Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Tales of Arise: Combat Details, Skits Confirmed, and More

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
May 242021
 

After the Tales of Arise release date trailer and gameplay footage, there were still a lot of questions, but a recent interview in Weekly Famitsu has revealed more information.

Translated here by Frontline Gaming Japan, producer Yusuke Tomizawa goes into more detail about the combat system in this interview.

A new feature in battles is the Boost Attack, a support action party members will use when you reach certain conditions. There are also Boost Strikes, powerful finishing moves performed by two characters.

It sounds like working together with party members is going to be a big part of combat, and so is dodging. It’s a fast-paced combat system that encourages the player to watch for enemy tells, dodge the attack, and counter. They’ve included difficulty modes and auto-battle options to help fans who aren’t as good at action games.

Traditional combat elements will also return, including Mystic Artes, although they’re activated in a new way.

Now, when the combat footage was revealed, the lack of victory screens (and therefore victory screen banter) stirred some fans up. Here, Tomizawa makes it clear that post-battle conversations occur on the field after the battle, so it really sounds like the usual banter is still present, just not on a distinct screen.

Another thing fans have been wondering about is the presence of skits. Skits are confirmed to be returning, but “in another form.”

I’m not really sure what that means or why they can’t be revealed yet. Are they going to be field conversations? Animated scenes? The party member conversations in skits are a big part of Tales, so I hope they still feel like skits in whatever form they take.

Tales of Arise also has more anime cutscenes than any previous Tales game.

The interview also confirms Hootle as the game’s mascot and a sign of the lighter elements the series usually has, and repeats the fact that there are still party members who haven’t been revealed yet.

Tales of Arise’s themes deal with division and friction between races and the two worlds of Dahna and Rena, which personally makes me think about Tales of Symphonia, so that’s a plus. The characteristic genre name for Tales of Arise is “an RPG to speak of the dawn of the heart.”

I’m really looking forward to Tales of Arise, and I have high hopes for it! I’m currently playing Tales of the Abyss, but I should be able to finish that without getting too close to Arise’s September 10 release date.

(Meanwhile, I’m also pretty excited about those new Final Fantasy rumors, but now I’m trying to avoid reading too much about rumors and supposed leaks ahead of E3, since surprises are often the most fun part.)

Anyway, what do you think about the latest Tales of Arise details? Are you looking forward to it?

Tales of Arise Release Date, Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Confirmed

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Apr 212021
 

I’d intended to blog today about Sony reversing its decision to shut down the PS3 and Vita stores, but we have some exciting announcements to discuss instead!

Tales of Arise got a new trailer today, as well as a release date!

Yes, it’s still coming out this year, on September 9 in Japan and September 10 worldwide.

It will be released for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC (Steam).

The new trailer revealed two of the game’s party members, one of whom is accompanied by an owl that appears to be this game’s mascot character.

(I tend to find mascots annoying, but the owl is cute enough that I might like it. Maybe. We’ll see.)

A Famitsu interview, translated by Gematsu, confirmed that there are still unannounced party members as well. It also confirmed that there is no more victory screen after battles, which means no more victory screen banter, but there will be post-battle party banter on the field.

That’s not all! In addition to the trailer, we also have a 7-minute gameplay footage video!

Some fans were concerned the combat system would be completely different from past Tales games, but the gameplay footage gives a good look at some basic battles and it seems pretty Tales-like after all.

Tales of Arise looks fantastic! I’m so excited to play this on September 10…

…but even as I was still reeling from the thrill of Arise getting a release date at last, what popped up on my Twitter feed but a casual announcement of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles!

That’s right, it’s really happening!

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles includes both The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel, and it will be out on July 27 for the Switch, PS4, and PC (Steam) for $39.99.

It also includes bonus content, including 8 mini-episodes, that was originally DLC.

I was worried it would be digital-only, but the Switch version is actually getting a physical release in the west. There is also a $59.99 “Turnabout Collection” that bundles The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles together with the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. That is digital-only in the west.

(I would have expected it to be the other way around, but okay.)

The official announcement has also introduced many more people to the wonder that is Herlock Sholmes. Please, please stop blaming (or praising) Capcom for that name. As goofy as it is, it’s been a time-honored tradition for avoiding Sherlock Holmes copyright issues for over 100 years.

Since The Great Ace Attorney comes out on the same day as Neo: The World Ends With You, yet another game I’m still stunned about, I’ll need to decide which to play first! If you told me a year ago I’d be trying to decide whether I wanted to play the TWEWY sequel or Dai Gyakuten Saiban in English first, I’d have laughed. And then cried.

I’m ecstatic that we’re finally getting The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel in English! And I can hardly believe we got that announcement and the Tales of Arise release date in the same morning!

Are you excited for either or both of these games? Let me know in the comments!

Top Untranslated Games I Want to See in English

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Jan 222021
 

Over the years, we’ve talked about a lot of untranslated games and localization campaigns to finally see them in English. Sometimes our hopes have been fulfilled… other times, not so much.

Today I’d like to highlight some of the ones I’m still waiting for. It’ll be structured like a Top 5 list, but based on series rather than individual game (so an entry might have multiple games).

Here are the top untranslated games I most want to see released in English.

5. Tales of Destiny 2, Rebirth, Innocence R

There are a lot of Tales games available, but there’s still a handful of notable ones that never came out of Japan.

One of the biggest is Tales of Destiny 2. Don’t confuse it with Tales of Eternia, which was confusingly released in North America under the title Tales of Destiny II for the PlayStation.

The real Tales of Destiny 2 is a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny, and it seems to have been well-received. Speaking of which, Tales of Destiny also received a remake that didn’t come west, either.

Then there’s Tales of Rebirth, a main entry in the series that was never localized despite positive previews from English publications ahead of its launch.

Meanwhile, Tales of Innocence didn’t get localized either, not even when it was enhanced as Tales of Innocence R. Being a Vita game might have doomed it, despite Tales of Hearts R coming out.

I’d love to see all of these Tales games released in English, especially if the older games could be released in some sort of collection to celebrate the anniversary (or maybe a Tales of Destiny/Destiny 2 dual-pack like they did with Symphonia). I still have a lot of Tales games to play, though, so who knows? Maybe by the time I’ve worked my way through the series, these Japan-exclusive titles will finally be localized.

4. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

This year is also the anniversary of Fatal Frame… and you know what I’d love to see? A translated Switch port of the fourth game in the series, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

Unlike the Fatal Frame II remake, which at least came out in Europe, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was never released outside of Japan. A European release was actually planned, but later was cancelled. I guess they really didn’t have high hopes for Fatal Frame in the west at that point.

Fatal Frame IV, or Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, was co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, with Suda51 being a co-writer and co-director. They seem to be on pretty good terms with Nintendo, and other Grasshopper Manufacture games have been re-released in recent years, so maybe there’s still hope.

Again, I have quite a few Fatal Frame games to play in the meantime. If I play them all, perhaps the localization fates will reward me with an official Fatal Frame IV translation.

3. Ace Attorney Investigations 2, The Great Ace Attorney, The Great Ace Attorney 2

You knew they were going to be on this list, right?

Once upon a time, I went into every gaming event hoping to see an English announcement for Gyakuten Kenji 2, or Ace Attorney Investigations 2. My hopes have diminished greatly since then, but I still don’t think a Switch collection is out of the question.

Meanwhile, last year’s supposed leak claimed Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney, and its sequel are planned to be released in a new collection and translated.

There hasn’t been any official word from Capcom yet about this, but I really want to believe it’s true. I’m also all caught up on the Ace Attorney series, so these unlocalized titles are the last ones I need.

2. The Trails Crossbell Arc

Now let’s head back in to the land of JRPGs, where have the long-running Trails series. Fans interested in the overall Trails story will get the best experience if they play all of the current arcs… but unfortunately, one of them is exclusive to Japan.

Set between the Trails in the Sky arc and the Trails of Cold Steel arc, Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki make up the Crossbell arc, and they’re highly praised in addition to being important for the overall story. There have been several hints that the new PS4 versions could be localized, so here’s hoping it finally comes true.

I’ve got a few Trails games to play before I’d need to decide if I want to skip Crossbell or play the fan translation… which means there’s plenty of time for official translations to be announced.

1. Yakuza Kenzan, Ishin, Black Panther, Black Panther 2

And of course, you probably anticipated that my new favorite series would make the #1 spot on my list.

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the Yakuza games, and there are still four important spin-offs that have never been localized, starting with the historical spin-offs Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin.

When these games first came out, it’s no surprise they weren’t localized. Yakuza itself was still a pretty niche series in the west, so spin-offs grounded in Japanese history probably looked like a risky bet.

But now? Yakuza’s popularity is growing, we have all of the mainline games in English, and the success of games like Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima certainly show that there’s an audience here for that setting. They’ve gone on record saying that Kenzan’s best chance of localization is if it gets the Kiwami treatment, since it was a PS3 game, but Ishin being a PS4 game still has a chance of coming over as it is.

The spin-off Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho, or Black Panther, and its sequel have never received official translations either. The demand is smaller and I don’t think our chances of getting them are particularly good, but I’d never say no to more Yakuza games.

And… yes, I have five whole Yakuza games and two spin-offs to play before I run out of Yakuza, so once again, maybe all I need to do is get through those games…

Conclusion

Tales, Fatal Frame, Ace Attorney, Trails, and Yakuza – all great series with untranslated titles I keep hoping to see localization news about. Right now, Ace Attorney feels like it’s the closest to coming true, while the others still have a mountain of translated games for me to work through first. Here’s hoping the games on this list are translated in the future!

What unlocalized games would you most like to see translated?

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