The Tales series(anime inspired JRPGs) has 2 classes. The "Mothership" titles that are the main series, and the "Escort" titles that are spinoffs and sidestories.

Tales of Vesperia is a "mothership" title, and a main entry in the series. It is not a spinoff. If Tales were Final Fantasy, Versperia would be a numbered Final Fantasy. ToS2 would be more akin to Final Fantasy X-2, or even Verses13(though we are all fully aware that game is not a spinoff).

The next Tales mothership title after Vesperia, is for the DS, called Tales of Hearts set for December. The next mothership title after that is a Wii game yet untitled, labeled as 2009.

Furthermore, Tales of Vesperia is developed by "Team Symphonia."

This is the same team that has only ever developed the other two most well known and respected Tales games, Symphonia and The Abyss.

This is widely known in Japan, and a major reason Vesperia was/is so hotly anticipated.

Basically, if you haven't played Abyss or Symphonia, then you've missed the FFVI and FFVII of the Tales series.

Tales of Symphonia 2 isn't developed by Team Symphonia, unfortunately. It is labeled not as an escort title on Wikipedia(though I believe it is officially classified as one), but instead under the generic lable: "Side-Story sequel," and listed as being developed by what I assume is a generic team from Namco, not Team Symphonia.

To those that follow the Tales series, "Team Symphonia" is god. They are the Kojima of JRPGs. That is why Vesperia is so hotly anticipated amongst many of us. It's the next real Tales game, from our favorite team.

From Famitsu:

Vesperia: 35/40

Abyss: 36/40(highest score for a Tales game(rumored))

Despite the higher score for Abyss, Famitsu reviewers almost universally labled Vesperia the best in the series of ALL tales games:

"From the story to the battles, the tempo is excellent," said one. "One of the most outstanding games in the series -- this one takes it to new heights!" "The new features work very well with the original system; there's a lot of volume and a lot of incentive to explore it," another added. The game received 35/40 and a Platinum award, making it the highest-rated game of the week. Good job, Namco Bandai(1up)

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169066

Link from IGN confirming that a new Wii mothership title is under development, very possibly by Team Symphonia:

http://wii.ign.com/articles/886/886944p1.html

Link to Wikipedia confirming my thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of#cite_note-1

Tales of Vesperia releases later this month, exclusively on the Xbox 360. Gameplay:

Feel free to correct any errors I've made, as most of my research from this topic was based on logical conclusions. Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese.

This is a very informative post. All of the info in this post is correct too. I know because I enjoy the Tales series more than life itself and I have every game in the series and I love it more than Soriku and possibly more than anyone else on the planet. Yes, I said it!

Big statement, my friend, lol.

Thank you for your compliment.

Hopefully we can keep this up for a day or so, so that a lot of folks can read it. The Tales of series is very often referred to, but it's one of the larger series of games that the general audience doesn't know the details of.

After reading this, most anyone should be able to seperate one tales game from another with just a quick bit of research, and you'll probably know more about JRPGs than your average videogame reviewer.

....and that's why I hope it's ported to the PS3.

Symphonia went to PS2, it is very likely that Vesperia will get a PS3 release in Japan, simply because it would be easy to port, and sell a lot of units.

With a PS3 release in a year or so, there is a lot of potential for sales of this game, worldwide. Particularly if it shares the same "cult classic" status of Abyss and Symphonia.

If it does get ported I could actually see it going to the Wii. The game doesn't look technically amazing at all, and sure looks like something the Wii could handle. The Wii would probably bring the most sales as well. It could be a Japan only release though. It will also help establish the Tales of series on the Wii for the next title even more than Dawn of the New World has.

Tales game have always been shear awesomeness. I'm just glad the legendia team didn't do Vesperia. Good post.

I posted almost exactly one year ago in a thread on this forum that was about Dawn of the New World (Knight of Ratatosk) vs. Innocence. An argument broke out because some people couldn't understand, and wouldn't accept the fact that DotNW is a gaiden. A side game. And I elaborated on why it was a gaiden and compared it to the first gaiden in the series, Narikiri Dungeon. I've touched up and elborated the post a bit because there's more info on the game (since it's out in Japan now) and thus there are more details supporting what I said.

FLASHBACK!

The Book of Claude: Tales Edition

Chapter 1: Why Final Fantasy DOESN'T equal Tales

Let us start by using the first five MAIN installments of Final Fantasy and Tales.

Final Fantasy I -> Final Fantasy II -> Final Fantasy III ->  Final Fantasy IV ->  Final Fantasy V

What do these games have in common with each other? Not much. Just recurring themes like Chocobos, Moogles, Cid, Airships, battle system, the development team, etc. Final Fantasy games aren't related. They don't even acknowledge each other. Until recently, there hadn't been a Final Fantasy that took place in the same universe.

Now, for Tales.

Tales of Phantasia -> Tales of Destiny -> Tales of Eternia -> Tales of Destiny 2 -> Tales of Symphonia 

Pay attention. The two in bold are important.

Tales, like many RPG series, creates new worlds, characters, and storylines between most main installments. Keyword: Most.

Tales of Destiny 2 is a DIRECT SEQUEL to Tales of Destiny and is the 4th installment in the main series. Tales of Symphonia is a PREQUEL to Phantasia and the 5th installment. So where does Dawn of the New World fit in? It doesn't because it's a gaiden, and I'll explain later on.

Final Fantasy X-2 may be a direct sequel to FFX, but notice that it isn't called Final Fantasy XI. Final Fantasy continues to create new universes and characters per main installment, while Tales has no qualms with revisiting certain universes in its main installments. Therefore, Final Fantasy =/= Tales.

End Chapter.

Chapter 2: Tales Gaidens and How they Work

For the purpose of the chapter and for better understanding, I'm going to narrow this selection down to one other gaiden besides Dawn of the New World - Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon. ToP:ND is the first Tales gaiden ever created and as such, was the first to establish the formula that Tales gaidens have followed to date.

First I'll list features found in Tales gaidens, then apply them to Narikiri Dungeon and then Dawn of the New World.

Tales Gaidens

1. Takes place after a main game
2. Introduces two new characters: One male, One female
3. Features the return of the cast in side character roles
4. Features new experimental concepts around the core Tales gameplay. These features generally never make it into the main series.
5. Story-wise, explores aspects of the main game's plot that aren't mentioned or covered in detail
6. Has no cameo battles

Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon

1. Takes place 104 years after Tales of Phantasia
2. Dio (Male), Mel (Female)
3. Phantasia cast (Cless, Chester, Mint, Klarth, Arche, Suzu) returns. They are not playable.
4. Randomized dungeons and using clothing to class change (hence the title, Narikiri Dungeon)
5. The game focuses on Mel and Dio's redemption of their past lives on Derris-Kharlan, which is relevant to Phantasia (and Symphonia, to an extent). 
6. Check (no cameo battles)

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New WorldTakes place 2 years after Tales of Symphonia

1. Takes place 2 years after Symphonia
2. Emil (Male), Marta (female)
3. Symphonia cast returns. They join your party sporadically and cannot be the map avatars.
4. Monster breeding
5. Involves the aftermath of the merging of the two worlds, leading to Emil and Marta's personal struggle to revive the spirit Ratatosk
6. Check (no cameo battles)
7. *** - It has a point and click map. Now, I don't consider this a deciding factor by any means, but I haven't played a Tales gaiden that DIDN'T have a point and click map, and the main games don't.

Not all Tales gaidens follow the guide perfectly. Some diverge ever so slightly, but for the most part, if you can apply these rules to a Tales game, then you know it's a gaiden...though that's usually made clear when the game is announced.

I hope I enlightened some people about what a Tales gaiden is. It's really not that important, since I'm picking the game up on Day One, but it simply isn't Symphonia 2...which means that an ACTUAL Symphonia 2 can and probably will be made in the near future.

End Chapter.

Yeah, I was amazed to see that Symphonia was on the PS2 and I never knew it - looked to see - Japan only, lol. Thank god I have that game on the GC now. I truly hope if ToV gets ported, then ported worldwide... I don't know Japanese, unfortunately.
But even if it doesn't, I still HAVE to get a 360 this generation - it'll be decided by whether Star Ocean 4 is a 360 exclusive forever. Besides, i always wanted Lost Odyssey... I'll get my 360 mid 2009, when there are only Jaspers on sale. 

Isn't 360 -> PS3 hard to pull off? Or was it the other way around?

Either way I'd say a Wii port was more likely. There's no established Tales fanbase on the PS3 like there was on the PS2, with DotNW, New Tales, and Sword of Legendia, it's a little hard to argue that Namco has not chosen the Wii as its preference for the franchise. Wii also has a larger install base to sell to which makes an impact when you realize that Vesperia got outsold by a Tales gaiden. Lots of potential there.