Gematsu: "At Comic-Con in New York, we spoke to Tales series producer Hideo Baba about the upcoming English localization for Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2, the Tales series in general, Baba-san’s thoughts on the western market, and other subjects."
Today it was announced that the gaming and anime industry has lost another beloved artist and creator. Mutsumi Inomata has passed away.
The Tales Of series are some of the best RPGs I've ever played, and the characters are a big reason for that. I don't think I played a single game in the series that I didn't enjoy. Rest in peace.
We're 3 months into the year and I feel like we're taking nothing but L's.
Wow she was the character designer for Tales of Destiny one of my favorites of all time =(
I love the Tales games. Phantasia will always be my favorite. Ironically I felt like as the series progressed the character design became too “anime cliche.”
There's a surprising amount of overlap between Marvel's Mad Titan and a lesser-known Tales villains -- but which is the better baddie?
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
Baba: The graphics in western games are very photo-realistic, such as Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim. Capcom had Dragon’s Dogma, which is an RPG and performed well in the western countries, as well. But I like these characteristics in western games. I don’t implement these features in the Tales series. But I do enjoy these features in the western games.
Square enix, and many other RPG company's can learn a lot about this note
I now have even more high respect for Mr. Baba-san after reading his comments. He knows that his product, the Tales series, is his baby, and that growing it does not mean alienating the fans with mechanics that don't meld well with the base identity of the series.
Thing is, ToX incorporates more realistic physical proportions for the characters, as opposed to the previous titles' cartoonish character renders. This is a good addition; however, Baba-san knows his limits and that over-reaching for all audiences by incorporating 'western' touches will not work for his craft.
Personally, I would like Baba-san work on that open-world game he is dreaming of creating provided sales and finance restraints are non-existent. Imagine an RPG, open-world game that's Japanese made! The closest thing to this is Dark Souls. Japan, we want more!!! We know you can do it!!!