What is the Tales series, and why so many people want Lloyd in Smash?

[Vector 2]

Over the past few weeks, I've heard many people speculating that Lloyd Irving from the Tales series will be the next DLC fighter, and that he is actually popular pick as a fighter. Except that up until recently I've never really heard of the Tales series, and seeing that it features yet another JRPG swordsman, I'm puzzled on why people want this guy in. At least with Dragon Quest, I've constantly heard about the series and its impact way before the Hero got into Smash, and while I heard Tales is also popular in Japan, it doesn't seem nowhere near as popular as FF or DQ. What is the Tales series all about, and why does it deserve a fighter representative in Smash?

[Tyranogre 1889]

"Tales of..." is a series of JRPGs by Namco dating back to the SNES where your characters freely run around the battlefield instead of taking turns. But the main appeal of the series is the characters and storylines: each game in the series examines a different trope common in RPGs and deconstructs it. For example, what does it truly mean to be the "chosen one"? Is there a middle-ground between blindly following your destiny, or carving out your own path? How far would you go to do the right thing, even if it's against the law? Is courage really the magic that turns dreams into reality?

 

But as for Lloyd Irving, he's the main character of Tales of Symphonia. Think of him like Cloud from Final Fantasy VII: even though Symphonia wasn't the first game in the series, it was the first game to really become popular in the west, and was the first time many people were exposed to what made the series so well-loved in Japan.

 

Another factor is that Symphonia was originally released exclusively for the Gamecube, during a time when Nintendo and Square-Enix were on bad terms, and and there was a serious drought of RPGs on Nintendo consoles that weren't Pokemon, Fire Emblem, or Paper Mario. Thus, even though Symphonia eventually got ported to the PS2, it's still considered an important game for Nintendo fans.

 

@Ares: how badly did I fuck up that explanation? 

 

[Pichi 517]

yeah Symphonia was big for us Nintenyearolds because a high profile JRPG release on the Gamecube was a big deal
that was the RPG to have. anybody who grew around that time with only a Cube didn't have many others to play.
so he's really big in the west. Japan probably has no fucking idea why he gets a lot of noise lol

[Ares 1086]

33 minutes ago, Tyranogre said:

 

@Ares: how badly did I fuck up that explanation? 

 

you were basically spot-on

[XLW 233]

And then there was Dawn of the New World.  

 

... No one really talks much about the sequel as much as Symphonia. Unless it's like a hidden gem or whatever.  

 

 

[Kezay 753]

If Lloyd does get in I hope Namco is far more generous with soundtrack choices than Square Enix was with Cloud.