User:Crystal Tear/History of Tales: Part 2 - Pop Goes Tales

The Tales series has over twenty years of history behind it, and its turbulant past and interesting localization history make many other series' journeys seem tame and their overseas journeys effortless. While standing in popularity just behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in Japan, in the west it is more easily supplanted by other series such as Persona. I must note that all the information recorded here is cited from official interviews and official information rather than fan speculation. Any such speculation that might enter this article will be highlighted as such.

The first part of this history looked at its origins and the development team's history prior to becoming Namco Tales Studio. In this second part, we look at how the Tales series took off like a rocket, blasting its way into the popular gaming consciousness both in Japan and overseas, prompting an explosion of additional media dwarfing pretty much every other major series to date.

Planting roots
When it was announced that Wolfteam had become Namco Tales Studio, it was also announced that a new Tales was in production. This future Tales title, later titled Tales of Symphonia, was announced in 2002 when Namco Tales was still Wolfteam, and would be the very first Tales title to be in full 3D. Even though it shared little superficially, Symphonia was actually a kind of prequel to Phantasia, setting up the situation that would trigger the events of Phantasia. Kōsuke Fujishima returned to design the main cast, and the story was written by newcomer Takumi Miyajima. The development team that created Symphonia was known under the moniker of Team Symphonia, which was fully dedicated to creating 3D titles in the series.

Symphonia released on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2003, and was released in Western territories in 2004. Symphonia marked the first Tales title to be released overseas since Eternia, and marked the series' debut in Europe. It proved highly popular in Japan and the West, garnering new fans for the series and setting the template for what many expected from the series in future installments. In Japan, it also received a port to the PlayStation 2, but this was never released overseas. As of 2007, the game has sold well over a million copies worldwide, making one of the best-selling if not the best-selling Tales title in the series' history. It is also credited as creating a market for RPGs on Nintendo consoles in the West, (speculation ahead) which may well be the reason why we have games like Fire Emblem and the Xenoblade series.

New Steps, Odd Ones Out
Alongside the release and success of Symphonia, a different team within Namco Tales was working on a quite different Tales title. Dubbed Team Destiny and essentially committed to working on 2D titles, it included staff from Destiny 2 and began development of the new game in 2003. While it carried over much of the technology used for Destiny 2 and again featured character designs by Mutsumi Inomata, its story, written by Hiramatsu Masaki, was anything but standard. The Tales series' overall narrative theme is coexistence, but this game took it up quite a few notches, delving actively into issues with rasicm and ethnic conflict in a way few other games did at the time. The new game, titled Tales of Rebirth, released in 2004 to critical acclaim and strong sales, but did not receive a localization.

Also in development from as far back as that of Eternia was a quite different Tales game. This was one of the two mainline Tales games produced outside Namco Tales during this period. This new entry, Tales of Legendia, was produced by Project MelFes, an internal development team made up of old Tales staff and staff who worked on other franchises within Namco such as Tekken and Soul Caliber. Character designs were done by Kazuto Nakazawa and Daigo Okumura, with the scenario penned by Koki Matsumoto and Tsuyoshi Tanaka. Legendia released in Japan and North America to positive reception and sales, although it would later be considered the black sheep of the series.

Alongside these, and after the completion of Symphonia, Team Symphonia were busy working on what would be the tenth anniversary celebration title for the series. Featuring character designs by Fujishima and a scenario by Miyajima, it was set to be both traditional and radical, featuring all the tried-and-tested features expected while taking a risk with its main protagonist Luke fon Fabre. Releasing in 2005, it would be met with praise and critical success. It also stood the test of time, with fans in both Japan and in the West generally ranking it as among the best titles in the series.

Boom time
The production wheels for the Tales series at the time were grinding virtually non-stop: not content with having three of four titles in production at their own studio, the production of Tales titles branched out to include other companies. While other main titles were being developed, the first Mothership title for a portable platform was being developed by Alfa Systems. Called Tales of Innocence, it would break the medieval mold of the Tales series by taking place with a pseudo-modern world like a fusing of the World War periods. Inomata returned once again as character designer. The game's audio was one of its biggest features, featuring voice acting for around 80% of its main scenario, a feat notable for its medium. While modest sales were predicted, Innocence smashed through the company's predictions and earned critical acclaim.

While Alfa Systems worked on Innocence, Team Symphonia was busy creating the following Mothership title. Called Tales of Vesperia, it stuck close to the series' traditional routes while continuing to experiment with its characters. Main protagonist Yuri Lowell was made into a more mature person than previous leading protagonists. Fujishima and Okumura came on board as character designers, the script was handled by both series veterans and newcomers, and it was designed for the RPG-lacking Xbox 360, marking the series' debut on a Microsoft console. Released in 2008, it was the first Tales that Namco put effort into localizing, creating an English version of its theme song. It received strong sales and positive reviews, bringing the Tales series back into the limelight.

Alongside Innocence and Vesperia, team members from both Team Destiny and Team Symphonia were working on a new title for the DS, the first for the platform to be produced by Namco Tales. Titled Tales of Hearts, it featured the first contribution by Hideo Baba as a producer, and featured Inomata's character designs. It even had two different versions made: one version with anime cutscenes, and one with CGI cutscenes created by Shirogumi Ltd. Due to the success of Innocence, large shipments were prepared, and a fierce advertisement and promition campaign was launched as Hearts went head-to-head with Square Enix's Dissidia Final Fantasy. Ultimately, it under-performed, selling through just over half its initial shipment, although it garnered positive reviews.

Branching out, falling through
The Tales series had become massively popular, so there was little to no chance of containing it within a single medium. Even as early as Destiny, manga and novel adaptations were being created. Now this range exploded, with material being produced even as the games were in production. To be honest, there are just too many examples of these adaptations to mention in this history: that's how many there are! The ultimate adaptation efforts began 2007, when a four-part Original Video Animation adaptation of Phantasia emerged from the shadows. This was followed in quick succession by similar adaptations of Eternia and Symphonia, the latter extending over several "seasons". The first television adaptations was of Abyss, which had a full 26-episode series created for it and aired on both Japanese and American television. The latter anime has generally been seen as the best adaptation for the series.

Alongside the main series, and rising to prominance in this period, were what were later referred to as Escort Titles, essentially spin-offs that were mostly handled by third-party studios that were separate from and borrowing from the main series, which became Mothership titles. The earliest of these was Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, a sequel to Phantasia for the Game Boy Color. Other notable creations to follow were Tales of the World, which would develop into its own subseries, and Tales of VS., which would set a template for future character-crossover titles within the series. The first of these titles to gain popular attention was Tales of the Tempest, an original Tales game for the DS. While initially thought to be a Mothership title, it was later clarified by staff that it was always intended as a spin-off, At release, sales were disappointing and reviews were harsh, in particular the normally positive Famitsu. A similar escort title and a sequel to Symphonia, called Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and developed by Namco Tales Studio, was released in 2008 for the Wii. Since then, Escort titles have generally been limited to non-canon crossovers.

Alongside Escorts came a rash of remakes, which while not being major commercial successes helped new fans relive the glory days, and may have provided a means for many early Tales games to come overseas for the first time. But.... only a few ever made it. During this period, multiple Tales titles did not make the jump overseas. This was attributed to a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons was voiced by Baba in a 2014 interview: the simultaneous release of Vesperia had put a massive strain on the team, and combined with poor marketing feedback from their overseas branches, localization efforts were put on a back burner. In a different interview, it was stated that localizations needed to be requested by fans, and due to available resources, only one could be done at any one time under normal circumstances. This meant that many of those remakes remain trapped in Japan.

In Part 3, Team Destiny ventures into the realms of 3D, Namco Tales Studio faces serious financial difficulties as it produces its fifteenth anniversary title, then is granted a new lease of life in a new form, and soldiers forward into a dangerous future.