Tales of Vesperia PS3 Discussion/Speculation *spoilers*

[Ryu Tienousha]

Or it could be a new 'trend' to release a DC for each Console Mothership, I mean it's the second one in a row after Destiny
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Tales of the World: Ravage of Time RP

[Shadowfox]

[Defenestrator]

I think someone mentioned this earlier... Like, why can’t Namdai just take all the time they need to make the game great, and then release it? "Great" meaning finished in this case, I suppose... (And "finished" meaning everything that the original production schedule asked for. I wonder how many developers actually get 100% of everything they want into the game)

I have a friend who works for a developer in MD and she said, it goes something like... (Scroll down for the tl;dr version) Um, well, when you work for a developing company, the publisher has to give all the money pretty much in advance; lots of money for equipment, software, the employees, etc, etc... Video games are on par (maybe even more) with Hollywood movies, when it comes to budget. So that’s pretty expensive....

So, Namdai drops the money to its developer (internal studio, it might be, but Namdai is primarily a publisher...Or maybe I’m wrong... I’m sorry if I am). The developer makes a production schedule (with the publisher's date as the end goal), which covers how/when everything is spent... So the team has to make a complete game by the time that schedule’s over, because the publisher is dealing with the PR and the GD and all that good stuff... When stuff isn’t getting down on time, even when employees are working overtime, then they have to cut stuff that’s not necessary to the function of the game...

If a publisher advertises a game for a certain date and the team doesn’t make it, then it also looks kind of bad... People begin to question the publisher, not just the studio making the game. Personal example: a lot of my friends from school had their panties in a twist when Nintendo announced Brawl was being released later than expected... Vesperia in particular had its Japanese and US release dates fairly close to each other, so that was extremely important for the game to be a) functional and b) (relatively) bug-free at the right time, so as to not betray the expectations of American fans/Americans who might give JRPGs another chance...

I think a recent example of this is Knight of Ratatoskr/Dawn of the New World. Like...they had time constraints from the start because they were kind of needed for Vesperia, which was being developed at the same time...I think. There was a ton of recycling (i.e. music, dungeons, other locations) and still things seemed rather unfinished... (i.e. story, dialogue) I don't want to elaborate because I might say something I shouldn't...

tl;dr version: Publishers are stressed to release blockbuster games every single time, so they spend a lot of money on the developer’s budget and on advertising. Each time the publisher does this, they are gambling pretty crazily... So the developer has to meet the advertised hype, and it has to do it on time. Um, is that right? Someone help me out here. That’s pretty much what my friend said though.

(Off-topic: I'm sorry if that seemed so long! I didn't want to post something short and un-contribution-ish...but now it's just...long... Also, I'm sorry if I'm just expanding on common knowledge. This is something I didn't learn until this year at school...so maybe not everyone knows...?)

On another, more related note...I don't see why people can't hope for DLC. Fans still have to pay for the stuff... Each thing you have to download would add up to a fair bit of money. Or maybe Namdai could re-release the game on the 360 with all the new things...that’s, 65 USD, or something?

And if Namdai doesn't, well, we get it, Namco's a business first – it really is all about money. How much would it cost to set up/program/debug the DLC against how much money the company would make? But people here can keep this in mind...I remember hearing reports about how the 360 practically sold out in Japan when TOV came out; a lot of people bought it just for that game. (When Japanese people are fans of something...they're pretty hardcore.) I also heard that Japanese fans were angry when they learned Namdai was releasing an enhanced PS3 Port. So I'm sure Namdai might keep that in mind; fans in Japan are their number-one priority.

I personally don't feel like 360 Vesperia was "incomplete"...it just seems that way when it comes to the extra stuff they're adding...I guess it's all relative. I got a little mad when I read about the PS3 port, but then I remembered that TOV was fun to play, and I didn't think, I wish there was a small blonde pirate (and a tall blonde knight) in the game hitting on Yuri really badly. (Not to like, dis Flynn or Patty or anything. She looks cute, her moves look pretty funny... But Fujishima, please give her pants)

Anyway, I just hope someone uploads anything new (i.e. scenes, costumes, etc) to Youtube/Nicovideo, and I'm fairly sure someone will do that, so...

[Savior Of None]

That was very long, but I didnt know most of the stuff on there. Thanks. and the japanese are their only concern, well, that's a wee bit upsetting. I bought a 360 just for ToV, the japanese aren't the only ones that were all like "Holy **** this looks amazing" When I saw some of the boss battles on youtube (Fenrir was the first boss I saw on youtube) I literally begged my mom for the console and game. Thankfully, I just got the game a few weeks ago, and I got the console last christmas. Sure, there was a few games I like for the 360. Assassin's Creed and the new Spyro one, along with Eternal Sonata(Namdai, dont ever experiment with turn based fighting like that again, I think it was terrible. Expecially the blocking system).
And I know this is a stupid question, but, what does MD stand for?
And it's sad that the makers probably have so many ideas for their games, but they're limited by time. Makes me curious as to how much cooler the games would be if there was no time limit. I wouldnt mind having every playable character being in all the fights at once instead of having to decide who to put in. Or having 2 stories played out where in one you could play as the baddies and fight the heroes. So many things couldve been put in tales games its amazing xD
But I guess thats why they made TotW:RM and it's sequel... Even though the graphics seem to suck and the battles look easy.
Oh, and they should make all the extras as DLC because the current DLC sucks.

[Defenestrator]

[Savior Of None]

I really hope the pre-order bonuses arent just for the Japanese version. Estelle's Tear costume is the only cool-looking and decent one she has. The only other one I like is the Enchanting Bell one, and she looks like she's about to work the corners, and the other one, Heroic Actress, her hair makes her look manly. But I think Im missing the costume where she has to beat the 200 man melee, maybe that's a good costume, who knows...

Hmm, a production company called 'My Dog'. Sounds sarcastic.

That sucks. Im planning on making games when I get to. Ive been thinking up character and stuff for about 2 years, maybe longer. Ive got some characters and their costumes figured out, but with the info you just gave me about the time, I doubt everything I have planned will fit. Hopefully within 8 years technology will evolve to greater powers and be quick enough for us future imaginists(...if i spelled that right) And seeing as how you know more than me, mind answering me a question if you know the answer to it? If you plan to have stuff involving anime and other games in a video game you create, do you pay for approvement to have those anime in it? Ive been wondering this since Kingdom Hearts came out with the disney and Final Fantasy cast.

And yea, people might actually buy DLC if there were secret stuff in it that you cant get from playing the game.

[Iluvpudding4eva]

http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009/06/23/famitsu-unveils-tales-of-vesperia-ps3-bonus-content/ looks like we know what the bonus content is now!
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Iluvpudding4eva -> The_ultimate_moron -> Program_files -> Generic_Loli->Iluvpudding4eva

[valius]

[game industry stuff]As a programmer in the game industry, I can say that... if you want to be an artist or a programmer in the game industry, go for it... start working on your portfolio, especially you artists. The industry will always be in need of artists, and I think it's a bit more stable than simply struggling along with artists in other mediums.

As for involving characters from animes and other games, there's licensing schemes to deal with and sometimes that means things have to be cut due to legal issues... ideally making your own characters is probably a better idea to prevent your game from feeling too... derivative anyway. Good game design is also key in making a good game... actually working with XNA or even Gamemaker is a good way to grasp game design concepts without dealing with other headaches that come into play with game programming.

I noticed that someone mentioned about production schedules. For smaller studios like ones I've worked with in the past, it is true that the investor invests a set amount into the project. Depending on the nature of the publisher, an initial date will be set, and the project will aim for that date. If the project is not ready yet and some date adjustment is needed, the publisher will either invest more to continue to keep the project afloat... or they may unfortunately decide that the game will not be profitable and abandon it (this latter choice happened to me in my first position). For big studios, it's a little more interesting, since deadlines have a lot more LEEWAY to shift and may in fact get shifter further and further back due to new roadblocks from things outside the studio control (like slow return times from Sony, MS, or Nintendo... *sigh*). The project within my current studio (a LARGE studio) has had its date pushed back a while to coincide with a better period for sales. That's all right, since my studio can afford to do so. I believe that Namco-Bandai is large enough that they DON'T need the cold, hard deadlines like smaller less rich studios have, but obviously, even a giant like Namco-Bandai can only give so much leeway, which is why for a large project like Vesperia, things may have to get cut.[/game industry stuff]

Fact of the matter is that I'm not surprised that the 360 was the first console to receive Vesperia. In the game industry, the PS3 is the HARDEST console to program for due to its unusual architecture and multiple SPEs (processors) when compared to the familiar PowerPC Wii and the familiar 360. There's a reason a lot of dev like the 360... it's similar enough to x86 architecture, which is PC space. Not to mention that the 360 is backed up by MS, which is primarily a SOFTWARE company and VERY familiar with devkits and the like, while Sony, a traditionally hardware company, is really only starting to slowly get its dev house in order. For reasons like this, the PS3 game usually comes out later than the 360 version of the game.


HOWEVER, one problem with the 360 is the fact that it does not have traction in Japan, the territory most likely to buy Tales games. The 360 is not selling well there compared to its two competitors. Reasons for this are uncertain, though perhaps MS being an American brand and having a bad rep from the RROD are possible deterrents. In any case, there are more people in Japan with PS3s than 360s from what we have seen in sales. It's almost a sure thing that Namco-Bandai wants ToV to sell more, so Namco-Bandai decides that PS3 owners ought to get a copy of the game too. Why limit yourself to just one install base when you could get more of the pie? So Namco-Bandai makes the decision to make more money by porting Vesperia to the PS3... Vesperia's a little old now, so they decide to throw in more game content to give more incentive to get it for the PS3. And that's what has happened here. The PS3 is winning in Japan, and 360 owners have to suffer for it unfortunately.

About 360 DLC, it's not that simple to simply make DLC and release it for more money... first, it costs money for Namco to do the necessary programming and design for the DLC in question and to run it through QA (Quality Assurance) to test the DLC and make sure nothing breaks. There's also the issue of game design where there's the issue of dealing with EXISTING save games off the normal game and somehow integrating the story-changing DLC and scenes. If the user has passed a certain point in the story, should he have access to Patty or should he have access to Flynn, etc.? It's a programming nightmare. The problem with the possibility of DLC for the PS3-exclusive stuff is that a lot of the new things in the PS3 version CHANGE the story and aren't simply extra side quests... 1-2 new playable characters that affect the story in the game can't simply be tossed in. I'm also skeptical about Namco-Bandai DLC, particularly since they can't even be bothered to do more for a game like Soul Calibur IV (balance patches or more clothes) and instead opted to release a new version of the game on the PSP. Namco-Bandai doesn't exactly have the best track record for real DLC, and it seems like it's expensive enough for them to not make DLC that's not already on the disc.


Anyway, just my thoughts on the PS3 porting of Vesperia... hopefully they'll give us a localization for us folk here.
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[Defenestrator]

[BigWoodSwinger]

So far I'm fine with not getting the extras but if the PS3 version doesn't come out in NA then I would start to feel left out.
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[valius]

[Zacewing]

[valius]

Nah, just tri-crescendo. Monolith Soft can't work on non-Nintendo projects anyway (did Disaster and are going back to their RPG pedigree with Monado now).

I personally am interested in trying the PS3 version of the game out (and with Japanese voices that don't hurt my ears badly).
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[Savior Of None]

[valius]

The FF part was easy... KH is made by SQ-Enix and had characters designed by the FF7 and beyond character designer himself. Not to mention that FF is OWNED by SQ-Enix, so it was no big deal.

SQ-Enix negotiated with Disney to get the rights for the Disney characters... at the time, it was ambitious to throw two completely unrelated worlds today, but it looks like it's definitely paid off! (See: anime conventions and the HUGE popularity of KH) SQ-Enix is a huge company, so they definitely had the money necessary for the Disney license.


Most studios in our industry don't have that kind of money to secure licenses for popular characters.
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