In a post to the official PlayStation blog yesterday, Namco Bandai producer Hideo Baba revealed that Tales of Xillia 2, sequel to the similarly named original to be released in the U.S. and Europe this August, will indeed be getting the localization treatment for 2014.
After briefly thanking the series’ fans, Baba went on to describe the game’s premise a bit, mentioning that it is set roughly one year after the events of the first game while featuring a different main character, Ludger Kresnik. Apparently, this dude’s family has the ability to travel between alternate timelines, and completely destroy them in the process. Sounds pretty awesome to me.
Baba also explained that the concept of “choice” will permeate the game in more ways than one. Firstly, the plot has the ability to branch off in many directions depending on how you instruct Ludger to act – whether this results in multiple different endings is unclear, but at least the story can be switched up from one playthrough to another.
Additionally, you’ll be offered more flexibility when choosing your weapons, with the option to dual wield pistols or swing sledgehammers and blades, and the ability to switch between them in real time. At first I misread the post, and I thought it said you could dual-wield a pistol and a sledgehammer at the same time. Now THAT would be legit – lets make it happen Nammy-B!
Despite favorable reviews in Japan, Tales of Xillia 2 failed to meet sales targets in that region, so here’s hoping things can be turned around stateside. It does seem a bit odd to announce this before gauging how the first game does over here, but then again I’m sure the game’s creators made sure there was demand before beginning localization in the first place. He may not be as cool as Lloyd Irving, but I’m sure Ludger’s tale will be an engaging one all the same.
