[Multiplatform] Tales of Vesperia announced, next main Tales

Originally Posted by Infernal Monkey

Commenting about the Wii's garbage bin juice soaked shithouse graphics isn't hating on the system, it's the truth. I mean just look at Konami's latest Wii game announced today (true story!)

Oh. My. Lord. Didn't we grow out of Area 51 style gameplay around the time Area 51 2 came out?

If that game premieres for anything more than $30 I will be severely disappointed.

Regarding Vesperia, that's great news that it's coming to the 360. Between Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and this (assuming they don't botch what has been a consistently well-made series recently), the 360 appears to have finally grabbed some JRPG market support, which is only a good thing.

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Originally Posted by Cetra

Exclusive switch to PS3?

Exclusives are a horrible idea in this game market. This is extremely unlikely.

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

There was Eternal Sonata and still Infinite Undiscovery still as well. The 360 is getting pretty decent support, all we can hope is the sales justify continued support of the genre, because otherwise they'll probably migrate to the PS3 at some point exclusively.

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Well, the Tales name in itself really helps the game out. If I remember correctly, Tales games are really popular in Japan... so perhaps this will help out the 360 over there...?

Of course, the best choice would be the 360 and PS3 ports. I honestly think that's what they would do, anyway.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

It was better off that way than them cutting out the skits entirely like they had been doing pre-symphonia/abyss. And I don't think they've ever bothered with a duel audio release before for a Tales game so that shouldn't come across as a massively shocking revelation if it turns out that way yet again, you know?

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

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So, the Japs will get the PS3 version, while everyone else will get the 360 Version?

Odd if true. I still want to play the game though.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Woah, weird news there. Then again, it makes sense, due to the 360 still not doing well in Japan.

But, then again, why wouldn't they release the other version outside of Japan? And even though the 360 isn't so hot, why wouldn't it be released in Japan? Wouldn't that make more sense...

I just guess the most important question is.... WHY DOES IT NEED TO ALL BE A SECRET? Geez.

How ya doing, buddy?

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

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?

I'd expect this from EA (paying to unlock cars in whatever rehash racing game there was a shitstorm over), but Namco? Didn't see that coming. That's no DLC. That's paying to cheat. :/

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I guess the plethora of overpriced Ace Combat content must be selling better than I thought. I've bought maybe 6 of the 35 or something DLC items for it, so I'm no better, but damn. What a joke.

If this continues, Namco will be worse than EA for marketplace price fixing in no time flat.

As for it being the sole reason for the 360 platform choice? That'd have to be a LOT of increased revenue.

FELIPE NO

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.

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

Well, wether or not new content is actually inserted or not was not my point. The price to value ratio for these things is incredibly low, regardless. It seems to me like this is just an extension of the same business model. Whatever trivialities you're getting in return for your couple of bucks is overpriced, regardless. It's the high prices for this content that's annoying me more.

Let's face it, people will buy it regardless if it's new content or on the disc, so I care much more about actually having realistic prices for the value you get back from these purchases. In AC, the skins should be waaaaaay cheaper, and the missions should not be 15 bucks for the whole lot. It's this price fixing which leads to worse and worse content pricing on the marketplace, which worries me. In the future, just how much is Namco and other companies gonna start charging for content with some actual meat to it?

On a side note, one of the recently released missions for AC6 is roughly an MB in size. Considering the others are 5 to 15, this might imply that it too is a simple unlock of included disc content, although I can't be certain. It could just recycle a lot of in game assets. It is suspicious, at least.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

IGN: Xbox 360 RPG Press Conference Live Blog

8/7/08 for Japan. "Sometime in August" for North America.








2009 for Europe. Of course.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Also a demo this month on the Japanese marketplace. I wonder if it'll be like Eternal Sonata and be the English demo if you download it on a NA 360?

Either way I'll be grabbing it.

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

Demo's up on JP marketplace. Just downloaded and trying now. I like the main menu music so far. I'll edit in thoughts later.

EDIT #1: Oh shit the demo is in english??!? wtf.

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

Sounds exactly like Eternal Sonata and, quite honestly, looks a little too much like it, too.

The battle system is standard Tales fare. Maybe you can move around freely (ala Tales of the Abyss and presumably Symphonia 2) later on, but for now the battle system is almost exactly like Tales of Symphonia-- everyone fights on a linear plane that can change depending on what enemy is being targeted.

EDIT: Found free run. Much better, but still the same system I worked the shit out of in Tales of the Abyss.

Most uninteresting entry in the series since Tales of Legendia. I'll hope for the best though, since it's still being made by Tales Studio proper.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Tokubetsu

EDIT #1: Oh shit the demo is in english??!? wtf.

Often, the same demo code goes up on both marketplaces, and has the assets for both regions. It just detects your region from your console and displays accordingly. This happens a lot, actually.

Which always makes me wonder why dual langauge demos almost never go up on both marketplaces simultaneously, but 'eh.

Game's pretty fun so far. Like GB said, similar to Abyss, but looks like we trade the aggrivating Luke for another annoying character. Oh well, wouldn't be a Tales game without one.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I thought the demo was okay. It did feel a lot like a sequel to Eternal Sonata (a game that I disliked). Abyss is my favorite Tales game so far (with the best story and character development) and from what I've seen here, this looks like a step back to your usual cookie-cutter JRPG cliches.

The controls were really frustrating. They swapped the special attack/attack buttons and for some reason, the regular attack button is "cancel" in the menu. I can't tell you how many times I ended up closing the menu.

And I really wish Sakuraba would slow down. It seems like every JRPG I play has his boring, drawn-out chord progressions in it.

FELIPE NO

Hmm, I'm kind of iffed by how it's being released. If anything, I was trying to predict where the Tales series would end up (seeing as I love the series to the fanboy extent), but the 360 was the last place I'd see it be at.

Sounds like they used the Japanese config for combat but the American config for menus. And it looks like I now need a 360.

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

I didn't like the music very much in the demo. Especially the battle and boss battle music. But other than that, the game seems fine to me.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've never fully completed or gotten into a Tales of game and I doubt this will be the one to ignite the spark (mainly due to 360-ness, a console that I don't have). But I've been keeping track of this Vesperia one and the screenshots have looked absolutely phenomenal. Music sounds ok, too (but I didn't care for the boss battle theme much) and the gameplay looks solid.

I've been meaning to buy Tales of the Abyss, 'cause that's apparently awesome. If I end up liking that, then I may have to look into this. ^^

There's nowhere I can't reach.

My friend brought his 360 over and I told him about it, so he made me setup an account and grab the game.

Music is kind of bland, but the boss battle is a step above the default one in Symphonia. Although it seems like Sakuraba is obviously running out of juice.

Controls are lame, I don't mind the Japanese config, but as least keep it consistent with the menu config. After the second time though I got the hang of it. I managed to do a near infinite chain using Rita and her Burst Arte and linking it into a Fatal Strike after running out of OL. That mini-boss can suck it. Three game overs before I managed to kill him.

Overall it's a nice change. A lot of people seem to be raving on about how it's "Not as cool as Abyss" or "Abyss in HD" though.

This might be the game that finally pushes me to break down and buy a 360, and then start buying other stuff as well.

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

Yeah, the default configuration is really hurting. A needs to be standard attack, B needs to be block, and X needs to be special attack... basically the configuration style I'm used to from Symphonia. It'd undoubtedly make me suck less at this game.

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