What is the Tales series?

The Tales series, published by Bandai Namco (formerly Namco), began on December 15, 1995 with Tales of Phantasia for the Super Famicom. It was made by Wolf Team, the studio that became Namco Tales Studio, and the series was created by Yoshiharu Gotanda. Development stayed with Namco Tales Studio until 2011 and then passed to Bandai Namco Studios. As of 2024 the series had shipped over 30 million copies.

Bandai Namco counts 17 mothership titles, the main line running from Phantasia (1995) to Tales of Arise (2021). Almost every mothership title is a standalone story with its own world and cast, which is why you can start nearly anywhere. The exceptions are true sequels: Tales of Destiny 2 follows Destiny, Tales of Xillia 2 follows Xillia, and Tales of Berseria is a far-past prequel to Tales of Zestiria.

What actually links the games is craft, not plot. Battles run in real time under the Linear Motion Battle System instead of taking turns. Optional skits let the cast talk in portrait windows, and the series made them a signature. Anime studios animate the openings, and most titles carry a 'characteristic genre name', a poetic subtitle like Symphonia's 'RPG That Resonates With You'.

For collectors, the defining trait is the release pattern. Tales is a giant in Japan and a cult line in the West, so games arrived late, renamed, in cut-down versions, or not at all, while Japan kept receiving ports, remakes and guidebooks the West never saw. That gap between the Japanese shelf and the Western shelf is exactly where this section of the Library lives.