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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

［インタビュー］「テイルズ オブ アライズ」の大型DLC「Beyond the Dawn」本日発売。本編に込めた思いとDLC開発の背景を富澤祐介プロデューサーに聞いた

　バンダイナムコエンターテインメントは本日，「テイルズ オブ アライズ」の大型DLC「Beyond the Dawn」を配信した。今回4Gamerは，IP総合プロデューサーである富澤祐介氏にインタビューを実施。発売から2年が経った「アライズ」本編の反響や当時の思いに加えて，DLCの開発秘話を聞いた。

www.4gamer.net

As a result, there were a large number of new players and those who played the game for the first time in a long time, and the game sold more than 2.7 million copies worldwide, which is unprecedented for a single Tales title. I was able to.

Here's various sales figures and records for past Tales releases:

 

[Fbh]

Hopefully they announce a new one soon.
Arise was good but not great. A bit too long, with annoying bosses and the story/characters were pretty meh, but at least it was a significant step up in terms of production values and the core gameplay was fun

 

[Fabieter]

I hope they find a way to bring local coop back.

 

[Skifi28]

Where's Berseria? I always thought it;d be one of the best selling ones.

 

[Danjin44]

It was far from perfect but I still enjoyed it, MUCH more than I did with Zestiria.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Where's Berseria? I always thought it;d be one of the best selling ones.

It was the best Tales Anime but the game?

 

[Nankatsu]

Tales of Arise was awesome. Hope they keep the formula.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Those are some low ass numbers sheesh

 

[Mister Wolf]

I had a blast playing it and already bought the expansion.

 

[Kazdane]

My only complain about Arise is that the final dungeon felt *way* too long. Other than that, loved the game, and I'll be playing the DLC they've just released.

 

[SantaC]

Too bad the dlc was low effort

 

[March Climber]

The PS3 games would sell great on newer consoles if they simply remastered them and bundled them together. It can even be digital-only now since no one cares anymore.

 

[Astral Dog]

They made it so it resembles a modern Action RPG,the art,graphics and combat animations are i hope it passes 3 million, its a great game

 

[SantaC]

The PS3 games would sell great on newer consoles if they simply remastered them and bundled them together. It can even be digital-only now since no one cares anymore.

It makes too much sense to remaster the ps3 games so it wont happen.

 

[blackjon24]

Great game let down by bad final act and dumb pay to win elements that don't belong in this game, idc if it is optional, it cheapens the experience. I would much rather wait to get a substantially different tales game like we got for arise vs getting them every year like we used to. Also Tales of symphonia is still the best, give us a true remake it deserves, not a crappy overpriced port.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

Where's Berseria? I always thought it;d be one of the best selling ones.

The sales list is slightly out of date, Berseria surpassed 2 million a few months after Namco released that.

Tales of Berseria shipments and digital sales top two million

Total worldwide shipments and digital sales for Tales of Berseria have surpassed two million units, Bandai Namco announced.

www.gematsu.com

 

[Anime-Vix]

Im surprised Tales Of Xilla did not make any of these lists. That was my favorite Tales game. I remember it doing well during it launch from what I remember. I guess the lack of PC version and being stuck on PS3 is why.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Those are some low ass numbers sheesh

Profitable enough to keep the series going for a few decades now whilst also seemingly upping the budget/production values of more recent entries. The series seems like its in a good place.

Before I was quite keen on an Arise 2, but after this seemingly low effort expansion DLC I think I'd prefer a new entry which uses a similar visual style to Arise instead.

 

[Danjin44]

Before I was quite keen on an Arise 2, but after this seemingly low effort expansion DLC I think I'd prefer a new entry which uses a similar visual style to Arise instead.

I said this before, they are very few JRPG devs who can make really good expansion and Monolith Soft is one of them.

 

[March Climber]

I said this before, they are very few JRPG devs who can make really good expansion and Monolith Soft is one of them.

Can't wait to see what they'll pull off graphically on Super Nintendo Switch.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Symphonia still better


I own this but had a hard time getting into it so it went into the ole backlog to probably never see the light of day again lol

 

[Doom85]

Hopefully they‘ll use that money to make a better Tales game now. Arise had improved graphics, but the characters and story were weak, and the world was even more linear and less to do in than prior titles. And get the fuck out of here with that new skit format.

For my money:

1. Abyss
2. Berseria
3. Vesperia
4. Symphonia

Those are the best of the series.

Then Xillia 1 and Graces are pretty good, Zesteria is okay, Arise is meh, and Xillia 2 (let’s charge full price for a “new game” where 90% of the environments are copy/pasted from 1!) sucks aside from some decent characterization from a few of the first game’s characters.

 

[March Climber]

Arise had improved graphics, but the characters and story were weak, and the world was even more linear and less to do in than prior titles.

Is Arise the Final Fantasy 13 of Tales games?

 

[The Pleasure]

Hopefully they‘ll use that money to make a better Tales game now. Arise had improved graphics, but the characters and story were weak, and the world was even more linear and less to do in than prior titles. And get the fuck out of here with that new skit format.

For my money:

1. Abyss
2. Berseria
3. Vesperia
4. Symphonia

Those are the best of the series.

Then Xillia 1 and Graces are pretty good, Zesteria is okay, Arise is meh, and Xillia 2 (let’s charge full price for a “new game” where 90% of the environments are copy/pasted from 1!) sucks aside from some decent characterization from a few of the first game’s characters.

Phantasia and Destiny were better then Simphonia.

 

[YukiOnna]

I'll put my feelings aside about Arise and hope this leads to a better product in the next mainline title. Still hoping for anything to capture the same feeling as Vesperia

Those are some low ass numbers sheesh

Maybe your perception of sales number is warped due to the AAA sphere? It's pretty good for this series.

 

[darkangel-212559]

Great game. Terrible DLC.

Still my favourite JRPG to come out since Persona 5.

 

[ShirAhava]

Where's Berseria? I always thought it;d be one of the best selling ones.

It makes me sad because Berseria is a far better game than Arise

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

It's not the best Tales game, but not the worst either.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I enjoyed the increased production value and the new art style but ultimately the story and characters left me cold.

I would really like them to start recording actors together or at least getting rid of the long, awkward pauses between lines.

 

[Doom85]

Is Arise the Final Fantasy 13 of Tales games?

I’d say it was more the 16 of video games for me. Especially since XIII improves later in the game, whereas both Arise and XVI drop off hard in their second halves apparently (from what I’ve heard by most, I dropped XVI at about the halfway point, and Arise I gave up at about 30 hours, not sure if I was at the halfway point). I could at least finish XIII, whereas XVI (and XV) just wore out my patience.

Phantasia and Destiny were better than Simphonia.

I liked Phantasia okay, but 2D combat just feels rough with me with how Tales is designed.

Never managed to snag a copy of Destiny.

Don‘t know why you’re calling it Simphonia, yes I do wonder if some rank it the highest purely because it was their first Tales they played, but I “only” have it at #4, still solid but there are a few I prefer.

That said, I’d simp over Sheena and Raine any day.

 

[Alexios]

Tales of Graces probably could have outdone that if they had handled it better. Start out with Wii launch but keep that Japan only then take ages to make the worldwide PS3 version and not even enhance it much, it would have probably looked great with a cel shading shader on top of the cute gfx.

 

[KàIRóS]

Destiny should be number 1, where's the remake Bamco?

 

[Arsic]

I played more of any other title than this one. Looked good, but I stopped after the first major boss.

It didn’t hook me at all sadly.

 

[lh032]

2.7m multiplatform.
No wonder JRPG is dying.

 

[BossLackey]

Next one needs more enemy variety, a less bloated campaign, and less narrative handholding and it will be amazing.

They had something with Rise, but it has a lot of problems that I think are easily fixed.

 

[Alexios]

2.7m multiplatform.
No wonder JRPG is dying.

I mean, it literally says it's the best selling yet, clearly being such a long running series it was not hanging with the big boys that were at one point selling multiple millions easily so it has nothing to do with that and if anything it shows the opposite as a second/third rate series sells better than ever.

 

[Danjin44]

2.7m multiplatform.
No wonder JRPG is dying.

Persona 5 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Persona 5 (including Royal) had sold over 7.2 million units by April 2023, making it the best-selling entry in the Megami Tensei franchise

What are you talking about?

 

[Alex Anderson]

I bought a sealed copy of this at gamestop for $5 (ps4) just because I could

 

[adamsapple]

I liked it. Hope it sells more.

 

[YukiOnna]

2.7m multiplatform.
No wonder JRPG is dying.

I don't understand, what's the basis for such a comment? If the company is happy with the title-to-title performance or average, isn't that all that matters? Even if they weren't, Japanese developed titles are some of the best-selling so what are you on about?

 

[lh032]

Persona 5 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What are you talking about?

nier is not jrpg, its an action game.

Most JRPG will probably fail to meet the sales number of personal 5.

In other words, developing an AAA JRPG is a very very high risk.

 

[Jedge]

For some reason I thought the tales series would sell more per title. Arise was a lot of fun and I hope they keep making them.

 

[Danjin44]

nier is not jrpg, its an action game.

Nier is action JRPG just like Nier Replicant and Drakengard before that and in Automata can level up to 99...so its absolulty JRPG.

nier is not jrpg, its an action game.

Most JRPG will probably fail to meet the sales number of personal 5.

In other words, developing an AAA JRPG is a very very high risk.

Most JRPG dont have stupid high budget like most western games does, they dont need to sell COD numbers to make profit.

 

[Alexios]

nier is not jrpg, its an action game.

There have (almost) always been action based JRPGs, like the Mana series since 1991 (which started as part of Final Fantasy) or Ys since 1987 (same year as but before Final Fantasy, one year after Dragon Quest). Stop doubling down on your ignorance or showing it off so much, maybe.

 

[lh032]

Nier is action JRPG just like Nier Replicant and Drakengard before that and in Automata can level up to 99...so its absolulty JRPG.

Most JRPG dont have stupid high budget like most western games does, they dont need to sell COD numbers to make profit.

Games like NIER targeted to different audience. Having a level system doesnt mean its jrpg.

JRPG fans complaining when FF16 is an action game.

They want the traditional JRPG, but in AAA budget.

 

[YukiOnna]

nier is not jrpg, its an action game.

Most JRPG will probably fail to meet the sales number of personal 5.

In other words, developing an AAA JRPG is a very very high risk.

7R hit 7M, From Software just had a title that sold 20M or whatever (unless you're those people who think it's not a JRPG, but I'll ignore that). But Why does it matter if it's AAA or not as long as it's a good game and it turns a profit? None of this is close to "JRPG is dying"

 

[KàIRóS]

Nier is action JRPG just like Nier Replicant and Drakengard before that and in Automata can level up to 99...so its absolulty JRPG.

Most JRPG dont have stupid high budget like most western games does, they dont need to sell COD numbers to make profit.

I don't know why you guys lose your time debating these guys, just remind them that Pokémon sells more than Call of Duty, end of discussion.

 

[lh032]

7R hit 7M, From Software just had a title that sold 20M or whatever (unless you're those people who think it's not a JRPG, but I'll ignore that). But Why does it matter if it's AAA or not as long as it's a good game and it turns a profit? None of this is close to "JRPG is dying"

ok fine, i mean AAA jrpg is dying.

pretty sure 7R budget is AAA. and as i said above, not every JRPG able to breakeven with that massive budget.

You will still see alot of low budget JRPG games thats for sure.

 

[Danjin44]

ok fine, i mean AAA jrpg is dying.

pretty sure 7R budget is AAA. and as i said above, not every JRPG able to breakeven with that massive budget.

You will still see alot of low budget JRPG games thats for sure.

I dont give rat ass if its AA or AAA, as long as its good game then I'm more than happy to play it.....game having high budget doesn't always mean better and thats true with every type of game JRPG or not.

Edit FF7rebirth is not only big JRPG coming out in Feb... unless you think thats not JRPG because it has action combat.

 

[Alexios]

I dont give rat ass if its AA or AAA, as long as its good game then I'm more than happy to play it.....game having high budget doesn't always mean better and thats true with every type of game JRPG or not.

He's just trying to change his argument after it was obliterated, lol, how would he be talking about AAA only when he made a comment based on the Tales series and its own data, since it never was AAA, lol. Just a sad, pathetic, ignorant hot take he thought he could get away with a hit and run for.