Tales of Xillia for PS3 will reportedly be released on August 6th 2013 according to reports from several sources including Kotaku and Gematsu, revealed to them at a recent media event. There is no official word on the accuracy of the date, but considering Tales of Xillia had already been revealed as hitting North America “this summer”, the dates fall in line nicely. Sadly no release date for Europe has been revealed yet.
Additionally, when asked about whether the West would be getting two of the highly requested PS Vita Tales games released in Japan (Tales of Hearts R and Tales of Innocence R), series producer Hideo Baba said they have “no plans” to release those games outside of Japan. The culprit? Low sales of the PS Vita system itself. If sales increase, then the likelihood that the games will be localized and released outside of Japan increases with it.
To quote:”Unfortunately, at this present time we don’t have any plans to release any of the Vita titles. One of the main reasons is unfortunately the PlayStation Vita is doing relatively poorly in North America, so it’s one of those things that if the numbers increased considerably, then it’s something we could consider.”
In addition, no Tales games are currently in the works for PS4, Xbox 720 nor Wii U. Of course, they will continue the series eventually, so it’s highly likely that we’ll see a true “next-gen” Tales game sooner rather than later.
Tales of Xillia is the thirteenth title in the long-running, core “Tales” Japanese RPG series, which got its start way back 1995 for the SNES in Japan (Super Famicom) with a game called Tales of Phantasia. This game was eventually ported in Japan to the PS1 in 1998, but didn’t see release in America until 2006′s Game Boy Advance port of the game.
Here’s a brief breakdown of the entire history of the Tales franchise. Tales of Phantasia was followed by…
2. Tales of Destiny (2nd game in the series. PS1, 1997. Ported to PS2 in 2006, with a PS2 remake in 2008. Only the Ps1 original was released in the US)
3. Tales of Eternia (3rd game in the series. PS1 2000. Released in the US as “Tales of Eternia II” in 2001 even though it was the first game. A PSP remake was released in Europe & Australia but not America in 2006)
4. Tales of Destiny 2 (4th game in the series. Ps2 2002. Ported to PSP in Japan in 2007. No Western release)
5. Tales of Symphonia (5th game in the series. GameCube 2003. Released in Western regions for GCN, Japan also got a PS2 update in 2004)
6. Tales of Rebirth (6th game in the series. PS2 2004. Never released in the West. Ported to PSP in Japan in 2008)
7. Tales of Legendia (7th game in the series. PS2 2005. Released in US in 2006).
8. Tales of the Abyss (8th game in the series. PS2 2005. Released in US in 2006. Japan also got a 3DS version in 2011 that was released in the US in 2012 and Europe in 2011).
9. Tales of Innocence (9th game in the series. DS 2007. Never released in the West. Got a PS Vita update [mentioned in the story above] in Japan in 2012. An unofficial English translation can be found online)
10. Tales of Vesperia (10th game in the series. Xbox 360 2008. An updated version was released only in Japan for PS3 in 2009. An anime film called “Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike” was also released in Japan)
11. Tales of Hearts (11th game in the series. DS 2008. Never released in the West. Also released for the PS Vita in 2013 as mentioned above)
12. Tales of Graces (12th game in the series. Wii 2009. In addition to the Japanese Wii original, an updated version was released for PS3 called “Tales of Graces f” in 2012. That version was released in the US in 2012)
13. Tales of Xillia (13th game in the series. PS3 2011. Will be released in the West this year as mentioned above)
14. Tales of Xillia 2 (14th game in the series. PS3 2012. A direct sequel to “Tales of Xillia 1″, released in Japan last year. Hopefully sales of Tales of Xillia in America & Europe will be good enough to warrant releasing this sequel as well)
Many side games in the series have also been released, including:
* Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 (PSP 2006, 2009, 2011 repectively in Japan). Only the first game was released in the US & Europe in 2007. These are dungeon crawler RPGs with crossover characters from multiple Tales games featured in the same title).
* Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 (GBC/PSP 2000. GBA 2002, GBA 2005 respectively. Never released outside of Japan. The first game was the first-ever direct-sequel in the Tales series)
* Tales of the World: Summoner’s Lineage released for the GBA in 2003 (Japan only) and Tales of the World: Tactics Union (2012, Japanese Android Phones only)
* Tales of Mobile: Only released in Japan for cellphones (NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i). These games are: Tales of Tactics (Tactical RPG), Tales of Breaker (RPG), Tales of Commons (RPG), Tales of Wahrheit (RPG), Tales of Wahreit Colosseum (Arena Battle RPG). Other interesting games released that are connected to Tales for mobile phones in Japan include: Craymel Check (mini-game. Features Tales of Eternia style artwork), Craymel Lab (puzzle game), Groovy Arche (mini-game featured in Tales of Phantasia), Klondike (Solitaire card game using characters from Tales of Tactics), Mieu no Daibouken (Mieu’s Great Adventure, Action RPG with Tales of Abyss’ main character), Reversi (Tales of Mobile spin on the classic boardgame), Scramble Land (Ditto featuring Tales characters), Tales of Quiz (quiz game feat. Tales characters), Tales of Wonder Casino (mini-game collection), Whis Battle (Card Game taken from Tales of Eternia).
* Tales of Fandom (PS1 2002), Tales of Fandom Vol. 2 (PS2 2007) – The first game is an RPG featuring characters from Phantasia, Destiny and Eternia. Second game featured characters from Symphonia, Phantasia and Abyss.
* Tales of Tempest (DS, 2006. Japan Only. Spin-off that is completely unique and not based on another title)
* Tales of Eternia Online (MMORPG for PC. Discontinued after only one year in Japan).
* Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii 2008. Released in the US in 2008 & Europe in 2009). Sequel to Tales of Symphonia for GameCube.
* Tales of VS (PSP 2009. Japan only. Crossover fighting game featuring characters from all games. Similar to Smash Bros. or Final Fantasy Dissidia)
* Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave – PSP 2012 (Japan Only). Dynasty Warriors-style action game.
PHEW! 