New Tales of Graces Scan - Release Date & Pre-Order Bonuses (UPDATED)

A new Weekly Shonen Jump scan about Tales of Graces has just surfaced, revealing the game's release date, the pre-order bonus and something interesting about the game's story. Click the thumbnail at the left to view the full scan.

First off, the game will be available on December 10, 2009 for 7,329 Yen (around $82). Incidentally, I've looked around some shopping sites, and BoA's Mamoritai ~White Wishes~ single has also been confirmed to have a December 9release. It follows the usual pattern for game and theme song release dates. Also according to some of the shops, BoA's single will have a "Tales of Graces Version" that will come with a serial code for a "BoA Original Costume".

Aside from the usual Special DVD pre-order bonus, the game will also have a "Vesperia Dress-Up Costume Download Code" (still tentative) wherein the Graces characters will get Tales of Vesperia character costumes. So far, we have Asbel confirmed to get Yuri Lowell's costume. As stated, this is still tentative, so it may change in the future (other Tales costumes, perhaps?). UPDATE: We have more costumes confirmed. Cheria as Rita Mordio and Sophie as Patty Fleur.

In the scan, we also see Asbel, Hubert, Richard and Cheria as children. For some reason, Sophie, or maybe someone who looks identical to her, is together with Asbel and the rest when they were kids. Sophie however looks exactly the same as she looks in the game's present timeline, together with Asbel at the age of 18. Whatever it means, this little mystery will be revealed once we've played the game for ourselves. The scan also implies that players will be able to control Asbel and Hubert as children in some part of the game, even using them in battle (the scan doesn't show the others in battle). The scan states that these particular events take place seven years before the game's present time. The anime illustrations in the scan will probably be their status arts as kids. To those wondering, yes, the girl in braids is Cheria. The screenshot above shows a scene where Cheria is feeling jealous of Sophie, according to the scan. To those who remember, they are the exact same kids at the beginning of theTGS '09 story trailer.