If you don't plan on joining, then you can help out by casting votes for the skits that you personally like! Namco Bandai needs more votes from you guys to decide on the winners, and voting is only during the submission period!
So, just for clarification, when we say "Unisonant Pack," we mean the Japanese version. If we say "Chronicles," we mean the localization. Now, onward!
Famitsu has posted a few new screenshots of Tales of Symphonia Unisonant Pack. These screens are mainly of the Symphonia game, though. We'll update them with better ones once they're available.
The article just mainly talks a bit about the both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. It also introduces the games' main heroes and heroines: Lloyd and Colette for Symphonia and Emil and Marta for Dawn of the New World. The rest pretty much just talks about what we already know: about the cut-ins being redrawn, the Tales of Series costumes for the Symphonia party members, etc. The Tales costumes, by the way, can be obtained at the beginning of the game, according to Famitsu. At least Lloyd's Guy costume and Genis's Luke costume, anyway.
As we announced during the game's reveal, Famitsu will also be having its own limited edition bundle of the game. The Famitsu DX pack will include four clear visual posters, three of which will be illustrated by ufotable. Out of those 3, ufotable is holding a survey to let people decide what will be on one of them. You can do so here. It's in Japanese, though. They basically ask you who to include in the clear visual poster, what idea you have and if you ever bought the Symphonia games before.
...And you might just win prizes provided by Baba-san!
This July 13 and 14, 2013 will be CosDay², a two-day convention for the young and the young at heart who love manga, anime, cosplay and Japanese pop-culture. It will be held at the SAALBAU "Titus Forum" in the NordWestZentrum mall in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
The organizers of the event will also be holding a Tales of Contest for you fans of the series on the second day of the convention (on July 14). It will involve two main parts - a Tales of Cosplay competition and a Tales of trivia contest. The cosplay competition will be done first, and contestants will earn points for that part. All will then move on to the trivia contest where they will answer a few Tales-related questions. Points from the trivia and the cosplay part will then be added up to decide the winners.
Prizes at stake include:
1st Place: T-Shirt, Figurine Set (Jude & Milla), Jude Figure by Alter
2nd Place: T-Shirt, Big Fabric Poster, Tote Bag (Milla)
3rd Place: T-Shirt, Big Fabric Poster
The winners can choose from the following:
Big fabric poster x2 (Asbel, Yuri)
T-shirt x3 (Asbel x2, Leon x1)
The prizes are mainly from Tales of Series General Producer Hideo Baba himself! He won't actually be there personally, but he was the one who graciously provided most of the prizes for this contest. The Jude Alter figure on the other hand will be provided by Figuya.
For the cosplay part, it would help the organizers if you guys will apply in advance. Send an e-mail to s.coen@cosday.de with a reference picture of the character you're going to cosplay (official art only). Applications will still be open on the day of the event, though.
For any inquiries about the event, you can also send them to s.coen@cosday.de. Have fun, guys!
We have a total of 41 new screenshots of Tales of Xillia from this year's E3! UPDATE (June 12, 2013): Added 9 more English screenshots.
The reason there are so many is because the screenshots actually showcase the different languages of the game available (English, Italian, German, Spanish, French). Usually, I'd only post the English ones, but seeing as they're actually all different screenshots (though only slightly), I've posted all of them. Anyway, enjoy!
And if you missed it, a bit of Tales of Xillia's opening was actually shown during Sony's E3 press conference earlier, during their own opening video. Though only for a second, it was still nice to see.
Tales of Xillia will be released in the US on August 6, 2013 and in Europe on August 9, 2013. Pre-orders are now available at the following places:
A recent press release from Namco Bandai US clarifies the following questions we've been having regarding the Tales of Xillia Collector's Edition and Limited Edition:
Both the CE and the LE will have the DLC costumes.
Both the CE and the LE will have the same music CD. Note that this is not the full soundtrack. Probably just a few tracks taken from it.
The "art book" is exclusive to the CE while the "character profile booklet" is exclusive to the LE.
Here's the actual thing:
"Fans can currently pre-order the recently announced TALES OF XILLIA Collector’s Edition for a MSRP of $99.99 or day-one Limited Edition for a MSRP of $59.99. The TALES OF XILLIA Collector’s Edition comes with a DLC voucher that includes the Classic TALES OF Costume Pack which was announced with the TALES OF XILLIA Limited Edition package. The TALES OF XILLIA music CD will also be shared across both the TALES OF XILLIA Collector’s and Limited Editions. A limited edition Milla Maxwell statue and TALES OF XILLIA art book are exclusive to the TALES OF XILLIA Collector’s Edition. The TALES OF XILLIA Limited Edition is limited to all first-run copies of the game and comes with an exclusive character profile booklet."
This info is about the US version, by the way. The European versions have long been confirmed to both have the DLC.
Tales of Xillia will be released in the US on August 6, 2013 and in Europe on August 9, 2013. Pre-orders are now available at the following places:
>> New Tales of Xillia English Trailer From GameSpot - Wishes of Hope
PanbanRichard
A new trailer for Tales of Xillia was posted on Gamespot. This one is a lot more theatrical, featuring more English voice work, the environments, and a bit of background on the story. Check out the trailer here.
Here's the video posted on Gamespot's Youtube account:
Namco Bandai Games EU has also put up this trailer in their YouTube channel, entitled "Wishes of Hope." For our European visitors, you can view the trailer subtitled in other languages over at their channel.
Tales of Xillia will be released in the US on August 6, 2013 and in Europe on August 9, 2013. Pre-orders are now available at the following places:
And here's the report on the events of Tales of Festival 2013 Day 2. Again, this is mainly based on Famitsu's own report. Aside from the usual skit performance, Day 2 of Tales of Festival 2013 was mostly about upcoming Tales of merchandise.
The day begins with TalesFes 2013 hosts Masaya Onosaka (Zelos Wilder - Tales of Symphonia) and Shiho Kawaragi (Cheria Barnes - Tales of Graces f) opening up the event on stage, though this time, they're not in cosplay. Kawaragi mentions that cosplaying on Day 1 was really fun and that she might get addicted to it.
Day 2's special skit was entitled "The 1st Tales of Athletic Meet ~With Love From The Field~." The Tales characters formed teams of their own and participated in an athletic meet, not just to see who's the strongest, but also to test out the bonds of the team members.
Yuri Lowell (Kosuke Toriumi, Tales of Vesperia) and Milla Maxwell (Miyuki Sawashiro, Tales of Xillia 2) appear as hosts of the event. Followed by the participating teams: Amber/Kohak Hearts (Marina Inoue) and Jadeite/Hisui Hearts (Masaya Matsukaze, Tales of Hearts); Asbel Lhant (Takahiro Sakurai, Tales of Graces) and Cheria; Zelos and Lloyd Irving (Katsuyuki Konishi, Tales of Symphonia); and Ludger Will Kresnik (Takashi Kondou) and Elle Mel Mata (Mariya Ise, Tales of Xillia 2). Zelos complains about there not being man-woman teams (Ludger and Elle don't count, apparently). Asbel was about to say something, but long-haired version Luke fon Fabre (Chihiro Suzuki, Tales of the Abyss) cuts in ("I am the goodwill ambassador!!!"), and participates as a one-man team.
A fun part in the skit was that Ludger, like in his game, doesn't talk much. Choices would come up for him from time to time, and that was the only time he'd speak - or he'd make gestures and it would be Elle who'd do the talking for him.
The games for the athletic meet were: 100-meter Majinken Race, which Asbel wins; a Gel/Gumi Eating Contest, which Amber wins no problem because all the gels had miso in them, her favorite, mainly because Jadeite strategically placed there so they could win; an Obstacle Race and a Relay. The games were really lively, especially during the obstacle race and the relay, where the voice actors would actually jump down the guest seating area surrounding the stage from time to time.
For the Obstacle Course, the first "obstacle" was Walter (Tales of Legendia, also voiced by Takahiro Sakurai). Ludger (through Elle) mentions that he has a plan - and they all attack Asbel. Once Asbel was defeated, Walter also disappears - because they have the same voice actor. Ha ha ha.
The second obstacle was Hubert Oswell (Takahiro Mizushima, Tales of Graces)... Though apparently he only came because he thought Pascal would be at the event. He tries to leave but they end up fighting anyway. He gets defeated by Luke and Ludger's teamwork. Ludger however, is injured in the process.
The final event is the Relay. The course was basically a sort of semi-circle, and the baton is exchanged whenever they're at the center of the stage. Elle and Ludger are having trouble because, well, Elle is slow and Ludger's injured. He then goes into Corpse Shell Mode and outruns everybody. Luke gets tired but Asch (also Suzuki Chihiro) gets the baton from him and continues the race. In the end, Asch wins. Luke says there's no meaning to this even if it is "his" victory, so he cuts his hair and reflects on his actions.
Free talk by the voice actors followed the skit. They're all breathing heavily because of all the movement they had to do during the skit. Those who are first-timers in TalesFes talked first. Kondou says he's sorry for the very few lines - that is Ludger, after all. Ise mentions that because of that, her lines for Elle increased. Mizushima mentions that he's very happy since he's always wanted to appear in TalesFes.
They also mention, unfortunately, that Day 2 will not be included in the Tales of Festival 2013 DVD. The exact reason is unclear. They just mention that they had more freedom for today because a DVD for that day wasn't being recorded. Whoops.
This was followed by, again, the "You Think Of It - TalesFes 2013 Event Planning" segment, a sort of survey done in Viva! Tales of Magazine, where they asked their readers what events they want to happen during TalesFes 2013. For Day 1, it was about putting Leon and Yuri in a Hall of Fame and having a party for them. For Day 2, there were a lot more ideas implemented: The guys performed Dual Mystic Artes based on the shirts they had; they also thought up their own Mystic Artes (these were done during closing); a short musical by Asbel and Cheria; and this was followed by a ridiculous short story by Asbel about his family. The audience loved them.
Another suggested event which they did was to imitate another character the best they can. They had to imitate lines by Luke (done by Mizushima/Hubert), Elle (done by Inoue/Amber) and Keroberos (Tales of Innocence, done by Matsukaze/Jadeite). After doing so, the actual line is played, followed by the audience also saying the lines themselves.
The latter parts of the event include an information corner. Announced were TalesFes collaborations for the Tales mobile social game Tales of Kizna (cards of which were already added to our gallery here), followed by announcement of Tales of merchandise, many of which were showcased during the pre-event. The trailer for Tales of Symphonia Chronicles/Unisonant Pack was also shown again. The merchandise introduced were:
Banpresto's Tales of Series Ichiban Kuji #2 starts this September. Prizes include the Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2) figures, along with new Chibi Kyun Chara figures of Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny), Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia), Zelos Wilder (Tales of Symphonia) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2). The rest are the usual clear files and towels. The biggest prize for this Ichiban Kuji is apparently an alternate color figure of Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia).
Prizes for Banpresto's CraneKing. We covered this during Day 1.
New stuff from Kotobukiya: a Tales of Friends Rubber Strap Set and Tales of Friends Button Pins Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. These were pre-sold during the event, too. The Dream Cushion Cover of Zelos and the Tales of Symphonia/Dawn of the New World Rubber Strap Collection, which were also announced during the ToS Unisonant Pack announcement, will be out this year. The 1/8 Scale Colette Brunel Figure will be out 2014.
The new stuff from Lalabit Market. We covered some of these in our previous reports.
Tales of Xillia 2 microfiber towels by Enterbrain.
The Tales of Vesperia 1/8 Scale Raven figure by Alter/ALTAiR, which is supposed to be released this month (...We'll see...). Pre-orders are still open at Play-Asia.
The Tales of School and the Tales of Xillia 2 Color Collection figures by Movic. Both will also be released at the end of this month.
The Tales of Xillia 2 Vol. 1 manga, which will be released on June 27th. Pre-orders available at CDJapan. Viva! Tales of Magazine August 2013's issue, which was released last May 28, talks about the Tales of Festival as well. There are still 7 copies left over at CDJapan.
Tales of Vesperia Comic Anthology The Best released this June 1st (5 still available at CDJapan), Tales of Xillia 2 4 Koma Kings Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (Vol. 1, Vol. 2) and the Tales of Xillia 2 Comic Anthology (still available here).
The event was closed with a special live performance by DEEN. It's also their 20th anniversary this year. They performed "Eien no Ashita" (Eternal Tomorrow, Tales of Hearts' opening theme), "Kono Mama Kimi Dake Wo Ubaisaritai" (I Want To Carry You Away Like This, this is DEEN's debut song). They also performed some of their other hit songs: "Hitomi Sorasanaide" (Don't Avert Your Eyes, Pocari Sweat commercial song), "Kimi Sae Ireba" (As Long As You're With Me, one of the opening songs of the anime Cooking Master Boy) and "Hitori Ja Nai" (You're Not Alone, Dragon Ball GT ending song). They closed of their performance by singing "Yume De Aru Youni" (Like A Dream, Tales of Destiny's opening theme). Loud cheers from the audience came as soon as they finished this song.
After the performance, DEEN's vocalist Shuichi Ikemori expressed how happy they are to be back in Yokohama Arena because of Tales. The last time they were there was for a live way back in the 90s. They mention that in their upcoming live to celebrate their 20th anniversary this October 12 to 13, they'll be sure to include the two Tales of songs they performed, and they hope it'll be as lively as that day.
The voice actors go back up on stage for the closing. As suggested in Viva Tales Mag, they perform their Dual Mystic Artes, but with a twist. This was started off with Onosaka/Zelos and Konishi/Lloyd performing (or rather, yelling out) a "True Hunny Judgment" Dual Mystic Arte, followed by the rest. Suzuki/Luke yells out "It's not my fault!!" followed by Asch "It's not my fault either!!" Toriumi/Yuri, whose partner isn't around for Day 2 (Midorikawa/Leon), pairs up with Matsukaze/Jadeite instead and performs a "100 Sweets Domination!" Kondou/Ludger's partner also isn't around (Yonaga/Jude), so he does it with Ise/Elle instead and performs a "House Husband Chain Attack!" Sawashiro (as Alt!Milla) has no Mystic Arte shirt, so she just yells "It's not my fault!!" together with Ise.
And with that, Day 2 comes to a close. Those were an exciting two days of Tales fun! Too bad Day 2 won't be in the DVD. They still haven't explained why... Anyway, you can check out the entire album of Day 2 pictures here in our gallery.
Apologies if this is late. Life happened. Anyway, this report of Day 1 is mainly based on Famitsu's own reports, with pictures coming from a lot of other Japanese sites.
First off, I think it would be safe to say that TalesFes 2013 actually started on March 31st at around 10:00 am with the early opening of their food and merchandise section. They had some of the merchandise scheduled to be sold (see the full list here) out already, as well as an exhibition hall for current and upcoming Tales of merchandise. This pre-opening event was available even to those who didn't have TalesFes tickets. As expected, lines were extremely long, with Tales fans surrounding Yokohama Arena.
During this, we got word on 1/8 Scale Tales of Symphonia Zelos Wilder and Lloyd Irving figures from Alter/ALTAiR. Along with that were figures of Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2) from Banpresto. These figures are for their Ichiban Kuji lottery in Japan. You can view more pictures of the figures here. Other merchandise already announced before were also being showcased there. The Chibi Kyun Chara figures are apparently for Banpresto's CraneKing game (it's a crane game).
Aside from this, Lalabit Market also showcased their new Tales of Gold Collection accessories, which are basically re-releases of their Tales of Vesperia Yuri Lowell and Tales of Destiny Leon Magnus necklaces, but this time made of actual 10 carat gold (and precious stones). An Emil Castagnier-themed necklace and a Lloyd-themed Exsphere bangle were also announced. As usual, Lalabit Market is a Japan-only store so you'll need either a shopping proxy or a friend in Japan if you want to order. Each of them costs 31,500 Yen though. That's roughly $300 each. But then again, it is gold, so... Anyway, there were also some new Tales of Xillia 2 shirts and Ludger's pouch thing. You can check them out over at Lalabit here.
Also part of CraneKing's prizes are these illustrations - one is of Yuri and Flynn having a cooking battle (this can never end well) and one of Ludger cooking while Julius plays with Lulu.
Later that night, a few lucky people also had a dinner party, with Baba-san also being at said party (Picture from Ladyusada who was one of the lucky people to be there).
Tales of Festival 2013 - Day 1:
Day 1 of TalesFes was amazing - with an estimate of 12,000 people filling up Yokohama Arena. The event was setup as a center stage, with fans surrounding it in all 360 degrees directions. Day 1 started out with the opening movies of the various Tales games being played in order of release.
The main hosts for this year were Masaya Onosaka (Zelos Wilder - Tales of Symphonia) and Shiho Kawaragi (Cheria Barnes - Tales of Graces), clad in cosplay of the characters they voice. Once on stage, Onosaka first "tries to find a good place to stand on" since the stage is a center one, and upon deciding on a spot, does a pose. He also mentions how he's jealous of how high level and complete Kawaragi's costume is.
It was then followed by the special skit of the day, "Tales of Party ~The Celebration Is For Who~." The main gist is that apparently, Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny) and Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia) have made it into some sort of "Hall of Fame" for always being in the top of the recent Tales of Series character popularity ranking polls, and as such, a party's being held for them. Leon and Yuri's voice actors, Hikaru Midorikawa and Kosuke Toriumi, respectively, were there to voice their characters. And they actually start of the skit... with a battle.
The next day, we have Mint Adnade (Tales of Phantasia, Junko Iwao, also in cosplay of her character), Cheria and Leia Rolando (Tales of Xillia 2, Saori Hayami) appear. They're apparently reading a newspaper about Leon and Yuri, but it gets flown away when a monster attacks them (voiced by Mamoru Miyano). They assume the article was about Leon and Yuri entering the Hall of Fame of the Tales of character popularity ranking, so they decide to throw the two a party.
Zelos and Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia, Katsuyuki Konishi, also in a Lloyd cosplay) overhear this and for some reason misunderstand this as the girls planning a "goukon" (a group date). Of course, they won't allow that to happen.
Basically, they gather people to join the party. This starts off with Mint and Jude Mathis (Tales of Xillia 2, Tsubasa Yonaga, wearing a Jude-style coat that was sold before in collaboration with a popular Japanese clothing brand) bringing along Dymlos (Tales of Destiny, Ryoutarou Okiayu, in the most epic cosplay ever) - who changes into Gaius (Tales of Xillia 2) by removing his Dymlos headgear and replacing it with one saying "Ga" in hiragana. More people join in, namely Sheena Fujibayashi (Tales of Symphonia, Akemi Okamura) and Emil Castagnier (Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Hiro Shimono). Unfortunately, Flynn Scifo (Tales of Vesperia, Mamoru Miyano) could not join at that time because of knightly duties. Exceptional cheers were given to Okiayu's Dymlos/Gaius costume. Also, this year, they now have proper lapel microphones, compared to last year where they had to hold the microphone, so hand gestures and such looked much better.
So at the party venue, everything seems ready. Mint, Cheria and Leia are in charge of decorations, and Flynn also comes rushing in saying his knight duties have ended and that he brought cake made by Estelle. Sheena and Emil arrive with life-size Yuri and Leon dolls... hidden in these dolls are Lloyd and Zelos.
So, Leon and Yuri arrive and are greeted with congratulations... but somehow the atmosphere's a bit off. The two then explain that the newspaper article was actually about the both of them going overboard in a Battle Tournament of sorts and destroying the arena. Leon's pissed and about to leave, Zelos and Lloyd try to stop him, but Yuri mentions that they should celebrate something else since the party's all prepared anyway - Tales of Symphonia's 10th Anniversary.
So they celebrate anyway. Zelos, Lloyd and Sheena try the cake, but it tastes horrid, apparently. Though it was Estelle who made the cake, it was Flynn who did the topping, so you can pretty much guess what's wrong. Even Emil got involved by being forced to eat some cake, which made him go into Ratatosk Mode. The skit ends with Ratatosk-Emil yelling "Don't turn me into the punchline!!!"
This is followed by free talk by the voice actors. They open it up with how this is Iwao's, Okamura's and Hayami's first time being at a TalesFes. Iwao mentions that it's amazing with a smile, and apparently her Mint costume is something a fan made for her as a present. Onosaka mentions that he'd also like his own costume remade, since he's been using the same thing since last year. Okamura's comments on the skit include it being fun and her being unable to contain her laughter at Zelos. Hayami says it was tense, but still fun. Also, apparently in the middle of the skit, Onosaka was staring at Hayami's legs and thinking that, well, she had great legs. The guys shield her from Onosaka, particularly Okiayu who uses the Dymlos headgear to hide her legs.
They also poke at how Midorikawa and Toriumi still aren't cosplaying their characters this year. Midorikawa replies that if it's just Judas's mask and mantle, he will, and this gets a loud cheer from the audience. Toriumi says he really won't, but maybe he'll try acting left-handed like Yuri is. Miyano yells out that he'll cosplay Flynn if they make him a costume.
The free talk was followed by a "You Think Of It - TalesFes 2013 Event Planning" segment. This was apparently done in Viva! Tales of Magazine, where they asked their readers what events they want to happen during TalesFes 2013. There were a lot of ideas, but the one that got adapted was placing Leon and Yuri in a Hall of Fame and giving them a party because of them constantly being in popularity polls top rankings - Leon has been in 1st place twice, and in second place four times while Yuri has been in 1st place for three consecutive years. However, the downside of being included in the Hall of Fame is that both Yuri and Leon will not be included in the future Tales of Character Popularity Ranking Polls.
A beautiful cake featuring Leon and Yuri's artworks were brought on stage. Notice the little marzipan figures of the two, some fruits, and even pudding on Leon's side. There's also something on Yuri's side but I can't discern what it is. Anyway, after taking some photos, the cake being sliced by Midorikawa and Toriumi, an exchange of bites, all the voice actors then had some cake.
They also took a look back at the previous polls' results. Only Kratos Aurion (Tales of Symphonia) was able to break the Leon and Yuri's 1st place streak. Midorikawa comments that Leon's popularity can be attributed to his unfortunate circumstances, as well as the illustrations of him made by Mutsumi Inomata. He also admits that back when he was still at his parents' place, he was a big fan of Inomata's work. As for Yuri, Toriumi comments that there are a lot of heroes already that have righteous principles, so it's Yuri's "un-hero-ness" that makes him popular. This also includes his somewhat dark image and his influence to make the people around him grow.
After this, Midorikawa and Toriumi read letters of appreciation they made.
That said, though it hasn't been finalized yet, it seems Yuri and Leon, now not allowed to join the polls, will become moderators in the upcoming 7th Tales of Character Popularity Ranking Poll.
This was followed by the reveal of the Tales of Symphonia: Unisonant Pack (Tales of Symphonia Chronicles in the West) for the PlayStation 3. Check out our full report on that part here. I'll just be focusing on stuff I forgot to elaborate last time:
First off, pre-order bonuses: A special 10th Anniversary Greeting Card which will have art by ufotable, a message from Katsuyuki Konishi (Lloyd) and Hiro Shimono (Emil) and codes for a PS3 custom theme.
When the release date was announced, Onosaka says that his birthday is on October 13th. He adds if maybe Baba-san can release it on his birthday, but that would be difficult. So he asks, "Can I have it as a gift instead?" to which Baba-san replies "Of course!"
All of the Symphonia announcements were followed up by misono's live performance. The songs she sang were "Ninin Sankyaku" (Three-Legged Race, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World's opening), "VS" (Tales of the Tempest opening), "Ho・n・to・u・so" (True Lies, Tales of Symphonia the Animation: United World Episode opening), "Soshite Boku Ni Dekiru Koto..." (What I Could Do Then..., Tales of Symphonia PS2 opening) and "Starry Heavens" (Tales of Symphonia GameCube opening). The last song was "Tales...", a song from Tales with misono EP.
After the live, she announced that her next CD will be released on October 9th, 2013. This will include the new arranges of Starry Heavens, Soshite Boku Ni Dekiru Koto... and Ninin Sankyaku, as well as two new songs. For those new songs, former Day After Tomorrow member Daisuke Suzuki (now a member of GIRL NEXT DOOR) will be helping her out. She also mentions that those are to be done in the consciousness of Day After Tomorrow, and she will be singing it with her Day After Tomorrow vocals in mind.
Day 1 was closed with a message from each voice actor, as well as their impressions of the event so far.
And there you have it! Stay tuned tomorrow around this time for Day 2! Sorry if I have to divide them, they're quite extensive. There are a WHOLE LOT MORE of pictures over at our gallery!
We heard the rumors, we got those rumors denied, but forget all that. Tales of Symphonia: Unisonant Pack HD for the PlayStation 3 has just been confirmed at this year's Tales of Festival! It's basically the original Tales of Symphonia plus Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World remastered for the PS3! And that's not all, but localization has been confirmed for both US and Europe! Here's a rundown of the information!
Minutes after the reveal in Japan, the West also got this announcement video from Baba-san! It'll be localized as Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (working title) and will be released in US and in Europe sometime early 2014!
And here are the first screenshots of the pack!
And here is the trailer they showed during the reveal.
So, onto the basics. This bundle is, obviously, to celebrate Tales of Symphonia's 10th anniversary in Japan this August. It's basically an HD remaster of the two games for the PlayStation 3.
Here's the package art by Kosuke Fujishima.
And it's coming out quite early, too! The Japanese release date is on October 10, 2013 for a price of 6,980 Yen (roughly $70). Again, those in the West are getting it early 2014.
A Lalabit Market Bundle has been confirmed. It includes Kyun Chara Figures of Lloyd, Emil, Colette and Marta, plus a scenario book, all encased in a wonderful box illustrated by ufotable. It'll be for 9,980 Yen (roughly $99). You can find more pictures of the bundle here in our gallery.
A Famitsu DX Pack has also been confirmed. So far, contents include 4 visual clear posters, with 3 of those illustrated by ufotable. I'm not sure if it'll have more stuff. Price is at 7,980 Yen (roughly $79).
The Tales of Symphonia game will have new cut-ins and there will apparently be Tales of Series costumes for all the party members in Tales of Symphonia. So far, only Lloyd's (Guy Cecil from Tales of the Abyss) and Genis's (Luke fon Fabre from Abyss) were revealed.
The three Japanese opening songs for the two games, Starry Heavens, Soshite Boku Ni Dekiru Koto (The Thing I Could Do Then, for Symphonia) and Ninin Sankyaku (Three-Legged Race, for Dawn of the New World) will have new arranges for this HD collection.
That's pretty much all the info so far on Tales of Symphonia Chronicles/Unisonant Pack. The trailer they showed at Tales Festival said "To be continued" so there will obviously be more info in the future.
In the meantime, here're other Tales of Symphonia-related info for the 10th anniversary!
Tales of Symphonia: The Animation is getting a complete Blu-ray Box, which includes all three Sylvarant, Tethe'alla and United World Episodes/Arcs! The box will be out on November 6, 2013, no price yet.
Also about the Animation, Bandai Channel will be showing all three Arcs at their site. The Sylvarant Arc will be running from June 1st to June 16th; the Tethe'alla Arc for July 6th to July 21st and the United World Arc for August 3rd to August 18th.
A new Tales event (most probably Symphonia-related) willl also be done at Namco Namja Town.
Collaborations with Putumayo brand of apparel once again.
And lastly, some upcoming Tales of Symphonia merchandise!
Tales of Ichiban Kuji Lottery #2 - includes a Zelos chibi kyun chara figure
Dream Cushion Cover - Zelos (Kotobukiya)
Tales of Symphonia & Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Rubber Strap Collection (Kotobukiya)
1/8 Scale Colette Brunel Figure (Kotobukiya)
Zelos Wilder and Lloyd Irving Figures (Alter)
And there you have it! This year surely is going to be a Tales-filled year! The game's teaser site in Japan is already online. To those who want to watch the entire reveal, you can do so below. The trailer for the game is at 1:59.
AC's "Tales of Merchandise Monthly" is back! Now promptly renamed "Tales of Merchandise Monthly" and with a slightly new look! To those who missed our debut post fourteen months ago, this column of ours focuses on any upcoming Tales of Series related merchandise, as well as those that (we think) are already available and are worth collecting.
I know this is late, but it's technically still May in the West, so .
In this month's issue, we give the spotlight to Tales of Symphonia. Symphonia will be celebrating its 10th anniversary (in Japan) this August, and with all the rumors and hype about the game and whatnot, we thought it appropriate to focus on this lovely game.
The next set of MegaHouse's Tales of Series Petit Chara Land is set to be released late September 2013. The set features Ludger Will Kresnik and Elle Mel Mata from Tales of Xillia 2, Yuri Lowell (True Knight ver) and Flynn Scifo from Tales of Vesperia, Kyle Dunamis and Reala from Tales of Destiny 2 and Jude Mathis from Tales of Xillia.
What could possibly be cuter than having your favorite Tales of character hanging around looking as if you're dragging them around yourself? These new Tales of Series Acryl Carabiners. Available styles include Yuri, Leon and Luke. They're also being sold in advance during Tales of Festival 2013, but they'll officially be released late August.
Just recently announced is this Tales of Xillia 2 Chara Pos Collection (character posters) by Ensky. The entire set features art by ufotable and includes 16 posters. Ordering it from Kotobukiya also gets you an extra Ludger and Julius poster (in their Corpse Shell modes, not shown). These will be out late July.
And... um... There's not much to say about these. They're Tales of Series Nail Files. Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, it seems all pre-order slots for these have run out, but they might get more stock in the future, so check out the links anyway.
Just revealed yesterday at the Tales of Festival's pre-event merchandise exhibition were two new 1/8 scale figures by Alter: Lloyd Irving and Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia. So far, only Zelos's figure has a prototype, pictured above. No release date set as of yet.
Other figures revealed at the event were Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2) figures by Banpresto for their Ichiban Kuji lotteries in Japan. That said, these will only be available in Japan, sadly.
There's not much in this month's Just Released section except for the latest issue of Viva! Tales of Magazine (July 2013). The Tales of School and Tales of Xillia 2 Colorful Collection strap figures were supposed to be released this month, but their release was moved to late next month (June).
It's been almost 10 years since Tales of Symphonia was released in Japan, and around 9 years since its US release - obviously old Symphonia merchandise is hard to come by nowadays... Especially if you're looking for the original US game. There are still, however, a few treasures here and there in some shops you may encounter, such as the Tales of Symphonia The Best version (the cheaper re-release) for the PS2, one of the earlier Tales of Symphonia Drama CDs, or even one of the old Tales of Symphonia: Comic Anthologies. Take a look for yourself and see what you'll manage to find:
And that's it for this issue of Tales of Merchandise Monthly! Now stay tuned for upcoming Tales of Festival 2013 news! It seems like it'll be a Symphonia-filled event!
New Tales of figures were showcased today in Tales of Festival 2013's merchandise exhibition: Tales of Symphonia's Lloyd Irving and Zelos Wilder by Alter (or ALTAiR) and Tales of Destiny's Leon Magnus and Tales of Xillia 2's Milla Maxwell by Banpresto for their Ichiban Kuji lotteries.
Zelos, Leon and Milla already have prototypes, while Lloyd's will be released in the future:
Other merchandise shown there, some of these we've already seen:
Alter's Raven and Estelle figure plus the Milla plushie
Chibi Kyun Chara Luke, Yuri and Elle by Banpresto. This was available for pre-order a while back but ran out fast.
New necklaces. Lloyd's is actually a leather bangle made to look like his Expshere, while Emil, Yuri's and Leon's are necklaces. Emil's is the usual necklace while the Yuri and Leon necklaces are part of their "gold collection" and costs 31,500 Yen each (BAM). Yuri's is made of 10 carat yellow gold and rubies while the Leon one is made of 10 carat white gold and sapphire. Now available at Lalabit Market for pre-order (Japan only).
Tales of Xillia 2 shirts. Also available at Lalabit.
Abyssal Chronicles is a Tales of Series fansite owned by a745 and sukotsuto. This site is online for entertainment and informative purposes only and is not, in any way, associated with the game company. The Tales of Series belongs to Namco Bandai Games Incorporated.
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