Tales of Rebirth

Tales of Rebirth is the sixth title in Namco's Tales RPG series. Released on December 16, 2004 in Japan, it is unknown if Tales of Rebirth will ever be released in North America.

Battle System
Tales of 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.

Heroes
Veigue Lungberg (ヴェイグ・リュングベル) The 18 year-old protagonist of Tales of Rebirth, Veigue wields a sword in archetypal 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.

Claire Bennett (クレア・ベネット) Claire is the 17 year-old heroine of the game; her family took Veigue in when he was a child. She has rarely left her village of Sulz, but the events of Tales of Rebirth will change that. 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 the party, she does not serve a combat role, and therefore spends most of her time as a guest NPC.

Mao (マオ) 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.

Eugene Gallardo (ユージーン・ガラルド) 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.

Annie Barrs (アニー・バース) 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.

Tytree Crowe (ティトレイ・クロウ) A 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.

Hilda Rhambling (ヒルダ・ランブリング) 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.

Others
Agarte Lindblum (アガーテ・リンドブロム) Daughter of Ladras Lindblum, she is the heir to the throne by blood. She's in love with her general Milhaust, but thanks to racial difference, she sought a Huma body to be finally on an equal terms to love him. She possesses the Force of Moon, which can be used to swap bodies.

Zilva Madigan (ジルバ・マヂィガン) Agarte's advisor who also possesses the Force of Moon. She harbors an extreme dislike to Huma and would like nothing but their extermination. For that she manipulates Agarte and sets up many things such as Eugene's fall from grace.

Milhaust Selkirk (ミルハウスト・セルカーク) Main general of the Karegia army and formerly a good friend of Eugene. Milhaust loyally serves the Karegia Kingdom, and although antagonistic, he is a man of honor and cares for the future of the country, thus encounters with Veigue rarely go confrontational.

Saleh (サレ) Saleh is a twisted Huma who takes delight in the suffering of other people, especially Veigue and his team. No explanations were made on how he became such person, thus it's safe to assume that he's born like that. He possesses the Force of Storm.

Tohma (トーマ) A Gajuma who possesses the Force of Magnet. Tohma is Saleh's partner and has an extreme prejudice on Huma in general. Physically powerful, he is also an expert manipulator, as he is mostly responsible in manipulating Hilda. He's very loyal to Zilva and her views on the world without Huma.

Walto (ワルトゥ) The possessor of the Force of Sound, which is used to control the waves of a human brain, enabling him to control over them. Despite his potentially evil power, Walto is a good friend of Eugene and is a honorable man who only fights for the good of Karegia kingdom.

Militsa (ミリッツァ) A Half and quite possibly Hilda's only friend. She takes pride of her Half heritage, but believes that the Four Shields is the only place where Halves can be accepted (thanks to Tohma's manipulation). She possesses the Force of Rainbow, which lets her create copies of herself.

Yuris (ユリス) A being of negative emotions created by the negative emotions by the Huma and Gajuma. When left unchecked, it is capable of destroying the whole world.

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 Ladras Lindblum, 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, the only remaining blood relative and heir to the throne, is being advised by Zilva Madigan. 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 his friend Claire Bennett and himself, come under attack.

Tales of Rebirth (PSP)
Like Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny 2, Tales of Rebirth was ported February 15, 2007 for the PlayStation Portable. The quality is higher, but not much changes has been made.