The Tales of series has become one of the RPG genre’s most endearing and enduring IPs both in its native country of Japan and abroad. Often featuring stories of innocent worlds thrust into dark times, it falls on the heroes and heroines to persevere by growing as people while at the same time remembering the values and beliefs that nestle deep within their hearts in order to overcome threats bent on either world domination or total annihilation. Whether the presentation and art direction are innocent (Tales of Phantasia), or more mature (Tales of Xillia), these games have worked their way into our collective consciousness to such a degree that the series has become a popular and well regarded industry mainstay. The games have deep combat and character growth mechanics but they are not so cumbersome as to be overwhelming or intimidating to entry level players. Additionally, there are many familiar elements of the series that receive new iterations with every subsequent release, which means that the core concepts of Tales of games are constantly being updated and reinterpreted in new and interesting ways.
Bandai Namco knows it has something special with this franchise and they’re looking to reach an audience that loves RPGs but may hot have ever experienced the simple magic of the Tales of games. Next year, Steam will be getting a port of one of the more popular games in the series, Tales of Symphonia, a story of spiritual and political beliefs from opposing cultures and the necessary relationship that exists between worlds which are diametrically opposed but are also dependent on each other for survival. Tales of Symphonia also boasts one of the most popular character rosters in the entire series, so much so that Bandai Namco eventually returned to the Symphonia world to make a sequel, called Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
Right now all we have is a Steam page, which you can visit by clicking here, and some screenshots. Note that while this is probably a PC port of the PS3 remaster of Tales of Symphonia that was released as part of the HD remastered Tales of Symphonia Chronicles in 2013 (Japan) and 2014 (North America & Europe), this is not a solicitation for Chronicles but only for the first game. It’s likely that Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World will be released at a later point, and perhaps only depending on sales of the first game on Steam. Regardless of what the future holds for Tales of on PC, it’s great to see the series getting a Windows release.
Tales of Symphonia is scheduled for release on PC in 2016. No specific release date has been confirmed yet.
