The 9/27 2018 issue of Famitsu includes an interview Bandai Namco Entertainment producer Tomizawa Yuusuke and Bandai Namco Studios director Higuchi Yoshito, in which they discuss Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition and the future of the Tales series.
The interview begins with them talking about Tales of Vesperia and its remastered version; Higuchi having been the chief director of the original, and Tomizawa being the producer of the remastered version. Tomizawa says that the decision to release a remastered version stemmed from how Vesperia turns ten years old this year, and a desire to answer to requests from fans who want to play previous games in the series on current hardware. At the same time, they hope that the simultaneous worldwide release and Switch and PC versions will also result in the series getting new players.
Tomizawa recalls how the crowd cheered for the announcement at E3 2018, saying that he is glad that the series is welcome overseas as well, and Higuchi notes that the remastered version is going to be based off the PS3 version which has additional content, and was never released outside of Japan, and that fans overseas asking for it for a long time also contributed to the decision to make the remastered version.
The interviewer asks if other projects similarly consider overseas sales, and Tomizawa says that many, but not all projects are advanced with overseas expansion being considered.
The remastered version of Vesperia will not have any new content not included in the PS3 version, but costumes and items that were paid DLC in that version will be included for free. Players who only played the Xbox 360 version, however, will have a lot of new content from the PS3 version to experience, such as two new party members, additional events, and more voice acting. While the resolution varies depending on the hardware, the remastered version was made and the graphics refined with full HD in mind, and the entire game will run at 60 FPS (as opposed to just battles). The anime cutscenes have also been upscaled to full HD.
While the source code and other data for the original version had remained, Tomizawa says that when they extracted this data to see if it could be used in the current development environment, they found that it was more “unique” than anticipated. Higuchi says that because Vesperia was their first HD title, they went through a lot of trial and error in its development, and much of what they did then may seem odd now. In the end, Tomizawa had to enlist the aid of staff members who had worked on the original version.
The interviewer next asks if there are any plans to make other remakes or remasters of older titles, and Tomizawa says that what he considers to be the most important thing is to have as many people as possible love the Tales series for as long as possible, and that it is thus a necessity to give them chances to taste the series’ roots. He cannot say yet whether this would be a remaster, a remake, or something else, but plans to look at requests. The interviewer asks if this means that Tomizawa is going to continue working with the Tales series, and he answers that he is indeed the new producer for series entries on home consoles, including the new game that was announced at Tales of Festival 2018. Their current goal is a home console title, and they plan to see if they can work with the mobile and event teams later on.
The mobile title Tales of Crestoria is brought up, and Tomizawa says that he is not directly involved with it, but it is different from previous all-star titles in the series, with an entirely new story, and that it is being made to be a gateway to the series for people who play RPGs on smartphones.
The new home console title Tomizawa is working on is brought up as well. Tomizawa says that he cannot reveal anything as of yet, but emphasises that he has worked on it from the beginning, and has worked long and hard with the team on defining the value of the brand, and what fans like about the series. The development itself is being handled by Bandai Namco Studios, with trustworthy staff who helped build the series.
The interview concludes with Tomizawa saying that he wishes to communicate with fans and answer their requests in the future, and that until then he hopes that they will enjoy Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition.
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition will be released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Windows on January 11th 2019.
