[Multiplatform] New Tales coming to PS2, PSP, Wii and DS in Japan

Tales of Innocence

December 2007
Developer - Alpha Systems
Character Design - Inomata Mutsumi
Luka//Ruka - Akiko Kimura
Iria - Sasamoto Youko
Opening Movie - Production IG
Field - Full 3D
Battle System - Dimension Stride LMB
Opening Song - KOKIA

Tales of Symphonia: Knights of Rataosk


http://static.pici.se/pictures/xzFLcnBkC.jpg

Spring 2008 (April//May)
Takes place 2 years after Tales of Symphonia
Run into and play with the Symphonia cast
Raise monsters
Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System

Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut

January 2008
Leon Mode w/ backstory
Subcharacter Events
New Voice Sounds
New Dungeon Hints
New Difficulty Modes
New Carryover Features
Limited Edition comes w/ box, soundtrack, and booklet

Also announced at the press conference was the Nintendo DS becoming the new home for "New Tales of Games"

Jam it back in, in the dark.

More:


The story for Innocence centers on Luca, a resident of the peaceful capital city of Regnam. Luca, son of a merchant, has special powers, although he's not alone, as others like him have started appearing in the town of late. His personality is said to be a bit different from your standard RPG character; in fact, the game's producers feel his role is somewhat switched with that of the heroine, Iria.

The game's battle system will be a combination of past Tales systems. Innocence will use the Dimension Stride LMBS (Linear Motion Battle System), which is said to combine elements of the Flex Range LMBS from Abyss and the Aerial LMBS from the PS2 version of Destiny.


Moving on to the Wii Tales of Symphonia Knights of Ratatoskr, the Spring 2008 (Japanese release) title is, as mentioned in our initial update, a direct sequel to the GameCube and PS2 Tales of Symphonia, painting a new story three years after the events of that game. While story details are scarce, Bandai Namco did announce that the game's main character would be named Emil, and the heroine Malta. Lloyd and other characters from the original will also appear in the game.

Bandai Namco is working on some updates to the title for the Wii. Visually, the company claims that the graphics have been improved, with higher texture resolution. This is true of new dungeons and towns, and those that you might have visited in the original.

Gameplay is also seeing a few updates. The game will feature Wii-mote direct controls, allowing players to move around by pointing at sections of the map. While not strictly Wii related, the game will also include the ability to capture and breed monsters for use as allies in battle.


Finally, a few details on the PS2 and PSP remakes of older Tales titles. The PSP version of Tales of Rebirth will feature a few updates over the PS2 original, including wide screen support and a gallery mode. Tales of Destiny Directors Cut for the PS2 will include new events and battle difficulty settings, and will be compatible with your old save data. Both titles are due for Japanese release in early 2008.


source

I will let IGN go with whatever they say, but I think the battle system for ToI is 3L-LMBS + A-LMBS and not FR-LMBS, since there are clear lines in the screen.



There's nowhere I can't reach.

Not many people have faith in Knights of Rataosrskjraorkjsr or whatever since the director of it is from Soul Calibur and not even a Tales game. Well, they can always produce another Legendia like they did last time.

Team Symphonia isn't even coming back to do a Symphonia game. What the hell?

Originally Posted by RABicle

But seriously where is the story fucking going? The game ended, where can they take it?

I was honestly expecting something between Symphonia and Phantasia, but apparently they want to go 2 years after Symphonia.

Maybe Regal will have taken off his handcuffs.

How ya doing, buddy?

The only Tales related credits for that Teruaki Konishi person (the one in charge of ToS: KoR) are as co-producer for Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 and as director for Tales of the Tempest...

Tales of Rebirth should turn out to be a solid port, whoever it is doing now. (The past PSP ports were done by different staffs each time: ToE by the original staff with two additional Namco staff, ToP by Team Destiny's Ryuichi Ishizawa and Mineloader Software, ToD2 by Alfa System.)

Tales Studio has the freedom to decide themselves what to do. However they do not have any influence on NBGI handling of the Tales brand. This is quite obvious as Tales Studio's blueprints for the series clashes with what NGBI puts out to the public and pushes on their Non-Tales Studio developers. (DS as the main platform ? yea, right...). As long as this stays that way don't expect any non-Tales Studio Tales game to feel equal to their output.

At any rate, Innocence will push Alfa System to their limits. It will be a true test of how far they can polish a battle system, gameplay, and story after shitting out three very uncreative - yet still solid - crossover titles. Don't get me wrong, Narikiri Dungeon 2, 3, and Radiant Mythology are all very playable games. However there is an innate flaw in each one that kills it for a lot of people (RM suffers from very bland dungeons, tedious quests, and some absurd battle changes). With each successive crossover game, Alfa System has become better at fixing the problems they had in previous ones. Thing is though, they still listen to what NBGI says a Tales game should be instead of Tales Studio themselves, so they are limiting the potential of the game.

As long as it doesn't turn out to be a TOSE level of quality (see -> Phantasia PSP) then it should be alright.

EDIT: ToI just got a lot more hopeful.

Youtube Link.

Most amazing jew boots

Some more images.

(Taken from TrueGaming obviously)

http://www.tg-media.net/famitsu/2007...050_marked.jpg
http://www.tg-media.net/famitsu/2007...048_marked.jpg
http://www.tg-media.net/famitsu/2007...049_marked.jpg
http://www.tg-media.net/famitsu/2007...051_marked.jpg
http://www.tg-media.net/famitsu/2007...052_marked.jpg

It looks like the battle portraits are being changed for the Rebirth port... and Innocence is still looking okay.

Symphonia : KoR looks like they are simply planning on recycling the old textures from the cities. Speaking of, the map for this game is almost exactly a match of Aselia.

Originally Posted by 1UP

In a recent interview with producer Makoto Yoshidumi on Japanese publication Famitsu, he talks about the upcoming sequel. "The reason why we did not name this Tales of Symphonia 2 is because the game concept is quite different from the previous game. Now players will be able to have monsters as party members and can level up together with the main characters." Like Dragon Quest and other RPGs, players can have monsters join their party when meeting certain conditions after completing battles. Monsters will most likely be controlled by AI and simple commands might be included, but the producer is still keeping details under wraps.

Another change from the previous game is that there is no longer a field map. Players will use the Wiimote to point at locations on the map. After selecting, you will then enter into that location, whether it be a city or a dungeon, and this is where you can move and control your character. Knights of Ratatosk takes place in the combined world of Silvalant and Teseara which was recreated at the end of the first game. The game will feature the Linear Motion Battle which has become trademark to the series. Wiimote controls are expected to be in the game although not much has been talked about at this point.

I was speaking idiomatically.

If Namco really cared about profit that much then they wouldn't have bothered bringing over Abyss or Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology after what happened with Legendia.

For the most part their only interest is bringing over [new] games for the fans to enjoy. They even go out of their way to leave improper translations from old Tales of games in order to have a feeling of nostalgia for the old gamers.

But yes, if Hometek never announced they were going to pick up [x] before they did Radiant Mythology, then they probably never will do it. They've mentioned they will never go back to do old titles, just the titles that are coming out and seem to be enjoyable for fans.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The localization producer has mentioned there are no plans to bring it over.

Actually I'm not too sure on the profit thing. Bandai Namco surely wants money, but Namco Hometek doesn't care since they don't get to do much anyway. Main Bandai Namco and Hometek function really differently. Bandai Namco always cuts corners when it comes to their US releases of anything, while Hometek wants to go all out to make it the best enjoyable game possible.

Let's take Radiant Mythology as an example. Hometek wanted to do a full translation from the ground up. Bandai Namco did not wish to waste resources on something that wouldn't sell to their satisfactions. So, BN went to 8-4 localization to have them translate a page or two from various pieces of the game, then used their translations as a base for the whole game itself.

Then again, BN doesn't listen to what 8-4 translated anyway. During the work on Radiant Mythology there was something that stood out a great deal, and it was the inconsistency of voices and the like. Then again, BN forbade 8-4 from touching any items, techs, or battle dialogue. That is their domain, we should stick to just the story text and menus.

It's kind of funny that the first thing done on any Tales game is for BN to go out and get all the voices recorded with their studio of choice, before Hometek, or any other American person has actually had a chance to work on the game. When it comes time to translate the dialogue there are a few inconsistencies with what we arrived and with what the voices are going to be saying. When pointed out to Bandai Namco, they respond with.

"Well we can't change it now, the voices have already been recorded! Simply adjust the translation to what they say."

It was annoying for our work to just have to be discarded so easily because they wanted to do the voices first, and so everything had to revolve around the voice and not to going for an accurate translation.

Although I'm sure if Namco Hometek was working on the game entirely themselves, they probably would have done the voice work at a later date.

EDIT: Although I guess I should clarify what I meant originally by profits. As far as profits go, yes Bandai Namco is going to be out to earn a profit above all else. In the end everything goes to them first so they want to make the biggest profits they can make. The main goal of any business is to make a profit of course. However, if you look at the American branch -- Namco Hometek --, they care less about the profit and more about pleasing the fans. Their mindset (from chatting with Peter anyway) is that if they can please their current fans, then maybe they will go out and get their friends to buy the game, who will in turn introduce it to their friends.

Sort of like a pyramid scheme of gaming. Less focus on making a big profit at the start and more of getting people reeled in. The more possible consumers you have, the more big mother Bandai Namco will be pleased with you. The better Bandai Namco is pleased with you, the higher chances to bring more games to the US and start the process again.

Then again, the last thing Hometek had full control over was Abyss, and Bandai Namco pretty much said "Never again" after that, since the game came out with more bugs than what it came in with. More of a quality thing there.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Inhert

really it's that bad for me. I know that this game wasn't made by the same team (because the others were busy on Tales of the Abyss) and I just hope that this team will never touch another tales game ever again...

The team split up.

The head of the Legendia team is in charge of the Symphonia game's battle system though.

He might drag the old team back together, then again he might not. He might bring back his Soul Calibur styled battle system, then again he might not.

Won't know until more information gets revealed later on in time.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?