the game. I then went hunting more Tales games.
I discovered Legendia and Abyss, but to my dismay they weren't available in EU. Having already flashed my PS2 so I could play imports (Xenosaga), I went ahead and imported the two games (Note imported via cash and not pirated
). Legendia was okay, but I really liked Abyss. Loved the battle system and the whole field of fonon's thing, although the less said about Luke the betterVesperia came out not soon after, but there was no EU release date in sight. In the end it was nearly a whole year before we got it. Sure after the PS2 games I should be happy I got it at all, but it was still annoying. The fact that Vesperia is my favourite Tales kinda helps though. Symphonia 2 was also a full year wait and we're still waiting on Graces F (Got 3 pre-orders down! Trying to get other people into the franchise).
It's just really annoying waiting what seems like an age. Sure I could import, but when I know it's coming in the EU, I have to support it here to help further localisations. But at the same time I can't really get games like Eternia and Abyss when they are extremely late versions of games that I've already played. I mean I'd buy Vesperia PS3 for the extra content despite having played it on 360. Don't see any reason I should get Abyss 3DS.
There's another problem with Tales in the West. There's too much platform hopping that it makes it hard to foster a fan base. Symphonia does brilliantly? I know we'll go PS2 next. As a quick run down off the top of my head, you have 1 GBA game, 2 PSP, 1 GCN, 1 Wii, 1 360, 1 3DS and soon to be 1 PS3. That's just crazy. I mean it's okay for someone like me since I tend to own all platforms. What about everyone else? And then you need to consider that there is no EU Tales for PS2 and DS, easily the strongest consoles in that region by an enormous margin
I guess I'm just kind of jaded. I hope for more, but I don't really expect it. If Namco release them here, then I'll buy them. It's as simple as that. I guess it's not exclusive to Namco with EU issues of Japanese titles though. Other companies such as Atlus give us pain as well, although at least we know if the US gets it, Ghostlight will bring it here.
By his logic, I am one of those who pirate Tales games despite living in Europe and owning 20+ games from the series. But it's ok, he got banned for his seemingly "I am an expert!" post (or maybe he got the boot for linking to a NSFW site).