“X” writes:
“Wow, all this time and that’s all the progress you made? Wait to go, The Flash. So, when are you going to abandon this project and start another one?”
Wonder no more.
After much thought, I have decided to drop the Tales of Hearts fan translation project. There are many factors that went into this decision, such as lack of fan interest. Therefore, it pleases me to announce that instead, in celebration of the (somewhat) recent release of Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X, I will be unveiling my newest project, Tales of the World: Summoner’s Lineage.
Summoner’s Lineage puts you in the shoes of Flein K. Lester, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Klarth F. Lester, the famed summoner from Tales of Phantasia. He wants to be the best summoner — in fact, the best there ever was. He is ransacking some ancient ruins in search of Pact Rings when the floor collapses and he stumbles upon Macaron, a fairy born of magitechnology, sleeping in stasis and awaiting her next master.
Meanwhile, in Alvanista, Dr. Garrell is spending some quality time with his son, Xex. Xex is a kind-hearted boy, as gentle as can be. Only he’s not the good Doctor’s biological son — he’s a creation of magitechnology. Oh, boy, magitechnology! It’s perfect and stable and it never brings misfortune upon those who mess with it. Never in the history of the Aselian calendar has magitechnology caused any sort of catastrophic problem that may in fact hang the fate of the entire world in the balance, no siree. … Wait.
Needless to say, shit goes down, Dr. Garrell dies (oops, spoiler!!), and Xex wants to raze all of human civilization, what with being a living weapon of mass destruction and all. Flein, a plucky young summoner, and Macaron, a fairy, are the only ones who can stop him. Yeah, the world is doomed. But wait! It’s not quite doomed, because Flein can summon generic allies to his aid! Also, other characters join him along the way to form a ragtag band of good-hearted adventurers that will surely put an end to the menace of the evil Xex.
But wait, that’s not all! Later in the game, Macaron will be able to call the Heroes of Time forth from five hundred years in the past to join Flein in his quest!
Yes, that’s right, the heroes of Tales of Phantasia make an appearance in this canon entry to the Aselia timeline series of Tales games. Before you ask if there are any “high ohgees”, though, I should probably warn you: Summoner’s Lineage is an SRPG. That is, you move guys around on a grid, instead of Free Running around the battlefield in real-time like a headless chicken. You can form teams comprised of up to three units, which if formed properly can pulverize the opposition with special power attacks.
As you can see, Cless is taking the opportunity to team up with a couple of lovely ladies. He’s more compatible with them for increased battlefield effectiveness, he says. Mint just isn’t the right elemental type, he says. That sly dog!
What makes the story of this game truly incredible is the juxtaposition of the deleterious effects of magitechnology with the social commentary about how any given technology or creed is only as bad as you make it. After all, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the hearts of men. Macaron and Xex are on opposite ends of the scale, where one wishes to help preserve the world and the other wishes to see it burn to the ground, in order to avenge the death of his surrogate father. The irony of the situation is not lost on Flein, who realizes that the good Doctor would never have wanted the otherwise kind-hearted Xex to commit such atrocities. Interestingly, it appears that the reason Xex hates humans specifically is because they have the power to choose to be what they want, and yet they often choose the path of evil anyway. Of course, this also applies to Xex himself, making him a dark tragic antihero villain in the same vein as those from timeless classic works of literature, such as Sasuke Uchiha. By the way, this post is obviously once again a total joke. Please pretend it’s real if you comment in the comments section below… Thanks! There are heavy parallels between Summoner’s Lineage and Tales of Phantasia, of course. The similarity between Xex and Dhaos is obvious. What is not as clear is the relationship between the hero group and the hero group of old. Has humanity learned its lesson, or has it forgotten it over the long five hundred-year period? Will the Heroes of Time be able to draw upon their previous experiences and errors to guide Flein onto the true path of justice? It is philosophical questions like these that make this game a masterpiece.
Well, I suppose I’ve written enough about how good this game is. Apologies to the small number of you that were looking forward to Tales of Hearts, but as this game has the larger fanbase, I feel it is a better choice.
Please look forward to seeing an English translation patch for Tales of the World: Summoner’s Lineage!
September 28, 2010 at 6:42 pm | Permalink
OMG KAJI I HATE YOU!!1!!1!!!!11 TH1S 15 UNB3L13V4BLE!!!!!! HOW CUD U DO TIS?!?!?11!?!?!
September 28, 2010 at 7:19 pm | Permalink
So this is what a stroke feels like….
By the way, this comment is obviously once again a total joke.
Thanks for your efforts Kaji.
September 28, 2010 at 7:44 pm | Permalink
sigh
can’t even stick to a project
now you just announced it and then say “sorry gaiz i iz tranzlating anuther game lulz”
you let a lot of people down
September 28, 2010 at 8:17 pm | Permalink
Well thanks for attempting to further the project. I love tales games but i dont like having to read translation scripts and walkthroughs, but the game can still be played that way none the less. Good luck to your current project, and with your future projects (maybe tales of the heart again).
P.S.
To all those saddened or dissapointed, this a lot of work for someone to do just for fun.
September 28, 2010 at 10:32 pm | Permalink
Well kajitani i hope you could at least release the semi-completed translation of the tales of hearts, i mean based on the demo you created i say its a really good translation and wouldn’t you want it at least be available in the public after all the efforts you put into it creating it even though its not 100% completed yet?
September 28, 2010 at 10:42 pm | Permalink
Damn, was really looking forward to ToH. Sigh.
September 28, 2010 at 11:40 pm | Permalink
Summoner’s Lineage has a larger fanbase than Hearts? …Anyway, you really shouldn’t stop a project just because of some retarded haters. Is there at least any chance you might return to the Hearts project after you’re done with SL?
September 28, 2010 at 11:57 pm | Permalink
…Oh, I see what you did there. I’m so naive. lol
September 29, 2010 at 9:51 am | Permalink
but … but April 1st is so far away ;__;
September 29, 2010 at 11:28 am | Permalink
OH
OH
I WON’T BE FOOLED AGAIN
This is nice, though.
September 29, 2010 at 11:35 am | Permalink
… Oh man, this is legit. So much for looking at pictures.
Well, then.
I hope Crimson Nocturnal picks up ToH again.
September 29, 2010 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
I dont get it. why even start a project and hype people up, then let them down like this? nobody cares about summoners lineage, its old and stupid, nobodys going to play that. we want a good tales game thats why we want tales of hearts, not some stupid srpg wannabe crap. you should at least release what u done if you isnt going to work on it any more
September 29, 2010 at 7:39 pm | Permalink
This is so stupid. A silly post with an obvious joke and a lot of people trying to make sure the whole internet knows they noticed it’s a joke.
Seriously what’s the point of this? Are you trying to make trolls lose interest by pretending they’re right or have you made another post just for the lulz?
Oh well…
September 29, 2010 at 8:04 pm | Permalink
OMG, first hearing One Piece will end in two volumes and now this?!?!?!?!?!
Will the dissapointments never stop?
September 29, 2010 at 8:54 pm | Permalink
Make sure you make a BIG announcement of this so that someone may come and pick up where you left off in the translation. PLEASE
Also, it would be appreciated if you made a staple stopping point in your translation(like translated up to a chapter/something like that). Then release it as “your” final product. Be open to people who will take your work and continue it.
September 29, 2010 at 8:56 pm | Permalink
Oh yeah, and also, I don’t get how a super old GBA game has a larger fanbase than a newly released DS game at this point in time.
September 29, 2010 at 10:01 pm | Permalink
…This entire thing including the comments does nothing but make me twitch.
September 29, 2010 at 11:41 pm | Permalink
Well I’m thoroughly upset by this. I guess it’s your choice.
September 30, 2010 at 1:41 am | Permalink
. . .what an effective way to make a person feel down. . .i was really hoping for this you know. . .what a bummer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
September 30, 2010 at 1:51 am | Permalink
SO WHAT IF SL HAS A LARGER FANBASE?! .
please dont stop, you’ve come this far. . .
After all those months of HOPING, ENCOURAGING, WAITING. . .*sigh*. . .you have let us down Kaji.
BIG TIME.
September 30, 2010 at 7:37 am | Permalink
laughing at the people who can’t take a hilarious announcement.
looking forward to totw:nd2.
September 30, 2010 at 8:20 am | Permalink
Could you release atleast a patch with your current progress for ToH? :<
September 30, 2010 at 8:34 am | Permalink
Did anyone notice this post has been tagged “J/K” . only other thing tagged “J/K” is the post about removing Deamon fang. so i guess this is also another joke.
lets just hope it is…..
as far as i know TOH has a MUCH LARGER fanbase than TOW.
September 30, 2010 at 8:43 am | Permalink
sorry i didn’t read the whole post before commenting…. read it just now.
September 30, 2010 at 9:39 am | Permalink
“…timeless classic works of literature, such as Sasuke Uchiha.”
Okay fine…You made me laugh.
September 30, 2010 at 10:36 am | Permalink
Why did you leave ToH? Oh man..
September 30, 2010 at 12:52 pm | Permalink
Oh, damn, this ain’t right! You abandon all the faith we put in you for all this time! You went to the lenghts to make this project so near, you even let us see how much of A Progress you have made, and then POOF, throw it and US away? God, I’ll be waiting for Summoner’s Lineage, I know, but this is a major disappointment.
Oh, and BTW. Damn was I trolled in last post. Took me a lot of time and comments to actually open my eyes. How naive of me.
September 30, 2010 at 1:33 pm | Permalink
Huh… progress bar…
What’s going on with that progress bar?
September 30, 2010 at 6:46 pm | Permalink
I REALLY CAN’T BELEIVE THIS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME ABSOULTE ZERO TRANSLATIONS WORK TO TRANSLATE TALES OF INNOCENCE!?!? AND YOU TELL ME YOU ARE GOING TO ABANDON THIS BECAUSE IT TAKES TOO LONG, OMG….
BESIDES THER ARE A LOT OF FANS INTRESTED IN THIS GAME, SO
THE FAN NUMBERS WON’T BE A PROBLEM, AND THE PROGRESS BAR WAS ALSO GETTING BIGGER, SO I DO NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND.
I KNEW THIS WILL END THIS WAY… IT’S DIFFICULT TO TAKE A PROJECT SERIOUSLY.
HOPE YOU LUCK WITH OTHER TRANSLATIONS
September 30, 2010 at 6:49 pm | Permalink
Obvious Joke is Obvious
September 30, 2010 at 7:17 pm | Permalink
HOLY SHIT YOU CONTINUED IT
GOOD LUCK WITH IT AND SPECIALLY WITH TALES OF HEARTS !!!!!
September 30, 2010 at 7:18 pm | Permalink
oh wait….
TROLLED HARD
September 30, 2010 at 9:00 pm | Permalink
…i won’t badmouth u for dropping the project, u weren’t being paid for it, it was for free, so we can’t say anything, but using “fan base” as a reason doesn’t cut it cause summoner’s lineage can’t be compared to a mothership title
September 30, 2010 at 10:16 pm | Permalink
I see what you did there >_O
I hope ToH is coming along swimmingly? Can’t wait! 😀
September 30, 2010 at 11:18 pm | Permalink
And now I see the problem with skim reading…
October 1, 2010 at 4:46 am | Permalink
That was worth a bit of a heart attack. But I’ll take /any/ Tales translations I can get.
Someone needs to poke NAMCO hard. They’re not releasing nearly enough Tales games in the west. I would have loved to see Radiant Mythology II released in the west, for example.
October 1, 2010 at 4:47 am | Permalink
Oh, and sorry for the double post, but I wanted to post a link to an online Kanji dictonary I always found handy.
http://www.saiga-jp.com/kanji_dictionary.html
October 1, 2010 at 9:07 am | Permalink
the tags people, the tags….
October 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm | Permalink
Wow, I can’t believe this, first I find out about this awesome game when I was living in Japan, my friend bought the cheaper CG version while I wanted the anime version, and I find that CN is making an English patch of it, later finding out they are dropping it because you have such an impressive demo. And now you drop this bombshell on us. Tales of Hearts is awesome, and the fan base will be great once the full patch comes out. While SL might be a good game, it’s not new like this one where people currently want it. It’s like finally giving us Duke Nukem Forever… oh wait. Wow you really had me there, I was going crazy last night, I was about to go on the CN forums and beg them to start again, lulz. Can’t wait to play and understand ToH, TY. But really dropping Hearts is breaking the hearts of all the hopeful fans that you gave hope to. This is insane, this is madness…
October 1, 2010 at 2:50 pm | Permalink
I guess I can’t really argue it with you, but that was really the only reason I was frequenting this site… Such a terrible loss…
October 1, 2010 at 2:54 pm | Permalink
Man, I loved that joke from your previous post, but this is FULL of win xD
“Please pretend it’s real if you comment in the comments section below… Thanks!”
Ok…
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU-
HOW COULD U DO THAAAAAAAAAT!
SCAMCO IS TROLLING US ENOUGH WITH THEIR NON-LOCALIZING TALES SERIES, AND YOU DARE TO BETRAY THE NON-EXISTANT TALES OF HEARTS FANBASE JUST TO BE COMPLACENT WITH THE GINOURMOUS FANBASE OF SUMMONER LINEAGE?
ALSO
KUREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
That was fun ^^
October 1, 2010 at 4:16 pm | Permalink
I appreciate good humor, but it’s weird that the last two updates were jokes. Though it’s better than complete radio silence, making us think you’ve disappeared.
October 1, 2010 at 6:07 pm | Permalink
The guy never complete a project, this is ridiculous. CN stopped and gave him their stuff and now he drops it. At least give back what you did so they can finish it.
October 1, 2010 at 6:11 pm | Permalink
Oh…it was a joke. Slash everything I said earlier. How clever of you to hide the confession in that giant wall of text. Anyway, I hope what other’s comments say isn’t true, that the post before this was also a joke, because I was actually for the getting rid of localized names, and putting in romaji names. Then again, you can always do what Absolute Zero did with ToI and make an option to change between localized names and romanized names. Which it looks like you already did.
October 1, 2010 at 9:39 pm | Permalink
You scared the crap outta’ me, I totally lost it thinking you actually did cancel it… I guess you got me… Seriously though, a serious progress update would not be such a bad thing…
October 1, 2010 at 11:36 pm | Permalink
Jokes> useless boring serious update when he can’t think about what to talk about
October 2, 2010 at 12:23 am | Permalink
Man trollers be trollin!!
October 2, 2010 at 6:29 am | Permalink
You are the one that decides if this project goes on or not,
but you should’ve looked at those arguments before you even started this project…
you wasted alot of time on this seeing as you don’t even want this, and you let down alot of people, and all of that for nothing.
I don’t want to troll AT ALL… but i just think that for your upcoming work, you should look at those things before starting it…
Also, if you could release your “semi-patch” others might continue it…then it might end up not being a waste
October 2, 2010 at 9:13 am | Permalink
Stop being a faggot.
October 2, 2010 at 12:42 pm | Permalink
I hate you