JRPGs have a long list of influential and famous franchises that lay out a path the genre has taken.Some franchises, likeShin Megami TenseiandFinal Fantasy,have been around since video games were still very young, and continue to leave a mark on the industry. TheTalesseries of games also belongs to the class of long-lived, well-liked, and influential franchises. It’s celebrating its 25th anniversary by releasingTales of Arise,a title that introduces some significant changes to theTalesbrand while building on what made the previous games successful.
Tales of Symphoniamay be one of the earliestTalesgames, releasing in 2003, but it’s also one of the best remembered.Talesfans have wantedSymphonia’s protagonist, Lloyd Irving, to joinSuper Smash Bros.as a representative of the franchise for a long time. That probably isn’t happening anytime soon. At the same time thatTekken’s Kazuya Mishima joinedSmash Ultimate,Lloyd got a Mii costume, indicating that he isn’t a high priority for aSmashinvitation and probably won’t get in this time. However, his Mii costume might still be a good thing in the long run. Lloyd’s presence could help outTales of Arise, and theTalesfranchise as a whole, at just the right time.
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Giving Tales a Greater Voice
An interesting thing aboutSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate’s DLC charactersis that Nintendo has clearly done its best to choose characters that will appeal to both Western and Eastern audiences. Game tastes vary in different parts of the world, which inevitably means different characters are more popular in different places. The Hero fromDragon QuestjoinedSmashbecause ofDragon Quest’s big fanbase in Japan, for instance. However, adding the Hero fromDragon Questproved timely for Western audiences as well, because a newDragon Questgame was releasing at the time.
Interestingly,Tales of Arisefalls into a very similar place asDragon Questright now.Talesis famous, but it’s not quite as popular a JRPG with Western audiences asFinal Fantasy.Even if it’s just as a Mii costume, Lloyd’s appearance inSmash Ultimatecreates a lot ofextra visibility for theTalesseries.Tales of Ariseis only a few months away, so seeing Lloyd Irving running aroundSmashmight make a few more people think about giving the franchise a try and seeing what all the hype for Lloyd was about.
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Tales of Arise’s Positive Circumstances
It doesn’t hurt that now seems like a great time to get intoTales.The franchise has a reputation for complicated combat, butTales of Ariseis paring down and streamlining combat mechanics. If demanding combat intimidated anyone from getting intoTalesbefore,Tales of Ariseoffers a great opportunityto giveTalesa chance. Character trailers and a darker plot points have already set the stage of a narrative inTales of Arisethat’ll speak to Western audiences. The biggest thingTales of Ariseneeds to do to be more popular than its predecessors is find a way to reach out to Western RPG fans who haven’t been interested inTalesbefore.
If there’s one thing that’s heldTalesback in the West before, it’s marketing. Even though some titles likeTales of Symphoniahave been major international successes, the franchise hasn’t developed the international staying power of a few of its competitors. Lloyd’s Mii won’t singlehandedly ferryTales of Ariseto success in the West, but it goes a long way.Smash Ultimatebrings together a huge number ofthe game industry’s most important characters, even as Miis, so it’s a big deal that Lloyd is on that list. It’ll be interesting to see howTalesof Ariseinterest performs with Western audiences once it releases.
Tales of Arisereleases September 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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