While entries in the series generally stand independent of each other with different characters and stories, they are commonly linked by their gameplay, themes and high fantasy settings.

Multiple people have become linked with the series, including character designers Kōsuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata, producers Hideo Baba and Makoto Yoshizumi, and composer Motoi Sakuraba.

Most of the main Tales games have been localized for North America and Europe, although almost none of the spinoff titles have been released abroad.

[6] The 2006 Nintendo DS game Tales of the Tempest was originally seen as a main entry in the series, but in 2007 was classified as a spin-off, possibly due to poor reception of that particular title.

[48] Tales of Arise, designed as a departure from series conventions, was originally set to release in 2020 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but was delayed to September 2021 due to internal issues and the desire to launch the game on next-generation consoles.

[50] In 2020, a different internal organization scheme was announced; "Original" for games featuring new stories as well as their sequels, and "Crossover" for secondary entries drawing characters and worlds from various past titles.

[74] A made-for-television anime based on the opening sections of Zestiria, Dawn of the Shepherd, was produced as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations related to the title.

Considered one of the mainstays and building blocks for every main entry in the series, it undergoes multiple incremental changes and alterations from one installment to the next.

[8] Some features introduced in certain games have proven popular enough to remain in future installments like "Free Running" (the ability for a character to freely roam the battlefield).

[92] Elements of turn-based combat are also present, though to a lesser degree: an example of this is Destiny's "Chain Capacity" feature (the number of skills a character can perform), which appears in later games in the series.

[101] In the majority of previous Tales games, when navigating the overworld or environment and encountering an enemy, combat took place on a separate battle screen.

[96] Another recurring feature is the Cooking system, where characters learn and prepare dishes to restore health and forms of experience points.

[106] In Tales of Crestoria, unlike the previous titles, the combat system is a turn-based RPG, which is very rare in the series.

The interviewers suggested that this point of view was based on the fact that Western fans were not generally experienced in Japanese culture, and so would see the stories in each entry as similar.

[116] For Vesperia, the team opted to raise the age limit of the target audience, showing this in the game by making the main protagonist a more mature type.

[50] One of the recurring differences between the two game types internally is that "Escort" titles don't supply inspiration for main entries in the series, but draw the most popular elements from them.

[124] Due to bad experiences at Telenet Japan, the previous employer of multiple Wolf Team members, the staff sought an independent publisher for the game.

[125] Phantasia had a troubled development cycle for the original Super Famicom version, with many creative disagreements between Wolf Team and Namco.

[126] The disagreements led to most of the Wolf Team staff leaving after the game in order to start a new company, tri-Ace, which would go on to make the Star Ocean series.

[124] The studio's shares were divided between Bandai Namco, Telenet Japan and series director Eiji Kikuchi.

[139] Other designers to work on the series include Kazuto Nakazawa (Legendia),[140] Kouichi Kimura (Xillia 2),[141] and Minoru Iwamoto (Zestiria).

[118] Anime cutscenes are included in each game, and are a primary focus for the production team as they help make the first impression on players.

[144][145] For the brand new title Tales of Arise, the world design went in a darker direction compared to earlier entries, both to further the series evolution and appeal to the Western market.

[9][28] While the option of the Japanese voice tracks have been heavily requested for Western releases by fans, licensing issues have mostly prevented Bandai Namco from implementing it.

[174] While keeping a lower profile in English-speaking regions, in Japan, it is regarded as one of the biggest role-playing video game series.

1UP.com's Jeremy Parish, speaking in 2006, referred to it as the third biggest RPG series in Japan behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

[175] Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield echoed these sentiments, stating that "While the series doesn't have quite the cultural cache of Final Fantasy in the West or Dragon Quest in Japan, it's still a very popular brand worldwide".

[4] IGN's Anoop Gantayat additionally referred to it as the third biggest Japanese role-playing series in regards to sales.

[181][190][193] The in-game graphics have also drawn mixed responses for several games in the series, including Destiny, Eternia, Graces and Xillia.

Much of their research about what titles to release or develop in the future revolves around direct conversation with Tales series fans at gaming conventions and special events.