Since its creation in 1995, the much loved Tales series now spans over twelve flagship titles, more than fifteen side games and four animated productions. The series celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, and recent news gives us reason to expect there’s much more to come, with the next flagship title already in production; the countdown timer on the official Japanese website giving us reason to believe that the official reveal is due on the 16th of December – less than two weeks from today!
The release of the tenth flagship instalment to the series, Tales of Vesperia, was enough to have the Xbox 360 sell out for the first time since its release in Japan – just one indication of how popular the Tales series has become. While not all games have reached us here outside of Japan prior to this, most of the games are now being ported to handheld consoles; Tales of the Abyss is set to be gracing our 3DS screens in the 2011, the game received no release in Europe, it was a highly popular game in Japan for the PlayStation 2.
But why is it such a popular series?
As with many games of its genre each game follows the characters finding some source of evil, pursuing it and eventually defeating it, restoring peace to the world. Each game has a plot that revolves around real-life themes or topics of philosophy. The villains or antagonists are more often than not people who seek to bring about change or ‘improve’ the world through less than favourable methods, regardless of intent, and as such are viewed as evil, while the cast of main characters are usually young heroes who start out with a simple task or ordinary life and soon find themselves swept into a struggle that will determine the fate of the world.
While the series follows roughly the same route with every game the storyline follows the characters finding some source of evil, pursing it and at the end bringing peace back to the world, each game has its own unique characters, development, and varied ways in which the lead up to each point happens. While it would take too long to give all the reasons as to why the series is great, instead here are a few highlights:
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Every game brings forth a new set of characters, each suited to specific roles in battle – you’ll always have your mage, healer, tank and all rounder’s – each with their own definitive personalities and quirks that make for a fun journey, especially when they interact with one another. You’ll find you love each of them for varied reasons – even those who are annoying still have their charms. No two characters are the same in any of the games.
Since Tales of Destiny skits have featured in near every Tales game to come. What are skits, you ask? Optional conversational pieces between the characters that the player can view as they go about their adventure, adding to character development and shedding further light on events and some just plain funny. They allow the player to get to know the characters they are playing as, as well as go more in depth into the setting of the game. Skits in the Japanese versions of the games all include audio, though this audio feature has only come into the English releases recently. While there are multiple skits that pop up as you move along in the story, others have to be triggered by certain actions, taking wrong turns, cooking certain foods or even just remaining in an area for a prolonged period of time. Whatever the cause, in every game we’ve found ourselves getting sidetracked for hours on end trying to trigger them all!
Unlike the English releases of Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss, skits in the English release of Tales of Vesperia are fully voiced by the English voice actors, which is also the case in Tales of Legendia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
If you are an avid fan of the Tales series and strive to play them all as you go along you’ll notice that each new game includes references to older ones. In some games characters from previous Tales games make cameo appearances, are referenced to in or outside of battle, and through unlockable costumes. But it isn’t just other Tales games that get referenced, if you go through them you may even find references to other Namco games, like Tekken. Small things make all the difference.
Tales of Vesperia’s Estelle and Yuri in Tales of the Abyss’ Tear and Asch costumes.
Each game in the series boasts a brilliant soundtrack, most of the flagship titles bearing the work of renowned composer Motoi Sakuraba, who has also composed soundtracks for the Star Ocean and Golden Sun franchises. Any gamer knows that music is important – it can amplify the emotion in a situation, add to the sense of urgency or danger, and a good battle theme means we’re less likely to grow weary of battles, though if you do there’s always the auto-battle feature.
And if you didn’t get enough through the games there are also manga and anime series that have been produced and released in Japan, each based on one of the Tales games. Four anime series have been produced and released in Japan based on games in the series, ranging from OVA’s (Original Video Animations), to full adaptations of the games and most recently an animated film; Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike which served as a prequel to the game.
If you’ve been missing out on the wonders of the Tales series to date, there’s never been a better time to start. The older Tales games are being ported onto handheld consoles, Tales of Vesperia is still widely available for the Xbox360, even the Wii has received some titles, and the new, soon to be revealed installation will be gracing the PlayStation 3. No matter what console you own there’s a Tales game out there for you. So what are you waiting for?
You can find more information here at the Official Tales Page
