Inside the thoughts of an average gamer.
Posts tagged symphonia
Tales Of Fans Speak Out
Aug 2nd
As I write this, Namco is getting absolutely GRILLED by tons of American and European fans of the series, furious with the developer’s decisions not to localize any of the Tales Of games released in Japan since the beginning of 2009.
The outcry started on Friday, when Namco America announced on its Facebook page that they had no plans to localize recent games in the series, including Tales of Vesperia on the PS3, as well as Tales of Graces, along with its PS3 port Tales of Graces f. The comment was immediately met with upset fans and long-time supporters of the series and retro-game developer, so much to the fact that people started petitioning to have both Vesperia PS3 and Graces f released in the US on playstation.blog.share.
Then again, today, Tales Union reported that another comment similar to Friday’s wall post had gone up on Namco’s facebook page, this time not only mentioning that Namco is not looking at localizing Vesperia PS3 or Graces f, but for the rest of the series as well.
The new post, which has since been removed, has been met with great hostility by the Tales of fanbase, with angry fans spamming Namco’s page, with comments varying from people trying to encourage them that they do have a fanbase on this side of the Pacific, to mimicing how various other Tales characters would do the same, to just downright berating the company’s decision to leave them out in the cold. Namco’s has been trying to delete some of the more outrageous stuff but they have not been able to keep up.
It’s really disgusting to be honest; I can’t blame the fans. Yes, sales of the series over here haven’t been great, but Namco Bandai really tried to bring up the community over here after Tales of Symphonia, which is probably my favorite RPG of all time. Seeing games like Tales of Legendia, Tales of the Abyss, and even going to Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. After Vesperia’s release, the only game they have localized in North America and Europe would be Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World back in November 2008. The other games released since then: Innocence, Hearts, Radiant Mythology 2, Vs., Graces, and new or in-developemtn games Narikiri Dungeon X, Vesperia PS3, Graces f, and a new PS3 game that was just announced today, have not even been considered for localization out of Japan.
It’s really unfortunate that it just had to come down to this. Will Namco see what they are doing and be swayed by this? Probably not. Will it leave a sting? I think so. Boycotting them obviously won’t do anything, but it’s always been on my mind from the time that I realized that we were probably not getting Graces.
I know the community isn’t taking this lightly, and neither will I.
Update: (Aug. 3, noon PDT) This grilling is still going on. No comment from Namco on the situation. People are starting to ask fans of the series to add a #talesfanunite hashtag onto their tweet when talking about the Tales Of series.
OCRemix: Summoning of Spirits
Mar 9th
I’m a gamer, and I’m a musician. With that being said it’s usually safe to say that I have an interest in video game music. It just so happens that as a Tales fan, that I jumped on this the instant that I heard about it.
Down at Overclocked Remix, a new album titled Summoning of Spirits has been completed. This album contains 53 tracks of remixed tunes from the Tales games in the “Aselia Timeline.” (More specifically, Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, and a couple of “bonus” tracks from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World) You’ll find a remix in just about every style of music you can think of within; There should be at least one remix in here that pertains to your tastes in music genres goes. They’ve even gone so far as to add lyrics to Be Absentminded, (ToP) As Time Goes On, (ToP) and This Isn’t the Time. (ToS:DotNW)
I haven’t had the chance to listen to all of the album just yet, but after listening to about 80% of it I have to say that this is one of the best if not the best remix albums I’ve listened to so far. I’m definitely impressed and gives me something in the series to look forward to despite my bitterness towards Namco Bandai’s negligence of the North American fanbase as of late. Even if they won’t give us what they want, OCRemix just reminded me that the fandom is still quite strong despite this.
Summoning of Spirits can be downloaded for free from the official website. Of course, if you don’t know of OCRemix yet, you should also be checking out their main site as you’ll find a ton of vgmusic remixes that will have your ears wanting more.
Wilhelm of Tales Union will also be conducting an interview with the co-producers of the album soon. If you have any questions, they can be posted in the related thread on Gaming Union.
