FonistofCruxis

Its been years since I commented on here but I remember him from back when I was a regular and he was a fantastic reviewer. I loved how funny his reviews of terrible games were. I was very sad to hear this news. My condolences go to his family and friends.
RIP

I've never experienced these bugs as I haven't needed to use the summon ability and the one time I have been lied to in an auction, I was lucky as my game didn't freeze but I'm glad the patch is out now as this means I won't have to worry about the game freezing, It also fixes the naming mix-ups so the game will no longer think that my character's first name is his last name and vice-versa.

@expa0 The load times are much better in the 3DS version. I haven't played the PS2 version either but I've seen this comparison.

@Koto The American branch of Bamco stated that they released Tales of the Abyss 3DS later than the EU release was because they were worried about sales which is understandable as it came out in Europe in November 2011 and there were far more big releases in that month than any other month of the year.

Bamco do seem to have an annoyingly strong preference to Sony consoles over Nintendo consoles. There have been 14 mothership titles (main series) in the series and after all the ports and remakes, there is at least one version of each of these mothership titles on a Sony console compared to there being at least one version of 6 of them on a Nintendo console. I've also heard that the 15th mothership title will be another PS3 game.

I agree with your point on the 3DS and Vita Tales of games. Also, after remaking Tales of Innocence for PSV, they made Tales of Hearts R for the Vita even thought I've heard that they might not have made a profit on ToIR if they hadn't released so many DLC costumes for it. Despite this, fans were expecting a remake of Tales of Hearts as there were images in a new bonus dungeon of ToIR that reference Tales of Hearts as well as a message in that dungeon saying something like "To be continues in the next re-imagining". There were also similar images that reference Tales of the Tempest in that dungeon so the Vita might end up having remakes of all three DS Tales of games.

Unfortunately, they do seem to sell better on Sony consoles in Japan even though the best selling Tales of games in the west are on Nintendo consoles.

I love this series and would consider it my favourite game series but I wish more of them would be released on Nintendo consoles and localised. I've played Tales of Symphonia and its sequel as well as Tales of the Abyss and I love all three of them so much with Symphonia and Abyss even being my favourite and second favourite games ever respectively.

@Caniswolfred I don't know why you're saying that. I've seen Tales of Rebirth and Hearts get loads of praise with many saying that they are two of the best in the series. The PS2 remake of Tales of Destiny and Tales of Phantasia:Narikiri Dungeon X seem to be very well received by the fanbase too. Also, Legendia is surprisingly popular among some parts of the fanbase with some saying that although the battle system and dungeon design could be a lot better, its storyline, characters and soundtrack are some of the best in the series. But almost any Tales of game seems worth playing to me and I look forward to getting Tales of the Tempest and Tales of Innocence with their fan translations at some point.

@Jayvir That's the first I've heard of those problems. I never encountered any problems with hearing the character's voices or slowdown on the world map in Tales of the Abyss 3DS and I haven't heard anyone else mention those problems before.

I'll probably download Kirby's Dream Course after I've got a Wii U but I won't get Kirby Super Star as I'd rather get the DS remake.

I'm hugely disappointed by this decision as I would have loved to have the physical copy of this game along with the rest of the series once I've played them (only played the first) but it won't stop me from buying this game as it looks awesome! Although, after losing my first 3DS along with everything I had downloaded on it, I was thinking of not downloading anything on my new 3DS until it has a proper account system. But seeing as I've only played the first Ace Attorney game, maybe Nintendo will have implemented a proper account system by the time I have played all the DS games in the series. Also, with the huge fanbase that the series has, I doubt it would be that risky to release it physically but a download only western release is better than no western release at all.

I agree with @CaptainSquid. Although it does disappoint me that games like the Harvest Moon and Fire Emblem series don't include same sex marriage, I don't take offence to it as they do nothing to oppose the concept of gay marriage but I would like it if more games allowed such options. I think it's more important for this to be included in future HM games than FE as in Fire Emblem you're just pairing units in your army together but the Harvest Moon series is a life style sim so gay players should be able to make decisions that reflect the ones they would make in real life but I still think it should be included in future FE games as I would like to see gay characters represented more in video games. I especially hope to see this in the Rune Factory series as that series interests me unlike the two I just mentioned. I might still get some RF games but I'd feel more inclined to do so if they included same sex relationships.

@Intrepid and @TrueWiiMaster Adding same sex relationships to games doesn't have to make it more awkward for straight players. They could just let the player choose their sexuality at the start of the game and then they will only be hit on by the gender that they're interested in.

I'm gay so I'm glad that this has been included in the game. Although, it might be a glitch so I hope they fix it by making it a part of the game rather than removing it as well as including same sex relationships for women as well. If that picture in the bottom left is of a pregnant man then I hope they remove that as that's just wrong. Hopefully this game sees a western release but considering it's predecessor didn't, I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't either.

I intend on beating Mini-land mayhem first but I'd definitely like to get Mario and Donkey Kong and I might get Colour Commando at some point.

It annoys me that there are far more NES games being released on 3DS VC than GB/GBC/GG games as those aren't available on other download services. So far this year we have only had two non-NES games released on the service! I hope this improves soon.

@Deathgaze He didn't come off as childish. You are the only one who has been acting unreasonable here. @MikeDanger's comment was reasonable as I highly doubt that Nintendo didn't realise the demand that there was for this game before all the Miiverse posts and there is a chance they had a good reason. Maybe NoA were worried about licensing issues but after seeing that there were no problems with the Japanese Wii U VC release, they thought it would be okay to release it in the west. But if they didn't have a valid reason to make us wait so long. I

t's incredibly stupid and pretentious and to say that people don't deserve a rare game that could be released for a much cheaper price on a download service if they're not willing to pay hundreds of dollars/pounds for it. A lot of people wouldn't be willing to spend anywhere near that much for a game even if gaming is their biggest passion . I certainly wouldn't but if you are then good for you, doesn't mean you need to attack people with your idiotic comments.

I haven't run into either of these problems and with the patch on the way it's unlikely that I ever will.

Wow, I'm surprised it's coming out in America just two months after the Japanese release. Seeing as we already have confirmation of the European release, hopefully that means we won't have to wait as long as we did for Devil Survivor Overclocked.

Depending on the price, I might get Tetris Axis if it is released in Europe as retail download. I'm normally against downloading retail games (aside from download only retail games like Code of Princess) but it would be great to have a tetris game permanently on my system to play whenever I want to something quick to play.

I'm glad that we've finally got confirmation of a western release for this game and it's great that Europe are getting it this year.

This looks like a fantastic game but I still need to get Miracle Mask.

I love Tales of Symphonia so much, it's my favourite game ever! I love Tales of the Abyss too which is my second favourite game ever and although, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World isn't close to the quality of those games (it is an escort title so I wouldn't expect it to be), it is far better than most say it is and I love that game too. I intend on getting some of the Japan only Tales of games on Nintendo consoles as a few of them either have a fan translation or there is one in progress for them.

@Kaze_Memaryu Are you the guy working on the English patch for Tales of Graces Wii? If so, thank you for the work you're doing and I look forward to being able to play it.

Looks pretty good. I wonder what new features it will have.

Assuming this is also coming to Europe, this is fantastic news! Although, I would want to play Mother first so I hope that gets a Wii U VC release too.

That's cool. I look forward to seeing what houses we receive via spotpass.

I'm glad it's selling so well in Japan. Hopefully it will sell well in the west, it's easily my most anticipated game of the year.

I hope Ghostlight localises this for Europe and I'm looking forward to playing its predecessor. SMT: DSO arrived today but I have to wait for my birthday to play it. It was pre-ordered from the Ghostlight online store so that could be why it arrived so early.

I think this looks like a great game and I'm definitely going to get it at some point. I also have a friend who's interested in it so I'll have someone to play it with.

I still need to play it's predecessor and speaking of it's predecessor, something that makes me interested in it is how full of charm and personality the bosses and sub-bosses seem to be but this game seems to be lacking in that respect and a lot of the bosses seem to be pretty similar. Is this true?

I'll definitely be getting Code of Princess and Rhythm Hunter: Harmo Knight at some point. They look like fantastic games, especially the former!

I'm not normally into monster catching RPGs but this looks pretty good. I might get this if it gets localised, hopefully it will get a western release.

At least they're not required to play as those characters so its not as bad as Skylanders or Disney Infinity.

Great review @Corbs! This looks like an awesome game but am I right in thinking that you die after one hit?

Seeing as SMT: Persona 3 on PS2 had an updated re-release on the same console with both versions getting a localisation as well as both SMT: Devil Survivor on DS and and SMT: Devil Survivor: Overclocked getting an NA release I think its very likely that SMT: Devil Survivor 2: Break Code will get an NA release so I would rather Ghostlight waited and released that in Europe instead of the DS original.

I'm glad that they delayed it as this means it will be released in a less crowded month and it deserves all the appreciation it can get. I beat it last month and it is one of the best games on the Wii!

I agree with the people complaining about lack of 3DS VC releases. We should be getting them more often, especially when there are some games that America have that we don't like Quarth and Mario Golf.

Great review overall but you could have elaborated on the replayability. Am I the only one who doesn't think the graphics are some of the best on the 3DS? It looks like the graphics help to make make it atmospheric in game but when you see the character models up close in the cutscenes, they look rather plasticy to me, kind of like action figures. Simon's head almost looks like it could be part of a lego figure to me.

I look forward to getting this along with a new 3DS for my birthday in April. If you pre-order from Ghostlight's website you can get two free posters.

Good to see that Nano Assault EX has finally arrived in Europe, I'll get that at some point.

It's good to finally have a release date and its only 6 days before my birthday too. After losing my 3DS at the end of December and all my downloads with it, I was thinking of waiting 'till Nintendo implemented a proper account system before getting a new one but this and Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 14th June might convince me to ask for a new one for my birthday.

I hope this is true. It would be great to have a such a promising original JRPG be released on the 3DS in the west.

I'm not entering the competition as I plan on starting the series with the first Castlevania on 3DS VC but good luck to everyone who has.

I might get Pac-Man at some point, I'd be more likely to if it gets a discount at some point though.

I'll get Castlevania on 3DS Virtual console at some point, the save states should be very useful. Even if this weeks 3DS VC game is one I'd like to get, I'm still annoyed that NES games are being released on 3DS VC more frequently than games on classic handheld consoles. I'm fine with NES games being available on the service but I would prefer it if GB/GBC/GG games were released more often than NES games as they're not already available on Wii VC. The last non-NES 3DS VC game was Wario Land 3 at the beginning of December!

I completely agree with everything @Sean_Aaaron said. Most of the big publishers seem to be making bad decisions these days; Konami, Square-Enix, Capcom etc.

Its fine releasing it on other platforms but do they really have to delay the Wii U version by 6-7 months? Even if the releasing it on other platforms isn't the only reason, I doubt they need 6-7 months for the Wii U version as it looked like it was almost ready to be released so it seems illogical to release it late in a much busier time of the year for game releases when the Wii U will likely have a lot more big releases rather than in a few weeks as it wouldn't have much competition.

I do think some people are overreacting though by saying that they won't buy the game at all. I think its incredibly stupid when people decide not to buy a game at all because of it being delayed and I've seen people say that they won't buy other games for the same reason. Wouldn't you rather a game was delayed than cancelled? Waiting to buy a game is better than not being able to buy it at all.

I doubt Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 will get many sales on Wii U at that price, especially with it being a download only retail title. The prices of retail downloads on Wii U is ridiculous! They should be £40 at the most but with the prices some of them are sold at elsewhere even that might seem too much for some games.

This update is far better than the one we got in Europe. While we only got something new on WiiUware, America gets new games on WiiUware, 3DSware, DSiware and both VC services! All three of the games America got on 3DSware this week look pretty good too.

Wow, I've never seen such a barren week! Only game released on any of the download services (I don't count retail downloads) and its only a pinball game so I won't be getting it once I've got a Wii U.
Sean_Aaron Rayman legends will be out in most of Europe on the 28th February but the UK will have to wait 'till the 1st March.

I guess the added features are why Nintendo are releasing them all over again but I still think that they should add all the Wii VC (and Wiiware games) onto the Wii U eshop and trickle out the updates rather than the games themselves. I guess it's understandable that you have to pay for the updates as it would have cost Nintendo money to add them but I still think all the games available on Wii VC should be available on Wii U VC with or without the added features.

I was expecting the Wii U's VC to be a step forwards not a step backwards. I was hoping the Wii U eshop would have every VC game that the Wii had and add some new consoles like Saturn, Dreamcast and Gamecube. Maybe some newer arcade games from the 90's and 2000 onwards but instead we're back to square one again. The save points are a nice addition though and could be very useful but I think we should be able to freely upgrade to the newer versions of games we already have and I think GBA games would make more sense on 3DS VC.

The cave looks pretty good, I'll probably get that once I've got a Wii U.

Looks pretty good, I'll probably get it at some point after it gets a European release

@TheDreamingHawk and @brandonbwii
Reviewers aren't always right, I think this is a fantastic game it's a lot better than reviewers made out. It is also not too short. I've been playing for over 10 hours and I'm only on the fifth tower. Although, I have been revisiting some towers to get more meat to sell to Mavda so that I can get some good gifts for Ceres as a reward. I'm trying to get our affinity as high as I can to get the best ending. Besides, the content is more important than the length. I beat Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth in 5 hours but still think it was worth the 1,200 points I spent on it because of how good it was.

I hope you Americans pick up this fantastic underrated gem. Its not as good as Xenoblade chronicles but its better than The last story.

I got it a few weeks ago and I'm currently in the Ironclad turret, the fifth tower and it's a fantastic game! Tbh, the lukewarm reception it got surprises me, It seems likely that it will end up being the second best game I got last year (second to Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the new world, another very underrated game). The towers are varied and are very well designed and the combat is a lot of fun and it's got some great boss fights. The relationship between Aeron and Ceres is also done really well even if Aeron could be more expressive.

If you're still worried about some of the complaints it got, I haven't noticed any drops in frame rate and the fixed camera only caused me trouble in one room but for the most part its fine. I also think that the design of the towers is better than the design of the dungeons in some Zelda games.