Is Tales of Hearts R going to be rare like Xenoblade is in the US?

[Limeface]

So Tales of Hearts R comes out in a few weeks and it's got me thinking of it's potential to be a rare game that could be difficult to find later on. Now I don't even own a Vita (yet) but I've already got a copy preordered down at silly old Gamestop. Here's what I'm thinking;
1. Tales is a very niche series in North America
2. Namco Bandai typically does lower print runs
3. It's on the Vita which is already home to a few niche games
4. It's a Gamestop exclusive, this might be the biggest factor. The last Gamestop exclusive game I can think of was Xenoblade and that shot up in value quickly after release.
Thoughts?

[desocietas]

I definitely have it preordered.  I enjoy the Tales games and think it must be garnering some decent US attention thanks to the two nice Xillias LEs and the Tales of Symphonia Chronicles release.

I was burned by the Xenoblade jump in price so I'm not risking that again.

[argyle]

Tales has a decent following in the US now, it's probably more popular than it's ever been over here. Yes, I'd still say it's niche, but it's one of the few JRPGs that casual fans of the genre are aware of. And there have been other GS exclusive games since Xenoblade - two One Piece games, the 3DS one & the physical version of Unlimited World Red for the Vita I believe.

At any rate, another HUGE difference is that if you wanted to play Xenoblade in the US you either bought it from Gamestop or imported it. That was it. Tales of Hearts will have a digital version, so that will cut down on demand quite a bit because it will only be us collectors looking for the physical version.

In the long run it might be somewhat scarce, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[davifus]

Yeah, Gs worker told me I should probably preorder it too because of the stupid xenoblade price jump long time ago.

[karyann]

Tales has a decent following in the US now, it's probably more popular than it's ever been over here. Yes, I'd still say it's niche, but it's one of the few JRPGs that casual fans of the genre are aware of. And there have been other GS exclusive games since Xenoblade - two One Piece games, the 3DS one & the physical version of Unlimited World Red for the Vita I believe.

At any rate, another HUGE difference is that if you wanted to play Xenoblade in the US you either bought it from Gamestop or imported it. That was it. Tales of Hearts will have a digital version, so that will cut down on demand quite a bit because it will only be us collectors looking for the physical version.

In the long run it might be somewhat scarce, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Very good points! I'm still scared that I'd get pwned once again though, so I'm going to ask for it for Christmas  Ys: Memories of Celceta, even the normal edition, has become super rare to find in here 

[davifus]

Tales has a decent following in the US now, it's probably more popular than it's ever been over here. Yes, I'd still say it's niche, but it's one of the few JRPGs that casual fans of the genre are aware of. And there have been other GS exclusive games since Xenoblade - two One Piece games, the 3DS one & the physical version of Unlimited World Red for the Vita I believe.

At any rate, another HUGE difference is that if you wanted to play Xenoblade in the US you either bought it from Gamestop or imported it. That was it. Tales of Hearts will have a digital version, so that will cut down on demand quite a bit because it will only be us collectors looking for the physical version.

In the long run it might be somewhat scarce, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Very good points! I'm still scared that I'd get pwned once again though, so I'm going to ask for it for Christmas  Ys: Memories of Celceta, even the normal edition, has become super rare to find in here 

is it that rare in Canada? My Gs has New & Used copies lying around. I even got the Silver edition like 2 month after it came out. Out of pure luck.

[argyle]

Tales has a decent following in the US now, it's probably more popular than it's ever been over here. Yes, I'd still say it's niche, but it's one of the few JRPGs that casual fans of the genre are aware of. And there have been other GS exclusive games since Xenoblade - two One Piece games, the 3DS one & the physical version of Unlimited World Red for the Vita I believe.

At any rate, another HUGE difference is that if you wanted to play Xenoblade in the US you either bought it from Gamestop or imported it. That was it. Tales of Hearts will have a digital version, so that will cut down on demand quite a bit because it will only be us collectors looking for the physical version.

In the long run it might be somewhat scarce, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Very good points! I'm still scared that I'd get pwned once again though, so I'm going to ask for it for Christmas  Ys: Memories of Celceta, even the normal edition, has become super rare to find in here 

Inventory checker is showing that a couple of my local Gamestops have the Celceta CE in stock - I can help you out with it if you want. Send me a PM if so!

[abe]

Tales has a decent following in the US now, it's probably more popular than it's ever been over here. Yes, I'd still say it's niche, but it's one of the few JRPGs that casual fans of the genre are aware of. And there have been other GS exclusive games since Xenoblade - two One Piece games, the 3DS one & the physical version of Unlimited World Red for the Vita I believe.

At any rate, another HUGE difference is that if you wanted to play Xenoblade in the US you either bought it from Gamestop or imported it. That was it. Tales of Hearts will have a digital version, so that will cut down on demand quite a bit because it will only be us collectors looking for the physical version.

In the long run it might be somewhat scarce, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Very good points! I'm still scared that I'd get pwned once again though, so I'm going to ask for it for Christmas  Ys: Memories of Celceta, even the normal edition, has become super rare to find in here 

is it that rare in Canada? My Gs has New & Used copies lying around. I even got the Silver edition like 2 month after it came out. Out of pure luck.

Most of the game and electronics stores in my area of Canada have pretty crappy selections (and prices) for Vita games. EB Games isn't too bad, but their used Vita game sections are all pretty bad. For instance, I've never once seen a physical copy of Sorcery Saga (both the standard and limited editions) on the Vita in any stores in Canada. I've seen Ys on the Vita, though it's not particularly common. Thankfully it's not difficult to get the Vita games online.

[psydswipe]

4. It's a Gamestop exclusive, this might be the biggest factor. The last Gamestop exclusive game I can think of was Xenoblade and that shot up in value quickly after release.
Thoughts?

There were are a couple of One Piece GameStop exclusives this year if you want to make comparisons; One Piece: Romance Dawn for 3DS was released back in February and One Piece: Unlimited World Red for Vita was released in July. My first assumption would be the value of Tales of Hearts R will remain under Xenoblade Chronicles because for those that want to play the game there is also a digital version releasing for PlayStation Network. I think that might be the biggest difference here since I do not believe Xenoblade Chronicles is available on eShop. Nintendo didn't really start selling digital copies of new retail games until after the Wii, did they? I believe those One Piece games can be had digitally as well (same publisher too) so they are probably decent comparisons though I'd also guess they printed more copies than they will for Tales since One Piece is fairly popular (at least in Japan, not really sure about in the U.S.). Despite the number of Wii consoles that exist, Xenoblade was released toward the end of its life cycle too and those late releases often tend to have lower print runs. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Bandai Namco expects to sell more or an equal number of digital copies so maybe they won't print too many retail. Most people that use this site likely prefer retail but digital sales keep on increasing so retail print runs must be shrinking for all games...right? I don't really know of course, just making many guesses and assumptions 

[karyann]

Most of the game and electronics stores in my area of Canada have pretty crappy selections (and prices) for Vita games. EB Games isn't too bad, but their used Vita game sections are all pretty bad. For instance, I've never once seen a physical copy of Sorcery Saga (both the standard and limited editions) on the Vita in any stores in Canada. I've seen Ys on the Vita, though it's not particularly common. Thankfully it's not difficult to get the Vita games online.

This is the main problem in here  Vita selections and prices are pretty poor indeed, to say the least.

[bikingjahuty]

I highly doubt it's going to become really expensive. Sure it'll have a fairly high demand on the second hand market, but one things will ensure its value probably never comes close to Xenoblade: it's a handheld exclusive. For whatever reason, the vast majority of handheld games never reach that collect ability status with some exceptions. If this game was released on the PS3 (as it should have imo) that would be a different story. I could see this game reselling for $70+ used if that was the case.

[insektmute]

In my experience, virtually all JRPGs have a high potential to go out of print rather quickly and jump in price. The market's a little more balanced out than they used to be - you won't see anything disappear as quickly as Valkyrie Profile and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne did way back when - but it's still a good idea to prioritize a bit.

Most recent Tales games seem to be pretty readily available though, outside of Limited Edition stuff, and we rarely have to beg and plead for even just the mothership titles to come to the US/EU.

Xenoblade was really kind of an oddity, in that Nintendo pretty much sold it with absolutely zero confidence. All marketing came from Operation Rainfall, it was exclusive to GameStop, had a microscopic print run, and was immediately OOP. Nice profit margins for Nintendo, but also really short-sighted, and I think that game is probably the key reason they're suddenly making a push to build up a diverse library on the Wii U early in its lifespan rather than near the end of it.

[Limeface]

So has anyone played Tales of Hearts R yet? What did you think? I still haven't acquired a Vita (Was hoping for a good holiday deal, but the Black Friday sales I looked at didn't really highlight many Vita related things) From the reviews I've read it sounds like a very generic JRPG, but the gameplay videos I've watched made it look really unique. I don't know. I'd love to hear some thoughts about the game as a whole.

[redblaze57]

So has anyone played Tales of Hearts R yet? What did you think? I still haven't acquired a Vita (Was hoping for a good holiday deal, but the Black Friday sales I looked at didn't really highlight many Vita related things) From the reviews I've read it sounds like a very generic JRPG, but the gameplay videos I've watched made it look really unique. I don't know. I'd love to hear some thoughts about the game as a whole.

Yeah the story is a bit generic, but gets the job done. the gameplay however is great,  kind of the missing link between Vesperia and Xillia.