This week has been very good for Tales fans (like me!). Apparently Namco Bandai decided that it was time to go nuts with announcements all at once.

First, Tales of Xillia 2 finally received a release date — August 19th in America and August 22nd in Europe. The game originally came out in late 2012 in Japan, so the turnaround for this isn’t as bad as most Tales ports. (As an added bonus, Tales of Zestiria is getting a simultaneous worldwide release later this year.)

Xillia 2 picks things up a year after the original game, and will cover some of the fallout between the newly united worlds. There are a couple new characters like Ludger and Julius, but everyone from the original game makes an appearance as well (with spiffy new outfits!).

Next, the Vita received a bit of love when Tales of Hearts R was announced for a Winter 2014 release. The news isn’t particularly surprising if only because the PSP got plenty of support from the Tales series, including all three Tales of the World games.

Hearts is a game that never got an international release, but was said to be very solid. It follows a protagonist named Kor who is trying to help save a girl named Kohaku. The battle system has some familiar elements from other Tales games, but also some notable differences as well.

Finally, some new details were announced for the fourth game in the TotW series, Reve Unitia. The World series is essentially a giant crossover fanservice megapalooza, where a bunch of characters from other games come together and can be added to your party. It’s hard to say whether this 3DS title will make its way across the sea — the second and third games did not — but with Namco Bandai’s recent upswing in localization, you never know.

It’s an exciting time to be a Tales fan, especially compared to the dry days after Symphonia took the States by storm. Not that I’m personally invested in any of this stuff or anything.