Tales of Symphonia Update

1st off, Starry Heavens is to be taken out and replaced with Orchestral music, a big bummer to those with a taste for Japanese-lyriced music. Apparently it can scare little children <_<

2nd, screenies with english battle names right here

http://media.cube.ign.com/media/481/481670/imgs_1.html

And last, the US Boxart. Its more in-your-face than the Watercoloured Japanese one.


Actual Box


Art source.

I'll be bringing more when I can remember it

It scares little children.....how many little children play RPG's?
Thats such a shame...I really like Starry Heavens. Ah well, at least I have the mp3.

Well, even with the song gone, it still looks to be a great title. The screens certainly do the game justice, even if I dont really know if Im missing translation-wise or anything...
I really need to get cracking on the 2 other RPGs I still havent finished before I get this one though.

*checks for release date*
Stupid web-blocks...Guess Ill check for the release date when I get home.

Heh, that reason about scaring was just a joke

Source: Phantasian Productions Messageboards

Oh yeah, I agree with that. It's not because of the Japanese; it's generally a rights issue.
If Namco actually owns the song, it might be a different issue. But it's dat, and they're under the avex label. And since avex gave rights to Namco and not HomeTek (cause they work independently), HomeTek's screwed. And it's evident that Namco made a deal with avex instead of paying royalties (which isn't realistic at all) since dat personally promoted the game (after avex "orders" them).

So there are a few possibilies why HomeTek "can't" use the song (or combinations of them):
1) either Namco HomeTek didn't even bother to try to get the rights from avex (cause they know an attempt is fruitless)
2) HomeTek can get the rights, but would have to pay royalities to avex (which is still a giant no-no since localized Tales games "barely" register on a radar when you compare it with other titles). So it's like spending money you don't have, not something a company would ever do.
3) they never planned to leave it in (not because people won't like it, but because it deviates from the mainstream... and you would have more kids scratching their heads on your hands. And HomeTek always likes to play it safe, but then again, who doesn't? Especially since HomeTek's far from the "made-it" monetary bracket).

Quick tag on US release date; around July 13th. Although I'll probably get it about a week before that. Ahh, the privelages of being a Gamestop manager.. and the power, heh.

The boxart looks good compared to the supposed stuff they had earlier. Screens are great (heh, like I haven't looked at them enough already..) as for the song, was one thing I didn't know about. Even so, really stupid reason to cut it. 'Too scary for children'? Give me a break..

*wanders off to scour for the mp3*

Sole purpose wasn't what I said in the 1st post

You can get the MP3 for Starry Heavens and the other Tales songs here: http://www.kou-net.org/archive/gallery/tales-songs

Ok, something new.

No voice will be left out this time.

It means that in previous US tales games they cut out alot of voice to save time and money. They removed the face chats, and in ToE the minor characters no longer had voice to save on actors. And it means that in Tales of Symphonia, everything that was voiced in the import will be voiced in the domestic version.

Meh, getting the songs from sites just doesn't seem to want to work for me anymore. Have to deal with WinMX, but it's not all that big of a deal.

As for the voices, knew about that a little while ago. Thank you April issue of GameInformer, heh.

arrrgh I loved that song! Starry Heavens is awesome. Thanks a lot for this update Chuc, thanks for explaining why they won't be using the song as well. Do you know anything about an Aussie release? I don't wanna go ordering it from overseas if it has a chance of coming here

Thanks for the link to the screenshots. Most of them seem to be from the same areas as in the trailer. Still, screenshots are nothing compared to 'TOS live feed'.... webcams are so cool O_o

btw. How far are you through the game now?

Sorta offtopic: Has anybody seen TOE the anime? I *should* be seeing it the first weekend in April if all goes according to plan....

Heh, maybe I should take a video via the webcam...

Oh, not only I have seen TOE the Anime, but I have the entire 12 episodes in one neat-little boxset Sadly its subbed by a really random chinese group, so there are some grammatical and renaming problems.

I liked starry heavens .... Oh well... I have been keeping my eye on this game. The box art looks beautiful as do the screens. I can't wait till it comes out. Me and my friend were bored so we werearguing aboutwho would get it first, wo would press the A button while playing that game first and some more worthless junk like that. The background for the Japanese box art looks alot better than the U.S art (you know the giant pillar in the japanese one) still the U.S looks really cool too.Orchestra music scares me too but I'll live with it. When I want to listen to Starry heavens I usually go to

www.dat-net.jp.index