With the release ofTales of Ariseonly a few weeks away, it was a surprise to see Bandai Namco announce another newTalesgame titledTales of Luminariaat Gamescom 2021. A mobileTalesgame,Tales of Luminariahad a brief trailer that showcased its 3D character and environment design, reminiscent of its console counterparts.
Although mobileTalesgames have been successful in Japan, they have historically been unpopular in the west. This time,Tales of Luminariahas the advantage of riding the hype behindTales of Arise.With more attention fixed on the franchise than ever before, the game could turn out to be an interesting way for the series to expand further.
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What’s Been Revealed About Tales of Luminaria
The trailer forTales of Luminariaat GamesCom 2021 didn’t reveal much about the upcoming mobile game. Its opening shots featureTalesprotagonists over the years before revealing a brand new cast of characters and their weapons. As mentioned,Tales of Luminariaalso features 3D character and environment designsthat underscore the real-time combat the series is known for. While previous mobileTalesgames featured overworld exploration, the Gamescom trailer seems to emphasize it more with shots of villages, NPCs, and different monsters. Previous mobileTalesgames have featured characters from the mainline series, but it looks likeTales of Luminariawill focus on its original cast and story instead.
Tales of Luminariais an interesting concept, especially following the success ofmobile games centered around overworld exploration likeGenshin Impact.As long as it has a compelling story and an interesting cast of characters, there’s plenty of potential for it to succeed in the west. On the flip side, it’s also quite easy for the game to fail, as it can’t solely rely on the excitement behindTales of Arise.Given the franchise’s history of mobile games in the West,Tales of Luminariahas to bring something new if it hopes to expand upon the franchise.
Succeeding Where Previous Mobile Tales Games Haven’t
The biggest worry forTales of Luminariais that thehistory of mobileTalesgames have been hit-or-miss in the West. While its mobile games are quite popular in Japan, only one of them is still available globally:Tales of Crestoria.Tales of Asteriais one of the earlier mobile titles that’s exclusive to Japan, meanwhileTales of the Raysoriginally had a global server that was shut down in its first year.
Many fans citeTales of the Raysas being the best one because itplays like an actualTalesgamewith a great original cast. On the other hand,Tales of Crestoriafeatures a great story but its constant raid grinding and lack of quality-of-life updates have diminished its playerbase. As the only mobileTalesgame available globally, it has numerous areas to improve upon, and fans can only hope thatTales of Luminariadoes a better job of avoiding those mistakes.
Longevity is key forTales of Luminariagiven the franchise’s previous history with mobile games in the west, and this will depend on how much it feels like an actualTalesgame. The fact thatTales of Luminariawill see a simultaneous worldwide release with proper English voiceover seems to indicate that Bandai Namco is putting in more of an effort to appeal to western audiences. With the attention thatTales of Arisehas generated, it’ll be interesting to see how Bandai Namco plans to expand the franchise withTales of Luminaria.
Tales of Luminariais currently in development for iOS and Android devices.
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