New game, Tales of Hearts R

I've been a bit hesitant to start up another game given the unsuccessful nature of the last two games.  That, and I've just been busy.  Still, I wanted to play an action RPG after the turn-based battles of Demon Gaze, so I decided on Tales of Heart R, the Vita port of a DS game.

The Tales series started back in the Super Nintendo era.  You go to a combat scene where you run back and forth hitting the enemies, using skills and blocking.  Most of the games in the mainline series have a western release, but it's never approached the heights of the Final Fantasy series.

Part of it might be due to the somewhat bland characters and stories.  The main character is Kor Meteor.  The only way you could have a more shonen manga protagonist name is Bigsword Warriorguy.

Pictures beneath the fold.

I can only hope that his name is really "Neighbor" so he's the neighbor Neighbor.

Rapscallion was pronounced "hentai" so I think there were some liberties taken with the translation.

Our protagonist Kor manages to land a hit on his grandfather during practice, so he inherits his soma.  Now this soma doesn't replenish all HP and MP, but it's a fashionable wrist accessory that summons a weapon.  While the grandfather had a big axe, Kor gets a sword.  Why a sword?  Because most Tales protagonists use swords.

Kor is also rather dim, as most Tales protagonists are.  He mistakes his grandfather's talk about needing heart to wield the soma for a discussion about how his nipples are weak.

If you think that there might be a checklist for Tales protagonists, then perhaps it's one of the reasons the series has never really caught on!

I should mention that the game is not only voiced, but it is also voiced in Japanese.  There is no English option.

I got a little further into the game to where the main story began or at least the first big step.  I'll talk about it in the next post.