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The Tales series is a franchise of role-playing games published by Namco. The series is most popular in Japan, and only a few entries have been localized for North America or Europe. In Tales of Phantasia, the game was developed by Wolfteam in 1994, and that game was published in 1995. Most of the development staff involved left Telenet Japan after the game was released and then formed tri-Ace, who now make the Star Ocean game series, published by Square Enix. The Tales games were continued to be developed by Telenet Japan and published by Namco until after Tales of Destiny 2 both companies formed the dedicated joint venture Namco Tales Studio. The only remaining staff from Tales of Phantasia are: Series director Eiji Kikuchi, and music composers Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura. Upcoming Japanese releases include a new game, Tales of the Tempest for the Nintendo DS, a remake of Tales of Destiny on the PlayStation 2, a port of Tales of Destiny 2 on PlayStation Portable, and a new Tales of the World entry for the PSP. Tales of the Tempest is slated for release on October 26, 2006. The Tales of Destiny remake and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology are slated to release Winter 2006. The Tales of Destiny 2 port will be released sometime in 2007.
Battle System Main article: Linear Motion Battle System The series possesses an unusual battle system for an RPG. It has been likened to that of a fighting game (like Street Fighter) and is called the Linear Motion Battle System, or LMBS for short. Usually the player has direct control over one character (often the protagonist) and can move and direct this character in any way they choose. By pressing the attack button along with a directional button in different directions, the character can perform various kinds of attacks, like slashes and thrusts or ground-to-air and air-to-ground type attacks. The character's weapons usually have different attack values for a slash or a thrust. There are three modes of control for each character: Auto, Semi-Auto and Manual, with the first being controlled by the computer, the second being the classic hybrid mode and the third offering a true manual control over the character more comparable to a fighting game. At any time, the player can bring up a menu which pauses the action and allows them to select an item or an ability to use (and the target), a spell to cast (and the target), change a character's artificial intelligence tactics or escape from the battle among other things. The later games in the series allowed for up to four players to join in a battle (requiring the MultiTap for PlayStation consoles) instead of computer control (with the exception of Tales of Legendia which was developed by a different team). The Linear Motion Battle system has been progressively enhanced as the series progressed. Tales of Phantasia started with the Semi-Auto mode, Tales of Destiny added a true Manual mode and the ability for multiple players to control one character each, Tales of Eternia sped up the battle considerably and added the now very popular Hi-Ougis which were then exploited by Tales of Destiny 2. Additionally, a hit counter is displayed, leading to impressive combo feats which, once recorded, are popular in fan circles. Newer Tales games extend this battle system through different means: Tales of Symphonia added a 3D battle field while retaining the linear connection between controlled character and targeted enemy, Tales of the Abyss builds upon this and offers the optional Free Run similar to Star Ocean 3. Tales of Rebirth on the other hand kept the 2D system while offering three lines of movements instead just one. And to further Rebirth's three lines system, Tales of the Tempest combines it with a full 3D battle engine. Game list The following is a list of the games, their release dates and systems. Games without mention of a North American or European release date are, or were, marketed exclusively in Japan. Main games Spinoffs Upcoming games | ||||||||
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