Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Tales Anniversary Localization Hopes

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Dec 212020
 

As I mentioned before, the Tales anniversary live stream came and went without any announcements, only the promise that next year will be more exciting.

However, the celebration has made some of us hope against hope that we might get remasters of older Tales games… or even localizations of one that were never released outside of Japan.

From December 15 through December 19, the official Tales Twitter account celebrated its history. They started with Tales of Phantasia, the first game in the series, and continued on in order, looking at one game per day.

For each game, they tweeted a trailer and details about some of the major characters.

This first got fans’ attentions because each trailer begins with a PEGI 12 rating, even for games that were never released in Europe. However, it’s possible they simply wanted to rate the trailer content itself.

But then on the fourth day, we reached one of the unlocalized Tales games, Tales of Destiny 2.

(The game released in English under that title was actually Tales of Eternia.)

They didn’t treat Tales of Destiny 2 any differently. The English Twitter account tweeted about it with an English trailer and invited fans to “appreciate” this game we’ve never had a chance to play, and Bandai Namco US retweeted it (although Bandai Namco EU did not).

Now, it’s not like they made a full English trailer for this; these trailers feature dialogue-free gameplay sections and scenes broken up by a few narration-style English lines. But still, it’s almost mean-spirited for the English Twitter account to include a game we’ll never be able to play.

I expected them to keep tweeting a game a day until they reached the end of the series, but their Tales of Symphonia tweet said it was the end of the anniversary week and they would “continue next year with more revivals.” I’m not sure if that means they’ll resume in January or not.

So what do you think? Are they planning a Tales Anniversary Collection? Are they going to re-release and localize games like Tales of Destiny 2? Or did they just decide to highlight every game, even for an audience that never got them? (It’s probably that.)

Meanwhile, I have a lot of Tales games to catch up on already… Maybe I should work on those while I hope for news.

Tales 25th Anniversary Live Stream and Falcom Day 2020 Announced

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 062020
 

As we get closer to the end of the year, we have two upcoming JRPG events to look forward to!

First, Bandai Namco announced a live stream to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Tales series.

The date hasn’t been announced, but December 15 is the anniversary itself.

According to the translation from Gematsu, it will feature development stories, discussions around player questions, and the latest information about “mobile games, events, anniversary goods, and more.”

I hope we get at least some news about Tales of Arise. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything. Bandai Namco has also been filing trademarks for “Tales of Luminaria,” so it’s likely we’ll find out exactly what that is. (New mobile game? Smaller-scale mainline game?)

Moving on, Kadokawa Game Linkage and Falcom have announced “Falcom Day 2020 Winter” for December 20, as reported here.

Falcom Day will feature the company’s 2021 plans, segments with voice actors and Falcom’s president, and a performance from the Falcom jdk Band.

It’s unlikely we’ll get any Crossbell or Hajimari localization news, since it’s a Japanese event, but maybe they’ll officially reveal the next Trails arc and the mysterious new combat system. Who knows, maybe they’ll announce a new Ys game or even something unexpected like a Gurumin sequel (I can dream).

Both of these events could potentially have exciting announcements, so I’m looking forward to them. What do you think will be announced?

Tales of Crestoria Can Now Be Pre-Loaded

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jul 152020
 

(But not by me.)

Tales of Crestoria, the new mobile Tales game set to be released this year, is now available to be installed on iOS and Android devices ahead of its release.

Although it was originally planned for a June launch, it was delayed. There’s still no official release date, but Bandai Namco says it will be out in “the near future.” Since it’s currently undergoing maintenance for its launch, it should be coming soon.

Some players’ pre-loads reportedly say it will be available July 22, but there’s conflicting reports. Since July 22 is Bandai Namco’s upcoming showcase, they might announce its release there.

Update: It turns out the answer was July 16. Tales of Crestoria is out now!

I’m not a big fan of mobile games, but since Tales of Arise has been delayed and Tales of Crestoria has its own original story, I was going to check it out. Unfortunately, when I went to the App Store to pre-load it, I was greeted by the message that it isn’t compatible with my tablet.

So no Tales of Crestoria for me, at least not anytime soon.

If you’ve got a compatible device, though, you can pre-load the game now. Are you planning to play Tales of Crestoria?

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