The Japanese public sure love their role-playing games. As the country that bought us the likes of Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter, it's fair to say the country has something a little bit more than a soft spot for the genre - to the point where they even refuse to release Dragon Quest titles on weekdays, for fear of losing half the country's workforce 'off sick'. And then there's the 'Tales of' series, a franchise now in its fifteenth year that's so big in Japan, it gets it's own magazine and a two day festival each year, attended by thousands of people, with special announcements, stage shows and competitions, along with more merchandise than you can shake a stick at.
Perhaps the most notable announcement to come out of this years aforementioned Tales of Festival is that of a remastered collection of PS2 role players Tales of Symphonia and it's sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, which will be making its way exclusively to the PS3. Generally regarded as one of the best games in the Tales series, perhaps second only to the more recent Xbox 360 exclusive Tales of Vesperia, it's been ten years since the original Tales of Symphonia was released - hence the announcement of the celebratory compilation, which will include high definition remasters of both games on the same disc, alongside a number of fancy limited editions that have us turning green with envy, including one that seems to include some figures of the main characters and a novella covering the events between the two games. Do want.
Tales of the Abyss' Luke learns the hot way that it's perhaps best to not use a Cheagle as a punching bag...
While the series isn't as popular over here as it is in the land of the rising sun, it has slowly been gaining momentum in the West over the past decade. With each game coming complete with its own epic storyline with plenty of twists and turns, as well as the series' simple to learn battle system, which lets you create combos by stringing together two different types of attack, it's arguably each game's colourful cast that's helped the series stand out. Whether it's a man with a hilarious fear of women, a knife-wielding dog with a pipe in it's mouth or kids who's pet/toy trebles in size for battles, there's brooding heart throbs, quick-talking necromancers and ditzy bath-avoiding engineers too, along with a goofy old guy whose inappropriate jokes bring plenty of chuckles - and we've barely even scratched the surface. Saving the world may be the reason for the game to move forward, but how each games' rag-tag group of do-gooders grow to know each other becomes more of a reason to see the story through to the end, with plenty of laughs along the way.
In the land of Tales of Symphonia, two parallel worlds exist, both of which share the same life force. Much as Newton's third law explains, however, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - and so while one side thrives, the other's left suffering in it's wake. Living in the dying world of Sylvarant, Lloyd Irving and his friend Colette Brunel set off on a dangerous journey to unlock the seals of the world and restore their home. A mere two years later comes Dawn of the New World, where a new tragedy has befallen the land, with the town of Palmacosta being burned to the ground and many of the inhabitants consumed by the flames - and the man who carried the torch was none other than Lloyd Irving. Losing both his parents and his hometown to this Blood Purge, Emil sets off on a journey for revenge accompanied by Marta, who blames Colette for her mother's death. While the sequel had much more of a lukewarm Marmite reaction from fans, we're kind of intrigued about the 200 or so monsters you can recruit and train for battle - it sounds a bit like Pokemon, and that can hardly be a bad thing, can it?
Apparently there'll be some additional PS3 extra bits for the games too, including new costumes.
But while the series is now in its 15th year in Japan, the tenth anniversary of Tales of Symphonia has a more significant meaning for Europe, as Symphonia marked the series' debut on these shores almost ten years ago. As part of the celebration, in order to satiate the growing number of European fans, producer Hideo Baba confirmed that we'll also be getting the compilation early next year. Whether we'll get any of the fancy collector's editions, we don't know, although given the precedent set by Tales of Xillia and the Milla Maxwell Collector's Edition, we wouldn't be surprised if it made it's way over too. Here's hoping - although we'd bet our purse will be hoping otherwise.
