Tales of

The Tales of series is one of the most prolific and underappreciated JRPG franchises, a long-running Bandai Namco line that has quietly shipped major entries for over a quarter century. Its signature is mechanical rather than narrative: the Linear Motion Battle System, which trades the genre's usual menu-driven turns for real-time, fighting-game-flavored combat where you control your character directly on a 2D plane.

What ties the games together is sensibility, not continuity. Most entries are self-contained, sharing an anime art style, party-banter "skits" that flesh out the cast between battles, and earnest themes about prejudice, faith, and found community. The range on display runs from the SNES-era Phantasia through fan favorites like Vesperia and the Xillia pair, to the darker Berseria and the visually reinvented Arise. Symphonia even spawned a direct sequel in Dawn of the New World. For players who want combat with their character drama, this is a deep and consistent well.

The Tales of franchise spans 11 games in the CrossBinge catalog.