Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

The director of the Bandai Namco action JRPG Scarlet Nexus, Kenji Anabuki, was recently interviewed by the Japanese outlet denfaminicogamer about the title and tangentially related facets. This interview is lengthy, lasting a whopping two pages of in-depth answers.

Some of the questions had to do with the Tales of franchise, with one, in particular, revealing Anabuki’s resumed involvement as the one leading the Tales of team.

You can read the full question and response below, translated by our team’s Ryuji:

Interviewer: …Is there any chance that the knowledge you gained from developing Scarlet Nexus will be returned to the Tales of series?

Anabuki: That’s right. I temporarily left when I was developing Scarlet Nexus, but now, I am in charge of leading the group that oversees the Tales of series. About half of my life as a developer consists of the Tales of series. And Scarlet Nexus was born out of that. Therefore, I intend to return my knowledge and experience to the Tales of series in the future, so I hope “Tales of” fans will support me in this endeavor.

Interviewer: I see. What does the Tales of Series mean to you as a developer?

Anabuki: The very first game I worked on as a developer was Tales of Symphonia. Since then, I have been involved in many games, so the Tales of series has sort of become my base as a game developer.

At first, I was just one developer [among many], but now my position has changed, and I am in a position to give back what I experienced and I am very happy to be working on the Tales of series again.

For those unaware, Anabuki worked on Tales of Symphonia, both Tales of Xillia entries, Tales of Vesperia, and Tales of the Abyss.

You can view the full interview here.

Scarlet Nexus Director Kenji Anabuki Returns To Tales Of Team As Leader - Noisy Pixel

The director of the Bandai Namco action JRPG Scarlet Nexus, Kenji Anabuki, was recently interviewed by the Japanese outlet denfaminicogamer...

noisypixel.net

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Scarlet Nexus Director Kenji Anabuki Returns To Tales Of Team As Leader - Noisy Pixel

The director of the Bandai Namco action JRPG Scarlet Nexus, Kenji Anabuki, was recently interviewed by the Japanese outlet denfaminicogamer...

noisypixel.net

Hopefully good news

Tales of Arise was horrible

 

[YukiOnna]

Arise was under the God Eater team IIRC and I wasn't really into it. As long as we steer in a different direction than Xillia era, I'll come back.

 

[Kakax11]

Good guy

 

[Virex]

I liked Tales Of Arise(Vesperia and Abyss are still my favourite). I had more fun with Tales Of Arise than Final Fantasy XVI

 

[Hudo]

Tales of Arise was horrible

I love how the Tales of fanbase essentially dislikes every Tales game, you'll even find more people than expected who dislike Symphonia or Vesperia.

 

[Valt7786]

So no Scarlet Nexus 2?

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I love how the Tales of fanbase essentially dislikes every Tales game, you'll even find more people than expected who dislike Symphonia or Vesperia.

Tales of Abyss, Vesperia and Berseria is still the best Tales

 

[Seyken]

Hopefully they can invest more into the new game following the good sales from Arise, which itself was good until a certain event in the midway point. After that it looks like they ran out of budget and started cutting corners left and right and rushed to the end.

It was glaring to receive the BIGGEST plot twist in the game from a no-name npc in a very nonchalant way. Instantly made me sure that something had gone awfully wrong during development.

 

[squidilix]

Good?
I'm still curious for each Tales of games... But Arise, I don't know... is just like not a Tales of games... It make me feel a very a pretentious games

 

[ProtoByte]

Graces still has the best combat by a wide margin. Like most Japanese games though, the writing could use a lot of work across the board.

 

[Nankatsu]

Tales of Arise was horrible

 

[SantaC]

Hopefully good news

Tales of Arise was horrible

Yes it was. One of the worst tales.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

 

[IAmRei]

ToA is great, but the music is meh for me. I dont like the music, it is tiring me much.

 

[March Climber]

A lot of people have complained about the last few tales games, but this franchise must be selling well if they treat it like FF by making other game leads move to a new tales entry.

 

[Kurotri]

I unfortunately have to share the sentiments about Arise, it really wasn't great. Berseria was absolutely fantastic, and I hope the next one can reach those levels again with the tech they made for Arise.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Arise was great. I'm looking forward to the next entry in the series.

 

[Celcius]

I’m shocked so many disliked Arise. It was great.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

What a legend!

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I’m shocked so many disliked Arise. It was great.

Some people's entire online identity revolves around disliking things.

I also think it is a great game. My only complaint is that the lord battles are far too drawn out in length and essentially cheat. I get that we want them to feel powerful, but having them ignore how the battle system usually works isn't the right way.