The Tales series is in danger of becoming irrelevant

Bandai Namco’s series Tales has been one of the most consistent commercial and critical Japanese role-playing game series since 1995, but that might change soon.

With other franchises being absent recently — Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Persona — Tales has stepped in and satiated plenty of fans. It has benefited greatly from being one of the few go-to sources for people wanting their JPRG fix on consoles. The more recent Tales games, especially this year’s Tales of Zestiria, lack innovation and fail to differentiate themselves from earlier entries. I called Zestiria one JRPG trope after another. But Bandai Namco has been able to get away with this because of the lack of competition.