[Multiplatform] Tales of Vesperia announced, next main Tales

This has pretty much been confirmed as being a PS3 and or Xbox 360 game as the reports from people who where there say it's graphically impossible to be on any other system. Namco did just release a statement that they feel the PS3 has finally reached a respectable userbase for it to be profitable for developers.

Of course there could be a Wii version in the works too but didn't show that version off for various obvious reasons.

FYI that 3rd shot isn't an anime cutscene, it's a cel shaded, real-time shot using a similar shading style that Abyss used.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Official trailer has been released:

Offical ToV Trailer


Also Higuchi has been named director pretty much putting this under the umbrella of the main team who were responsible for Abyss and Symphonia.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hum seems they failed to mention the site also had "Tales of Innocences" in the keywords before it was finished. Likely cause is the webmaster being lazy and just used a past template as both ToI and Ace Combat 6 used the EXACT same looking webpage when they released the first trailers for those games.

The only way I see this game coming to the Xbox 360 is if Microsoft has their hands in it and are promising some type of baseline compensation because we all know this has a next to zero chance of selling on the 360.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by rpgcrazied

Whatever happend to the Tales series staying on the DS? I was looking at getting a 360 anyway, but still.

Companies that don't jump on opportunity because it contradicts something they said in the past are doomed to failure. I would assume the development team decided they had some bigger ideas that required a platform more suitable than the DS.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Lacerta

Namco isn't really pleased with the PS3 at the moment (despite mentioning it is actually worthy of putting games on now), so it'll probably have a timed release on 360 and then come out for PS3 later.

Kind of like Eternal Sonata!

Actually as I said earlier, they just stated otherwise just a few weeks ago and I seriously doubt this will end up as a timed exclusive. They are aware of the performance of the Xbox 360 in Japan and they are well aware that the Tales series has primarily a Japanese draw. I'm not sure why anyone would think this is going to be an Xbox 360 exclusive after how terrible Eternal Sonata turned out. With a lot of high profile RPGs being released in 2008 for the PS3 I'd consider the other opposite possibility of this becoming a PS3 timed or full exclusive before the Xbox 360 gets any special treatment out of this game. But more than likely it's going to be a simultaneous release.

But of course if it does end up happening, Tales of Vesperia Directors Cut might not but such a bad thing.

Quote:

I saw this trailer a few days ago but saw the this thread was locked for some reason. My initial thoughts are:

Why the 360?
and
Why does it have Wii graphics and is on the 360 and not the Wii?

Pretty much those. Those graphics could be done on the Wii, so I don't know what they're doing. I guess it's okay considering I have a 360 and all, but I don't really understand why Namco Bandai have moved to it from the PS2.

No way. The cel shading is a huge step up to what it was on the PS2 and the textures are far too sharp, the shadows far too complex and the animation far too smooth to be done on the Wii. Just compare this to Tales of the Abyss and you can see this is very much the next generation quality game from the Tales team.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Sorry but what has been shown is 100% impossible on the Wii. First the obvious one should be the 720p video, a resolution beyond the Wii. Second while the game might not be up to full next-gen standards there are obvious signs this is for the Xbox 360/PS3 based on the graphics.

First the models are made up of far more polygons than what is being shown for Tales of Symphonia 2. Second there is a self shadow system in place and an overall high quality shadow system. Third, the textures are extremely high resolution and probably well beyond what is possible with the limited memory in the Wii. And the fourth is in the trailer where it mentions HD animation from Production I.G specifically.

As I said before that doesn't mean there isn't a Wii version sitting behind somewhere not being show, but the trailer clearly displays a PS3 / Xbox 360 game. And from the various information leaking out it looks like it is going to be an Xbox 360 timed exclusive which depresses me only because I fear DVD-9 use for this game. It's probably going to limit the amount of animation we are going to get from Production I.G as well as screw us over for any hope of a dual audio release. Worse yet there is a change we'll get screwed out of skit voice localization once again since their excuse in the past has been lack of disc space due to the fact that the English language is naturally longer spoken, thus the file sizes for each voice clip is larger.

How ya doing, buddy?

The Game Boy only has digital mono output and analog stereo sound, smartass. Can't say it's for the Game Boy either.

FELIPE NO

Hey, you aren't allowed to hate on Wii graphics because of innovation, and fun and other shit like that.

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

I obviously suck at sarcasm in this thread. I guess I should have put in some smilies or something.

But all of this platform secrecy and ambiguity of this generation is already starting to piss me off. Just tell me what the damn game is going to be for so I know what I need to buy.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I honestly won't believe it until it comes straight from Namco. Their market analysts aren't this far detached unless Microsoft is directly handing them money.

I don't think we've heard anything more from Namco about this for almost three months because the higher ups are re-evaluating this project.

A PS3 version is still a given at this point, but the question will be how will it play out. Simultaneous PS3/Xbox 360 release? Exclusive switch to PS3? Xbox 360 version first with a PS3 version later with the possibility of added content?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

With the basic promise of a PS3 port of this game it's not going to do very well on the 360 in Japan, If it were exclusive it might changes things. Hard to say what kind of impact the game will have in the US. Lost Odyssey did surprisingly well its first week, but the Tales games are a niche within a niche.

Personally I own both consoles so I just want the best game. Unfortunately I'm fearful the appearance on the Xbox 360 is going to hold back what could be done with the game on the PS3. You have Eternal Sonata sitting at max capacity for a Xbox 360 DVD-9 and after playing the game I can't help but get the impression a whole lot of this game was put on the cutting board to get it onto a single disc. We're getting some decent extras for the PS3 version thanks to the extra development time and increased disc capacity, but it makes me wonder how much of the original game was shaped due to the constraints.

Either way I just home Hometek does a better job with this than Abyss. Cutting out skit voices for the sake of keeping the game under a single DVD layer was lame and I have a sinking feeling we are going to be screwed out of a dual audio release due to the DVD-9 issue with the Xbox 360.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

So to add to the weirdness. Famitsu reported that the director confirmed it is being developed for the Xbox 360, but only for release outside of Japan. The take on this is that either it simply hasn't been announced yet or Japan will not see a ToV release on the Xbox 360 but on another platform.

What? I don't even care anymore. This is stupid. I'm starting to understand why Bandai had to some along a bail them out.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well I'm pretty confident they are just going to pull another Eternal Sonata on us with this one. The Xbox 360 is going to see a release then they are going to add some more costumes/dungeons/attacks/characters for the later PS3 version.

I'm just going to wait and see Eternal Sonata turns out on the PS3. It could end up being a poor ass quality port and I'll want nothing to do with ToV on the PS3 since its the same engine.

Edit: Officially announced for the 360 today by Namco. The world facepalms.

I was speaking idiomatically.

More fantastic news about this game that I have to vent on.

The game will have DLC allowing you to buy items with real money. They say none of these items will be exclusive to DLC but its just an avenue for people who don't want to look for the items in the game.

Give me a fucking break. We don't need this shit in any form in offline RPGs, but I'm pretty sure I know why this game is showing up on the Xbox 360 now. What a completely lousy business model. I hate Namco.

How ya doing, buddy?

Well DLC itself isn't so bad, and at least with AC6 you are getting some actual new content. This is just paying to get content already in the game easier. It reminds me of the MMO cash-shops -something I absolutely despise. But at least that can be ignored by simply avoiding the games. But to try and push that model onto an offline RPG just sucks.

Oh and the best part is they announced that the game will not have online co-op...you know the one actual worthwhile thing an online connection could add to a game like ToV.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Celisasu

They have a d/l for it on X-Box Live? *Makes note to look for it later. Just got Live about a month ago and I keep forgetting to d/l previews even though my brother does it all the time*

But I imagine it'll be hard to really tell about the story and characters just off a demo. I find it funny the complaints about "not as cool as the Abyss crew" considering when Tales of the Abyss first came out, I heard everyone bitching about how they weren't as cool as the Sypmphonia crew and the same complaints when Symphonia came out about previous Tales games. The only complaints that seem to have stuck are the ones from Tales of Legendia.

And Tales has always had bland music that's neither good nor bad. Just forgettable. I hope that we'll be allowed to set the controls how we want them in the final product. Seems like something that should be included as standard in games like this.

Symphonia (the original), Abyss and now Vesperia are all made by the same team, the Namco Tales Studio. It's only Legendia that was made by a totally different team and they are also now developing the Symphonia 2 title for the Wii.

Played the demo, dug it for the most part but something seems off about the battle animations. I can't really place it but it seems to me like the weapons are out of proportion or something and its just throwing the animations off where everything isn't flowing as well as they did in Abyss. Minor complaint mostly over something I'll probably get used to.

I'm just really hoping for a good cast and a massive amounts of side content that made Abyss so awesome.

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

Originally Posted by Lacerta

Ratatosk is made by an entirely new team, different from Tales Studio and Team Melfes (Legendia).

Well, it's a mix of Namco Tales Studio and a completely new team. They don't have an official name yet.

No Tales Studio members worked on Symphonia 2 as obviously they are working of Vesperia. It was most of Team Melfes and the Soul Caliber Legends team to fill in some gaps. I'm expecting very little from it as they removed the world map which is effectively like removing the linear battle system from a Tales game as far as I'm concerned. It also recently got a 31/40 review making it the lowest rated console Tales game ever and even a point lower than Legendia got.

It's a good thing Vesperia is going to be released soon after Symphona 2 is.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm curious where you are getting this information. You just mentioned the game was mostly composed by Tales Studio but just listed every main role in video game development as being held by someone outside of the Tales Studio staff. Those roles are also all held by the same people who took that roll in Legendia. The only major role I know of that was actually filled by a Tales Studio member is the battle planner so I take my previous comment back that there are no Tales Team members.

Programming was mostly handled by the Soul Caliber Legends team as they had former experience with the platform. If you have information contrary to this I'd love to see it but I think you are confusing the development team with production team. Many Tales Studio members are part of Symphonia 2 production, but production does not deal with design and engineering of video games and the production team was brought on late during Symphonia 2s development in order to wrap up the logistics of getting the game complete and shipped.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

There are no threads for Symphonia 2 or I would happily bitch about it there.

How ya doing, buddy?

What a terrible business model. I'm sick of the nickel and dime BS from Namco to the point that I'm probably just going to stop buying their games. And yes I do realize my actions are insignificant and nobody cares, but fuck it I don't want to the the genre turned into this.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Can't see how you can say DLC doesn't effect a game. First they are locking content on the disks but I guess nobody here feels that they aren't paying enough for games already.

Then you have this situation. The first week the biggest complaint about the game coming out of Japan is the amount of level grinding people had to do in order to defeat the area bosses. Then a week later you get an announcement like this. Oh but I won't make any accusations because Namcos always followed upstanding business practices.

This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to just this latest move. Namco has been a piece of shit company this entire generation so far and this is just the latest. But whatever. If you want to bend over and give them their money then go ahead. But don't accuse me of being the idiot here.

I was speaking idiomatically.