Though it's not nearly as renowned as series like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, the Tales series from Namco is a prolific longstanding rpg series dating back to the SNES days. I've played and enjoyed a good portion of them, though some of have never seen the light of day over here in the states. Like many long-running Japanese rpg series, though the stories and characters vary the basic style and gameplay remain pretty much the same. Whether or not that's a selling point can vary, as obviously change is necessary to keep a series from getting tired. Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy tries something new with virtually every entry. But sometimes something familiar is fun to fall back to. Tales hasn't really changed a whole lot since the series moved to 3D, but then again the real time battle system that mixes a light fighting game style and programmable A,I. teammates still manages to be fun and while the characters are usually beholden to rpg/anime cliches they still manage to be entertaining.
Given that the last Tales game I played was Vesperia a few years ago, and in the intervening time anything resembling a traditional jrpg has been hard to come by, and frankly after the Dragon Ages and Skyrims and Mass Effects a little something familiar might be a welcome change of pace. Granted the timing of the release the latest in the series, Tales of Graces F seems odd given that Mass Effect 3 came out just a week ago, and this is coming out just a week later, but smaller titles like this usually have a dedicated enough fanbase that they will actively seek it out. I know I was hoping the original Wii version would come out so I would have an rpg to play on my Wii a couple years ago (that came out in 2009, so it's been a long wait to see this game at all stateside) but I'll gladly take it on PS3 with enhanced graphics and added features as well. I'll certainly understand if people pass on this very traditional, very Japanese rpg, but given that this style of game is getting harder and harder to come by I'll gladly pick this up for that old familiar feeling if not this week, soon after I finish the more modern Mass Effect 3.
That's really all I have for today, I should have another post up by Wednesday, until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Frankenweenie
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