In an interview with IGN, Yuki Ishikawa, the producer of Tales of Graces f Remastered, stated that he’s interested in a remaster of Tales of the Abyss. He also commented on future titles that may appear from Bandai Namco. [Thanks, IGN!]
To start with, Ishikawa stated that he is a personal fan of Tales of the Abyss and that he entered Bandai Namco specifically because of it. He stated that if Bandai Namco ever okays a remaster of Tales of the Abyss and Ishikawa could work on it, he would work really hard so that other fans could feel the same joy he felt when playing through that game.
As for the rest of the interview, Ishikawa shared some of the company’s ambitions for the Tales IP. A video from Yusuke Tomizawa, the general producer of the series, back in August 2024 already revealed that Graces’s popular battle system is why the team decided to make that the first game in its Tales Remastered Project. Ishikawa reiterated that in this interview. He also commented that Tales of Arise was really popular both domestically and internationally, so this is the perfect time to release a remastered title. As well, he commented on how the team discussed bringing back the old 2D games, and how that might be really different for people who liked Arise. It’s unclear from this comment if Ishikawa is stating that 2D remasters are a no-go, or a possibility.
If it does happen though, it would allow fans to purchase and play an officially localized version of some older titles. The last 2D mainline title from Tales was Rebirth back in 2004. That’s quite literally two decades ago and Rebirth never made it out of Japan anyway. Though characters from these older games still appear in newer titles like Tales of the Rays, a lot of fans who either weren’t aware of Tales or weren’t even alive back then may not recognize them. A remaster of these older games wouldn’t just be great for the fans who played them on their home consoles, but it would be beneficial for newer players as well.
Finally, Ishikawa echoed a sentiment from Tomizawa’s video regarding region and language restrictions. The original Tales of Graces f was only available in four languages and it was only on the PS3. If you could understand Japanese, then you could play it on the Wii too, but that was it. With this remaster, between the additional language options and platforms, people who couldn’t play it when it initially left Japan will be able to do so. At the end of the interview, Ishikawa assured fans that Arise isn’t the final destination for the franchise and there may be a new non-remastered title some time in the future. Nothing concrete yet though.
Tales of Graces f Remastered will come out on January 17, 2025 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.
Published: Oct 4, 2024 09:00 am