User:Crystal Tear/History of Tales: Part 3 - A Tale of Rebirth

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. The second part looked at the ever-growing franchise the series became with both local and international successes, along with extensions into new territory and the troubles that kept the series mostly trapped in Japan. In this third and final part, we look at how Team Destiny transitioned into 3D and the studio underwent the biggest change in its existence since 2003.

New Forays
Beginning in 2007, Team Destiny began development of a new title that was quite unlike anything the team had done before: they created a game which would use 3D graphics: this game, initially codenamed "Tales Of 10", would become Tales of Graces. Featuring character designs by Mutsumi Inomata, the game would be developed for the Wii, the first time at mainline Tales title had been released on a Nintendo home console since Symphonia in 2003. Its main theme, present in every single aspect of its rather traditional story, was the concept of protecting what you cared for. Releasing in 2010, it received critical acclaim and strong sales in Japan, but like others at the time did not come overseas. It was mired at release with the discovery of a critical bug that rendered the game unplayable, forcing a mass recall and free replacement scheme which stretched into 2011.

At the same time, beginning in 2008, Team Symphonia was working on what would become the series' 15th anniversary title. In honor of this occasion, character designs were handled by both Inomata and Kōsuke Fujishima, and it became the first Tales title to featured two playable main characters in the form of Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell. As part of the changes that came to the series, Production I.G was not approached for animation as the team wanted to strike out in a new stylistic direction: to this end, the opening animation and cutscenes were created by Ufotable. The game was eventually revealed under the title Tales of Xillia (that's pronounced "Ex-illia", by the way). Xillia released to a near-perfect score from Famitsu and strong sales.

Troubled horizon, Unexpected Salvation
Despite all the acclaim they were earning, Namco Tales Studio was in serious financial straits. Prior to the release of Xillia, in mid-2011, a financial report showed that the studio had accumulated a devbt equivalent to 21,000,000 dollars, in addition to posting a loss for the previous financial year. This sparked off delirious and saddening rumors that the studio might go under, although the fate of the Tales series was even more uncertain as most were certain Bandai Namco would rescue one of its most recognisable brands. Rumor became reality in November 2011, just two months after the release of Xillia, when Namco officially absorbed Namco Tales Studio, rendering it defunct and letting go of a considerable portion of its staff. This marked the end of an era.

However, it did not mark the end of the Tales series by a long way. The husk of Namco Tales Studio, along with the retained staff, were reborn as Bandai Namco Studios, a fully-owned in-house development studio. Team Destiny and Team Symphonia were downsized and merged into the new studio. This meant in the long run that the speed and rate of production for the Tales series was slowed considerably. The first game the new studio produced, however, did not take long. It was a direct sequel to Xillia, titled Tales of Xillia 2, and was built upon the technical foundations of the first game. Because of this, the game took just over a year to complete, beginning in 2011 after the formation of the new studio. The game was critically acclaimed and became a modest success.

New Branches
All of these activities did not go unnoticed by the people outside Japan, and out of the blue it was announced that Xillia and the Xillia 2 would be released in the west. This opened the floodgates on a new rush of Tales games that would come overseas, including the expanded PlayStation 3 of Graces and the Vita remake of Hearts. The drive behind this sudden rush of releases was a new flush of fan appeal for further releases in the Tales series. Xillia proved an unexpected success overseas, bumping its sales up to over one million copies and opening up a new market. This was followed by demands for the remakes of Innocence and Hearts: as Hearts was the most recent remake, it was decided to release that first, with its success determining whether Innocence would follow. Xillia 2 also came overseas and was met with similar success to its predecessors despite their similarities.

Alongside all these new announcements, plans were afoot to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series, which would become an international celebration like no other in the series' history. This new entry, called Tales of Zestiria, had been in development since 2011, with the reduced staff size impeding its development speed. At its announcement, it was also announced for released in the West in the same year. This pattern of release was inspired by fan feedback about the long detail between the Xillia games' local and international releases. Multiple character designers from the series' past returned, and other collaborations came together to make it a truly celebratory title. Upon its Japanese released in early 2015, it achieved strong sales and positive critical reception, although there was a decided amount of far irk about the use of characters, exasperated by early media mislabeling the status of certain characters. Its Western release also garnered strong sales and positive reviews, despite many not being as impressed by the story as with previous games.

The Tales series has had a long ans difficult history, having come back from disappointments, weathered criticism, and even survived the effective death of its original home. Yet it remains strong and popular: while not on the scale of other series of its kind, it has sold 16 million copies worldwide as of 2015. The latest in the Tales line, Tales of Berseria, is currently in production, the spin-off and merchandise market continues to be string on its native country, and who knows what else is being prepared behind the scenes. One thing is for sure: Tales is here to stay.