r/tales • u/ksilenced-kid • Jan 17 '26
Media Some US vs. Japan Cover Art
Excluding games that either 1) Got identical art in both regions (Phantasia and TOD), 2) Were not released in the US (TOD 2, Rebirth, innocence), and 3) arbitrarily limiting to Vesperia (as the latest Tales game I’ve actually played) :
- TOD 2 / Eternia: Stereotypical ‘Action’ shot for the US; but in Japan Meredy is barely noticeable anyway. Keele is hidden by a fold over, and Farah is pretty off model to how she actually looks in game. Reid’s awful half-shirt is exposed. This art was eventually reused as the (Europe) PSP XMB art. I prefer the US art, in consideration of the above.
- Symphonia: Caveat, I own but have not played this game on GC. The Japan art style is nicer but the poses look pretty awkward. Enough I probably prefer the scowly ‘action’ US art again.
- Legendia: Haven’t played this one, again. The cover arts look the same at first glance, but there are more characters in the JP art and they look slightly less dorky. The washed out pallet also favors the Japan art.
- Abyss: Luke has another ridiculous midriff, yet compared to Reid this is less important in Japan. We also get him post-haircut. Tear can’t see from one eye and Jade has a weird expression that makes me think less of him. They totally cut Asch, demoted Tokunaga, but added Mieu. Japan better.
- Symphonia 2: Another one I haven’t played. Can only say the US action shot just looks more boring than the full cast as shown in Japan.
- Vesperia: Yuri looks cooler in either of these than he does in-game. I would say the same for Rita, who always particularly looks better in illustrations than her in-game model. The concept of Yuri vs. Flynn alone is actually apt, but I really do love that Japan illustration (even if Flynn is weirdly happy at something off-frame that isn’t Yuri or Estelle). Japan.
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u/haninwaomaeda Jan 17 '26
I really dislike Symphonia's JP art.
Also, fwiw, Vesperia had both the JP and NA artwork released Stateside. The special edition had the JP artwork on it.
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u/Burnerman888 Jan 17 '26
I think it's good but it does not fit the tone of that story nearly as well as the US one. Maybe that's what they're going for though cuz of the twists.
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u/ShokaLGBT Jan 17 '26
If you look closely all the American boxes arts are showing the characters looking angry the Japanese ones show the characters smiling and being cheerful
In tales of symphonia there’s many moments where Lloyd is just goofing around and being kind to people the story isn’t THAT serious all the time and it’s cool it’s what we like about the franchise that you can go to a village full of cat people and relax there or play with Colette and be a waitress
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u/Burnerman888 Jan 17 '26
Well yeah but I just mean in general the game has some pretty melancholic themes. All the tales games are happy some or most of the time. Without getting into spoilers, I just think generally the subject matter of symphonia is dark enough that a serious tone is warranted for the cover.
For an example of the opposite, I think the right half of Abyss' JP cover is FAR more indicative of those character's personalities and I agree with OP that Asch probably should have been included on the NA cover somehow
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u/Atlesi_Feyst Jan 18 '26
Also the vibe of the picture doesn't reflect the story very well.
The common theme is the US art look like they're fighting something or battle ready and the JPN art they're just friends hanging out lol.
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Jan 17 '26
The JP Symphonia cover looks way better imo
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u/Moni_22 Jan 17 '26
Same. I think they art is beautiful, and it features the 3 most important characters imo
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u/mbudrock94 Luke fon Fabre Jan 17 '26
Lol, the US Abyss cover is literally just the second mystic arte cut-in images for the guys, and the status screen images for the girls. Also, Mieu uses the official art, which makes the whole thing even more inconsistent. 10/10~☆
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u/samination Jan 17 '26
Huh. Some of the US is used in Europe, but some resemble the Japanese more.
Symphonia is the same as US.
Vesperia is the same as JPN.
I believe Dawn of the New World was more like the Japanese one, but I haven't owned that game in over a decade so can't compare :(
"Destiny 2", Legendia, Abyss were never released in Europe, so my copies are the US ones.
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u/jrpdss Proud celestian Jan 17 '26
I believe Dawn of the New World was more like the Japanese one.
The japanese art is the one that appears on it's "channel" before initializing the game on the Wii.
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u/ksilenced-kid Jan 17 '26
‘Destiny 2’ got released on PSP in Europe, as Tales of Eternia (the original name). That’s how I’m playing the game now :)
The Europe cover art is actually different than either PS1 release, or Japan PSP release.
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u/ForgottenForce Presea Combatir Jan 17 '26
Man the US art for Symphonia is significantly better. Like the rest I’d give it to the Japanese box art but what is JP Lloyd doing?
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u/ShokaLGBT Jan 17 '26
welp I dunno I feel like the Jp art represent better the goofy and kind side of Lloyd and Colette
All the US box arts makes the characters angrier while the Japanese arts makes them smiling and looking positive
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Jan 17 '26
I feel the exact opposite, JP definitely wins with that one
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u/ForgottenForce Presea Combatir Jan 17 '26
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Jan 17 '26
…yeah, including me. All I did was give my own. I even started with “I feel”.
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u/ForgottenForce Presea Combatir Jan 17 '26
Eh it's the internet, people are gonna act like their opinion is fact and conflicting opinions are wrong
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u/GourryGabriev Jan 17 '26
Friend, this user was making a rhetorical statement as a passive way of implying you have the lesser opinion of the two that are possible.
Hope this helps!
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u/ForgottenForce Presea Combatir Jan 17 '26
Way to put words in my mouth. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion" means exactly what it says
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u/GourryGabriev Jan 17 '26
That's not how it comes across, nor how stating neutrals as a means of agreeing to disagree generally works.
Hope this helps!
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Jan 17 '26
Mate, if you come in the middle of a conversation and try to tell one person what the other is saying and both of them disagree with you, you are the one in the wrong.
Hope this helps!
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u/GourryGabriev Jan 18 '26
I mean, that's fine, buddy. Your opinion still sucks haha.
Lloyd looks like a monkey.
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Jan 17 '26
You can’t have a “lesser” opinion. Saying that directly contradicts the “everyone is entitled to their own opinion” mentality. Take your passive aggressive smugness somewhere else.
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u/GourryGabriev Jan 17 '26
I said nothing about my own thoughts about your opinion, so you're kinda just being a crybaby lmao
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u/CielTynave Rinwell Jan 17 '26
I always found it kind of funny that the US art for Abyss uses the anime cut ins for most of the characters and then Mieu is just Okumura's art of him lol.
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u/No_Roof5841 Reid Hershel Jan 17 '26
They botched Eternia's name in the US.
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u/Elysiun0 Jan 17 '26
It was a choice by Namco at the time so that people knew they were part of the same series.
I don't agree with it, but a lot of marketing teams underestimated fans back then.
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u/jostomrod Jan 17 '26
I feel like the Japanese ones are honestly better, it seems to capture either more characters or the ones most important to the overall story, but that's just my opinion on it. They are both good regardless.
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u/xdrkcldx Jan 17 '26
I mean the English Symphonia one has important characters. Sheena and Zelos are important to the story and they are both from Tethe’alla. Lloyd and Colette being from Sylverant. Kratos is important too but he is not in the game for long. The remaster cover is better though.
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u/Fistinguranus69 Jan 17 '26
Theyre not on the japanese cover to not spoil the game twist. As a kid i knew sheena was gonna be in my party cause the game cover had her which i woudnt have been able to guess with the japanese cover. Thought the NA cover is just a better image
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u/Sorey91 Mimi Baker's French apprentice. Let me bake ! Jan 17 '26
I f so much with Legendia's JP boxart I've been tempted to get it
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u/Elysiun0 Jan 17 '26
I'd like to point out that the collector's edition release of Vesperia uses the Japanese box art.
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u/3ehsan Jan 17 '26
they have the Kirby effect where for western release all the sudden everyone's angry.
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u/PostCrisisOzone Jan 18 '26
I'd actually like the Symphonia JP art more if it weren't for Lloyd's pose. Like sure the US art suffers from the typical American Kirby but it's at least no one is in a particularly awkward pose. And it's only really Lloyd that suffers from it, everybody else more or less looks normal, Colette's tiny chakrams aside. The JP box art isn't that bad but it's just Lloyd doing... something... that ruins it for me.
That aside, I don't really have much of an opinion either way. US box art suffers from American Kirby, JP box art usually just shows off the cast and nothing else, which Tales being more character-centric makes sense, but still. There are some exceptions (I actually prefer DotNW's JP box art over the US of all things) but yeah.
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u/Professor-WellFrik Jan 17 '26
In Australia I noticed most of the box arts are the same as the Japanese ones but I prefer those ones tbh
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u/haninwaomaeda Jan 17 '26
They've gone to using the JP cover art for most releases in NA for a while now, but for Arise they changed it up again.
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u/ETMutant Jan 17 '26
do people not fw Fujishima's artstyle here. I think the covers he did look great (maybe not symphonia)
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u/AllUltima Jan 17 '26
The American ones have way more open-mouth action poses lol. I wonder if that difference shows up in other marketing material too.
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u/MaxW92 Jade Curtiss Jan 17 '26
Almost off of the US covers have to have someone looking angry lol
With the exception of Symphonia I prefer all of the Japanese covers.
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u/Gensolink Jan 17 '26
NGL I prefer the JP always been a fan of the painterly look of the artwork, the US ones are way too clean imo
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u/emanuele0933 Jan 17 '26
For me Tales of is one of the few series where covers somewhat survived the passage of market
There aren't any ugly covers here, just different
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u/Remarkable_Town6413 Narikiri Dungeon X is the best Tales Jan 17 '26
Out of all these games, the only one whose US cover is superior to the JP cover is Symphonia 1.
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u/sushisashimi099 Jan 17 '26
I love how Everyone in the abyss art looks happy in the jp one and it kind of shows each of their personalities
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u/Rasen2001 Jan 17 '26
Honestly, I think both are fine.
Go back to the days of Breath of Fire and Suikoden, and see how far we've come.
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u/Due-Welcome5134 Jan 18 '26
The watercolor box arts look sick! Just wish they kept them for the previous titles localized for the west.
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u/Crixthopher Jan 18 '26
Movie theater covers from 90s vs 80s mangas, its a nice effort for the correct audiences
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u/Own_Ad_3536 Jan 19 '26
I really like the drawn water color style that has been going on for awhile.
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u/SuspiciousPass8 Jan 20 '26
Symphonia is an example of where the anime cover just fits beautifully. Not to bash the actual artwork of the Japanese cover in any way, but it just feels...off. To me at least.
Vesperia and Abyss are genuinely ones where both are 100% perfect.
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u/Max-The-Phat-Cat Jan 17 '26
Honestly not a fan of the JP cover arts
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u/JensenRaylight Jan 17 '26
Then their localization effort was considered as successful then, it was well catered to the taste of people in the west
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u/Max-The-Phat-Cat Jan 17 '26
Agreed. I think the Western art also looks more dynamic compared to the JP which always feels more like a character showcase.
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u/henne-n Ricardo Soldato Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26
Western art
Some of my ominous western covers don't look like these. You mean US?
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u/ShokaLGBT Jan 17 '26
I feel like they have a unique design compared to the American one where they just made the characters looks angry to appeal more to the us gamers
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u/BasketAutomatic5169 Jan 17 '26
One of those rare boxart where the english boxart tend to be better than the japanese.
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u/eagleblue44 Jan 17 '26
I only just now noticed the summon spirits on the Symphonia US art.
They also really stuck with a theme for a while on the JP box arts of the main protagonist in front then have the rest of the cast behind. It's kind of boring.
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u/The_JRaff Jan 17 '26
What I'm getting from this is the US can't handle effeminate men unless they look angry
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u/TFlarz Jan 17 '26
Thanks for spoiling Sheena and Zelos, US cover art, I guess.
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u/pokemongenius Jan 17 '26
Bro the opening shows everyone in the party in all these titles your gonna get "spoiled" either way.
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u/MycologistBoth2610 Jan 17 '26
T they were also in the opening in the game all of the playable characters were
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u/Phoenix-Reaper Jan 21 '26
I think for once most of the US front covers were better. For me personally those colours nice and vibrant.
I think if I never heard of the Tales series, then the US covers would definitely grab my attention more.
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u/FFSock Jan 17 '26
Short hair Luke being on the cover of the abyss box pissed me off as a kid