Namco has been letting U.S. Tales fans down

[Kogahazan]

Tales is the 3rd most popular RPG series in Japan, the juggernauts being Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

[Leroy]

Tales is third but as far as sales go it's still quite behind Final Fantasy. No single Tales game has sold even a million copies in Japan yet, with Destiny and Destiny 2 getting the closest (700-800,000 I believe). Final Fantasy is usually 2-2.5 million, Dragon Quest is usually 3-4 million. Though (sadly, in my opinion) Final Fantasy has the edge worldwide as that's the only RPG series to get mainstream appeal.

[Cless]

Tales is probably 4th now with Kingdom Hearts. A distant 4th.

[supersonic1453]

Seriously?!  Three KH games displaces Tales for popularity?

[Cyllya]

I'm pretty sure Pokemon is ahead of Tales as well.

I sometimes suspect that "third most popular series" statistic came from someone simply pondering, "Wow, Tales is so much popular in Japan, I bet it's the most popular RPG series! No wait, FF and DQ are obviously more popular. So it must be number three!" I've heard people claim the same thing of series (besides MegaTen, I forget what they were).

If it's 3D, will buy Americans say.

Yeah, the last US Tales with 3D graphics sold so much.

[Cless]

Megami Tensei is a really old series but saleswise it doesn't stack up against Tales.

So with Pokemon I guess it makes Tales #5.

I guess Pokemon is largely forgotten since it's the only big RPG series that is largely (well, only) on Nintendo platforms...

[Datschge]

I guess Pokemon is largely forgotten since it's the only big RPG series that is largely (well, only) on Nintendo platforms...

For the main RPG series only Nintendo handhelds (which weren't taken as serious platform by many people) even...

[Cless Aileron]

I guess Pokemon is largely forgotten since it's the only big RPG series that is largely (well, only) on Nintendo platforms...

My idea about Pokémon being largely forgotten is pretty different.  I think it's mostly because it's not taken very seriously.  It's a pretty basic RPG aimed directly at kids that they just forget about it.

It probably doesn't hold much water but it's just my idea of why it's forgotten.

[Goshi]

Actually the Mother series is pretty big in Japan too, with Mother 2 make quite a good amount of sales and Mother 3 still in one of the most desured game lists in Japan.

That makes Tales either stay at 5th or move down to 6th O_o

[chingi1]

Well, its in the top ten. (Stop trying to shoot it guys.)
Oh well.

[bungiefan]

I'm pretty sure Pokemon is ahead of Tales as well.

I sometimes suspect that "third most popular series" statistic came from someone simply pondering, "Wow, Tales is so much popular in Japan, I bet it's the most popular RPG series! No wait, FF and DQ are obviously more popular. So it must be number three!" I've heard people claim the same thing of series (besides MegaTen, I forget what they were).
Yeah, the last US Tales with 3D graphics sold so much.

"non-handheld" has been omitted from the phrase for a long time. Pokemon has crushed the competition for a long time now, but the statistic was people talking about full console RPGs, and not including handhelds.

[Tedius Zanarukando]

With Dragon Quest VIII, the Dragon Quest series has almost caught up with Final Fantasy in gaining mainstream appeal, although the Dragon Quest series historically had a limited sales run in North America. 

I am opposed to Sony Computer Entertainment of America's localization policies.  Those policies have made it hard for the Tales series to get a good regional decision record.

[Goshi]

Then your a Sony hater. Welcome to the club

But seriously though, I think Namco really don't have any plans on releasing many Tales games here because they only want games that sell. Tales of Phantasia GBA, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Legendia, all recently released, didn't get many sales at all compared to many other games.

[Magicpaint]

My idea about Pokémon being largely forgotten is pretty different.  I think it's mostly because it's not taken very seriously.  It's a pretty basic RPG aimed directly at kids that they just forget about it.

It probably doesn't hold much water but it's just my idea of why it's forgotten.

Forgotten by who? When Diamond and Pearl still sold over 1.5 m copies in its first week?

[Leroy]

Forgotten by who? When Diamond and Pearl still sold over 1.5 m copies in its first week?

Ha-ha! That's more than two Tales game's total sales figures together.

But that post brings up an interesting observation I've noticed on the internet, people tend to think that their likes/dislikes or the likes/dislikes of a very specifically-focused fan circle tend to be that of the general population. It's not just video games either, take that stupid Snakes on a Plane crap, people were shocked that nobody went to see it (sales figures wise). I kept telling them that if they logged off the damn internet they'd see nobody else cared about it.. but they remained in their secluded denial. Oh well.. it's an amusing source of humor for me at any rate.

[Dimentionalist]

I sometimes suspect that "third most popular series" statistic came from someone simply pondering, "Wow, Tales is so much popular in Japan, I bet it's the most popular RPG series! No wait, FF and DQ are obviously more popular. So it must be number three!"

I'm pretty sure it was our good friends at Nintendo Power who said that. I recall them saying something to that effect in the ToS cover issue.