Tales of Eternia

Tales of Eternia
Developer(s)	Telenet Japan/Wolfteam
Designer(s)	Mutsumi Inomata (character)
Composer(s)	Motoi Sakuraba Shinji Tamura
Series	Tales
Platform(s)	PlayStation PlayStation Portable
Release	PlayStation PlayStation Portable
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Tales of Eternia (テイルズ オブ エターニア, Teiruzu obu Etānia) (Tales of Destiny II in North America) is a Japanese action role-playing video game released by Namco on November 30, 2000 in Japan, and on September 10, 2001 in North America. The game is the third game in the Tales series, and plays similar to its two predecessors, Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny, as a 2D anime-style RPG with an original real-time battle system.

The game was retitled Tales of Destiny II strictly for its release in North America. The naming choice later caused some confusion after the release of the Asia-only PlayStation 2 game known as Tales of Destiny 2, which was a real sequel to Tales of Destiny taking place in the same fictional world. Tales of Eternia, however, is not actually directly related to Tales of Destiny. It was believed that the release of Tales of Destiny II possibly prevented an English version of real sequel game, Tales of Destiny 2.

The game was well received and sold relatively well. The game inspired a Tales of Eternia anime of 13 episodes co-produced by Production I.G, which is loosely based on the game, in early 2001. Additionally, the game was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2006 in Japanese and European regions; a North American release did not happen.

Gameplay

The game plays similar to other Tales games, following the precedent set by previous role-playing video games in general as well. An overworld map is used to navigate from one location to another in the game's fictional world. Cities and towns, which are populated with NPCs, are valuable sources of information, for either triggering events that move the plot forward, or extra information that fleshes out the game's story and setting. Additionally, city merchants will exchange Gald, the in-game currency, for items or equipment that can be vital to completing the game.

Battles with enemies are done through the Linear Motion Battle System, a hybrid fighting system that combines fighting game and traditional role-playing game elements. Movements and attacks are done in real-time, with the fighting being compared to the Street Fighter series. However, the action can be paused to use different menus for things such as item. The game's menu screens can be used to organize and uses items, creates new magic spells, develops battle strategies, changes character equipment, and views character statistics. Selected features from the menu screen, such as item use and AI settings, are available in battle, while other aspects are relegated to outside of battle. The game can be saved at any time - a first for the series. The player can also learn recipes throughout the game, using them to cook status-enhancing or healing food out of combat.

Battle system

A chaotic shot of Meredy (far left) casting Freeze Lancer, with (left to right) Keele, Farah, and Reid.

Tales of Eternia carries on the tradition of the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS), a system that is somewhat similar to a 2D fighting game. Commands are entered in real time, and both allies and enemies act out their orders in real time in the 2D plane. Normal attacks and special techniques are usually executed instantly, but spells have a chanting time that increases with the complexity of the spell. Unlike the previous two games in the series, Tales of Eternia executes spells in real time, allowing for spell effects can be dodged and evaded if the player is fast enough, adding another dimension to the gameplay. The only partial exceptions are Greater Craymel Artes, which still freeze the initiation phase but finishes off in realtime.

Much like its predecessors, Tales of Eternia gives the player a large degree of control over computer-controlled allies and the techniques they use. Since the player only directly controls one character at a time, all other characters are governed by the general rules of AI behavior set by the player before and during battle. During battle, the player can switch which character he or she is controlling, while issuing specific orders to other allies to execute certain techniques on command.

Magic

The game also possesses magic-based moves referred to as "craymel". Magic-based moves are called "Craymel Artes", the casters are called "Craymel Mages" and the spirits whose powers are used are called "Greater Craymels". The Greater Craymels, cannot be summoned at ease; the mages must first fill the Greater Craymel's vitality meter, which is done by using the artes associated with the respective Greater Craymel. New Craymel Artes can be learned by the "Fringe" command.

Plot

Synopsis

The game follows Reid Hershel as he tries to prevent the Grand Fall, a cataclysmic event that would destroy his planet along with that of newly-found traveling companion Meredy. Specifically, the Grand Fall entails the violent collision of twin planets Inferia and Celestia. The two planets, face one another, separated by the Orbus Barrier. Interaction between the two planets has been infrequent over the last few centuries despite their proximity; the Bridge of Light linked Inferia and Celestia in the distant past, but the link has been severed for an extensive period of time. The Aurora War, an ancient conflict that set Inferia against Celestia over two thousand years ago, continues to generate persistent mistrust between the two groups. The Orbus Barrier has shown recent signs of weakening and possible collapse due to the actions of an unknown external force.

The journey takes Reid across both planets, as he seeks out those responsible for this movement towards the brink of annihilation.

Characters

Reid Hershel (リッド・ハーシェル, Riddo Hāsheru)
Reid is the red-haired protagonist who wields a wide variety of melee weaponry, including swords, axes, and halberds. His main strength is his vast array of powerful close-combat special techniques that utilize his high physical power; Reid's high HP and defense statistics also help him survive close-quarters combat. Reid and Farah have known each other since childhood, growing up in the same small village, Rasheans, and have become close. Reid cannot use magic, but he has the special ability to use Fibril, the so-called "Power of the Gods", to execute some unique and powerful techniques late in the game.

Farah Oersted (ファラ・エルステッド, Fara Erusuteddo)
Farah is a hardheaded farm girl from the same village as Reid, and they are almost always together as childhood friends. Throughout the game, a light romantic relationship is implied between Reid and Farah. She uses her martial arts prowess to inflict hand-to-hand damage on her enemies through punches and kicks and can link many of her special attacks into each other, and she also has a narrow selection of healing chi. Farah's weapons are knuckles that augment the strength of her physical blows, and she plays more of a supporting role than Reid both in and out of battle.

Keele Zeibel (キール・ツァイベル, Kīru Tsaiberu)
Keele is a scholarly researcher who spends his time at Mintche University investigating Craymels and their applications. Keele has the ability to cast offensive magic and summon based on what Greater Craymels are assigned to him. Although he has a few innate spells that are gained automatically, the vast majority of Keele's spells must be gained through Greater Craymel assignment and fringing (combination) to develop new techniques. Therefore, both Keele and Meredy are highly customizable. Keele fights with staves and maces, but his physical attacks are weak.

Meredy (メルディ, Merudi)
Hailing from Celestia and speaking a language alien to the Inferians, "Melnics", Meredy is never without her companion Quickie. Meredy's home is Imen, the city of Craymels, in Celestia. Meredy has the same Greater Craymel options as Keele, including fringing, offensive spellcasting, and summoning. Like Keele, Meredy has a handful of innate offensive spells. Meredy uses whistles to command Quickie and attack from long range; she can obtain a special item late in the game to control him more accurately while defending or casting a spell, increasing her power as a stand-alone character.

Chat (チャット, Chatto)
Descended from a famous pirate, Aifread, Chat styles herself an oddball pirate who is the captain of an impressive ship, the "Van Eltia", but she has no crew. Before meeting Reid in the course of the story, Chat lived in relative isolation and avoided contact with others. Also she is often called a boy when she is a girl. Chat has the ability to steal from enemies, and her weapons are handbags.

Max (フォッグ, Foggu) The leader of the resistance group, Shileska, which is aligned against the de facto Celestian government; Shileska is headquartered in the Celestian city of Tinnsia. Max wields high-powered energy guns as a ranged attacker.

Rassius Luine (Ras) (レイシス・フォーマルハウト(レイス), Reishisu Fōmaruhauto (Reisu))
Ras is an agile swordsman who uses sabers in quick attacks and techniques. Despite his calm demeanor, Ras eventually becomes an adversary, opposing Reid's goal of traveling to Celestia and stopping the Grand Fall. Ras has many powers in common with Reid, such as common weapon and some sword techniques. As portrayed in the game, Reid is not on good terms with Rassius; the two often compete, with Reid shown as jealous towards Ras's relationship with Farah, as she shows a certain affection towards him.

Development

PlayStation release

Tales of Eternia was announced in 2000 as the third game in the Tales series, and was shown in non-playable form at the Tokyo Game Show in 2000. While eventually released under this name in Japan, when released in the North American region, the game was retitled to Tales of Destiny II. Some speculated the game was retitled to avoid trademark infringement on the word "Eternia", owned by Mattel in North America for the Masters of the Universe toyline, but the game's creators stated it was done strictly for brand name and brand recognition reasons; Tales of Destiny was the first of the Tales game to be released in North America, and they wanted to draw a clear connection between the two games. (The first game in the Tales series, Tales of Phantasia, made in 1994 for the Super Nintendo, was not brought to North America until it was ported to the Game Boy Advance and released later in 2006, so for some time, Tales of Destiny was the beginning of the series for North American audiences.)

The naming choice would later cause further confusion after the release of the PlayStation 2 game known as Tales of Destiny 2, a genuine sequel to Tales of Destiny taking place in the same fictional world. Tales of Eternia is not actually directly related to Tales of Destiny, and is a different game from Tales of Destiny 2 for the PlayStation 2 in 2002.

The development team is known for giving a "characteristic genre name" for games in the Tales series, which is largely a phrase that describe's the game's over theme. For this game, it was RPG of Eternity and Bonds (永遠と絆のRPG, Eien to kizuna no RPG). The soundtrack for Tales of Eternia was jointly composed by Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura, and it was released in Japan on March 16, 2001 by Marvelous Entertainment on two CDs.

PSP re-release

A port of the game was announced by Namco in 2004, and was made playable, in limited form, at E3 2004. The game itself was largely unchanged, although Namco did manage to greatly reduce loading times, eliminating the need for any "now loading" signs altogether. Graphically, the game was altered to match the PSP's specifications. The field graphics were cropped, and the battles being redone in full widescreen, and the frame rate was improved in the overworld map.

Namco only published the PSP version of the game in Japan; Ubi Soft picked up the game for distribution in Europe, and it went unreleased in North America. The game, which had not been released in Europe prior to the PSP release, retained the Tales of Eternia title, despite Tales of Destiny II being used in the prior English language release in North America. The original PAL release suffered from a glitch that prevented further progression in the game after a certain mandatory battle, but in reprints of the game this problem was fixed.

Reception and sales

Review scores

Publication	Score
Electronic Gaming Monthly	7 of 10
Famitsu	33 of 40
GameSpot	7.1 of 10
AllGame	4 of 5
IGN	8.5 of 10
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine	3.5 of 5

The game received generally positive reviews upon its release, garnering a rating of 82 on the aggregation site Metacritic. IGN praised the gameplay, citing "a great action-oriented battle system that has no close equivalent in any other game". GameSpot recommended it only to people who value gameplay over graphics, stating "it's a good bit of fun to play" but it "...would not be out of place on the Super Nintendo about eight years ago" regarding graphics. Namco's localization effort was generally seen as sufficient, with the humor of the script translated to the North American audience, but reviewers found the game's voice acting to be deficient and unremarkable. AllGame praised the gameplay, character designs, and 2D graphics, but criticized the game's weaker, less emphasized story, and the voice acting, stating "It isn't that the voice actors do a horrible job, it's just that more often than not, they sound as if they're waiting to get their oil changed instead of on a life-or-death mission."

Reception for the PSP port, while limited due to not releasing in North America, was general positive in the European region, which had not received the prior PlayStation version. Eurogamer gave the game an 8 out of 10, stating that game was "...by far and away the best RPG for the PSP currently on the market (as of April 2006)...", praising the graphics and gameplay, complaining the story felt "cliche" and "rushed". PALGN praised the story of the game, stating "The story on its own has a few major twists and goes along at a pace that will keep you interested, but it’s not that spectacular, but still has quite a bit of depth" and the game's sense of exploration, stating "That’s one of the best things about Tales of Eternia. Despite being somewhat linear, you can still go your own way. The depth in the story and in the gameplay itself allow you to really play as you wish."

The PlayStation version sold 873,000 copies and the PlayStation Portable version sold 398,000 copies.

Legacy

Main article: Tales of Eternia: The Animation

A 13 episode anime series produced by Xebec also called Tales of Eternia was inspired by the game; the series originally ran on Japanese television from 8 January 2001 to 26 March 2001. Tales of Eternia was licensed by Media Blasters on 6 July 2002 for North American distribution, but the company's license expired and it was never released in the region. The plot of the anime series is completely unrelated to the story of the original game, but contains common elements including the four main characters, Greater Craymels, and spells.

External links

• Official North American Website (PlayStation)