It's no secret that Namco Bandai's Tales of series is far more popular over in Japan than it is in North America or Europe.
For North America, one could say it had to do with the timing of the release of the two PlayStation games or games like Tales of the Abyss. For Europe, it could be attributed to the fact that the post-Tales of Symphonia releases were the North American versions with a new label.
In this first of several articles, Tales Union goes in-depth into where Namco Bandai has went wrong, and how they can save the Tales series outside of Japan.
Nevada Dru from Bits & Pieces explores delayed gratification in JRPG's.
I really enjoyed this article, it was a good read. This quote gave me a chuckle, because it's true!:
"Pretty much every JRPG involves the player’s characters going from barely being able to lift a sword to killing God"
Final Fantasy 15 the ultimate delayed game with delayed story dlc shoveled in at the last second. Doesn’t ring the gratifying bell when I see that stupid car at all. Article+thumbnail is like describing a 5star meal while watching your cat clean its backside.
Replies(2)More specifically I would say JRPGs are progressive gratification. Basically like listening to prog music vs anything else which imo is the best. Even if a JRPG is all about the journey, generally speaking JRPGs keep getting better as opposed to other games which usually have their high points come in either too soon, or the best parts just aren't nearly as impactful.
Also don't forget the direct comparison that the old Square Enix president made. He said Western players like TWITCH games and eastern players love Cerebral games. Now it was taken as a racist slam. But he meant it as one of the reasons outside of development time and cost return on investment(ROI). But he had a true point people here are TRAINED to like instant stuff. And people there are trained to like delayed over the top stuff. It is not a intelligence slam. I'm glad I LOVE the later gratification! Because it is way better!
The Tales games may be less recognizable than the Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy games, but that doesn't mean that they aren't worth playing!
“Tales series is considered one of the top three Japanese RPG series next to RPG giants like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.”
How you gonna talk about the top three JRPG franchises and not mention Pokémon, the top selling series in the genre?
This is how the top JRPG series stack up
1. Pokémon - 340M
2. Final Fantasy - 144M
3. Dragon Quest - 78M
4. Monster Hunter - 52M
5. Kingdom Hearts - 30M
6. Souls - 25M
7. Tales of - 20M
Ten years ago, early in the lives of both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, Microsoft scored a coup when it secured the latest game from Namco's long-running Tales franchise - which had been almost exclusive to PlayStation since Tales of Destiny in the '90s.
Things got even more heated after Tales of Vesperia eventually did end up on PS3, in even better form, with new content and characters. But much to PS3 fans' consternation, Namco Bandai opted to keep the enhanced port Japan-exclusive.
Until last year, when Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was announced for all existing platforms. The question remains: Was it worth the wait?
It is indeed. Havent felt this good for a tales game since....well vesperia on the 360. Namco needs to go back to these roots.
Phantasia will forever be my ideal tales game. But if they could do a solid remake in current engine I would be thrilled to relive that awesome game
I don’t think there’s any definitive ideal Tales game since they all have their own individual merit from one another
Vesperia hasn't even sold 300K yet - worldwide. They could have been at 500K easily, despite the PS3' smaller install base, by virtue of Japan alone.
I expect a port this year, announced in the spring, as they did with Eternal Sonata.
Timed multi-plats are an irritating thing. I understand their value as a corporate coup, but as a consumer they sure are annoying. I bought Eternal Sonata twice, for example, when I should have had to simply purchase it once. I'm a sucker for "bonus" content (PS3 version). It would have been nicer simply being able to choose a version - 360 or PS3 - and then pay for this "bonus" content via downloadable purchase.
Btw, Tales of The World: RM for the PSP is a great title; has some nice fan-service in it too with such a large character roster.
Cheers,
- C
well how can it be popular in EUROPE if there is hardly ANY release of the Tales series here...
this is just pathetic!
As I've said before, this is probably why I'm playing a game out of Tales Of's "twin franchise" (i.e. Star Ocean) and not a new Tales game.