8. Tales of
The Tales series started back in 1995 on the Super Famicom and has remained an essential part of the JRPG genre’s backbone ever since. With over 20 releases to date, it’s become a beloved series with fans the world over, releasing quite a few critically acclaimed titles. The series skyrocketed to popularity in the west with Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube, and has developed a devoted fan following ever since.
Tales games are traditional party-based JRPGs, although the biggest difference is that since the very first game, Tales of Phantasia, it’s featured an active real-time combat system. This was a big deal back in the day as most JRPGs used a turn-based system, and the series’ combat has taken leaps and strides over the year. Most Tales entries also play with genre tropes, setting up a normal JRPG story, before flipping things on its head in some way. Likable characters and deep combat systems are just a couple of the reasons that fans keep coming back. With the latest entry, Tales of Berseria, garnering a 79 on Metacritic, including a 4/5 from us here at Twinfinite, it’s clear the series still has a lot of life left in it.
