It's been a while since I've done a huge flood of scans in one post. And while it's nice to see so many RPGs featured in video gaming magazines, it's kind of overwhelming at the same time.
So, yeah, just like always, take a look at all the scans below, and leave a comment if you would like something translated.
Crystal Defenders R WiiWare Square Enix January 27, 2009 (Japan)
Final Fantasy XIII PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Square Enix 2009 (Japan), 2010 (North America, Europe)
Fragile: Sayonara Tsuki no Haikyo (Farewell Lunar Ruins) Nintendo Wii Tri-Crescendo, Namco Bandai January 22, 2009 (Japan)
Mario & Luigi RPG 3 Nintendo DS Nintendo February 11, 2009 (Japan)
Oboro Muramasa (Muramasa: The Demon Blade) Nintendo Wii Vanillaware, Marvelous April 2009 (Japan)
Star Ocean: The Last Hope Xbox 360 tri-Ace, Square Enix February 19, 2009 (Japan), February 24, 2009 (North America), April 24, 2009 (Europe)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 PSP Namco Bandai January 29, 2009 (Japan)
Everything except the Final Fantasy XIII scans are open for translation (because the current FFXIII ones are too blurry to read).
You know what's been done to death? Original characters. Pffft. Screw that noise. All we really want are cross-over RPGs with all of our favorites packaged neatly into one bland game.
Well fear not fellow originality haters, for Namco Bandai is bringing its cameo mash-up Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 to the PSP. It is, naturally, the follow-up to the incredibly awesome Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (note the lack of a '2' there).
Take a good look at all the awesome cross-overage that you will be able to do.
Let's just hope that this game gets a North American release over that distastefully original Tales of Hearts.
The latest issue of Famitsu has revealed several "new" characters for the upcoming Tales of spin-off, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 for PSP. Here's the best part though, most Tales of fans love to hate these characters! Yes! All the characters you wanted to punch in the face while playing their various games will be coming back to join your party!
Heading up the pack of hated characters are Tales of Symphonia's Zelos Wilder and Tales of the Abyss' Anise Tatlin! Tales of Innocence's stuck-up gunner chick Iria Animi will also be making an appearance for those of you who know her/care.
Slightly less annoying cameo characters include Tales of Phantasia's underage kunoichi, Suzu Fujibayashi, Tales of Eternia's heroine, Farah Oerstead (who I actually really like), and Tales of Destiny's Mighty Kongman (or whatever his name was in English).
The game looks pretty mediocre to me, as did its predessesor. So here's hoping we bag Tales of Hearts over this garbage ("we" being North American or Europe). Fingers crossed.
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 will be available for PSP in Japan sometime this winter. Open for requests for translation in the comments.
The same JUMP issue that brought us news of Chrono Trigger DS has several other DS RPG announcements, not the least of them being Tales of Hearts, the next next Tales of game (how far ahead of themselves does Namco Bandai like to work?)
We brought you the crappy scan earlier this week, and would now like to present you with the high quality scan for your discernment.
While the in-game graphics look like a nice throwback to games like Tales of Eternia on PS1, the 3D CG that they used to make the photorealistic-esque models of Sing and Kohaku is.... well, creepy.Cut that out, and I'll be much more excited for this game. kthxby.
Oh, ToW2 is also included for those of you who liked the first one for whatever reason.
If you get around the internet as much as I do, you probably heard some strange rumors that Namco Bandai was going to announce a new Tales of game in July. If you heard that rumor, you probably also heard the groundless extension of that rumor that it was going to be on PS3.
Well, it's July and, yes, Namco Bandai announced a new Tales of game. In fact, they announced two new Tales of games. But for any of you who believed the (again, may I point out groundless) PS3 rumor, I'm afraid you might be in for some disappointment.
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 has been announced for the PSP. I currently do not have a release date for any region, but the crappy, blurry scan indicates that characters from previous installments Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Rebirth, Tales of the Abyss, and Tales of Vesperia characters will be available to play in the game.
Tales of Hearts, the newest addition to the Tales of main series (following ToV for the 360), has been announced for the Nintendo DS. Though, again, I have no release date or solid details at the moment, I can tell you that the game is reported to use 2D character sprites on top of 3D environments. I, for one, hope this is true, because I can't stand DS 3D models. They're just so damn ugly.
The game also appears to employ realistic 3D models (assumedly for FMVs) based on Mutsumi Inomata's character designs. Hopefully this will be the first DS Tales of game to make it to North America, but don't hold your breath.
According to the scan, the (presumably) hero's name is Sing (JP=Shingu) (yeah, stupid name is stupid), while the (presumably) heroine's name is Kohaku (JP=Kohaku).
Again, I apologize for the lack of details, but I have included the crappy scans below if you would like to get a glimpse at the games.
We will keep you updated with any new information as it becomes available.
