A media franchise , also known as a multimedia franchise , is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film , a work of literature , a television program , or a video game . Bob Iger , chief executive of the Walt Disney Company , defined the word franchise as "something that creates value across multiple businesses and across multiple territories over a long period of time.”
133-505: The Tales series is a franchise of fantasy role-playing video games published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco ), and developed by its subsidiary, Namco Tales Studio until 2011 and presently by Bandai Namco Studios . First begun in 1995 with the development and release of Tales of Phantasia for the Super Famicom , the series currently spans seventeen main titles, multiple spin-off games and supplementary media in
266-468: A fantasy world, the story focuses on Luke fon Fabre , a young swordsman whose pampered life turns upside down when he unwittingly becomes the target of a military-religious organization known as the Order of Lorelei, who believe him to be the key to an ancient prophecy. Together with his companions, Luke attempts to discover the truth and significance of his own birth, as well as unravel the mystery of The Score,
399-473: A 2008 interview with staff members, although it was not elaborated upon by the interviewer. The interviewers suggested that this point of view was based on the fact that Western fans were not generally experienced in Japanese culture, and so would see the stories in each entry as similar. The writers for each game are hired on a per-project basis, with both freelancers and in-house story writers being involved. Two of
532-720: A Western release. Tales of Symphonia was released in Japan on the PS2 and GameCube . The GameCube version was also released in North America and Europe. It was the first entry to feature 3D graphics for its characters and environments and the first to be released in Europe. Tales of Rebirth was released in 2004 and ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2008, but has not yet received a Western localization. Tales of Legendia and Tales of
665-523: A cel-shaded anime style ( Vesperia ) to a more realistic style ( Xillia 2 ). Skit character images are also directly inspired by anime art. The art style for each title is determined by the theme and story decided upon by the developers. Anime cutscenes are included in each game, and are a primary focus for the production team as they help make the first impression on players. The series aims to avoid standard anime tropes and common narrative elements with each installment. The first game to feature such cutscenes
798-600: A character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through licensing agreements , with respect to intellectual property in the franchise's characters and settings. As one author explains, "For the studios, a home-run is a film from which a multimedia 'franchise' can be generated; the colossally expensive creation of cross-media conglomerates predicated on synergistic rewards provides an obvious imperative to develop such products." The trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously; for instance,
931-581: A circle will appear on the ground, corresponding to that element. After being reinforced with more techniques of the same element, the circle will light up in that element's color to signify that an FOF change is available. Finally, if a character stands in the circle and performs a specific skill that corresponds with the FOF circle, the skill will be upgraded into a more powerful version. Enemies can also use and create FOF fields. As with other Tales games, characters can engage in "Over Limit" mode when their green OVL bar
1064-506: A departure from series conventions, was originally set to release in 2020 for Windows , PlayStation 4 and Xbox One , but was delayed to September 2021 due to internal issues and the desire to launch the game on next-generation consoles . As the Tales series grew, games became categorised under certain branches: "Mothership" for main titles, "Escort" for spin-offs, and "Mobile" for phone games. A live-stream on January 20, 2020, celebrating
1197-485: A franchise can even be created, which ultimately leads to the creation of brand worlds. Since the creation of Disneyland in 1955, bringing fictional media franchises to life through the theme parks slowly became increasingly popular as the way to perfectly blend tourism and real-life involvement with media itself. Similar to transmedia, the concept of bringing fictional media into a non-fictional space where fans can immerse themselves in real-life versions of elements from
1330-444: A large number of these skills, acquired through the use of "Capacity Cores" — items that give stat bonuses when a character levels up. Once a certain statistic has a large enough bonus, the AD skill is learned automatically. A new addition to the system is the "Field of Fonons" (often abbreviated as FOF). Whenever a character uses a spell or battle technique that features an elemental alignment,
1463-584: A lesser degree: an example of this is Destiny ' s "Chain Capacity" feature (the number of skills a character can perform), which appears in later games in the series. The battle system for Legendia was deliberately designed to be similar to a brawler: the stated reason was that the team wished to combine brawler combat with the story and leveling mechanics of a Tales game. Characters generally use Artes, which are special attacks characters can perform in battle. Players can usually only control one character, though
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#17328510917491596-424: A magical character for a brief period to deal greater damage, termed in-game as Armatization ). Characters are awarded with "Titles", nicknames that sometimes grant benefits to them in battle when assigned to them. In the majority of previous Tales games, when navigating the overworld or environment and encountering an enemy, combat took place on a separate battle screen. From Zestiria onwards, combat took place in
1729-424: A modeling agency, several television shows ( Playboy's Penthouse , in 1959), and even its own television channel . Twenty-five years later, Playboy released private clubs and restaurants, movie theaters, a radio show , direct to video films, music and book publishing (including original works in addition to its anthologies of cartoons, photographs, recipes, advice, articles or fiction that had originally appeared in
1862-416: A multiplayer option was implemented for Destiny and has reappeared in later Tales games. The battle system's name for each installment is augmented with descriptive titles representative of features of that game's battle system: examples are the "Style Shift" system from Graces (characters shifting between two types of Artes) and the "Fusionic-Chain" system from Zestiria (a human character merging with
1995-704: A mysterious masked strategist; and Largo, the leader of the Oracle's shock troops. Luke fon Fabre is a teenager who has been held in his manor for years by his uncle, the King of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, after being kidnapped and started suffering amnesia. As Luke's teacher and the Commandant of the Oracle Knight, Van, has to leave to search for the Fon Master Ion, a proud woman known as Tear Grants tries to kill Van. As Luke intervenes,
2128-630: A nationwide concert tour, an American Idol book that made the bestseller list and the film From Justin to Kelly . A transmedia franchise however is often referred to by the simpler term "media franchise". The term media franchise is often used to describe the popular adaptation of a work into films, like the popular Twilight book series that was adapted into the five films of The Twilight Saga . Other neologisms exist to describe various franchise types including metaseries , which can be used to describe works such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series . Multimedia franchises usually develop through
2261-511: A noble to convince the King of Kimlasca to stop his forces and prevent the war. As Luke's group heads back to Kimlasca, they are aided by Fon Master Guardian Anise and Luke's servant Guy Cecil. Luke learns that Tear is Van's younger sister, who suspects Van of scheming to threaten the world. They also encounter the members from the Oracle Knights with one of them, Asch, sharing an extreme resemblance to Luke. In Kimlasca, Luke, Jade and Ion inform
2394-616: A spin-off, possibly due to poor reception of that particular title. The series debuted on the Super Famicom with Tales of Phantasia in 1995, and introduced multiple elements that would become staples of the Tales series. It was released in the West on the Game Boy Advance in 2006. It was also ported to the PlayStation , PlayStation Portable and iOS . The PlayStation received two original Tales games: Tales of Destiny in 1997, which
2527-570: A stand-alone drama in December 2001. Symphonia received seven audio dramas. Two CD dramas for Legendia were respectively released in August and September 2005. A manga of Phantasia was written and serialized in 2008 and 2009, while Abyss received three manga adaptations in the years after its release. Symphonia was adapted into novelizations and a manga serial. Destiny , Graces and Xillia also received adaptations of these kinds. The Tales series
2660-662: A teenage son of the Kimlasca King's sister who has suffered from amnesia ever since he was kidnapped. He encounters Tear Grants, a member of the Order of Lorelei who seeks the death of her brother, Luke's teacher Van Grants. As Luke and Tear meet and return to Kimlasca, they meet several other characters including Jade Curtiss from the Malkuth military forces, Fon Master Ion from Daath and his guardian Anise. They are also joined by Kimlasca's Guy Cecil, Luke's servant and best friend, and Princess Natalia, Luke's fiance. Acting as an anti-hero in
2793-423: Is a real-time fighting system similar to a brawler, as opposed to the majority of RPGs at the time of Phantasia ' s release, which primarily used turn-based battle systems. Some features introduced in certain games have proven popular enough to remain in future installments like "Free Running" (the ability for a character to freely roam the battlefield). Elements of turn-based combat are also present, though to
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#17328510917492926-540: Is classified as a role-playing video game series. Multiple gameplay elements carry over from entry to entry. The main unifying element is the combat system, the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS for short). Considered one of the mainstays and building blocks for every main entry in the series, it undergoes multiple incremental changes and alterations from one installment to the next. Introduced in Phantasia , it
3059-472: Is considered to be among the most important JRPG franchises in Japan. The series has been gaining popularity in the West since the release of Tales of Symphonia , which is still considered one of its most popular games. As of 2023, the series had shipped over 29 million copies. Since the first installment was released in 1995, the Tales series has grown to include the main entries and multiple spin-offs that derive multiple gameplay and narrative elements from
3192-420: Is full. This can be filled by completing combos and making critical hits. During Over Limit, characters can use their Mystic Artes (Hi-Ougis), powerful skills that can only be performed when certain conditions are fulfilled. Every character has one standard Mystic Arte, along with an additional hidden one unlockable only on repeat plays. Enemy boss characters have Mystic Artes as well. Many recurring features in
3325-461: Is headed by a Fon Master and maintains both religious/political and military branches. Finally, the Score and its promise of prosperity lead to a dangerous complacency within the general population of Auldrant; the slaughter of an entire people living on the island of Hod and the destruction of that landmass was countenanced because it was predicted in the Score. The game primarily follows Luke fon Fabre ,
3458-428: Is the Japanese term for a transmedia franchise. The term media mix gained its circulation in late 1980s and is first used to describe adaptations of Sakyo Komatsu 's Japan Sinks , but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime , with its interconnection of media and commodity goods. Some of the earlier popular Japanese franchises such as Vampire Hunter D in
3591-463: Is the plot and characters, which are often rooted in and revolve around themes such as justice or faith. The theme for each entry in the series is decided by the series producer based on current world events. The chosen theme helps dictate what the game will be called: once the theme is decided, the team search through various languages to find a suitable representative word. The narratives of each story were described by Gamasutra as "very typical" during
3724-404: Is used when referring to games within the series. In 2007, Yoshizumi announced two classes of Tales games, "Mothership Titles" and "Escort Titles". "Mothership" essentially means "Main series", where as "Escort" essentially means "Spinoff". One of the recurring differences between the two game types internally is that "Escort" titles don't supply inspiration for main entries in the series, but draw
3857-598: The GameCube and PlayStation 2, including producer Makoto Yoshidumi and character designer Kōsuke Fujishima . In April 2006, four months after the game's Japanese release, Namco Bandai Games announced that Tales of the Abyss would be headed to North America the following fall, and would later showcase the game at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in June. The game
3990-423: The Tales series is Motoi Sakuraba . His first work on the series was for Phantasia , and has since contributed to nearly every main entry since there in the capacity of a freelance composer. Sakuraba has become noted for his signature musical style, which is present in the majority of his Tales scores. He also frequently collaborates with Shinji Tamura. The entries Sakuraba has not worked on are Legendia , which
4123-413: The Tales series return, such as skits, grade, cooking, and titles. Skits are short conversations that may be viewed when prompted. During a skit, anime -style faces of the characters taking part in the skit appear and interact with each other. "Grade" is awarded after each battle, either raising or lowering the player's total number of points depending on how the battle was played. For example, defeating
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4256-695: The Tales of the Abyss game have been created and released in Japan. The first, which is simply named Tales of the Abyss and is written and illustrated by Rei was serialized in Dengeki Maoh . The second, Tales of the Abyss: Asch The Bloody , written by Rin Nijō and illustrated Hana Saitō ran in the official Tales of Magazine . A third manga adaptation, Tales of the Abyss: Jade in My Memories ( Tales of
4389-483: The fantasy and science fiction genres. Similarly, fantasy, science fiction films and television shows are frequently adapted into animated television series , video games, or both. A media franchise does not have to include the same characters or theme, as the brand identity can be the franchise, like Square Enix 's Final Fantasy or the National Lampoon series , and can suffer from critical failures even if
4522-423: The 1980s and Pokémon in the late 1990s, acted as benchmarks in the country's transmedia dominance. The latter in particular began as a video game available on Nintendo 's Game Boy , and crossed through the media of television, film, news, and other non-media related realms, such trading cards, merchandise, and more. A number of Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity, and are among
4655-407: The 3DS port for Japan had been delayed and would miss its originally intended deadline, with a commercial release eventually coming the following June. In May 2011, Namco Bandai confirmed a North American release alongside Tales of Graces F for some time later that year. A European release was confirmed a few days later for a spring 2012 time-frame, which also marked the first official release of
4788-480: The 3DS version the 228th greatest game released for a Nintendo console in their farewell issue. Although exact numbers were not disclosed, a representative from Namco Bandai stated that sales of the game in Europe exceeded the company's expectations, and had to reprint the title "three or four times" to meet demand. The success of Tales of the Abyss in the region encouraged the publisher to reconsider their western markets and potentially localize more Tales games in
4921-487: The Abyss were both released in Japan in 2005, with both being released in North America the following year. Legendia was the first and only Tales game developed by Namco internal development team "Project Melfes", while Abyss was developed by the same team that developed Symphonia , and used its same graphics engine. Abyss was later ported to the Nintendo 3DS and released in Japan, North America and Europe. Tales of
5054-513: The Abyss includes new Mystic Arte attacks for most of the main characters not seen in the original Japanese release, but also removed all spoken dialogue from the optional skit cutscenes, translating only the text. The 3DS port of Tales of the Abyss was first announced in September 2010 during Nintendo of Japan 's "Nintendo Conference" press event, along with a tentative release date of spring 2011. The following April, Namco Bandai announced that
5187-521: The Abyss was well received in Japan, with Weekly Famitsu magazine awarding it a 36 out of 40 based on individual scores of 9, 9, 9, and 9, which earned it the publication's Platinum Award, and was later ranked 44th in a Famitsu reader poll of the 100 greatest games of all time in March 2006. The game would go on to sell 440,225 copies in the region by the end of 2005, becoming the 23rd most-bought software title that year, and over 556,000 copies in Japan by
5320-644: The Heroes: Twin Brave in 2012. The main spin-off subseries is Tales of the World , which has grown to include ten games beginning with Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon , released in Japan on the Game Boy Color in 2000. Only Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology has been released in the West. A second subseries, Tales of Fandom , consists of two puzzle-adventure games released respectively for
5453-487: The Japanese voice cast were also produced by Frontier Works , including a five-volume set titled Drama CD Tales of the Abyss ( ドラマCD テイルズオブ ジ アビス , Dorama CD Teiruzu Obu Ji Abisu ) released between September 2006 and February 2008, and a two-volume set called Anthology Drama CD Tales of the Abyss ( アンソロジードラマCD テイルズ オブ ジ アビス , Ansorojī Dorama CD Teiruzu Obu Ji Abisu ) released in July and August 2008. Tales of
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5586-478: The King of their worries. Luke is then made an ambassador and is sent to Akzeriuth to help the people who are being poisoned by miasma. Van tells Luke he can neutralize the miasma by using his own hyperresonance which the King has been aware of to use him as a weapon. Luke decides to follow his master's plan. However, in Akzeriuth the hyperresonance destroys the land's Sephiroth tree, making the entire town be consumed by
5719-565: The New World . Eternia received an MMORPG spin-off for Microsoft Windows titled Tales of Eternia Online . Multiple crossover games have been made for mobile platforms, including Tales of Link , the Tales of Mobile series, Tales of Card Evolve , Tales of Kizna and Tales of Asteria . Two titles for the PlayStation Portable have been released in Japan: Tales of VS. in 2009, and Tales of
5852-506: The North American anime distributor Bandai Entertainment acquired the license to the Tales of the Abyss anime. Originally set to release on July 7, 2011, it was later delayed to October 11, 2011. Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment in 2012, Sunrise announced at their panel at Otakon 2013, that Funimation has rescued the series, along with a handful of other former Bandai Entertainment titles. Three manga adaptations of
5985-528: The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 in 2002 and 2007. On February 28, 2017, they had released another mobile Tales game called Tales of the Rays in Japan and worldwide on July 24, 2017. On March 28, 2018, however, Tales of Link ended their service, and a day after the closure, they announced the global version of Tales of the Rays would end their service as well on May 29, 2018. Tales of Crestoria another mobile game,
6118-531: The Seventh Fonons in the two individuals' bodies react causing a hyperresonance, a reaction that sends the two flying to a land faraway. Tear then decides to escort Luke back to the manor in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. However, the duo finds themselves in Malkuth. The two meet Fon Master Ion as well as Colonel Jade Curtiss from the Malkuth forces who informs them of an impending war. Jade requires Luke's status as
6251-646: The Tempest was released in Japan on the Nintendo DS in 2006 and is the first in the trilogy of games created for the system often called the Triverse. Though previously seen as a spin-off title, it is now a mainline title. Tales of Innocence was the next game released in Japan on the Nintendo DS in 2007. A remake of the game, Innocence R was released on the PlayStation Vita in 2012. Neither version has been released in
6384-423: The West. The first release on seventh-generation consoles, Tales of Vesperia for Xbox 360 , was released in Japan and North America in 2008 and in Europe in 2009. A Japan-exclusive PlayStation 3 port with updated content was released in 2009, which became available worldwide in 2019 with the remastered Definitive Edition on PlayStation 4 , Microsoft Windows , Xbox One and Nintendo Switch . Tales of Hearts
6517-528: The Xbox 360, 465,888 for PS3, and over 500,000 for Definitive Edition ), Tales of Xillia (PS3), Tales of Berseria , and Tales of Arise . By March 2023, the series in total had shipped over 29.29 million copies. While keeping a lower profile in English-speaking regions, in Japan, it is regarded as one of the biggest role-playing video game series. 1UP.com 's Jeremy Parish, speaking in 2006, referred to it as
6650-426: The bottom screen is nice." It would enter the Japanese sales charts as the top-selling game of its debut week with 74,173 copies sold, and would go on to sell a total of 126,808 copies in the region by the end of 2011. The Nintendo 3DS port also received "favorable" reviews, though slightly less than the PS2 original, according to Metacritic. GameSpot called the game "entertaining" and "engrossing", but felt that it
6783-432: The brand's upcoming 25th anniversary, revealed that these categories would be reworked: "Original" for larger titles, and "Spin-off" for smaller and non-canon games. The series has received a small number of sequels, and a large number of spin-off titles and subseries. These games are derivative rather than original works. Three direct sequels have been produced: Destiny 2 , Xillia 2 and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of
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#17328510917496916-482: The camera for this mode is improved over the one found in Tales of Symphonia , zooming out as characters move away from each other so that other players are now always on screen. A new feature, "Free Run," allows the player character to run in any direction, unlike previous Tales games. The game features many skills and spells to unleash upon enemies. Characters can learn "AD Skills," which can be equipped and unequipped at will, to help them in battles. The game features
7049-519: The control pad for use after battle. Different recipes require different items and have different effects. The player can increase characters' cooking stats for each recipe by having them cook the recipe frequently. Abyss features titles which each character gains through a series of tasks or events. Titles have various effects, some of which are stat-related. In the tradition of newer Tales games, some of these titles also change costumes. Each character has unique costumes; to acquire additional costumes,
7182-469: The day-in-the-life episodes of the many different Real Housewives series. Documentaries and docuseries are other highlights of the non-fiction branch of media franchises, such as the popular Planet Earth series, which serves as both a film and television transmedia franchise. Tales of the Abyss Tales of the Abyss is an action role-playing game developed by Namco Tales Studio as
7315-407: The different media, regardless of the fact that they are being presented in sometimes completely different ways, such as the shared, interweaving storylines and elements of Spider-Man films, television shows, comics and video games. Espen Aarseth describes the financial logic of cost-recovery for expensive productions by identifying that a single medium launch is a lost opportunity, the timeliness of
7448-460: The edges" and GameSpot pointed out a drop in frame-rate on the world map, along with a generic mix of RPG locales. Famitsu granted the 3DS version a lower score than its predecessor based on individual reviews of 8, 8, 7, and 8, primarily due to the lack of new features compared to the original, with one editor remarking that "It's well-made and doesn't feel old, but there also hasn't been much added to it, although touch-screen skill selection on
7581-529: The eighth main title in their Tales series in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 , the game was published by Namco in Japan in December 2005, and Bandai Namco Games in North America in October 2006. Its development team included director Yoshito Higuchi , producer Makoto Yoshizumi, and character artist Kōsuke Fujishima . The game features music by series composers Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura, and includes
7714-455: The elements of Shadow , Earth , Wind , Water , Fire and Light ; but eventually a seventh fonon, controlling Sound , is discovered. Its discovery brings great chaos: using this newest Seventh Fonon allows one to read the future. One such Seventh Fonist, Yulia Jue, an important religious figure in the game, puts in place a future for the world for thousands of years to come, with the promise of unlimited prosperity at its end. This prophecy of
7847-467: The end of 2006, with worldwide sales totaling approximately 734,000 copies by December 2007. Overall, English reviews for the game became "favorable" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic . The game has been praised for its diverse cast with IGN particularly placing attention on the game's protagonist and his ensuing character development. Others likewise praised the game's dialogue and cut-scene direction, although some questioned both
7980-538: The enemies within a short period or time or getting a large combo will increase the grade awarded; characters being killed or having negative status effects on them will lower the grade acquired. At the end of the game, players can use earned Grade to purchase bonuses for the next playthrough. Abyss also features a cooking system. The player collects recipes and ingredients throughout the game, and can use them to cook either after battles or between battles. Unlike Tales of Symphonia, up to four different recipes can be set to
8113-479: The established anime style. For the brand new title Tales of Arise , the world design went in a darker direction compared to earlier entries, both to further the series evolution and appeal to the Western market. Despite the overt focus on 3D graphics, 2D anime cutscenes are still planned as with previous entries. Similar to the previous games in the series, the anime sequences were produced by Ufotable . The engines for
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#17328510917498246-725: The fictional worlds they love, adds to the overall narrative the franchise creates through its other media. Marvel's Avenger's Campus park is one of the many franchise-based theme parks created in recent times, following the creation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and Star Wars' Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney World . Media franchises tend to cross over from their original media to other forms. Literary franchises are often transported to film, such as Nancy Drew , Miss Marple , and other popular detectives , as well as popular comic book superheroes . Television and film franchises are often expanded upon in novels , particularly those in
8379-466: The film The Matrix Reloaded and the video game Enter the Matrix were produced at the same time, using the same actors on the same sets, and released on the same day. Transmedia franchises occasionally release content through certain media that is not canon to the main or greater story that the franchise is built around, meaning that the elements of said content do not truly exist in the main timeline of
8512-555: The focus on the content of the commodity to "overlapping the commodity image with the character image". The book Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, by Marc Steinberg, details the evolution of the media mix in Japan. Long-running franchises were common in the early studio era, when Hollywood studios had actors and directors under long-term contract. In such cases, even lead actors are often replaced as they age, lose interest, or their characters are killed. Spin-offs and adaptations of popular pieces of media within
8645-460: The form of manga series, anime series, and audio dramas . While entries in the series generally stand independent of each other with different characters and stories, they are commonly linked by their gameplay, themes and high fantasy settings. The series is characterized by its art style, which draws from Japanese manga and anime, and its action-based fighting system called the "Linear Motion Battle System". Multiple people have become linked with
8778-497: The fourteenth main title, Tales of Xillia 2 , was released in 2012 in Japan and 2014 in North America and Europe. The series' 20th anniversary title, Tales of Zestiria , was released in January 2015 in Japan and worldwide in October 2015, for PS3, PS4 and PC. The sixteenth main title, Tales of Berseria , was released in Japan for PS3 and PS4 in August 2016, and worldwide for PS4 and PC in January 2017. Tales of Arise , designed as
8911-429: The franchise's fandom , which is the community of fans that indulge in many of its media and are committed to interacting with and keeping up with other consumers. Large franchise-based fandoms have grown to be even more popular in recent years with the rise of social media platforms, as many fans seek to interact with one another for discussion, debate and even to create their own fan-made pieces of media revolving around
9044-405: The franchise, on websites like tumblr , Reddit and Fandom . In the case of successful transmedia franchises, each different medium should expand the target demographic and fandom, build the interest of the consumers and add to the overarching story and narrative of the franchise itself. A connection between the characters, settings, and other elements of the media franchise do still exist within
9177-415: The franchise. Canon content often times breaks continuity, leading fans to speculate or seek to confirm which media are canon and which are not, which can get confusing if the franchise does not provide an answer themselves since entire media can be non-canon to the greater story, with a popular example occurring. On the other hand, specific episodes, volumes or parts of a series can be canon while others in
9310-466: The future revolves around direct conversation with Tales series fans at gaming conventions and special events. Media franchise A media franchise often consists of cross-marketing across more than one medium. For the owners, the goal of increasing profit through diversity can extend the commercial profitability of the franchise and create strong feelings of identity and ownership in its consumers. Those large groups of dedicated consumers create
9443-426: The future's set path becomes known as the "Score" and is documented on "Fonstones" scattered throughout the world. The nations of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and Malkuth have fought over the fragments of these tablets for generations, each uncovering them and hoping to discover the future before the other. Meanwhile, a holy order emerges dedicated to the reading of the Score and the keeping of the peace. This "Order of Lorelei"
9576-488: The future. A 26-episode animated TV adaptation of Tales of the Abyss , produced by Bandai Visual, Namco, and Sunrise Animation Studios, began airing on October 4, 2008, and ended its run on March 28, 2009. The episodes were directed by Kenji Kodama and written by Akemi Omode. The game's theme song, "Karma" by Bump of Chicken, was reused as the opening theme; most of the voice actors from the game also reprised their roles. On July 22, 2010, Anime News Network announced that
9709-541: The game in order to start a new company, tri-Ace , which would go on to make the Star Ocean series. Remaining members would continue to develop games in the Tales series. The studio remained independent until 2003, when it was acquired by Bandai Namco and renamed Namco Tales Studio. The studio's shares were divided between Bandai Namco, Telenet Japan and series director Eiji Kikuchi . In 2006, Namco bought Telenet's shares, then later Kikuchi's, giving them full control over
9842-450: The game in the region. Namco's European branch would later feature the game at the 2011 Gamescom event in Germany. The port made use of the handheld's 3D and dual screen capabilities, including the ability to register combat skills on the bottom screen for quick access, which is replaced by a world map while outside battle. Artist Kousuke Fujishima, who had worked on the previous version of
9975-453: The game is Asch the Bloody. Along with Van, major antagonists of the game include: Mohs, a Score-devoted leader of the Order. In addition, there are the 6 God-Generals of the Order including: Legretta, Tear's former master with undying loyalty to Van; Arietta, a general who took a rivalry against the party after they killed the animals that raised her; Dist, a mad scientist with ties to Jade; Sync,
10108-523: The game that later appeared on his album Song for Tales of the Abyss . "Karma" was also used as the opening theme of the anime adaption. The western version uses the instrumental version of the theme song, due to licensing rights. The incidental vocal theme performed by Tear throughout the game, " Fu Uta " ( 譜歌 , Tone Song ) , was sung by Yukana . A commercial soundtrack was released in Japan in March 2006 by King Records featuring 115 tracks across four discs. A number of radio drama albums featuring
10241-568: The game's characters and watching them grow rather than using them as avatars: the genre names are meant to distinguish them from other role-playing games. The terms, however, are largely removed from the English localized versions. There are also terms that are used in remakes or ports of games: "R" stands for "remake" or "Re-imagination" (as in Hearts R ), while "F" in Graces f stood for "future", in reference to
10374-507: The game's extra story content. The Tales series originated when Phantasia began production, based on an unpublished novel titled Tale Phantasia ( テイルファンタジア , Teiru Fantajia ) , written by the game's scenario writer and lead programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda . During the story development process, several elements of the original novel were dropped or changed. The game was developed by Wolf Team, an independent game development studio founded in 1986. Due to bad experiences at Telenet Japan ,
10507-546: The game, provided a new title logo graphic and promotional character art for the release. In addition, the Japanese version includes the new Mystic Arte attacks added to the original North American PlayStation 2 version. The music for Tales of the Abyss was mostly composed by series veterans Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura. The Japanese version features the theme song " Karma " ( カルマ , Karuma ) by J-Rock group Bump of Chicken , with group's lead vocalist, Motoo Fujiwara , also providing compositions for certain songs in
10640-568: The games are generally developed in-house. The cited reasons for this included problems with outsourced development. Until Vesperia , the team worked on a by-project basis, creating new development tools and engines for each installment. Due to cost increases, the development process was altered and streamlined as more user-friendly software engines became available. The studio was divided into two teams: Team Destiny worked on 2D Tales titles such as Tales of Destiny , while Team Symphonia developed 3D titles. In-house, major distinctions were made between
10773-528: The group takes advantage of Luke's hyperresonance skills to move the land to the subarea, the Qliphoth. In the meantime, they are opposed by Van's forces except Asch who is against his master's wishes of a new world populated by replicas in order to go against the score. After making a peace treaty between Kimlasca and Malkuth, Luke's group defeats Van who falls to the Planet's Core. A month after Van's defeat and moving
10906-473: The magazine), footwear, clothing of every kind, jewelry, housewares (lamps, clocks, bedding, glassware), guitars and gambling, playing cards, pinball machines and pet accessories, billiard balls, bedroom appurtenances, enhancements, plus countless other items of merchandise. Non-fiction media franchises also exist in the television and film media, with reality TV being one of the most well-known examples; ranging from competition shows like The Amazing Race to
11039-400: The main entries. Except when indicated by naming, the main Tales entries are separate from each other apart from gameplay mechanics and themes. While Tales titles are often ported to new consoles after their original release, these remakes are rarely localized. The 2006 Nintendo DS game Tales of the Tempest was originally seen as a main entry in the series, but in 2007 was classified as
11172-403: The main series are Rebirth and Innocence , while an example of the latter is Legendia . Speaking in 2013, Baba explained that the main priority for localizations was for the main series rather than spin-offs. In addition to this, he stated that their localization team was limited and they needed to "pick and choose" which game to bring to the West. For its Western release, Eternia ' s name
11305-400: The media fictional material is unrelated. Non-fiction literary franchises include the ...For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to... reference books . An enduring and comprehensive example of a media franchise is Playboy Enterprises , which began expanding well beyond its successful magazine, Playboy , within a few years after its first publication, into such enterprises as
11438-464: The miasma can be neutralized through a hyperresonance that sacrifices a large amount of lives. The replicas offer themselves in exchange that the rest of their kind are given home. Luke offers himself to perform the hyperresonance and although the plan is a success, Luke is left with little time to live. The group then heads to confront the New Order of Lorelei who wish to follow Van's will. In confronting
11571-453: The miasma. Blaming Luke for his actions, Asch also reveals Luke is the result of fomicry, a replica based on the real Luke fon Fabre: Asch. As Luke's friends abandon him for what he did to Akzeriuth, Luke starts detesting his current form and makes a promise to Tear to change for the best. He then starts working with Jade to protect the people of St. Binah whose town is also collapsing like Akzeriuth. In order to prevent more of these collapses,
11704-407: The most popular elements from them. The games are also frequently given what is called a "Characteristic Genre Name", which is essentially a short subtitle or phrase that outlines the game's overall theme. The main reason for this, as stated by Yoshizumi, was that the series was not seen as a role-playing series by the development team, but rather "Character Playing Game", with the player learning about
11837-454: The opening sections of Zestiria , Dawn of the Shepherd , was produced as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations related to the title. It was also released on the game disc. A full series based on Zestiria began airing in July 2016. Books and audio dramas have also been made. Phantasia received multiple CD dramas, including four collected into anthologies in January and March 2000. and
11970-592: The opening theme song "Karma" by Bump of Chicken , which is replaced with the instrumental version in the western release. Namco has given Tales of the Abyss the characteristic genre name To Know the Meaning of One's Birth RPG . A port for the Nintendo 3DS handheld was released in Japan in June 2011, followed by an Australian and European release in November 2011 and a North American release in February 2012. Taking place in
12103-485: The overabundance of "skits" which popped up from time to time as well as the localization team's decision to omit the voice-acting that accompanied the skits in the Japanese version. Most reviewers praised the battle system, stating that it was an improvement from earlier Tales installments while at the same time noting that it often devolved into "mindless button mashing". The graphics have received mixed attention. In particular, 1UP.com felt that they were "rough around
12236-421: The past few years, it's difficult to return to this complex world of menus and jargon without a bit of reluctance." Game Informer called the game a "well-executed port", but ultimately felt that the story moved too slowly and adhered to too many stock "JRPG" conventions. In 2012, the magazine would name Jade and Tear among the best characters in the Tales series. That same year, Nintendo Power would name
12369-408: The player must accomplish certain tasks. Unlike some other Tales games, every title in Tales of the Abyss carries a special effect, varying from discounts in shops to recovering small amounts of HP periodically. Tales of the Abyss takes place on Auldrant, a planet composed of elementary particles called "Fonons". For much of Auldrant's history, only six fonons were known to exist, representing
12502-480: The previous employer of multiple Wolf Team members, the staff sought an independent publisher for the game. After an unsuccessful pitch to Enix , they entered a publishing contract with Bandai Namco (then Namco). Phantasia had a troubled development cycle for the original Super Famicom version, with many creative disagreements between Wolf Team and Namco. The disagreements led to most of the Wolf Team staff leaving after
12635-467: The previous titles, the combat system is a turn-based RPG, which is very rare in the series. The prominent narrative theme of the Tales series is the issue of coexistence between different races. A particular example of this is Tales of Rebirth , which extensively explores themes of racism. Scenario writer Hiramatsu Masaki was inspired by the ethnic conflicts seen in Yugoslavia . Another recurring feature
12768-400: The producer of the original version of Hearts . Alongside Baba, the chief series producer is Makoto Yoshizumi, who had produced multiple titles including Destiny and Innocence . The series is distinguished by its art style, which emulates manga and anime . According to Baba, the character designs are created once the main character's story, personality, and environment are determined by
12901-406: The producers opting not to use a dark or science fiction-based setting. An exception is Xillia 2 , which mostly took place in a modern setting, and explored darker themes than usual. This direction was confirmed as a one-off experiment for the series. The main characters play a key role in the Tales games, as it is partially through them that the main theme of each entry is depicted. For Abyss , it
13034-423: The production and release is more important than its integrity, the releases should raise brand awareness and the cross-ability of the work is critical for its success. American Idol was a transmedia franchise from its beginnings, with the first season winner Kelly Clarkson signing with RCA Records and having the release of A Moment Like This becoming a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100. The success resulted in
13167-453: The prophecy that has bound humanity's actions for thousands of years. Reviews for both its original console and handheld releases were mostly positive, with critics praising the title's combat system yet remarking that the game's plot had a tendency to move slowly and adhered to many stock Japanese role-playing game conventions . The PlayStation 2 version has sold approximately 734,000 copies worldwide. A 26-episode anime adaptation by Sunrise
13300-578: The reaction of Western fans to this. Fan localizations have also been created, such as for the original versions of Phantasia and Innocence . While the option of the Japanese voice tracks have been heavily requested for Western releases by fans, licensing issues have mostly prevented Bandai Namco from implementing it. Localization for mobile titles is also a low priority due to them being co-developed by Japan-based mobile developers. The series has generally sold well during its lifetime. The series' strongest sales base has been Japan: in 2007, sales distribution
13433-403: The recurring writers are Takumi Miyajima ( Symphonia and Abyss ), and Naoki Yamamoto ( Hearts , Xillia , Zestiria ). There are very few mainline games that share a setting: Symphonia takes place along the same "time axis" as Phantasia , while Zestiria and Berseria take place on the same world at different time periods. The settings for the stories are primarily high fantasy worlds, with
13566-445: The remaining God Generals, Asch dies while helping Luke to reach Van. The group defeats Van who had sealed Lorelei inside his right arm and kill him. As the area starts collapsing, Luke decides to stay behind to free Lorelei. Two years later, he reappears to meet Tear and the rest of his friends. The first mention of Tales of the Abyss occurred when Namco filed a trademark for the game in December 2004, and first formally announced
13699-455: The rest of the production team. Beyond that, the artist is allowed to use their imagination, though they can be asked to alter things like costume details, and facial expressions. One of the main designers for the series is manga artist Kōsuke Fujishima . He was first brought in to design the characters for Phantasia , and has since designed for multiple entries including Abyss and Xillia . Another designer, Mutsumi Inomata , first designed for
13832-516: The same medium are not, such as the fact that only some of the Battlestar Galactica comics are canon, with a large amount of them breaking the continuity of the main story. In Japanese culture and entertainment, media mix ( wasei-eigo : メディアミックス , mediamikkusu ) is a strategy to disperse content across multiple representations: different broadcast media , gaming technologies, cell phones, toys, amusement parks , and other methods. It
13965-428: The same space as exploration. Most Tales games have skits, side conversations between different characters that can be both dramatic and comedic in nature. They are commonly portrayed as character portraits or profiles, with text along the bottom of the screen. They were first introduced in Tales of Destiny , though the majority were cut from the English release. In the original English GameCube release of Symphonia ,
14098-463: The series with Destiny , and has contributed designs for multiple entries including Eternia , Rebirth and Xillia . A third regular artist is Daigo Okumura, who designed characters for Vesperia and Xillia 2 , as well as Dawn of the New World . Other designers to work on the series include Kazuto Nakazawa ( Legendia ), Kouichi Kimura ( Xillia 2 ), and Minoru Iwamoto ( Zestiria ). The art design for each game's world and characters has ranged between
14231-438: The series, including character designers Kōsuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata , producers Hideo Baba and Makoto Yoshizumi, and composer Motoi Sakuraba . The series was created by Yoshiharu Gotanda . Most of the main Tales games have been localized for North America and Europe, although almost none of the spinoff titles have been released abroad. While generally seen as a niche series in English-speaking regions, Tales
14364-645: The series, notably Destiny and Legendia have been favorably compared with fighting games and brawlers, especially the Street Fighter series. GameTrailers ranked the Linear Motion Battle System, with particular reference to Graces , as one of the top five JRPG battle systems. Their stories and characters have generally received a more mixed response from Western critics: opinions on entries such as Legendia , Abyss , Xillia were mixed to positive, while others such as Symphonia , Graces and Xillia 2 were criticized. The main criticism for these games and Legendia
14497-424: The studio. In mid 2011, a financial report indicated that Namco Tales was in serious financial trouble, having a debt of 21 million dollars and posting a loss for the previous financial year. The studio's absorption into its parent company was formally announced in November of that year. After the absorption of Namco Tales, former series brand manager Hideo Baba was appointed as series producer. He had previously been
14630-622: The team behind the series put a large amount of effort and development in keeping the series fresh while retaining the base elements across each installment. The positive reaction of gamers in the US to Symphonia influenced the way the various teams developed titles after that point. Speaking in 2014, production manager Denis Lee said that, since Symphonia ' s release, the popularity of the series has grown. In response, Bandai Namco have focused on getting more entries out in Western territories. Much of their research about what titles to release or develop in
14763-404: The teams and staff transferred to the new in-house development studio called Bandai Namco Studios. The size of the teams was reduced and the previous studio's main divisions were merged. This allowed production to be streamlined, but also meant that the team could only focus on one game at a time, rather than working on two games simultaneously as they had done before. The regular main composer for
14896-457: The third biggest RPG series in Japan behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest . Gamasutra 's Brandon Sheffield echoed these sentiments, stating that "While the series doesn't have quite the cultural cache of Final Fantasy in the West or Dragon Quest in Japan, it's still a very popular brand worldwide". IGN 's Anoop Gantayat additionally referred to it as the third biggest Japanese role-playing series in regards to sales. Multiple entries in
15029-466: The time it was stated that there were no solid plans to create a game with a single female protagonist. A sole main female character, called Velvet, was eventually included in Berseria . The way the characters interact with each other during the narrative forms one of the core aspects of designing each game. Another main priority is for players to see a part of themselves in the characters. Unique terminology
15162-425: The title in an August 2005 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, where the company also announced that the title would be released in celebration of the series' tenth anniversary. The first gameplay trailer was featured on a pre-order bonus DVD included with Tales of Legendia released later that month, which also revealed that the game would be developed by the same team that produced Tales of Symphonia for
15295-413: The two studios except for some core staff Namco Tales produced the majority of the mainline Tales games until its absorption in 2011. The notable exceptions are Legendia , which was developed by an internal staff group at Bandai Namco, and Innocence , which was developed by Alfa System . Alfa System also developed many of the portable spin-off titles. After the absorption of Namco Tales by Bandai Namco,
15428-514: The voice track for the skits was removed, but for its HD re-release, the Japanese voice track, and consequently the skit voice tracks, were included. The first English release to include fully voiced skits was Vesperia : they had been planned for Abyss , but were cut due to space issues. Another recurring feature is the Cooking system, where characters learn and prepare dishes to restore health and forms of experience points. In Tales of Crestoria, unlike
15561-569: The world population to the Qliphoth, the miasma starts affecting mankind. Additionally, a large number of replicas start appearing. Luke and Asch learn from the spirit of the Seventh Fonon, Lorelei, that Van has survived and took it. Grand Maestro Mohs from the Order of Lorelei forces Ion to read the Planet Score, killing him in the process. Mohs then forms the New Order of Lorelei with the Oracle Knights who are awaiting Van's return. Jade reveals that
15694-472: The world's highest-grossing media franchises . For example, Pokémon 's penetration into the American market of the franchise along with others of Japanese origin, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! , gave rise to the recognition of what is variously called transmedia storytelling , crossmedia, transmediation , media synergy, etc. Researchers argue that the 1963 Tetsuwan Atomu marked a shift in Japanese marketing from
15827-577: Was Destiny . The cutscenes were animated by Production I.G , which has provided cutscenes for the series until Xillia . For Xillia , aiming to demonstrate a new artistic direction for the series, production of the anime cutscenes was given to Ufotable . For the Nintendo DS release of Hearts , two identical versions of the game were released as an experiment by the production team, with one featuring traditional anime animation by Production I.G., and one featuring computer-generated cutscenes by Shirogumi Ltd. The CGI cutscenes proved less popular with fans than
15960-689: Was 87% in Japan, 8% in North America, 3% in Europe and 2% in mainland Asia. The best-selling titles of the series as of April 2008 were Tales of Symphonia ( 1.6 million copies for the GameCube and PS2 ), Tales of Destiny ( 1.534 million for PlayStation and PS2), Tales of Phantasia ( 1.431 million for Super Famicom, PlayStation, GBA , and PSP), Tales of Eternia ( 1.271 million for PlayStation and PSP), and Tales of Destiny 2 ( 1.106 million for PS2 and PSP), not including mobile or online games. Other titles that have since sold over 1 million copies worldwide include Tales of Vesperia (614,305 copies for
16093-504: Was also produced, which first aired in Japan on MBS between October 2008 and March 2009. The game's "Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System" (FR-LMBS) is real-time. The game controls are very similar to other Tales games, especially Tales of Symphonia , except with increased maneuverability. The player can attack, defend, perform a skill or call up a menu with multiple functions, such as using items or commanding an ally to perform an action. This system offers multiplayer co-op battles, and
16226-518: Was avoided in Abyss by designing the battle system around this feature from the beginning. The "Field of Fonons" (FOF) feature was added to supplement the Free Run system, with Higuchi stating that "we needed to have battle positioning play a more important role if we wanted players to use Free Run at all," with the concept becoming more streamlined as development when on. The North American version of Tales of
16359-408: Was changed to " Destiny 2 ": this was due to a possible trademark conflict and the wish to exploit the popularity of Destiny . The 2006 PSP port of Eternia retained its original title. With Zestiria , Bandai Namco planned to attempt releasing the game in the West in the same year it was released in Japan. The deciding factor in this resolution was the delayed release of Xillia and its sequel, and
16492-472: Was composed by Go Shiina , an in-house composer, and Innocence , whose composer was Kazuhiro Nakamura. Sakuraba and Shiina had collaborated on the score for Zestiria . Multiple titles in the series use licensed theme songs by multiple Japanese artists: among the artists are Garnet Crow ( Eternia ), Deen ( Destiny / Hearts ), Kokia ( Innocence ), Ayumi Hamasaki ( Xillia / Xillia 2 ) and FLOW ( Berseria ). One recurring aspect of many earlier localizations
16625-453: Was decided to take a risk and create an unorthodox protagonist that would be initially unlikable. For Vesperia , the team opted to raise the age limit of the target audience, showing this in the game by making the main protagonist a more mature type. A female main protagonist was included for the first time in Xillia in the form of Milla Maxwell alongside male protagonist Jude Mathis, although at
16758-438: Was directed by Yoshito Higuchi who also acted as director of Tales of Symphonia and previously served on the development team of Namco's fighting game franchises Tekken and Soulcalibur . Abyss ' s Free Run battle system was originally designed for Symphonia and implemented in the middle of development, but was removed due to possible player exploitation of the game's enemy AI making battle too easy. This problem
16891-510: Was not well-suited to the handheld's stereoscopic 3D, remarking that "for those who have already played the game on the PS2, it's harder to recommend a repeat purchase when the central new feature actively makes the game worse." While IGN praised the fact that the portable title had not lost any features from the console version, they nonetheless felt that the title "hasn’t aged well in all respects," adding that "Having fallen in love with games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest IX in
17024-445: Was released in three parts between 2007 and 2011, and released as a single collection in 2013. Abyss was adapted into a 26-episode TV series between October 2008 and March 2009. Phantasia and Eternia have also received anime adaptations. The series' first theatrical film, a prequel to Vesperia called Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike , was released in 2009 in Japan and 2012 in North America. A made-for-television anime based on
17157-521: Was released on July 16, 2020. Tales of Luminaria , the latest part of the Tales series, was released on November 3, 2021. It features a unique battle system with 21 characters that are playable indepentendly and together, including a multiplayer mode. The game was discontinued in 2022. The Tales series has expanded into other media, including CD dramas, manga and anime. Multiple Tales games have been adapted into anime OVAs and TV series. The Symphonia OVA
17290-545: Was released on the Nintendo DS in 2008. A remake, Hearts R , was released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 in North America and Europe. The twelfth entry, Tales of Graces , released on the Wii in Japan in 2009. A PlayStation 3 port, Graces f , was released in 2010 in Japan, and in 2012 in North America and Europe. Tales of Xillia , the series' 15th anniversary title, was released in Japan for PlayStation 3 in 2011, and in North America and Europe in 2013. Xillia ' s direct sequel and
17423-461: Was that the story was either predictable or cliché. The in-game graphics have also drawn mixed responses for several games in the series, including Destiny , Eternia , Graces and Xillia . In 2013, leading up to the release of Tales of Symphonia Chronicles , Baba called Symphonia the most successful title in the series in the West thus far, although the series' main target audience was still in Japan. In an earlier interview, Baba commented that
17556-426: Was the first title to be released in North America, and Tales of Eternia in 2000, which was released in North America as Tales of Destiny 2 in 2001. Five titles were released on the PlayStation 2. The true direct sequel to Destiny , Tales of Destiny 2 , was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001 across Asian territories and ported to the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2007; both versions have yet to receive
17689-480: Was the removal of the Japanese theme song, such as with Symphonia , which had its theme song replaced with an orchestral version. The first Western release of a Tales game to feature the theme song used in Japan was Vesperia . Multiple Tales titles, the majority of which are spin-offs, have not been localized for the West or have only been released in North America: two examples of the former case for entries in
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