Tales of vesperia Detailed

March 16th, 2008, 23:07 Posted By: Shadowblind

March 14, 2008 - Bandai Namco caused somewhat of an uproar with the announcement that its next major RPG would be coming to the Xbox 360 rather than more Japan-friendly systems like the PS3 or Wii. We're referring to, of course, Tales of Vesperia, which was first unveiled in a system TBA state at the Jump Festa event late last year and was only recently confirmed as a 360 game. The latest Famitsu offered a few new details through an interview with the game's key staff members, Yoshito Higuchi and Tsutomu Gouda.

You'll recognize these two as well as other members of the Vesperia staff from past Tales games. Gouda is the game's producer, having recently worked on starting up the Tales of Mobile series. Higuchi, former planner on Soul Calibur, director on Tales of Symphonia, and chief director on Tales of the Abyss, is serving as director of the game. The rest of the staff is comprised of people who worked on Symphonia and Abyss.

With the move to Xbox 360, were you hoping for an Online Tales game? Higuchi disclosed that the team gave up on the idea of having online players control various members of the battle party, thinking that because this would be their first Xbox 360 title, they shouldn't try to do too many new things. The game will have some online support, though, including online rankings for battle hit counts and mini games.

Those who do like playing multiplayer can rest assured that Vesperia will, like past entries in the series, allow multiple local players to take control of your battle party members.

Another area of online compatibility under consideration are Marketplace item downloads. Both Higuchi and Gouda stressed, however, that they wouldn't do something dirty like messing with the game's balance to make it so that players will have to purchase an item in order to clear the game.

Moving on to the battle system, Higuchi said to expect an extension of the system from Tales of the Abyss, without any dramatic changes. The name of the new battle system is "EFR-LMBS," which stands for (deep breath) "Evolved Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System." This is differs from the FR-LMBS system of Abyss with revisions to some areas and the addition of a few new elements.

On top of the new battle system elements, battles will see somewhat of a boost thanks to the use of the more advanced hardware offered by the 360. Past titles in the Tales series have allowed four up to four enemies to appear on the battle field at a time. In Vesperia, you'll see smaller enemies appearing in groups of seven or eight. The game will also include some huge beasts.

Outside of the battle system, the development staff is placing effort into pre-battle preparations. The game will have a weapon synthesis system that Higuchi describes as extremely robust. You'll be able to create weapons by collecting materials on your quest. Collecting new weapons is tied into the game's skill system as well.

Famitsu asked the two about the game's vocal introduction, as this is usually one of the major areas of interest with a Tales game. Strangely, the two weren't willing to announce the performer of the game's theme song, which will accompany a new animated intro being created by animation house Production I.G. The artist has been finalized, Gouda confirmed, adding that if they announced the name, people would be surprised. While the artist is Japanese, he or she (presumably she, given the series' history) will also perform the song for the overseas version of the game.

Higuchi closed off the interview by suggesting that 360 owners who own a PS2 try out Abyss first. He feels this is "one point of arrival" for the Tales series, and it's also the basis for Vesperia's structure.

With a Japanese release for Vesperia planned for later this year, your time is running out, so we'd suggesting following Higuchi's advice as soon as possible.

via IGN

Loving the constant news about this game, keep it up namco Tales!

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