TALES OF REBIRTH

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]

Contents

Gameplay

Battle system

Plot

Setting

Characters

Story

Audio

Reception and legacy

References

External links

Gameplay

Battle system

''Tales of Rebirth'' breaks slightly from the series with a new take on the Linear Motion Battle System, the so-called "3-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

Characters

(Voice Actor: Nobuyuki Hiyama) – The 18 year-old protagonist of ''Tales of Rebirth'', Veigue wields a sword in archetypical RPG 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.

(Voice Actress: Mio Yasuda) – Claire is the 17 year-old heroine of the game; her family took Veigue in when he was a child. She rarely left her village of Sulz before the 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.

(Voice Actor: Akeno Watanabe) – Mao is a boy without memory traveling with the imposing Gajuma warrior Eugene Gallardo, whom he sees as a father to him. Only 13 years of age, Mao uses two tonfas as his weapons. Armed with many fire elemental techniques, Mao is a balanced character who can attack at long range with some spells and fight at close range with his tonfas. Mao uses the Force of Fire.

(Voice Actor: Unsho Ishizuka) – A powerful 40 year-old 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 point-blank mêlée combat with the enemy due to his ability to take and deal damage. Eugene uses the Force of Steel.

(Voice Actress: Akiko Yajima) – A 15 year-old 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.

(Voice Actor: Kappei Yamaguchi) – A 17 year-old worker in Petjanandka who cares deeply of his big sister and has big ideals of race 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.

(Voice Actress: Sayaka Ohara) – A beautiful but cold 21 year old fortune teller, revealed to be a Half (half Huma, half Gajuma, in a similar fashion of Half-Elves in the other Tales series) 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.
(Voice Actress: Emi Shinohara) – Daughter of Ladras Lindblum, she is the heir to the throne by blood.
(Voice Actor: Shinichirou Miki) – Military leader and general, Milhaust is frequently antagonistic with the party, standing against and directly opposing Veigue.

Story

''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 , 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 , the only remaining blood relative and heir to the throne, takes over as queen. She is advised by . The latter is often referred to as the princess, due to her close ties to the imperial family.
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.

Audio

Reception and legacy

Tales of Rebirth received a 32 (8 / 8 / 8 / 8) from Famitsu.

References

1. New Tales coming to PS2, PSP, Wii and DS in Japan

External links

★ Namco's official website for Tales of Rebirth (Japanese)

★ GameFAQs page