PixyJunket

Namco has registered the trademark for Tales of Rebirth (PS2) in the US and apparently is actively updating it for some kind of publication on 04/26 (?). While I won't get my hopes up, this is probably the most beautiful game I've ever seen in my life and I would be really happy to know what the hell is going on in this game!!

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?r...entry=76575287

RocShemp

If it's coming here... Sweet!

RyoHazuki

I'm too lazy to google this. What is it?

Feneant

Looks a bit like Shining Tears, hopefully will be nothing like it though!

toogood

It's part 4 of the "Tales" series. Tales of Destiny 1 and 2 for the ps1. Tales of Symphonia for the GC and this for the ps2. On a side note, check out Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. Finally a new 2D rpg for the ps2. Can't wait for that one as well.

PixyJunket

Actually, it's the sixth game in the main series. None of the games have anything to do with the others save for Tales of Destiny 2.

1. Tales of Phantasia
2. Tales of Destiny
3. Tales of Eternia (US name: Tales of Destiny II)
4. Tales of Destiny 2
5. Tales of Symphonia
6. Tales of Rebirth
7. Tales of Legendia (currently in development)

Tigger

I think i'm gonna cry... I was just wishlisting this onthe Best Worst Wish thread. ... now all we need is Tales of Legendia also.... trust me.. the Tales series is one of , if not, the most underated RPG's ever!

and if they could release Tales of Phantasia here.. *sigh*

toogood

I stand corrected. Never heard about Legendia before though. What system will that one be for?

PixyJunket

Legendia will be for PS2. It's all 3D like Symphonia.

I put about two hours into Rebirth last night and so far I'm really liking it. The game is visually very pretty. The backgrounds are very lush and painting like, which blends VERY well with Mutsumi Inomata's characters. Most of the game is 2D graphics, while outside exploration is in 3D. There's an INSANE amount of spoken dialogue in the game, especially if you dive into the option character chats. I guess that's one of the series big selling points in Japan, but personally I find Japanese voice acting very annoying.

Moving on.. being in 2D, the battle system reverts back to the single line side-scrolling battles from games previous to Symphonia, except that there are three separate planes. There's no longer TP needed to execute special moves or magic. There seems to be a lot of little added strategy bits to the battle system as well, some of it I'm not fully understanding with my limited Japanese knowledge. You have a cube assigned to your special moves for instance, and by using specific move over and over you increase basic statistics of your character like healing rate, battle speed, etc. There's this whole weapon enhancement system too allowing you to increase your weapons stats by earning points in battle. Healing is handled a bit differently as well, as you characters automatically heal small bits of HP during battle, there's not healing magic and actual healing items are pretty expensive. This puts more of a focus on the cooking in the game, which so far, looks to be far simpler than the last couple of games and you earn cooking supplies after pretty much every battle, making constant cooking a part of the game.

I'll write more if I have more time during the week to play again.

Breakfast with Girls

That's not really true. Tales of Symphonia takes place in the same world as Phantasia.

PixyJunket

My opinion is that the connections between the two are pretty loose, and certainly don't connect the two together anymore than a wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Tales of Destiny 2 is the only game where knowledge of a previous game is important to the story.

Breakfast with Girls

I'll buy that. Although Phantasia does talk about Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, the worlds of Symphonia, as well as some other things.

Outlaw

good news! Tales of Symphonia was one of the best rpg's i've played in a long time. can't wait for rebirth!

PixyJunket

Phantasia mentions (in a book in a castle, so it's pretty much in passing) Sylvarant and Tethe'alla as the names of the two moons in that world. Of course, in Sympohonia, they're two versions of the same world, not two separate moons. The Yggdrasil (mana tree) is in both games, the flying vessels in both games have the same name (rheiards in the US translation) but are totally different vehicles and a mana cannon plays a pivotal role in the disturbance of mana in both games. I think that's pretty much it, but it's been a while..

PixyJunket

Speaking of Tales of Symphonia:

toogood

10914 hits?

Outlaw

man, that's nuts!

PixyJunket

Yeah, and to think I was proud of my 180.

Anyway, an interesting thing to note that someone on another forum pointed out is that ONLY the other titles that have been released in the states are found on the site. Tales of Destiny and Tales of Symphonia can be found with the same registration information.. but Phantasia and Eternia aren't.

murray731

Not my cup of tea, but maybe some others are interested. Namco announced Tales of Legendia for the US.

linkage

PixyJunket

Sigh.

nickdawgy

That reminds me, I am still only 30 mins into Tales of Symphonia and I got it last August. Maybe I should start playing it again.

Breakfast with Girls

Why "Sigh"?

PixyJunket

Check the Legendia thread for a more detailed sigh.