Tales Of Vesperia Fans Angered By PS3 Port

Japanese Tales of Vesperia fans are enraged by the additions to the PS3 port of the game, prompting a petition.

Tales of Vesperia was initially an Xbox 360 exclusive, and the status of the Tales series in Japan led to many purchasing an Xbox 360 specifically for the game. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Vesperia would be ported to PS3, with a huge number of additions.

Amongst other things, the PS3 port sees two new playable characters, as new character Patty takes up a space and Flynn finally joins the party, as well as new minigames, new quests, new sidequests, new cutscenes, new dialogue, new towns, new dungeons, new bosses, new Artes and Overlimits, new... well, new everything, really.

Understandably, this has upset many, not least because there were allusions to some of this content - particularly Patty - in the 360 version. According to Destructoid, a petition due to be submitted to publisher/developer Namco Bandai goes as follows:

• The games should not be dispersed across multiple platforms, they should be consolidated onto one platform [i.e. Xbox 360]
• The games should be complete and properly made.
• From now on, the porting of titles like Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia should be abolished.
• An official apology should be made to Xbox 360 users for the abnormal number of additions made to Vesperia only a year after its Xbox 360 release.
• The traces of the later additions found in the Xbox 360 edition should be explained.
• Further bizarre product linkages should not be undertaken.
• Elements of the Tales series [i.e. Patty Fleur] which cannot be enjoyed by all users should not be added.
• Characters and the Tales universe should not be toyed with any more than necessary.
• Certain platforms should not be favoured over others.
• We wish to see user complaints acted upon.
• We wish to see more consideration given to the effects of official actions on the fanbase.

Mostly good points, although some are a little over-protective, and - let's face it - this is perhaps to be expected. It's not like games haven't had later releases on other platforms or exclusive DLC that has made one system more desirable than another before, although claiming that Vesperia was a 360 exclusive and then announcing a vastly updated port does seem a little low.

We really, really liked Tales of Vesperia, and with or without this extra content it's certainly worth a punt if you're into JRPGs. It'd be nice to see all of this content come to 360 in a re-release or as DLC, but honestly, I can't see any chance of that happening at all. I hope to be proven wrong, though.