They did this for the company's 30th Anniversary.

Actually never played the Xillia part of Tales. Blind spot in my tales games between Vesperia and Zestria during the PS3 era.

While I do agree with eshop thing, that's not really what I hear most people disagree about the key cards. Most I've heard were that they didn't want to install a game locally at all to save space. "If we're installing anyway, might as well be a code" is a common thing I hear.

Is this the 2014 game?

Ehh I own a couple 3DS but I want to play on a dual screen device with the ability to fast-forward and upscale as a bare minimum these days. Can't really do that on OG hardware.

I consider the choices are either key cards or digital code in box. With full physical not being even an option.

Wondering would this UI run on a regular Mister? These all look quite lovely.

No