[Multiplatform] Tales of Vesperia announced, next main Tales

10 extra funbux, and you get a CD and a metal case. The CD is a Tales compilation music CD, with 14 songs from Tales of Vesperia, two from Tales of Phantasia, two from Tales of Destiny, four from Tales of Symphonia and three from Tales of the Abyss.

Not a whole lot, but the case is far nicer looking than the ugly shit that is the regular edition.



What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Eh, a CD that I can find uploaded here the day of, a tin that'll take up extra room on the shelf, and a few art pages inserted into the manual. Not worth an extra $10 from me.

FELIPE NO

Or...not so easy, maybe.

Looks like the SKU has been pulled from GS stores (at least in the States, more on that in a second), and that it's gone to online only, period. People with preorders have reported being called and told their order has been cancelled, and that an interenal GS memo has circulated talking about it.

Rumoured to also be limited to an extreme degree. How extreme, I'm not certain, but I was told the scale might be "hundreds". Not certain if I buy that or not. Seems very un-Namco like. I AM SKEPTICAL.

That said, Canadian EBs STILL HAVE IT in their system. I phoned all of 4 minutes ago and confirmed that it's still in the system under "Vesperia CE", the item number and SKU are still in the system, and that Canadian EBs have recieved no such internal memo. As far as I can tell, we're still getting it in store.

As strange as that all sounds, it's not unprecedented. A similar event happened with the North American release of Electroplankton on the DS. It was online only in the US, but came into stores directly up here. I'm hoping for a repeat scenario here.

I'm also hoping that it doesn't get cancelled at the last fucking second and I'm left looking on eBay for something that might be instantly hard to find. It's a crapshoot though at the moment, NB's doing a horrible job of being forthcoming with info here. The fact that they didn't announce this thing until there was less than a month left until the game's release only goes to illustrate my point. Let alone this other bullshit of who can sell it and how.

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

I have no idea what you're talking about. As soon as I saw your post about the search, I tried it and nothing existed. Ever. I'm not really sure US GameStop stores have ever had it as an in-store thing. At the very least, no "internal memo" has circulated to stores.

How ya doing, buddy?

Actually, I checked a couple of days ago and it was listed on the Gamestop website and it never said anything about it being online only.

I notice now that it's missing that little "Available for In-Store Pickup" that it had prior.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by SouthJag

I have no idea what you're talking about. As soon as I saw your post about the search, I tried it and nothing existed. Ever. I'm not really sure US GameStop stores have ever had it as an in-store thing. At the very least, no "internal memo" has circulated to stores.

Everything I'm operating on is second hand information (as far as the US preorders go), but Daravon's not usually incorrect. He relayed this bit about an internal memo/email/whatever you want to call it to me via email, apparently after asking someone at his local place, who told him about it. I DO know people HAD put down preorders for the thing, and it was under "Vesperia CE".

Here's my receipt.



Apparently, this was the same item under the same title in the US. But now it's totally been pulled from the system.

There's other GS employees on other forums (I assume Daravon's talking about GAF in this case), that have said the same thing as what I've relayed in the above post.

His quote follows.

Originally Posted by Daravon

No one is clear if Canada is getting it or not in-store, but the email did specifically state it's website only in the US. This has been confirmed by multiple GS employees, and it's been confirmed that sku has been pulled out of the system completely. Some dudes on gamefaqs FWIW said their store called them and told them they'd have to cancel their CE preorders.

I'm not certain if there was an email or not. Perhaps not sent out to every store? Perhaps only to ones with preorders of the thing in the system? I don't fucking know, I'm just guessing now. Perhaps you're both right, fuck if I know.

There is overwhelming evidence that people did have in store preorders at some point, so I'm not sure what's going on. All I know is Canada DOES have it in the system still, and it's looking online only for the US at this moment.

Information is so hazy, it's getting ridiculous. Everyone's saying something different.

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

Spoiler:

I'm the store manager at my place, so I definitely would've seen something if and only if it came from corporate to the field i.e. the store level.

So, with that being said, the only thing I can think of is that the "Vesperia CE" SKU was added and then removed the very next day before opening (which would mean it happened during the night's polling process), and no memo was sent out and someone's just out there assuming a memo went out.

Looking over your receipt, there are key differences between yours in O CANADA (lols) and ours in the States. First off, the 7-digit SKU. Anything in a US GameStop store would start with 20 for a new XB360 game, not 614. That was an old EB thing (started at a pre-merger EB store, I did) with 7 digits. And even the "Vesperia CE" was EB -- back then we used as many shortcuts or abbreviations as we could; "FF" instead of "Final Fantasy", etc. GameStop writes out everything, so I'd be pretty confident over something so minor as LAWL IT WOULD BE "TALES OF VESPERIA COLL. ED." U NOOBZ.

So, here's my question -- why haven't the EB stores been brought up to date with GameStop's SKU numbers? Odd. The merger did happen after all.

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

Yes, I know what position you hold. You talk about it a lot.

GS has never been up here, so it's probably been kept this way for name recognition. The system was probably not revamped, since why bother if you're not really changing the name or merging with the American system? EB Canada is a somewhat seperate corporate entity.

The small time frame is apparently quite possible. This could be the Subsistence LE all over again with multiple fuck ups.

I'm just echoing what I've heard, as it's not just you who's a GS employee and reporting back on this. I've been reading other reports on other forums (CAG/GAF/etc) and it seems like it at least.

NeoGAF - View Single Post - The Official Tales of Vesperia Thread

As just one example. (God, I hate using NeoGAF as a source but 'eh.)

I can't find receipt images for anything but Canadian preorders, but there are plenty of posts of people saying "I managed to preorder it" on various forums like the TalesBrigade. Following guy's location is listed in the US, so.

Originally Posted by SirthOsiris

Sauce

The guy I talked to at Gamestop pre-ordered it himself, so it was on the database when I got there for mine. Hopefully they'll know which one I pre-ordered when I go on the fateful day.

I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, but what I've posted is what's been reported as well. It very well could have existed in the system for only a few hours. The amount of "It's not in my local place's system" posts outnumber these other ones by about a bajillion to one.

Regardless, the point is that the ball has been dropped pretty hard, and confusion on the issue is pretty much rampant. I don't see why you're harping on the "nuh-uh, no memo 'cause I didn't get one" thing.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I hope Europe are going to get the fancy tin box edition. I do like a bit of unusual packaging so that special games stand out a bit more. I don't like it when the package is just excessively large so that it won't fit on my shelf, but that looks about right... and the first "Tales of..." game on a current generation console is about as special as it gets.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah I don't mean to harp on it so much, it just baffles me quite a bit. Also, I'd like to get the LE of Vesperia myself.

Here it is if anyone wants to preorder it -- http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/Prod...oduct_id=72387

FELIPE NO

As discussed a few pages ago, Vesperia DLC has now been dropped in Jappo land that allows you to BUY LEVEL UPS. Also in game money. Of course it will come here too, so.

Here's what you can buy!

Quote:

LV Up +10 (1) 300 Microsoft Points
LV Up +5 (1) 200 Microsoft Points
300,000 Gald (1) 300 Microsoft Points
Skill sets 80 Microsoft Points
HP Recovery Cuisine Recipe Set 100 Microsoft Points

Sauce

Quite frankly, this is god damn disgusting. Worse than the AC6 shit where you're paying 5 bucks PER MISSION for a difficulty increase, or dropping 10 for a pink airplane with a loli on it. That shit is just useless and overpriced extra shit...this is letting you bypass the point of the game for extra scratch.

Namco is really fucking pushing it here, my GOD.

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

But look! You get twice as many extra levels for only 100 points more if you just buy the 300 MS Points package. What a bargain!

The people who would buy any of that are pathetic, but compared to a lot of things Namco-Bandai have done in recent years this isn't too bad. At least the game works and it didn't take them twice as long to translate it than it did to make it.

So have they done away with the points you earned in battles to buy this sort of thing at the beginning of New Game+ in other Tales games, or is this just for the cheaters?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

No, grade still exists. I imagine it's used for much the same purposes as it has been in the past.

I'm not certain what it's NOT worse than. unlocking content already on the disc and putting up horribly useless content for stupid-high prices is one thing, but actively charging for save file manipulation here is another. What do you think they have done that's worse?

I mean, shit. EA charged for cheats too, but it wasn't like "GIVE GOLFER BETTER STATS". Egad.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't really see it as a huge deal. I mean yeah, it's sort of gay to charge for what's essentially save hacking, but at least it's nothing something fun and cool you're missing out on if you don't want to pony up. It's just a couple extra levels, or recipes, or whatever, and that's not hard to do yourself at all.

How ya doing, buddy?

My complaint is more about the precedent set and price points, and what it means for future content.

The price here is ridiculous, considering what you're getting. The value for your buck is insane, and this is the same problem I've had with Ace Combat. It's McDonalds charging you 80 bucks for an order of a small fries.

While I can't stop idiots from buying things, it makes me wonder just how much they're gonna charge for real, actual content, provided they ever bother to release any. Probably not. Why put effort into it when your bullshit scheme works so well?

It's just an ugly precedent and a horrible business model, and it's insulting to own games made by these folks when this sort of shit goes down. Normally I'm not so easy to hate on this sort of thing, but it's just insulting to even see it offered, let alone at that price point.

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

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. I just have a way bigger problem with paying to unlock content already on the disc, for example, 'cause I feel I should have that kind of thing included when I buy the game. I guess it just doesn't bother me because it's something I would never ever even consider paying for, and I think "well, at least it's not actual content they're charging me for."

Though I agree, it is a bit insulting to have someone go "hey man, I'll sell you this cheat code for five bucks." I miss the days of just turning cheats on with button combinations entered at the title screen.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Pew pew pew

While I can't stop idiots from buying things, it makes me wonder just how much they're gonna charge for real, actual content, provided they ever bother to release any. Probably not. Why put effort into it when your bullshit scheme works so well?

What's "real, actual content"? Another bonus dungeon? Yawn.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Sure. I'd be more willing to pay for that, yeah. Additional quest lines and/or whatever have been offered for relatively decent price points for a number of RPGs now, like LO and BD. Optional content not already on the disc, that only adds to the final experience if you like the game. Something a bit more tangible than a cheat or a mode that's essentially just a damage multiplier.

FELIPE NO

I guess my issue here is more with the idiots who buy these cheats rather than Namco-Bandai. Sure, they're terrible things to offer at any price point, let alone the crazy ones they set, but I can also just ignore their existance and not miss out on anything. Like Diss said, it's not like we're missing out on any content that should've been put in the game already.

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

Guh. Buying levels and Gald? No thanks.

It would be amusing to see something like... If someone DOES buy [for example] a bunch of levels, that it displays publicly on their profile or something. A big, glaring 'I CHEATED BUY PAYING MONEY ON THIS GAME' stuck somewhere for everyone to see.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Pew pew pew

As discussed a few pages ago, Vesperia DLC has now been dropped in Jappo land that allows you to BUY LEVEL UPS. Also in game money. Of course it will come here too, so.

Here's what you can buy!



Sauce

Quite frankly, this is god damn disgusting. Worse than the AC6 shit where you're paying 5 bucks PER MISSION for a difficulty increase, or dropping 10 for a pink airplane with a loli on it. That shit is just useless and overpriced extra shit...this is letting you bypass the point of the game for extra scratch.

Namco is really fucking pushing it here, my GOD.

Loooool, is this World of Warcraft? I wouldn't mind paying for the additional dungeons for 1,600 MS points, Fucking better rather than this BS.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by LS

Loooool, is this World of Warcraft? I wouldn't mind paying for the additional dungeons for 1,600 MS points, Fucking better rather than this BS.

What now? For $20 I'd expect a hell of a lot more than an extra dungeon or two.

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

That's exactly my point, though. If it's 4 bucks for cheats, 20 bucks for a dungeon seems like a price you'd expect by comparison.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Tritoch

So have they done away with the points you earned in battles to buy this sort of thing at the beginning of New Game+ in other Tales games, or is this just for the cheaters?

Really just for the cheaters / extremely lazy people.

There are 18 DLC for this game so far. Four of them are free, two of which are like little starter kits in terms of Gummi and Crafting, the other two are partial skill unlocks for the two main characters.

80MSP - Sample skill unlocks for characters
100MSP - Various little starter kits that give you more than enough of whatever each one offers (unless you suck and go through stuff like a madman)
200MSP - Lv UP +5 (1) and Lv UP +5 (2), only allowed to buy once.
300MSP - 300,000Gald and Lv UP +10, same rules

No word on if all of these specific items will come over as US DLC since Namco is trying to see if anyone in Japan would be willing to buy this as no other company has done this particular type of DLC before on Live (of course I'm not sure how Japan being willing to buy this would mean America is willing to buy as well). Then again I don't go browsing the DLC for every game so I do not know if no one else truly has never put up similar DLC

They will probably release end-game stuff later on (equipment and such) and costumes (titles), since that was also part of their planned DLC releases.

Considering the game, and the fact that you know people out there are going to buy this, you have to wonder when they'll just stop with the Lv UP +x (x) and release a "Beat the Game" DLC for 1000MSP.

The only real reason I'd see for the Lv UPs is for those who are too lazy to grind and want the achievement for hitting the max level. Considering the Tales series though that is something that is really best left for a second playthrough or later and by then the EXP should be adequate enough that you don't even need them.

It really makes you wonder what they would charge for any "actual" content (despite their current stance being they will not release such DLC for Vesperia) should they decide they want to.

I was speaking idiomatically.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?