Just the other week we revealed that the upcoming anime role-playing game, Tales of Zestiria, would not only be coming out this October, but it would also be hitting the Playstation 4 and PC for the first time in the series' history. With bright colours and big hair aplenty, the game tells the tale of young Sorey, the prophesied Shepard, who sets off on a journey to save a war-torn world from the corruption known as the Malevolence, accompanied by his childhood friend, a princess knight and many more weird and quirky characters along the way. And, much like every Tales of game that's come out in recent years, folks who want to put in a pre-order for the title have a range of all kinds of goodies, freebies and special editions to pick from.
First things first, is the always swish Collector's Edition, which packs in more goodies than you can shake a reasonably sized stick at. Much like previous special editions, the main part of the package is some figures of the main characters, but what's especially funky is the inclusion of the 20th anniversary special animé series, which follows Sorey and co through the first hour or so of the game's story, created to help promote the game in Japan. The contents of the Collector's Edition are as follows:
- 4 Chibi Kyun Chara figures (of Sorey, Alisha, Mikleo and Edna)
- Lady of the Lake sanctuary cloth artwork
- Hardback artbook
- 30 minute anime DVD
- Selected soundtrack from the game
- Exclusive Normin metalcase
- Collector's Edition box, shaped like a book
If only it came with a cuddly Normin...
For a limited time after launch, anyone and everyone, whether you've gone for the standard edition or the collector's, will be able to pick up an additional downloadable chapter for the game, entitled Alisha's Story, absolutely free. The downloadable extra follows on from the events of the main game, focusing on what happened to Alisha during her lengthy absence from the Tales of Zestiria story - an event that had what seemed to be the entire Japanese Tales of fan community up in arms, claiming they felt cheated by her disappearance and prompt replacement with Rose. Perhaps intended as a way to make up to fans, perhaps cut from the game to sell later as an extra download, we don't know - but what we do know is it'll be up for grabs for free, via Bandai Namco's VIP Corner loyalty program once the game is out. You'll need to be fairly quick though, as the offer is only open until the 18th November, roughly a month after the release.
Seemingly not quite so time limited, it looks like all copies of the game, whether bought at launch or later down the line, will come with an exclusive downloadable Mystic Arte for Mikleo, Lailah and Alisha. These special, uber-powerful finishing moves have been a series standard for a while - so much so that these extra ones reference the Mystic Artes of key characters from earlier games. Although, with only Alisha's being based off a game that made it to the West (Tales of Xillia 2), how much relevance they have is debatable. Still - free stuff is always good! Once more, nabbing yourself the Mystic Artes seems to involve going through Bandai Namco's VIP Corner rather than just plugging a download code into the Playstation Store.
You can either get yourself some badges...
But, it wouldn't be much of a pre-order promotion without a series of complicated retailer-specific bonuses either. There seems to be two different options doing the rounds, each available at "participating retailers in selected countries" - the first includes four badges, three of random symbols and one of the big-eyed Normin character, while the second comes with a selection of eight classic Tales of costumes and 5 weapon skins, all inspired by previous games in the long-running series. Being the Tales of nerd we are, we managed to identify all the games/characters/weapons in the pre-order bonus, as follows, from left to right:
- Luke's sword (Tales of the Abyss)
- Yuri's sword (Tales of Vesperia)
- Zelos' sword (Tales of Symphonia)
- Milla's sword (Tales of Xillia/Tales of Xillia 2)
- Leon's sword (Tales of Destiny)
- Zelos costume (Tales of Symphonia)
- Yuri costume (Tales of Vesperia)
- Leon costume (Tales of Destiny)
- Mint costume (Tales of Phantasia)
- Cheria costume (Tales of Graces)
- Luke costume (Tales of the Abyss)
- Milla costume (Tales of Xillia 2)
- Elise costume (Tales of Xillia)
... or a selection of downloadable costumes.
Lastly, Tales of Zestiria marks the series' first entry on the PC - which means it gets it's own unique set of pre-order bonuses too, but what you get exactly may vary. Depending on the volumes of people who pre-purchase the game on Steam, reaching certain milestones will dictate what every person gets, going from the Tales of weapon skins, through to classic male costumes, then to classic female costumes and finally a free code of the new Tales of Symphonia HD. Previously released as part of a special anniversary collection on the Playstation 3, Tales of Symphonia HD will be coming to the PC at some point in 2016 - although when precisely, we're not sure, and whether PC pre-orderers will be able to use their codes before this date remains unclear too.
With each pre-order milestone the PC game reaches, you'll get an additional bonus - so get pre-ordering!
Tales of Zestiria hits the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 on the 16th October, with the PC version coming slightly later, on the 20th. Stay tuned for more information about how to go about claiming your free downloads closer to the date!
