Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World formally announced

[Cless]

Namco finally put out a press release.

Namco Bandai Games CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY OF TALES SERIES WITH TWO NEW GAMES in 2008

Tales of Vesperia™ for Xbox 360® and Tales of Symphonia®: Dawn of the New World™ for Wii™ Highlight Celebrated Role-Playing Series' First Decade

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (February 27, 2008) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced Tales of Vesperia™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Tales of Symphonia®: Dawn of the New World™ for Wii™. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Tales franchise in North America, these two new games expand the series' winning combination of real-time combat, captivating storylines and remarkable graphics while introducing original elements that set a new standard for role-playing gameplay and interactive storytelling.

The debut of the Tales series on the Xbox 360, Tales of Vesperia launches the series to new heights of interactive narrative and engrossing gameplay with incredible anime-style graphics, a captivating storyline and characters as well as an upgraded battle system. Set in a world reliant on a mysterious ancient technology known as "blastia,” the game follows former knight Yuri as he delves into a shadowy plot to use these magical devices to control civilization, or destroy it.

A bold new interpretation of the elements that made the Tales series a hit with gamers around the world, Tales of Vesperia delivers a standard-setting RPG experience on the Xbox 360. Using an all-new graphics engine and character designs by the renowned Kosuke Fujishima (Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Taisen), the game delivers high-quality HD character models and environments that are indistinguishable from traditional cel-based anime. The game also makes significant additions to the series' trademark real-time combat system, allowing players to do battle in massive battlefields and learn new special attacks that are tied to individual weapons. New finishing blows allow players to take down enemies in a single hit with correctly timed button combinations, while mission-based battles increase the variety of each encounter as players gain unique items by fulfilling various battle objectives. Players can also use materials collected by successfully executing finishing moves to craft rare and unique equipment for their characters.

Set two years after the events of the award-winning Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo GameCube™, Dawn of the New World follows the journey of two new young heroes, Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi, as they seek to uncover the mystery of why their world has fallen into ruin. In their quest, their paths will cross with the original cast of Tales of Symphonia including Lloyd and Colette, as well as a summon spirit known as Ratatosk who claims to be the lord of all monsters.

Advancing the combination of story, characters and real-time battles that made Tales of Symphonia one of the best-selling and highest-rated role-playing games for the Nintendo GameCube, Dawn of the New World introduces a new monster recruitment feature in which players can capture more than 200 unique enemies and train them to actively participate in battle. Players can then feed these monsters to make them more effective, and even evolve them into several new fearsome forms. The game also features an updated real-time battle system that lets players move freely in all directions around the battlefield, execute powerful unison attacks and take advantage of a new elemental alignment system for even more strategic depth. Dawn of the New World gives players complete control over a full roster of Tales of Symphonia characters and ally monsters, letting them customize their adventure party into hundreds of unique combinations.

"The Tales series is one of our most successful and well-regarded franchises, and we're celebrating its 10th anniversary in a big way with two new games that redefine role-playing on the Xbox 360 and Wii,” said Todd Thorson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "Not only can gamers look forward to playing these two incredible titles later this year, but we'll be supporting special anniversary-themed programs throughout the year to thank all the fans of the series for their dedication and enthusiasm.”

Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360 and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World for Wii will be available in stores later this year. Tales of Vesperia is currently featured in the March issue of Play magazine, and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is featured in the March issue of Nintendo Power magazine, both now on sale nationwide. For more information on the Tales series, please visit www.namcobandaigames.com.

I'm loving the sound of Vesperia's battle system. Big fields! I knew it seemed like it in the trailer.

[Dimentionalist]

This crafting element in Vesperia seems intriguing. I'm anxious to see how this timed-button-press element works out. I enjoyed similar features in games such as God of War and Resident Evil 4, and adding it to Tales could be interesting or make battles totally cheap depending on if its implemented poorly. Not that I think that will happen.

[Kajitani-Eizan]

learn new special attacks that are tied to individual weapons

UH OH. FF9/FFTA's crappy-ass system, anyone? i hope they implement this better.

[ForceCube]

UH OH. FF9/FFTA's crappy-ass system, anyone? i hope they implement this better.

Crappy-ass? At least it was better than most other FFs.

And no Tales of Destiny Remake announcement. DIE, NAMCO. It's not like it had any chance of being localized in first place, but I'm still sad.

[Cless]

It's not like it had any chance of being localized in first place, but I'm still sad.

I wouldn't worry too much about that anyway... 

[throughhim413]

UH OH. FF9/FFTA's crappy-ass system, anyone? i hope they implement this better.

This isn't the first time they've done this though.  ToDr had special attacks that were tied to equipment (though some people might not have realized it).  Hell, you can even look all the way back to ToP PSX with Satsugeki Bukouken.  Generally the Tales system differs from the way it was implemented in FF9, so I've got hope for it.  What I'm most interested to see are the "character models and environments that are indistinguishable from traditional cel-based anime".  Abyss character models were a big letdown in their facial features during events, so I really hope they put more work in this time.  They've really nailed the whole voiced event thing with the skits, so I hope they can eventually implement something as smooth with the full character models.

[ForceCube]

I wouldn't worry too much about that anyway... 

Yeah, you're right.

[Kajitani-Eizan]

yeah, technically... ToD PSX, ToP PSX, ToE (sort of), ToS, ToR, ToA, and ToDR have all had skills based on equipment in some form or another. but since they explicitly mentioned it here, i was thinking it would be used in a relatively major way.

here's hoping they implement skits using the character models, with good facial expressions and body language. like maybe, you hit the skit button, and it gives you a scene of the party walking along, when they start to have a discussion about things. or they might have stopped for a break, so they'll be sitting around in a field or something. also, LESS SKITS PLEASE, holy crap. you know something is up when like 5 skits pop up at once, or one every 2 minutes, in ToA. it's like they went "my every inane conversations, let me show you them".