I'll sum it up
In the 15 years, what has been your favorite installment so far and why?
I have been asked this question many times, and I always like to say my favorite title is the first installment of the series: Tales of Phantasia. Tales of Phantasia is the root of the 15-year history, and where the series' basic features were solidified.
Xillia has a more mature art style. Do you see this trend continuing for future games?
I can surely say that the art style of Tales of Xillia will be a basis for future titles. We introduced the life-size characters to better portray the atmosphere and scale of the adventure, and so players can feel as though they are exploring the world. Though the characters are expressed in life size, the texture is not photo realistic, but is based on the anime and water-color style, which is one of the traditional characteristics of the series.
Traditionally, Tales has been featured on individual platforms, but this was changed with Tales of Vesperia on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Japan. Will future releases continue the multi-platform trend?
As of now, I do not have a plan to release [Tales of Xillia] on multi platforms. At this time, I would like to mainly select the platform on which the most users can enjoy the Tales of series.
In the past, North American fans have been frustrated over entries that didn't make it over here. How do you see the future of the series in North America?
I think the ideal situation is if we can bring all the titles to the overseas fans, I would like to do so. However, we cannot consider the overseas releases separately from the business perspective, and we need to discuss which title to release overseas considering the localization. If the series can be enjoyed by as many fans in the western countries as in Japan, there are possibilities to solve the problem. In order to do so, I have been aggressively attending overseas events and done grassroot activities for the past two years to make the series more recognizable and have more people interested in it. I believe if these activities succeed, it can be instrumental in making it possible to bring more titles overseas.
Where would you like to see the series go next?
Since the storyline is one of the most important elements in RPGs, we have been considering different ways of portraying the narrative so that players can fully immerse themselves into the story. I would like to develop a new Tales of game where players can enjoy the adventure seamlessly.
Seems like tales won't go multiplat
