Tales of Legendia is the newest face in the Tales family, and there's a lot to like about it, from its rich and beautiful environments and easy-to-grasp battle system to its chatty and personable.

Tales of LegendiaNorth American cover art(Project MelFes)NamcoJun ToyodaSeriesRelease date(s). August 25, 2005 1. February 7, 2006 2Mode(s)Tales of Legendia (: テイルズ オブ レジェンディア,: Teiruzu Obu Rejendia), is a that was developed and published by for the as the seventh main title in their series. Originally released in Japan in August 2005, it was later made available in English in North America in February 2006. The game was created by a development team known collectively as 'Project MelFes', which was composed of members of Namco's along with developers from the company's and fighting game series.

It features character designs from artist and music from composer, songs performed by, and and opening animation produced by ufoTABLE. Its producers gave it the characteristic genre name RPG Where Bonds Spin Legends ( 絆が伝説を紡ぎだすRPG, Kizuna ga densetsu o tsumugidasu RPG).The game is set in a world covered in water, taking place entirely on a gigantic ship that is actually a remnant of an ancient civilization.

Players assume the role of a young man named Senel, who must rescue his sister from individuals who believe her to be a prophesied savior, while the mysteries of his world begin to unravel before him. It received mostly mixed reviews upon its release in North America, with critics routinely commending the title's music while panning its derivative plot and tedious pace, and would sell approximately 397,000 copies worldwide. A real-time battle sequence. The -rendered characters are restricted to a two-dimensional plane.Tales of Legendia is a console role-playing game set in a fantasy world featuring characters and environments.

The game is presented from a top-down perspective, and players must move their character through a number of locales, battle monsters, and interact with to advance the story. Unlike previous games in the series where monsters were visible before being encountered, Tales of Legendia features that occur every few steps while inside dungeons or other hostile areas. 3Like previous games in the series, Tales of Legendia was designed to focus on the interactions between the main cast. However, a unique feature to this game is the addition of a second series of scenarios after the player has completed the main story that focuses more on the individual characters themselves.

4 Animated sequences also accompany certain story segments.The game features a variation of the series', where players are able to freely move their characters around the battle area and engage enemies in real-time, known as the 'X-LiMBS' (Crossover Linear Motion Battle System), which was specifically designed to resemble a traditional. 5 Despite playable characters and enemies being rendered in 3D, battles are limited to a two-dimensional plane where combatants can only move forward, backward, or jump straight up into the air. In addition to normal attacks, players can attack enemies using special skills called 'Eres', which involve spending Tech Points (TP), and can be chained together to create combos.

A total of eight playable characters can be recruited as the game progresses, with up to four of them making up a player's party at any time. As players attack enemies, they fill up a 'Climax' gauge at the bottom of the screen that can be expended to freeze all enemies in place for a short period. Whenever battles are completed, players are awarded both experience points that allow characters to gain levels and grow stronger, as well as items called 'Eres Stones' that allow them to purchase additional skills. 5 Plot Setting.

The game begins as Senel and Shirley wash ashore on the Legacy after their boat is tossed in a storm. Shirley is soon kidnapped by a bandit named Moses, prompting Senel to team up with a local sheriff named Will and a female knight named Chloe to rescue her. Will explains that Shirley's arrival coincided with a pillar of light at the center of the ship, leading many to believe that she is the legendary 'Merines', a person destined to lead the Ferines to prosperity. G 1 After finding her at the thieves' hideout, she is captured yet again by a Ferines soldier named Walter Delques, who takes her away.

When the group eventually catches Walter, he reveals that he was only protecting her from the real enemy: the Orerine Crusand Empire Army, led by a man named Vaclav Bolud, who promptly arrives and abducts Shirley himself. While in captivity, Shirley becomes friends with another captive, a young Ferines girl named Fenimore Xelnes. G 2Senel and his team are joined by a treasure hunter named Norma as well as Moses, who has decided to atone for his earlier actions. Together, the team travels deeper into the ship, where they discover that not only does Vaclav have Shirley, but her older sister Stella, who Shirley and Senel believed dead three years earlier when the Empire's forces invaded their hometown. G 3 After being forced to escape when they are confronted by Vaclav's underlings, the Terrors, the party regroups and meets an amnesiac women named Grune and boy named Jay who joins the team and accompanies them to the Legacy's. They confront Vaclav once more, who plans to use Shirley and Stella's latent Merines powers to activate a giant laser cannon located on the ship to destroy the Ferines' village and later subjugate other countries around the world. Although the party is victorious, Vaclav sets the cannon to fire in his final moments, with Stella in turn awakening her powers just in time to fly into the path of the beam, sacrificing herself.

G 4Shirley resolves to complete a ritual to fully become the Merines and fulfill her destiny, meeting with Walter and the Ferines leader Maurits Welnes. However, soldiers from the country of Gadoria attack during the ceremony attempting to kill her thinking she willfully sided with Vaclav, with Fenimore jumping in the way of one of their blades and dying instead. The traumatic event causes Shirley to be fully engulfed by Nerifes, the malevolent spirit of the ocean itself, before leaving with Maurits. G 5 Senel and his friends go after her, passing through the deeper areas of the ship where they discover from fractured recordings that the Legacy was a from another world, and the Ferines came to the planet and made war with the Orerines 4000 years ago. Arriving at Maurits' stronghold, the party faces Walter, who reveals his jealousy over Shirley choosing Senel over him, and fights until his life gives out. G 6 They learn from Maurits that it was in fact the Orerines, not the Ferines, who are the outsiders. He explains that the Orerines' technology upset the will of the sea so much that his people can no longer live in it, and wishes to use Shirley to flood the world and appease the ocean so that the Ferines can thrive once more.

G 7 After he is beaten and Shirley brought back to her senses, Maurits summons a physical manifestation of Nerifes itself, which is driven back by Senel and his friends. In the end, Maurits resolves to put aside old hatreds and work towards an era of peace between Orerines and Ferines as the characters return to their old lives. G 8 DevelopmentTales of Legendia was first revealed in December 2004 in a teaser trailer featured on a pre-order bonus disc for the series' previous title, which only referred to the game by its development codename 'Project MelFes'. 18 On February 14, 2005, Namco posted silhouettes of two characters on their Tales Channel website, 19 with the game's official reveal coming four days later.

20 A tentative Japanese release date of sometime in 2005 was announced the following month, 21 with an English North American release formally announced by the company in April for February 2006. 22 In May 2005, Namco gave a finalized Japanese release date set for the following August. 23 The game would make an appearance at the 2005 in the following June. 24The game was developed by a team that consisted of staff members from previous Tales entries, as well as developers from the company's and fighting game series. 5 Producer Jun Toyoda explained that the goal was to create a role-playing game with the 'exhilarating battle scenes' found in those titles, 5 and to appeal to players who either felt that fighting games lacked a story or felt that traditional role-playing game combat was too 'tedious'.

4 Although the game features three-dimensional characters, battle sequences were purposefully restricted to a two-dimensional plane to allow the developers to create large monsters without fear of them obstructing the player's view of the action. 5 Character animation was handled by Yosuke Kadowaki, who had previously used the same motion-capture technology on.

5 Unlike previous Tales games where character art and design was mostly done by, Tales of Legendia features characters designed by illustrator and animator, known for his prior work on the animated sequences from the 2004 film, as well as animated features such as. 20 Tales of Legendia includes animated cutscenes produced by Japanese studio, and contains more animation than any previous game in the series.

25 AudioTales of Legendia is the first main series title in the Tales franchise to not feature music by, with composition duties instead going to. 5 The game features the opening theme song 'Tao' performed by group, 26 as well as the ending theme 'My Tales' performed in English by and Gab Desmond. 27 Incidental vocal songs include 'A Firefly's Light' ( 蛍火, Hotarubi) performed in Japanese by Mayumi Sudou, 'Hotarubi', performed in English by Donna Burke, 'Let's Talk' ( お話しましょう, Ohanashi Mashou) performed by the Suzukake Children's Choir, and both 'The Legendary Sorcerer' ( 伝説の巫術士, Densetsu no Fujutsushi) and 'The Birds Chirp, I Sing' ( 鳥は鳴き、僕は歌う, Toriba Naki, Boku wa Utau) both performed.

27 In addition, some of the game's instrumental themes were performed live by the. 28An official soundtrack was released in Japan in August 2005 by, which includes two discs of select tracks from the game, and a third disc that includes a featuring members of the game's voice cast.

27 Two follow-up drama albums called Tales of Legendia Voice of Character Quest ( テイルズ オブ レジェンディア ～voice of character quest～1, Teiruzu Obu Rejendia Voice of Character Quest) were released one year later in August and September 2006 respectively, with the second volume containing an additional 41 tracks not present on the previous official soundtrack release. 29 30 Music from the game has been featured in video game concerts such as the 's A Night in Fantasia 2007 in Sydney, Australia, 31 and at the. 32 ReceptionReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScore72.83% 3372 / 100 34Review scoresPublicationScoreB 356 / 10 3632 / 40 377.3 / 10 38398 / 10 37.7 / 10 40Tales of Legendia was mostly well received in Japan, earning a 32 out of 40 total score from based on individual reviews of 8, 8, 8, and 8, 37 as well as an 85 out of 100 average from magazine based on scores of 80, 80, 90, and 90. 41 The game would go on to sell 342,779 copies in the region by the end of 2005, becoming the 30th best-selling software title of that year, 42 with a total of 397,000 copies sold worldwide by December 2007. 43Tales of Legendia received mixed or mostly average reviews upon its release in North America, earning a 72 out of 100 rating from aggregate review website.

34 While felt that the game's characterization and 'addictive' battle system were its high points, the title was ultimately marred by a 'run of the mill' story and 'lackluster' battle. 40 The website would find that the game's second half was more enjoyable overall, stating that 'Legendia is definitely slanted towards more action-oriented role-players who don't mind breezing through an easy twenty hours before getting to the real tests of skill,' and although the voice acting was 'rather stiff,' the translation was of good quality overall.

40 similarly praised the strong cast of characters, and the interactions between them, but complained of excessive random battles and backtracking through locations in the game. 3praised the game's story, stating that 'despite the predictability of the overall narrative, the details are frequently surprising and consistently entertaining,' and additionally found that the game tended to flaunt convention in its characters: 'Yet within this morass of overly familiar plot devices, Legendia tries to rise above its limitations by twisting conventions. The strongest combatants are female, and the burly man who wields a massive hammer plays the role of intellectual and healer.' However, the website criticized the game for its sometimes 'frustrating' combat and playing too similarly to past Tales titles, and that it would primarily appeal to longtime fans of the series. 35 In 2012, 1UP would include Tales of Legendia on its list of 'Underwhelming RPGs with Overwhelming Soundtracks,' calling the game one of Go Shiina's strongest works and 'one of the best and most moving RPG soundtracks to date.'

44The characters Chloe and Senel would rank 8th and 29th respectively in Namco Bandai's 2nd Top 30 character fan poll in 2005. 45 would also list Jay and Moses on their list of the best characters in the series that same year for 'having some of the best banter in any Tales game.' 46 References. ^ 'PS2/テイルズ オブ レジェンディア' PS2/Tales of Legendia (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2013. ^ 'Tales of Legenda - PlayStation 2'. Retrieved July 4, 2013.

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