Congratulations on 20 years of Tales Of...

Tales of Zestiria has been announced by Namco Bandai, the latest release in the Tales of... franchise. Zestiria is planned to return both to the franchise's roots, but also embrace the roots of the fantasy genre. Part of how they're doing this is by heavily involving dragons in the game, which the developers believe are symbolic of fantasy. Expect Tales of Zestiria to be released worldwide on PlayStation 3.

That's right! Tales of Zestiria actually had a localization announcement the same day as the game was announced. For a franchise that just recently was localizing games well after, even years after, the game's initial release this is a huge step forward. Whether or not players can expect a same-day release is probably overstepping any realistic expectations, but let's cross our fingers nevertheless.

Tales of Producer Hideo Baba made the following statement on bringing Zestiria to both North America and Europe:

"Over the past few years the TALES OF team has taken great strides to strengthen our relationship with players across North America and Europe. To respond to their love and support I am honored to open a new chapter of the TALES OF series together with Japanese and overseas fans."

With Zestiria Namco Bandai has made several changes, apparently taking heavy influence from fan feedback including several surveys that they've released. What specifically does that mean? Well, it means a entirely revamped combat system to start, plus the above mentioned refocus on the roots of fantasy.

Tales of Zestiria will be released on the PlayStation 3. Hopefully it will be released in 2014, but perhaps a western localized version may come a bit late. Overall, however, this is pretty outstanding news for all Tales of JRPG fans.