Tales (video game series)
The Tales series is a franchise of role-playing games published by Namco. The series is most popular in Japan, and only a few entries have been localized for North America or Europe. In Tales of Phantasia, the game was developed by Wolfteam in 1994, and that game was published in 1995. Most of the development staff involved left Telenet Japan after the game was released and then formed tri-Ace, who now make the Star Ocean game series, published by Square Enix.
The Tales games were continued to be developed by Telenet Japan and published by Namco until after Tales of Destiny 2 both companies formed the dedicated joint venture Namco Tales Studio. The only remaining staff from Tales of Phantasia are: Series director Eiji Kikuchi, and music composers Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura.
Recently announced on the Tales Channel are a remake of Tales of Destiny on the PS2, a fully voiced version of Tales of Phantasia on PSP, a port of Tales of Destiny 2 on PSP, and a new Tales of the World entry.
The Tales of Destiny remake and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology are slated to release Winter 2006. Tales of Phantasia will be priced at 5,040 yen and be released September 7th, 2006. The Tales of Destiny 2 port will be released sometime in 2007.
Battle System
The series posseses an unusual battle system. It has been likened to that of a fighting game (like Street Fighter) and is called the Linear Motion Battle System, or LMBS for short. Usually the player has direct control over one character (often the protagonist) and can move and direct this character in any way they choose. By pressing the attack button along with a directional button in different directions, the character can perform various kinds of attacks, like slashes and thrusts or ground-to-air and air-to-ground type attacks. The character's weapons usually have different attack values for a slash or a thrust. There are three modes of control for each character: Auto, Semi-Auto and Manual, with the first being controlled by the computer, the second being the classic hybrid mode and the third offering a true manual control over the character more comparable to a fighting game. At any time, the player can bring up a menu which pauses the action and allows them to select an item or an ability to use (and the target), a spell to cast (and the target), change a character's artificial intelligence tactics or escape from the battle among other things. The later games in the series allowed for up to four players to join in a battle (requiring the MultiTap for PlayStation consoles) instead of computer control (with the exception of Tales of Legendia which was developed by a different team). The Linear Motion Battle system has been progressively enhanced as the series progressed. Tales of Phantasia started with the Semi-Auto mode, Tales of Destiny added a true Manual mode and the ability for multiple players to control one character each, Tales of Eternia sped up the battle considerably and added the now very popular Hi-Ougis which were then exploited by Tales of Destiny 2. Additionally, a hit counter is displayed, leading to impressive combo feats which, once recorded, are popular in fan circles. Newer Tales games extend this battle system through different means: Tales of Symphonia added a 3D battle field while retaining the linear connection between controlled character and targeted enemy, Tales of the Abyss builds upon this and offers the optional Free Run similar to Star Ocean 3. Tales of Rebirth on the other hand kept the 2D system while offering three lines of movements instead just one.
Game list
The following is a list of the games, their release dates and systems. Games without mention of a North American or European release date are, or were, marketed exclusively in Japan.
Main games
| 1995 | Tales of Phantasia SNES/SFC (fan-translated into English and other languages [1]) |
| 1997 | Tales of Destiny PS1 (1998 in North America) |
| 1998 | Tales of Phantasia PS1 |
| 2000 | Tales of Eternia PS1 (2001 in North America as Tales of Destiny II) |
| 2002 | Tales of Destiny 2 PS2 |
| 2003 | Tales of Symphonia GCN (2004 in North America and Europe) |
| Tales of Phantasia GBA (2006 in North America and Europe) | |
| 2004 | Tales of Symphonia PS2 (Japan Only) |
| Tales of Rebirth PS2 (Japan Only) | |
| 2005 | Tales of Eternia PSP (2006 in Europe) |
| Tales of Legendia PS2 (2006 in North America) | |
| Tales of the Abyss PS2 (2006 in North America) | |
| Tales of Eternia Online PC (Japan Exculsive) | |
| 2006 | Tales of the Tempest NDS |
Spinoffs
| 2000 | Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon GBC |
| 2001 | Tales of Eternia: The Animation anime |
| 2002 | Tales of Fandom (Volume 1) PS1 (Mint and Cless versions) |
| Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 GBA | |
| 2003 | Tales of the World: Summoner's Lineage GBA |
| 2004 | Tales of Tactics Mobile phone |
| 2005 | Tales of Breaker Mobile phone |
| Tales of Phantasia: The Animation anime | |
| Tales of Commons Mobile phone | |
| Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 GBA |
Upcoming games
| Tales of the Tempest NDS: October 2006 | |
| Tales of Destiny Playstation 2 (remake): Winter 2006 | |
| Tales of Destiny 2 PSP (port): TBA 2007 (before March 31, 2007) | |
| Tales of Phantasia ~ Full Voice Edition PSP (remake): September 7th, 2006 | |
| Tales of Symphonia OVA (anime): TBA 2007 | |
| Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology PSP: Winter 2006 |