wanted to buy it on amazon first, but that had 3 weeks of delivery time... so I checked the stores and after some search, finally found one that had one last copy available. was 15 over the amazon price, but well... I'm weak
seems there are not too many copies. think it was the same with ToS, which still sells for a pretty high price on ebay (at least here in Germany)
Unsurprisingly low shipment rate, it's a long game so no-one's trading it in yet, the usual. I've been hunting for second hand copies just in case and I've not even seen it in the shops.
Amazon UK have four copies left at £34.99, and Gameplay apparently now have stock in again at £32.99. Now, do I spend money I don't have or not...
Some online stores have it, but yeah, judging by what Namco has done with this game in Europe you'd say it's just shovelware... They took almost a year (and made NTSC versions region-locked), didn't even translate it to Spanish or Italian, there aren't many copies and they didn't even bother advertising in some places. It's a real shame because the game is really good, but I guess it's better than not bringing it at all like Abyss.
Some online stores have it, but yeah, judging by what Namco has done with this game in Europe you'd say it's just shovelware... They took almost a year (and made NTSC versions region-locked), didn't even translate it to Spanish or Italian, there aren't many copies and they didn't even bother advertising in some places. It's a real shame because the game is really good, but I guess it's better than not bringing it at all like Abyss.
I guess you can only cross your fingers on the PS3 version getting localized if you want a better chance at getting the game in Europe, I guess.
I think it's bad Namco is consistent with international releases of the Tales games, and they clearly are at fault with nearly every single release for Europe, or lack thereof.
ARGH. I thought I was on my last run-through to get all the achievements. Just need a handful of Monster Book Monsters, (from the EX Dungeon) the 200 Man-Melee title for Judith, and I'm pretty much done.
Except I forgot to unlock the EX Dungeon halfway through the game. (sigh) I guess it's time to speed run through the game again.
I loved the HUGE yawn that everyone has when that's revealed. Like everyone in the party's reaction is pretty much "Yeah, and?" The game didn't shock me in any way until
Yuri starts acting like a BAMF and just offing dudes I figured would be future boss fights with extreme prejudice
. I was pretty happy about that, because all the action up to that point is pretty light hearted, and I never expected that kind of turn.
I'm not like ZOMG TWIST. It was just a nice way to advance the story, and in a way I wasn't expecting. I've just begun part 3, and man this is easily the best RPG of the generation so far.
For a Tales fan like me, I just found this to be the best in largely every way. Vesperia was great, but the story, music, and battle system wasn't quite as sharp as Abyss's.
Of the three team Symphonia games, I think Vesperia is the best, with Abyss and Symphonia tied for second. Symphonia has the best design and pacing. Great dungeons and bosses and you never move about haphazardly. Story can be weak at times, though. Presea and Regal were almost throwaway characters, although they improved in DotNW.
Abyss has the best story and overall cast. Lots of great humor and likable cast, even though Luke starts out real annoying. I think the reveal as to why Guy is afraid of women is the best moment in storytelling for the whole series (that I've seen). Abyss has a pacing and design problem, though. You can tell that story was the #1 consideration because you often bounce around locations for long periods of times and the dungeons aren't as great.
Vesperia strikes a balance between the two. Karol is the only character that is ever annoying. However, Estelle is no Tear and Rita is no Jade. Repede was underutilized. But the whole cast is solid and they mesh well together, and Yuri is the best lead in the series. Flynn's a great supporting character too. The dungeons and pacing isn't as great as Symphonia but definitely better than Abyss. You don't really move about haphazardly for long periods. Vesperia manages to surpass both Symphonia and Abyss via its combat. Very deep system and it's just fun pulling off all of the manuevers and new systems that were included.
I was going to pick up the strategy guide, so I wouldnt miss anything on my next pay through. I went to amazon thinking it would be fairly cheap now, but people are trying to sell it for 70-163 dollars :lol Do people pay this con? It makes me wonder why someone why someone would set a 20 dollar book that high, unless they have sold something similar in the past.
I was going to pick up the strategy guide, so I wouldnt miss anything on my next pay through. I went to amazon thinking it would be fairly cheap now, but people are trying to sell it for 70-163 dollars :lol Do people pay this con? It makes me wonder why someone why someone would set a 20 dollar book that high, unless they have sold something similar in the past.
I just got the game a couple of weeks ago and have already put a ton of time into it, but what is the deal with the leaderboards? Are any of the top scores possible? I don't think Chaos Catman or any of the others beat the game in 0 seconds.
Why don't they delete the scores and ban those people from putting up new scores?
the first time in this game I see the need to grind a bit
or Nan and Tison will destroy me over and over again on Mt. Temza...
maybe I have to get a little more into the details of the battle system. pretty much relied on the basics until now because there was no real hard challenge.
also, yesterday for the first time my game was frozen and I had not saved for quite some time
Ok guys, been a huge fan of rpgs. Haven't really dug my time into one solidly since Lost Odyssey. Now granted I've played almost all psone, ps2, and gamecube rpgs including Tales of Symphonia. How is Vesperia compared to all these storywise? I hear ToV is great in combat and some claim its the best 360, or next gen rpg so far.
So fans of the game, tell me what I'm in store for.
I was going to pick up the strategy guide, so I wouldnt miss anything on my next pay through. I went to amazon thinking it would be fairly cheap now, but people are trying to sell it for 70-163 dollars :lol Do people pay this con? It makes me wonder why someone why someone would set a 20 dollar book that high, unless they have sold something similar in the past.
Ignore the strategy guide. It's only useful for the main game, only covers less than half the sidequests and then it throws them together so haphazardly that you basically have to read the entire thing to know that you have a small window to do some early ones. Even then it misses a lot of them.
I really enjoyed Tales of Symphonia. Never played Abyss though I hear great things about it and I'm assuming the combat in both Vesperia and Abyss were slightly different then Symphonia? Care to elaborate?
As for plot, as long as its good mostly the entire game, thats fine. I find most rpgs plots tend to falter near the end, go totally weird, or just end sorta anticlimatic. So the near end stuff doesnt bother me so much as long as its compelling enough to get to the end.
I really enjoyed Tales of Symphonia. Never played Abyss though I hear great things about it and I'm assuming the combat in both Vesperia and Abyss were slightly different then Symphonia? Care to elaborate?
Free Run is probably one of the bigger changes, instead of only being able to run toward or away from your current target you can hold down a button that allows you to go anywhere within the 3D battle field.
Both Vesperia and Abyss have altered artes but the ones in Abyss are a bit trickier:
In Abyss when you cast a spell it leaves behind a field of Fonons(the name of magical energy in Abyss), using the right arte within a Field of a specific element(the Field's element depends on the element of the spell cast) changes the arte. But the artes can't be learned permanently. In Vesperia you learn altered artes by using specific artes while having a certain combination of skills equipped(skills are distributed similarly to the way they are in Kingdom Hearts, you have points that you can distribute in order to have skills equipped and removing a skill refunds your points). The difference being that if an altered arte is used enough in Vesperia(50 uses for magic artes and 100 uses for physical artes) you get to keep the arte without having to equip skills.
Edit: Can somebody fill in the rest for him? I'm too lazy.
Free Run is probably one of the bigger changes, instead of only being able to run toward or away from your current target you can hold down a button that allows you to go anywhere within the 3D battle field.
Both Vesperia and Abyss have altered artes but the ones in Abyss are a bit trickier:
In Abyss when you cast a spell it leaves behind a field of Fonons(the name of magical energy in Abyss), using the right arte within a Field of a specific element(the Field's element depends on the element of the spell cast) changes the arte. But the artes can't be learned permanently. In Vesperia you learn altered artes by using specific artes while having a certain combination of skills equipped(skills are distributed similarly to the way they are in Kingdom Hearts, you have points that you can distribute in order to have skills equipped and removing a skill refunds your points). The difference being that if an altered arte is used enough in Vesperia(50 uses for magic artes and 100 uses for physical artes) you get to keep the arte without having to equip skills.
Edit: Can somebody fill in the rest for him? I'm too lazy.
I always go with Yuri(because I usually control him) Estelle and Rita for boss battles, the fourth member doesn't matter(save for a few bosses where you'll need a specific character to finish a secret mission).
Repede can steal things by the way, so if you need to steal a rare item from an enemy you should keep him in.
Any other questions? You should also tell me how far you've gotten(in spoilers of course).
They'll join you as the game goes on. I think most people like to play as Yuri as he's the simplest to understand and play. Usually good to have Estelle because she's the healer. Rita is also great to keep around as the magic caster. After that, it seems to vary with Judith being the most popular choice. I think I used Repede until I got Raven. Use who you like!
Can anyone tell me what the average gametime for a regular run through is? I mean disreguarding all the side quests besides a couple. I ask because I saw a achivement for getting throught the game in like 15 hours, so thought that was a little odd. Granted I'm guessing this is skipping cutscenes, and maybe doing a new game + sorta thing. Am I right?
The 15 hours is pretty much impossible on a first run through. Generally the people getting that use the 10x Experience from the grade shop on a New Game +. I'd say without sidequests you'd be looking at 40 hours or so.
Does anyone else find it strange that this game was released (region coded) in europe for the Xbox 360 where RPGs don't traditionally sell all that well?
If I was betting on what would sell better out of a european region coded version and a region free PS3 version I'm willing to bet the latter would sell alot better.
Would anyone else be completely baffled by this logic from Namco Bandai if a PS3 version isn't released eventually?
The 15 hours is pretty much impossible on a first run through. Generally the people getting that use the 10x Experience from the grade shop on a New Game +. I'd say without sidequests you'd be looking at 40 hours or so.
Alrighty then, thanks guys. I was just wondering since I'm about to start this bad boy over the weekend! I originally passed this up back when it was released but now having a craving for a JRPG, seems this is dubbed "The best" on the 360. So it must be good. Grabbed a copy a week ago.
Namco will definitely port Tales PS3 to the US. It's not even a question. they've got most of the voice work and text already done, there's very little additional localization even needed.
I always go with Yuri(because I usually control him) Estelle and Rita for boss battles, the fourth member doesn't matter(save for a few bosses where you'll need a specific character to finish a secret mission).
Repede can steal things by the way, so if you need to steal a rare item from an enemy you should keep him in.
Any other questions? You should also tell me how far you've gotten(in spoilers of course).
Game's helluva deep, between managing the artes, the skills, the item synthesis and management to get the characters to learn the skills and on top of that the whole fatal strike thing...
Oh, by the way, enemies have an annoying tendency to drop to the ground where they can't be hit, any way to counter that?
Certain artes knock enemies down, that just means that they're more useful against bosses since they don't knock down easily so you can chain them. There are artes that knock foes up in the air also(Judith).
Does anyone else find it strange that this game was released (region coded) in europe for the Xbox 360 where RPGs don't traditionally sell all that well?
Not especially. As far as I'm aware RPGs don't sell much worse in relative terms than they do in the US - IIRC Germany had a big market for JRPGs back in the PS1 days, don't know about now. In the UK at least the FF games still sell very well, and Dragon Quest VIII went Platinum. Plus we've seen every other Xbox 360 RPG come out in PAL (however long after the overseas releases) so I don't think it's particularly strange at all.
And virtually every Xbox RPG has been region coded to lock out PAL until the local release. The only exception I can think of is Lost Odyssey's Asian release. And that only benefits native English-language speakers, anyway; although Vesperia isn't a great example here there are usually four other translations to consider for Europe.
If I was betting on what would sell better out of a european region coded version and a region free PS3 version I'm willing to bet the latter would sell alot better.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. I think you're trying to suggest that Bamco should have invested resources into translating the PS3 version for US release rather than translating the game into German/French and re-coding as appropriate for a PAL 360 release, but I don't think the two things depend on each other at all. It also reads as a big "fuck you" to us Europeans who've waited relatively patiently for Vesperia's release for the past year
Without over-analysing your comments, though, I'm not so sure. I don't have numbers but I would presume Eternal Sonata's PS3 version didn't set the world on fire, despite the existence of an "inferior" PAL 360 version. Plus how wide an area are we talking about when it comes to sales? I would wager that the PAL 360 version won't sell much worse than any potential PS3 release in PAL territories would; realistically only a tiny minority of hardcore gamers are going to bother importing a PS3 game despite the region-free possibilities.
Don't get me wrong, I think they'll release the PS3 port in the States at least. There won't be much in the way of additional content to translate and Eternal Sonata sets a precedent this generation (Symphonia PS2 was a terrible port, be glad it never saw the light of day in English). I don't think it'll sell amazingly, though.
Every monster except boss characters can be scanned at any time I think. I'm only missing one from the VERY beginning of the game. been too lazy to start the next playthrough. It's the first boss.
Every monster except boss characters can be scanned at any time I think. I'm only missing one from the VERY beginning of the game. been too lazy to start the next playthrough. It's the first boss.
I spent about 85 hours on my first playthrough. Only finished it last weekend so haven't started playing through it again. I think the only titles I didn't get were the monster book, collector's book and dog map related titles.
Namco will definitely port Tales PS3 to the US. It's not even a question. they've got most of the voice work and text already done, there's very little additional localization even needed.
Man I hope you are right about that. I put 75 hours into one playthrough on the 360 version but there's still alot of stuff I didnt do and I'd love another crack at the game with the additions the PS3 version are getting. The *only* weakness I can see with this game is the story and it isnt even that it's a bad story, it just doesnt thrill or do anything special. I feel that the rest of the game MORE than makes up for any weakness in the storytelling because the gameplay, technical polish and characters (well, most of them) are so good.
Game's helluva deep, between managing the artes, the skills, the item synthesis and management to get the characters to learn the skills and on top of that the whole fatal strike thing...
Oh, by the way, enemies have an annoying tendency to drop to the ground where they can't be hit, any way to counter that?
(Sigh) So a week ago I posted that I was going to have to start over in order to finish getting all of the achievements, because I didn't unlock the EX Dungeon, in order to finish magic lens-ing the enemies in there.
So on this run, I didn't even think about the fact that I needed to do the Giganto Monster quest so I could open up those paths in the EX Dungeon. Which means it's time to run back through the game AGAIN.
On the up side, I did manage to get Yuri's Treasure Hunter Title (dear God, that was annoying,) and Karol's Warehouse Master Title. (Surprisingly easy, Thanks, Youtube!)
So all I need is to finish using Magic Lenses on monsters in the EX Dungeon and the 200-man-melee to get Karol's Monster Hunter Title and the Monster Nerd Achievement, and finish the 200-Man-Melee with Judith to get the Blue Dragon Thunder title, and the "They Call Me" achievement, and then fly 10,000 KM to get "To Far Off Lands."
Also, Karol's Warehouse Master Title + Child's Pipe = Win.
(Sigh) So a week ago I posted that I was going to have to start over in order to finish getting all of the achievements, because I didn't unlock the EX Dungeon, in order to finish magic lens-ing the enemies in there.
I knowhow that feels. First run was for fun since the game was just released. Second was me forgetting to sleep at the Sage's house for the EX Dungeo despite a near perfect playthrough. Third I finally got it and 200+ hours and about 11 months later I finally finished the game. If the PS3 version does get localized I'll definitely get it.
Yup, if you get the secret mission, you get an extra accessory from killing the boss. Whereas if you don't, you generally just get one of the materials to MAKE that accessory.
Just finished the game yesterday after 85 hours. Really liked it. I didn't think I would get so much into it, but I really did. It's probably due to the development team behind it, as I also really enjoyed Symphonia, but couldn't really get into Eternia and Phantasia (GBA version though).
Just to summarize my impressions:
- I really like the characters. Most of them have lots of personality and there's quite a bit of humorous interaction between them. I was kind of afraid they would serve me up a stereotype cast of annoying cookie cutter jRPG characters, but none of the sort. Estelle has some of those typical corny jRPG antics in her personality and dialog, but it's never overdone. Yuri is a great lead and has some interesting scenes throughout the story.
Anyone else feel sorry for Raven btw? He's constantly being picked on in cruel ways, while he does nothing wrong.
:lol
- The music was serviceable, but it's not really as good as Symphonia's. It sounds kind of flat in many places. A bit run off the mill if you will. Voice over work was very well done though.
- Dungeons were never overly long and usually well layed out so you wouldn't get lost quickly. I really liked that.
- I don't really like how many sidequests can be missed so easily and are usually really obscure. The game doesn't give off any hints towards most of them, so it boils down to randomly backtracking all over the place. Many jRPGs do this, and I really wonder why?
- The combat system is really good and I enjoyed nearly every battle in the game. I have to admit though that I never put any effort in FS chains. My highest chain is 3. :lol At first I also didn't really know what they meant by FS chain. Fot a long time I thought you had to fatal strike more than one enemy in succession, but nothing of the sort. Also, I never bothered developing altered artes on characters other than Yuri and also never let them go into OL so they could use their burst or mystic arte. I was always under the impression that the AI would just fuck up their over limit and learning their altered artes would take too long (since they use their artes so randomly). Also never really bothered to play with a different character. I had to play with Karol a couple of times, but really didn't like it. Too slow for my tastes.
- While the CG/anime cutscenes are wonderful, the ingame cutscenes are mostly terrible. They clearly cut back on those, maybe to save space on the disc or whatever. Well, you get used to it eventually and then it isn't really bothersome anymore.
