As much as I love all things Tales related, I'm not ignorant to its faults, nor will I pretend that they are the greatest games ever. And my eyes were particularly opened to how ungodly awful the latest two Tales have done in terms of sales(Symphonia DotNW did....decent, if you take it out of context and put it into context of its release date. I'll get to that in a minute.) So I'm gonna put up a practical list of things Namco Bandai and the Namco Tales studios could possibly do to make Tales big in the west.
I'm gonna try to order them in most importance to least, so here we go--
1) Marketing
Duh, obvious numero uno. Tales games get craploads of adverts in the east where they are already popular, so why not in the West? Yes, there is a glaring reason; "market the game in the area it sells best at".
How about if that area is continuously getting overshadowed by two larger areas overseas?
Namco and many other Japanese devs have recently stated that they want to branch out more towards the West, and obviously the number one priority for them is by marketing. Take a look at The Last Remnant. Critically, the game was hacked and slashed to kingdom come. Yet in 5 weeks its already sold 400k with sales RISING every week instead of dropping. Anyone want to guess the main reason? Marketing. Sqeenix has got the idea, so Namco should take a hint and think about marketing their best JRPG franchise. And this includes more then just crappy adverts in OXM that don't explain jack about what the game is actually about. Get more previews, commercials, build ungodly amounts of hype for it. And whoever system your deving for, try to get them to help market it(claim its a system seller for a start ;) ), as tough as that may be.
And another thing to advert the hell out of is the multiplayer. Get to that in sec.
2) Advertisments
This could easily go under marketing but I need to go on a tangent here. Marketing just isn't the same in the West as the East. You can't simply say that the game is "part of a rich heritage coming to your console"(You Vesperia goers should know what I'm talking about) and expect people to a) know what the hell you talking about and b) spend money on it not knowing what your talking about. As far as we go here in the West, you could ask 1 in 5000 gamers and they probably wouldn't even know what a Tales game is.
So Namco, you need to start from the base up. Show that this is an action RPG SIMILAR TO FAMOUS ONES LIKE FFVII. Hell, most gamers don't know that its very different, and you need to use that to your advantage. Advertise its style, as in the fact that its like a playable anime.
Now heres the tricky part. DON'T advertise that it has a very emotional storyline. Leave that fact that its lighthearted and goofy ect. ect. 'mostly' under wraps when it comes to advertising it. Obviously don't go and blow "its a dark demented world and as a lone ex-knight comes to face with his destiny...." Well actually that might work.....a-anyway, don't overdo the drama in the commercials. Thats what you do for the East, not so much the west.
HOWEVER. Once you actually get the series established as a dominant game series, you can touch on more of the lighter natured side of the game and more of the emotional storyline in it. But don't wave that in the face of West gamers. I realize myself I'm not like most; I'd jump into that kind of emotional story. But many people hesitate; they see many other games before they see one that messes with their "feelings" as a purchase-worthy game.
In short, advertise the action, story(don't go in depth in it. Only show how 'awesome' the games story looks, mainly through using sweet looking action cutscenes), graphics and customizability(maybe the last one, maybe not.)
And whatever you do, DON'T make the game look corny. You can actually make it corny for sure, but don't make it LOOK corny in the adverts and commercials. Make the characters and action look badass. Instead of showing Emil in his pansy form, show him in badass ready-to-kick-some-ass form.
Keyword here: badass. Do it. People like to feel like badasses or see badasses in games. Ever seen the response 300, or for games, DMC got? Bingo.
3) Boxart
This should be short, but nevertheless neccesary. For a longtime I thought the Vesperia boxart looks awesome, as I still do. But in a Gamestop one day I overheard a conversation about how the game looks like it may be fun, but it looks 'gay' because the guy on the front had long hair. Whoop dee fucking doo, he has long hair, I wanted to say anyway, but you get the point. For an unestablished franchise, you need to think outside the box. Don't make it corny, make the box look badass. Again thats what it comes down to in some cases.
Still, don't overdo it, as things tend to often be done. Look at TLR and Infinite Undiscovery's boxart. They are GOOD. Ya know, real good. Symphonia DotNW has a better then average Tales art, but make it even better then that.
4) Online and Multiplayer
If theres one thing the West seems to love, its the ability to play against or with each other in games. As far as tales go, they have the local multiplayer thing down pat. Unfortunately, until the end of Tales of the Abyss, I didn't even know Tales games EVER had multiplayer. It wasn't on the box, it wasn't on the ads, heck I had to dig to even find it in the instruction manual. Even after that I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. :/
Point is, multiplayer is big here. Real big. And if you want that large part of the crowd who play co-op games, you'll want to emphasize the multiplayer. Now heres the main point of this;
Most JRPGs Don't Have Multiplayer.
But Tales do. Emphasize this. Big points to be made here.
Now local multiplayer is all fine and dandy, but try getting online multiplayer set up. The brilliant minds at the Namco Tales Studios could whip something up, I'm sure, and that extra mile will show. Friends will get friends to buy it so they can play together, and that usually starts a chain going where there are many sales to make here.
Another online possibility is DLC. Release new items, new enemies, and for purchase, new quests and territories. You have your engine, you have your 3D models, all you really need is a little effort, and without having to spend money on publishing and packaging, put it online. Make the quests have incentive; like a brand new sword after going through a dungeon that has special artes or something.
5) The Story
All Tales games have good stories, at least to me. But the story has been critically slapped around as "the same as last year, too common, too blahblahblah." So why not try something new?
Persay, how about instead of being that ragtag group of kids trying to defeat the white-haired super warriors trying to destroy the world, you ARE that badass, white haired super warrior. Except your motive isn't to destroy the world. Or better yet, your motive WAS to destroy the world, and now through some circumstance you no longer care to break the world apart or whatever. Make the story emotional, but not to a point that people feel uncomfortable playing it. This comes down primarily to character interaction, which Tales games are the best at, bar none. And I'm not saying that just as a fan, but a critic. I have no doubt this will be done extremely well no matter what the circumstance the game is made. I personally haven't had any problems with the heroine being too weak in the games yet, but I have had friends who have been turned away(shallow, arent they?) just because of this.
Make the character you play as as awesome, badass and skilled as ever, but from the beginning, and he/she gets even BETTER throughout the game. Just make the enemies awesome too. This may mean that the enemies can no longer be mushrooms or weeds, but thats a small price to pay to appeal to the large Western territory.
Theres really no distinct type of story for an RPG that attracts the western crowd as a given just yet. Still, that doesn't mean that its impossible to find that formula.
5) Dont lose the charm!
I've made some pretty bold and, well, probably dumb suggestions throughout this post. But if theres one things Tales games excel at, its the undeniable charm that goes with each one. The humor, and graphics, the interactions, they are all trademark parts of tales games, and as such NEED to stay an integral part of Tales games to make the brand seperate from other RPGS.
And the charm is done extremely well and well placed throuout the parts of the game. But the thing is, don't let the more emotional and charm-ful parts be the main things people see when they see the game for the first time. Let that be the awesomeness of the game, probably accomplished through the action or graphical style. But let the charm gradually build up from the beginning, and, while you don't overdo it(especialy in the serious parts of the game), let the charm be as prevailant throughout the game, and let the wit stay intact. But no cheesy jokes this time around :P
Still, keep the emotional storyline exist as well as it does now in Tales games. Make the characters endearing, and make the story really suck you in, like they have in all Tales games. This, I leave up to the creative minds at Tales studios, as I really don't have a suggestion for this part.
6 ) Cutscenes
Pretty big here. The cutscenes for Tales games have often been pretty sterile, with reused in-game animations as the cut-scenes. Instead, how about making the cut scenes different from in game animations? Doesn't mean you can't use them often though. Talking scenes should have the characters feel like real people, rather then simply using single animations such as standing and talking. Make them walk around the room or something. Make them make a face, or punch a wall hell I don't know. Just make them flow better. The graphics already make them look great.
Make the cutscenes more action packed and quicker paced for the action scenes. Make the characters, when fighting in a cutscene seem awesome and skilled. Now the reason these cutscenes are probably not already prevailant in the game is because of the word bubbles--to which I say, take the path of Kingdom Hearts!
You know, make word bubble cutscenes when there aren't voice overs, but make simple subtitles suffice for fully voiced cutscenes. After all, if you want to stop and read what a character says because they said it too fast, thats what the pause button is for!
7) No more pre-pubescent teen heroes
This is kind of a personal opinion thing, but not just mine. Really? Why does every JRPG have to have an 8 year olf screaming in your ear in every game you play? Regardless, that doesn't go over as well with the Western audience, as is obvious from whenever a 12 year old joins my Gears of War matches and the boot button starts looking really friendly. Karol was a great developement character in Vesperia, but seriously....his voice could shatter windows (my ear drums). As for an actual character, he was pretty decent.
At least, if your gonna have that, don't make him a main character. Please?
Alright guys, so what do you think of my list? What should I change, add?... If the, uh, blue hurts your eyes just request I take it off...
GOTY Contestants this year: Dead Space 2, Dark Souls, Tales of Graces f. Everything else can suck it.
