PlanetXbox360 got a chance to sit down with Tales of Vesperia localization producer, Peter Garza, and run over a few quick questions about the game. He touches on the storyline, the development process, and even mentions the possibilty of downloadable content coming in the future. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Peter and good luck on future projects.
1. How did your job at Namco come about and what does your job involve?I got into Namco with a combination of creative writing and language experience. I have a background in theater, and I was doing the whole starving playwright thing in New York City. After a while, I started looking for something that would merge my interests in writing and Japanese, and what better place would there be for that than video games? So I applied what playwriting skills I could as a freelance translator on another (non-Namco) RPG years ago. I was able to use that experience to get my foot in the door here. I got in as low-level localization support for Xenosaga II, then took on Tales of Legendia and sort of became the default Tales localization producer after that.
2. Can you describe one of the defining moments the development team had when creating Tales of Vesperia?For me, it's the skits. Console Tales games have always had something cut when released in North America, usually something voice-related. For most of the games, it's been the skits that get cut, and you can really feel it. The skits are such a fun way to get to know the characters better, and without the voices, they just lose some of their life. With the tenth anniversary of the Tales series in North America, the series' first outing on next-gen (well, current-gen) hardware, and a near-simultaneous release with Japan, I wanted this game to have no cuts whatsoever.
It really hit me that the skits would work when we mixed the conversations. Actors are recorded individually, so we had to mix the lines of dialogue down later into conversations. That mixing was the first time we were able to hear the individual lines flow, and the characters play off of each other. It was just me and the engineer, listening to the conversation, and we looked at each other and said, "This is gonna be good."
It hit me again when we had to match the animations to the audio. Instead of matching the lines to the animation on screen, my coworker Junko Nakamura and I had to adjust the animations to match the English conversation. We changed animation timings and some facial expressions to match the English speakers' deliveries. The skits are really localized, not just translated. It was such a great feeling to finally see all 450+ skits come together and know that North American audiences would finally see what all the fuss was about.
3. Will any past characters from previous Tales titles show up in any form?A few characters will show up in a subevent battle, not related to the story in any way. There are also a few references scattered here and there in backgrounds and whatnot. If you're a Tales fan, you'll get the inside joke. If not, you won't even know it was there.
4. Can you speak a little about the storyline for those who haven’t been following the development of the title?Tales of Vesperia takes place in the world of Terca Lumireis. An empire rules the world, providing its citizens with safety and prosperity through an ancient technology known as blastia. However, not everyone gets equal protection or equal opportunity, and the disenfranchised formed their own organizations to help themselves--the guilds. Over time, the empire and the guilds have come to an uneasy and complex relationship.
Within this world, Yuri Lowell, a young man who quit being an Imperial Knight to follow his own sense of justice embarks on a journey to recover a stolen blastia. In the course of his pursuit, he joins with several companions, each with their own aims. The journey grows to span the world, revealing secrets of both the empire and guilds, and challenging each of the heroes' sense of right and wrong.
5. What type of DLC is being lined up to release on Xbox Live?The DLC for Vesperia was designed from the start to help players who might not have 60 hours or so to get through the whole story. There are items that will make the journey easier (healing items, recipes, and even levels, etc.), but it's all available in-game as well.
6. What makes Tales of Vesperia the must-have RPG this fall?The combination of real-time battles, tons of side quests, charming characters and engaging story make Tales of Vesperia just fun to play. The Tales series has spent the last 10 years polishing a real-time RPG battle system, and being able to have your friends jump in and play along with you is something pretty unique in RPGs.
Besides the main story, there are many optional side quests for players to check out if they want, and we're pretty confident that finishing everything in the game will take somewhere around 100 hours. Cooking, the Coliseum, flying races, old-school video games--lots of stuff.
And what other RPG has a pipe-chomping, chain-wearing, scar-faced dog as a playable character?
