New Tales Looks To Be Darker Than Predecessors

[Kuro]

New Tales Looks To Be Darker Than Predecessors



The Tales series is one of the most popular JRPG series in existence, with 13 main titles (not including remakes) and a ton of spin-off games. Recently, producer Hideo Baba spoke in an interview with Weekly Famitsu how Namco Bandai is planning on their next in the series with a new and more modern look than its predecessors.

Having hit a milestone of 15 years with the release of Tales of Xillia, Baba expressed a renewed fervor among the development team. With Xillia having the crowning title of "15th anniversary release," already the bar had been set to increased levels, forcing the team to struggle to aim higher to surpass expectations. "I told the staff, ‘We don't want people to think that we were enthusiastic just because it was the 15th anniversary.'" said Baba.

While the Tales series has always been set in a sword and sorcery style of world, newly released images show an entirely different style of world from previous games. Images show a more civilized, tamed world, much more mechanical and inorganic than any previous game. Said Baba, "We want players to be surprised at first and think things like, ‘What is this!?' and ‘I've never seen this kind of Tales game before.'"

The overall theme of the new game will apparently be much darker than previous games, with a heavy emphasis on the possible destruction of the world… Then again, what RPG hasn't had THAT cliche come up before?

Details for the new game (including perhaps the title?) are scheduled to be announced next month at the 5th annual Tales of Festival on June 2nd and 3rd

http://kotaku.com/5911042/new-tales-...sors/gallery/1

[Fon]

Now that's what I'm talking about!. I'm now more eager to see more of this new installment. I also hope that we get Tales of Xillia here in the west soon.

[Kuro]

They trademarked xillia so we should get it soon i agree going a darker setting sounds pretty cool

[Yuuichi]

My interest is peaked.

[Fon]

Here are the rest of the scans for those who don't want to click at the link

[Fedos]

I've been playing Tales games since Symphonia's release on the Gamecube. I've enjoyed the series so much that I actually went back and purchased Tales of Destiny for the PS1. I'll be keeping an eye on this one regardless of what direction it takes, and as stated above, hopefully we don't have too long to wait until Xillia's Western announcement and release.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Looks like its gonna become the best JRPG series now.

[Eltimas]

Now you got my attention, Namco.

[LadyDuoMaxwell]

Those are quite gritty, especially for a upbeat series such as Tales Of. I mean, the second picture looks like a war-torn London. O_O

[snooper71]

Take note SE. Will be waiting patiently to pick that one up!!!

[Sufi]

So is Tales any good? I wouldn't mind a good RPG.

[Blacksite]

I've never played a Tales game before but consider me interested.

The scans make me think of Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

[Wrath]

So is Tales any good? I wouldn't mind a good RPG.

That's what I was about to ask. I'd love a good RPG for a change...

Enlighten us, people!

[GalapagosaraY]

Looks like its gonna become the best JRPG series now.

this is what i was thinking aswell as i recently looked through some reviews of this series ps3 games as i was surprised to see one at my local shop without even hearinga mention about in reviews and stuff. From what i know is that the series had some great games on Gamecube but i never got around to play them. And with Eternal Sonata a game in the Tales of series was my 1st priority to try if i had to get a new rpg. It really does seem like this series is nowhere near its peak yet and might topple some of the giants from the j-rpg throne. The vibe i get with these games is that they manage to stay character wise close to the SNES era of j-rpgs and still manage to have alot of the greater modern elements

Im really wondering though how great is the series? If anyone has played them alot i would be interested aswell to hear about peoples opinion. What im fearing is are these games influenced too much of the modern emo animes in their characters? The few trailers i saw from Eternal Sonata seemed like it did have those somewhat exaggerated characters that are annoying and strayed away from more realistic behaviour which somewhat have put Eternal Sonata on a permanent hold for me at this point

[Sufi]

See I've always avoided RPGs like Eternal Sonata and Tales because they're usually not for the mainstream...I'm not a hardcore RPG player so it has to be really good like DQVIII on PS2 or something like that.

So I'm just curious. Maybe I'll check out the gameplay on youtube.

[Gaddes]

The Tales series has really risen to the top tier of jRPG's these days. I'm proud to see it come so far, while others have fallen. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

[LadyDuoMaxwell]

They just released a teaser video.

[Kuro]

teaser was interesting.

[LegendaryAim]

So is Tales any good? I wouldn't mind a good RPG.

I've only played a couple Tales game but I can say that without a doubt Tales of Abyss and Vesperia are among the best JRPGs I've ever played. The story in Abyss particular is a great one. IM AMPED to see what this new one is like. I've kinda felt like the series should take a more mature-darker themed approach.

[Fon]

Tales of Symphonia and Abyss are among the best RPG's I've played last generation. Even though Vesperia was incomplete(Unless you can play the Japanese PS3 version), it's still a great game. Even the recent, Tales of Graces f is an experience worth playing but it's a bit more cheesy compared to the rest(Well it was formerly a Wii exclusive ported to the PS3) - But that didn't stop me from loving the game. In general, these guys know how to keep the stories and characters fresh compared to the majority of JRPG's we see today.