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Tales of Rebirth

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Tales of Rebirth
Developer(s)Namco Tales Studio
Publisher(s)Namco
Designer(s)Mutsumi Inomata (character)
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, PSP
ReleaseJPNDecember 16, 2004 (PS2)
JPNMarch 30, 2008 (PSP)
Genre(s)Console role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player, 1-4 (with multitap) in battle mode

Tales of Rebirth (テイルズ オブ リバース, Teiruzu obu Ribāsu) is the sixth title in Namco's Tales RPG series. It was released on December 16, 2004 in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2. Tales of Rebirth has an anime introductory video accompanied by the song Good Night by Every Little Thing. Notably, Rebirth has a much more serious atmosphere than the other Tales games. The character artwork and anime scenes use fewer bright colors, and taller and thinner characters. Namco announced that the game will be ported to the Sony PlayStation Portable for a Japanese release, and is speculated, based on recent Namco's internationalization of other Tales games, that it will eventually come to North America and Europe.[1]

Gameplay

Tales of Rebirth has four main modes of play: menu, town, dungeon, and battle screens. At the menu screen, the player changes various parameters concerning the characters in his or her party; maximum party size is six. Functions include changing equipment, assigning character skills, defining battle strategy, and using items. Additionally, the player can make use of the cooking system from the menu screen. A typical town screen consists of static NPCs that the player can interact with in order to gather information, trade items, provide additional character development, or advance the plot. Safe zones that are free of conflict with the enemy, cities provide valuable merchant and inn services where the player can obtain new equipment or heal all available characters. Dungeon screens are enemy territory subject to random battles, and usually these areas must be traversed in order to reach the next boss encounter as dictated by the game's script. When the player enters combat, Rebirth transitions abruptly to the battle screen(system); groups of hostile units must be annihilated in order to receive valuable items and experience, but escape without reward is also a tactical option. Since bosses are of fixed difficulty and must be cleared, holding the difficulty setting constant, story progression becomes increasingly difficult as escape is used more frequently.

"Skits" can be triggered by the player under certain story-based conditions in the town and dungeon screens. A skit involves animated images of the main characters accompanied by voice acting as they discuss issues pertinent to recent plot development. This feature has become a defining characteristic of the Tales series, with each game presenting hundreds of skits; listening to skits is almost always optional, however.

Cooking has become another subsystem endemic to the Tales methodology, and the system has presented itself in some fashion in every main series game; Tales of Rebirth is no exception. As the player learns new recipes from city inhabitants, an increasingly varied selection of dishes can be prepared once after every battle. Preparing a particular dish can heal the party or temporarily improve characters, for example. As such, cooking is one of the primary methods of healing, along with item use and in-game skills.

Battle system

Veigue attacks with Genryuuzan (幻龍斬) in battle; the characteristic lines of the "Three-line Linear Motion Battle System" are visible.

Rebirth breaks slightly from the series with a new take on the Linear Motion Battle System, the so-called "Three-Line Linear Motion" system. The player's characters and enemies are placed on three different planes and the player has the ability to switch between these planes during battle. This system makes pre-battle positioning of party members on the three different planes critical to success. Two possible options are to place party members on different lines or to stack all characters on the same line, which makes battles more closely resemble those of previous Tales games that in effect only had one line or plane. Also, a new "Force Gauge" replaces the Technical Points, or TP, of the previous games. Tales of Rebirth allows you to assign four skills to the four buttons on the directional pad. In battle, skills have a recovery time that is directly related to the strength of the skill. The Force Gauge is a set of four diamond-shaped marks near the character's portrait in battle, where each diamond corresponds to the recovery time remaining on each of the skills assigned to the four-way directional pad.

The new "Rush Gauge", which measures a character's emotional levels during battle, is located in the lower left corner of the screen during combat. As the gauge fills up during battle, a character's offensive power will increase at the cost of decreased defense. The battle system also includes unique "Secret Justice" moves, extremely powerful combination attacks triggered by an attacking character and a supporting character. Due to the power of these techniques, they can only be performed under very specific conditions.

Another innovative feature added to Tales of Rebirth to improve the Linear Motion Battle System is styled "Enhance". After victory in battle, the player will receive "Enhance Points" (EP) that can be used to improve weapons and armor. EP can be used to improve basic parameters of equipment, such as attack and defense, and unlock latent added effects; some of these added effects include double damage and protection against status effects. Finally, enhanced features from one piece of equipment, such as a weapon, can be transferred to another weapon.

Plot

Setting

Tales of Rebirth is set in a world where humans (called Humas) and Gajumas (beast people) coexist in relative peace. In ancient times, both races joined forces to found the kingdom of Karegia. At the age of 60, the Gajuma king Ladras Lindblum (ラドラス・リンドブロム), who has wisely governed the kingdom for years, gradually weakens and dies a mysterious death. On the day of his death chaos breaks out in the kingdom, and since then people refer to this day as "The Day of Ladras' Fall". His daughter Agarte Lindblum (アガーテ・リンドブロム), the only remaining blood relative and heir to the throne, takes over as queen. She is advised by Zilva Madigan (ジルバ・マディガン). The latter is often referred to as the princess, due to her close ties to the imperial family.

Characters

File:ToRVeigue.jpg

Veigue Lungberg (ヴェイグ・リュングベル, Veigu Ryungeberu)
Age: 18
Seiyū: Nobuyuki Hiyama
The protagonist of Tales of Rebirth, Veigue wields a sword in archetypical CRPG fashion. An orphan whose parents died when he was young, Veigue has been raised by the family of Claire Bennett, the game's heroine. Veigue is cold, unsociable, and withdrawn, but when he is with Claire he softens. In combat, Veigue is a powerful close-range fighter who can endure a significant amount of punishment on the front lines. Veigue uses the Force of Ice.

File:ToRClaire.jpg

Claire Bennett (クレア・ベネット, Kurea Benetto)
Age: 17
Seiyū: Mio Yasuda
Claire is the heroine of the game; her family took Veigue in when he was a child. She rarely left her village of Sulz before the initial events of the game. Her focus on the positive traits of others, good heart, and optimism have earned her respect and admiration in the local community. Though she travels with your party, she does not serve a combat role and therefore spends most of her time as a guest NPC. Claire does not use Force.

File:ToRMao.jpg

Mao (マオ, Mao)
Age: 13
Seiyū: Akeno Watanabe
Mao is a boy without memory traveling with the imposing Gajuma warrior Eugene Gallardo, who Mao views as a father figure. He uses two tonfas as his weapons. Armed with many offensive elemental techniques, Mao is a balanced character who can attack at long range with spells and fight at close range with his tonfas. Mao uses the Force of Fire.

File:ToREugene.jpg

Eugene Gallardo (ユージーン・ガラルド, Yūjīn Gararudo)
Age: 40
Seiyū: Unsho Ishizuka
A powerful spear-wielding Gajuma warrior, he travels with Mao. Eugene, who is also an ex-commander of the Karegia Kingdom, is a physically strong character who excels at mêlée combat with the enemy due to his ability to take and deal damage. Eugene uses the Force of Steel.

File:ToRAnnie.jpg

Annie Barrs (アニー・バース, Anī Bāsu)
Age: 15
Seiyū: Akiko Yajima
A girl who hates Gajumas (after learning that Eugene is behind her father's death), she uses a staff as her weapon to cast spells. Annie can learn a wide variety of support magic, including healing, enhancing, and debilitating spells. Although her direct attacks are limited and weak, Annie is very useful in a support role, healing and curing the party while reducing the offensive and defensive capabilities of the enemy. Annie uses the Force of Rain.

File:ToRTytree.jpg

Tytree Crowe (ティトレイ・クロウ, Titorei Kurou)
Age: 17
Seiyū: Kappei Yamaguchi
A worker in Petjanandka who cares deeply for his big sister and has grand ideals regarding racial equality. Hotblooded Tytree uses a hand crossbow in combat. He can attack at long range with his crossbow, but Tytree is hardly defenseless in close combat. He has a varied selection of martial arts techniques at his disposal, including a number of kicks that serve him well when the enemy closes in. Tytree uses the Force of Wood.

File:ToRHilda.jpg

Hilda Rhambling (ヒルダ・ランブリング, Hiruda Ranburingu)
Age: 21
Seiyū: Sayaka Ohara
A beautiful but cold fortune teller, revealed to be a Half (half Huma, half Gajuma, similar to the Half-Elves in other Tales games); she attacks with magic cards in battle but is best suited to casting offensive magic. Hilda should be protected by other characters while she unleashes her magical arsenal uninterrupted. Hilda uses the Force of Lightning.

Agarte Lindblum (アガーテ・リンドブロム, Agāte Rindoburomu)
Age: 20
Seiyū: Emi Shinohara
Daughter of the late king Ladras Lindblum, she is heir to the throne of Karegia by blood.

Milhaust Selkirk (ミルハウスト・セルカーク, Miruhausuto Serukāku)
Seiyū: Shinichirou Miki
Military leader and general of the Karegian kingdom, Milhaust is frequently antagonistic with the party, standing against and directly opposing Veigue.

Story

Veigue Lungberg lives in a village, Sulz, located in the cold, yet beautiful northern region. While he has never thought about leaving the village, he begins pondering this option after his familiar surroundings, including Veigue himself, come under attack from a mysterious outside military force.

Audio

The music for Tales of Rebirth was co-operatively composed by Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura, Isao Kadowaki, and Shuji Ikegami; the soundtrack for Tales of Rebirth was released on four Compact Discs by Namco in Japan on January 26, 2005.

Reception and legacy

Tales of Rebirth received a 32 (8 / 8 / 8 / 8) from Famitsu; the game has totaled over 600,000 in Japanese sales.

References

  1. ^ "New Tales coming to PS2, PSP, Wii and DS in Japan". 2007-07-20. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
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