Tales Of The Abyss Drops Onto Nintendo 3DS In May

By Spencer . March 2, 2011 . 3:08pm

As seen in Shonen Jump, Namco Bandai set May 19 as the release date for the Nintendo 3DS version of Tales of the Abyss.

Namco Bandai added touch screen technique controls, a world map on the bottom screen, and revised the game’s graphics to support the 3DS’ wider screen. New for Japan, are tweaks introduced in the North American version.

Since the Tales team feels Tales of the Abyss is complete there won’t be many additions, but there is still some brand new content Namco Bandai has yet to reveal.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

OH nice, Namco Bandai here in CONUS should consider it. I cant imagine they want to miss out on bringing out some title in the beginning stages of the Nintendo 3DS’s launch.

I cant wait to see the mystic artes exhibitions in 3D!
- PurpleDoom
  
  Namco have a whole ton of 3DS games they can use; they’re already taking a risk with Graces f and I doubt we’ll see any other Tales games come out until Namco sees that it can sell well.
  - http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada
    
    Then Namco Bandai is not bringing out any 3DS title near launch in the US?! Doesnt seem like a smart move dude.
    - PurpleDoom
      
      Ridge Racer 3D is a Namco Bandai title.
      
      Also, from a business perspective, bringing out any game in a franchise that’s only seen good sales once or twice is a bad idea. Graces f is testing the waters to see if the franchise can succeed. Taking two risks – one of them being a 3DS port of a PS2 game that flopped – is a very bad idea.
      - http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada
        
        From a business perspective there is no better time than now to give an already done game in Japan a release in the US at a time where there are less than 50 titles out for the system. People looking for an RPG would be forced to buy it, preventing it from flopping (I doubt Abyss flopped though, if so why did they bring out another Tales game after it, and another after that, and another?)…
      - PurpleDoom
        
        Tales of Vesperia launched all the way back in 2008 when there were still hardly any JRPGs on the 360. It still did merely OK. Sales aren’t exclusive to genre – sure, someone who plays only JRPGs and nothing else would go for this, but someone else may think “this is the only RPG available for the system right now, but I’d rather have this other game anyway.” It’s not only competing with RPGs on the 3DS, either, it’s competing with RPGs in general – someone could want an RPG on a different platform more than they would want Abyss. The only Tales game that did very well at all was Symphonia and perhaps its sequel. Perhaps “flop” is an exaggeration, but Abyss certainly didn’t do well.
      - Caligula
        
        Tsuna, check out Abyss’s sales. It did truly flop. I think the reason why Namco kept bringing games out after that was because they were hoping they could strike lucky again the same way they did with Symphonia.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Ex-Detsu/100001670613988 Ex Detsu
    
    That is not the proper use of “case in point.”
    
    Just a heads up.
    - PurpleDoom
      
      Oh well, the post still works without it.
- Caligula
  
  Eh, it’ll be competing against a lot of other games at launch, and it didn’t sell well the first time they tried. I don’t really see the benefit in releasing it at launch with so much competition (let alone releasing it ever, but that’s another issue).
  - nyoron
    
    There are no RPGs at launch though. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the only upcoming RPG that even has a date is Devil Survivor. And that’s also a port, of a much more recent game too.
    
    Looking at the launch titles, this wouldn’t really be competing with the likes of Nintendogs, Madden, Lego Star Wars, or Ghost Recon. For people that want an RPG on their shiny new toy, this would be competing against other RPGs, and it’s almost no contest.
    - Caligula
      
      Mm, to be honest, there may not be much in the way of competition from other RPGs, but the other games still offer competition. I think it’s probably safe to say that most people who play RPGs also dabble in other genres, so they may value picking up the other launch titles before Abyss.
      - nyoron
        
        Well sure, if you’re an RPG fan you don’t only play RPGs. You’ll grab a couple games at launch and have fun with them. But 3-4 months later, it’s the middle of summer, and you really feel like you want an RPG. Your choices: Devil Survivor or Tales of the Abyss. Those are pretty good odds for Namco. Especially since many of those RPG fans may already own or have recently played Devil Survivor on DS. Of course some of them may already have Abyss too, but this would be the first time they could take it on the go with them.
        
        That’s just my baseless speculation though, I’m not exactly confident in my ability to grasp how the market works.
      - PurpleDoom
        
        That’s assuming, though, that you only own a 3DS. RPGs will surely be launching for other consoles as well, and it has to compete with those, too.
      - Caligula
        
        I can understand what you’re getting at, but the logic doesn’t quite hold. Namco would want the game to sell in the first month, not 3 to 4 months after the game was released.
      - nyoron
        
        @Caligula
        I’m suggesting that the game come out in June/July, not right at launch. What they call “launch period”. The game doesn’t come out until mid-May in Japan, I wouldn’t expect it here any sooner than that. So, everyone that bought the system at launch (and I’m expecting there to be quite a few) will be hungry for a meaty new game by summer, and that’s when they can release it.
        
        @PurpleDoom
        Good point but is there anything else launching? I took a quick glance at some upcoming release charts and I’m not seeing anything for the DS, FFIV remake in April for PSP, Agarest Zero in June for PS3/360. Disgaea 4 not until September. That’s kinda it. Maybe I missed something though. I do think Abyss 3DS would have the advantage because the 3DS itself is new. At least when I get a new console I tend to want to buy games for it over others.
        
        It’s not like I’m going to be torn up if (when) they don’t release this. I just feel like it’s now or never for Tales on the 3DS and I’d prefer it to not be never.
      - PurpleDoom
        
        @Nyoron: I’m just sort of assuming that there would be at least one other RPG launching around the same time, wasn’t actually thinking of any examples. There’s probably an unannounced game or two that could launch within that time period.
- https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger
  
  Would need a 3D display to view them. D;
  
  Oooh, I wonder if I could get it to work with Nvidia 3D Vision…
nyoron

I still think Namco’s blowing a big opportunity by not releasing this here for reasons I’ve mentioned before, but whatever. If it’s true that there’s almost nothing new and only battles are 3D I’m not as interested in playing this again.
Fonic

It’s already translated and has the potential to do better this time around but chances are they won’t bring it over. Too bad.
FX102A

I suppose there’s next to no chance of letting those in Europe who never got it first time round a chance? Probably the only hope is if the same happens as for Tales of Eternia & Tales of the World on the PSP, which were published by Ubisoft. The future doesn’t look too bright for European JRPG lovers looking for a portable fix.
Kaoro

So I’m studying Japanese on the side at my university. If I bought an American 3DS and imported Tales of the Abyss, I wouldn’t be able to use it, right? I hate region locking :-/.

Namco not bringing this over is even more baffling than the Xenoblade/Last Story situation with Nintendo.
- PurpleDoom
  
  I’d say the situation with Xenoblade and Last Story is more surprising, myself. With Tales games it can be generally assumed that they’re not coming over until Namco says otherwise.
- Yamaneko22
  
  You can play the same Tales of Abyss in eng on ps2, while Xenoblade and Last Story will not be available in eng ( unless they release them in west, which i hope so…).
http://twitter.com/sakurairomemori Alphabet Soup

Love this game and would love to see an English 3DS port (hey maybe they’d voice the skits this time), but I know Namco is focussing on Graces F and its sales. If anyone wants to see more Tales games here, buy a copy or five of Graces F.
PrinceHeir

oh well at least we got Tales of Grace F and hopefully Vesperia and Xillia as well.

if only namco had a change of heart :)
- PurpleDoom
  
  Like sakurairomemori said, buy Graces f. If enough copies sell, a change of heart overall is quite possible. It’ll definitely increase our chances for Xillia, if nothing else.
- http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada
  
  A change of heart eh?
  
  http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3200000/Ryou-change-of-heart-card-ryou-bakura-3288405-602-435.jpg
  - PurpleDoom
    
    I was totally going to make that joke.
  - PrinceHeir
    
    lol i knew somebody is gonna make that joke :P
    - Zero_Destiny
      
      I think Namco has reshuffled their deck and are ready to change: lol
      [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD9tym2JMGY&feature=related]
      - PrinceHeir
        
        lol that was funny XD
        
        i never knew shuffling cards could be so disturbing O_O
      - Zero_Destiny
        
        Hey this is a life or death card-game. No way you can’t be intense. XD lol
Dimentionalist

North American Namco Bandai President Kenji Hisatsune “liked” a page on Abyss 3DS on Facebook. Shortly before the Graces F announcement, he “liked” an article on Scrawl about Namco listening to Tales fans. Don’t look too much into it just yet, it’s always best not to get hopes up with these games, but hey, it beats than getting all pessimistic and *****y at Namco at this point. Not to mention, Mr. Yoshizumi, the producer of the Tales series, mentioned on Twitter that they were still examining that particular title for a Western release.

That being said… REPLICAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
- http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada
  
  Oh snaps!!!!!!! Please come to fruition!!!!
- PurpleDoom
  
  That’s good to know. A faint glimmer of hope sure is better than nothing.
- Joanna
  
  ….now you’ve gone and got my hopes up. :P
  
  Well I shall be buying Grace f and I hope it does well enough so we can get the rest of the Tales of from now on.
http://twitter.com/atmey Atmey

Worth playing again, I guess, I’ll will beat the colosseum before giving up that great regen charm.
Croix

So sad that we probably won’t see this leave Japan, but I can take solace in the fact that I have already played through it more times than I can count on two hands.

But man, I hope Graces f does well, because I really want to see Xillia get through too. I’m one of those who is still hanging on to hope for Vesperia PS3.
Vino (Tim N)

Its been awhile since I played a full Tales game on a handheld. And shockingly, this is the one game I never got around to beating. So I do hope it comes over.

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