Tales of Legendia

Tales of Legendia (テイルズ オブ レジェンディア) is a role-playing game that was developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the seventh mothership title in the Tales series and the first in the main series not to be developed by the Namco Tales Studio. The game takes place on a ship that looks like an island. Its characteristic genre is translated as "Where Bonds Spin Legends RPG" (絆が伝説を紡ぎだすＲＰＧ).

Story
Senel Coolidge, a member of the Marine forces of the Holy Alliance, and his younger sister, Shirley, drift across the ocean on a tiny ship. As food ran out and their strength deteriorated, an island suddenly burst through the storm and approached the boat with astonishing speed, causing it to capsize. When Senel and Shirley awoke on the shore, they realized this was no ordinary island. Its surface was covered in lush forests teeming with life, but despite its appearance, the ground that stretched out before them was actually an enormous ship called the Legacy.

Tales of Legendia is unique to many Japanese RPGs in that the game actually consists of two quests. The first quest is the typical "save the world" quest similar to most games of its genre. After the first quest is completed, credits roll and a song plays, usually signaling the end of the game. However, a second quest begins afterwards. This part consists of "character quests", designed with the purpose of exploring the problems and pasts of all the characters. Throughout the character quests, there is also an overall storyline tying all the different character quests together.

Characters
Senel Coolidge (セネル・クーリッジ) - Although young in years, Senel Coolidge is a skilled fighter and adept at Iron Eres. He also excels at piloting boats and swimming due to his years battling monsters while patrolling the seaways as an Alliance marine. Strong-willed and highly focused, he never backs out of a commitment, no matter the circumstances.

Shirley Fennes (シャーリィ・フェンネス) - Two years younger than Senel, Shirley Fennes constantly worries about the dangers her brother faces. Delicate and frail, she is allergic to ocean water and even sea breezes. Due to her introverted nature, others often view her as weak-spirited, but her sense of determination knows no equal. Once she's set her mind on something, there's no stopping her.

Will Raynard (ウィル・レイナード) - Will Raynard is the first person Senel encounters aboard the Legacy. A trustworthy man, Will has put his Crystal Eres to good use, serving as sheriff of Werites Beacon at the request of Madame Musette. It should be noted that while the townspeople address him as sheriff, he has apparently refused the title and insists he is a nothing more than a natural historian.

Chloe Valens (クロエ・ヴァレンス) - A practitioner of Iron Eres, this young girl has an extraordinary talent for wielding the sword. Once a family of distinguished knights in a former kingdom, the Valens name is also well-known in other countries. Pressured by her family's reputation, Chloe constantly tries to act as tough as a knight should. On the inside, however, she can be very adolescent and even cute.

Norma Beatty (ノーマ・ビアッティ) - A practitioner of Crystal Eres, this young girl is a treasure hunter whom Senel's party encounters on their journey. She came to the Legacy in search of the Everlight. Cheerful and comical, she banters with those around her and is not above poking fun at herself in order to get a good laugh.

Moses Sandor (モーゼス・シャンドル) - Hailing from a clan of beast tamers, this javelin-wielding Iron Eres-practitioner is always accompanied by Giet, his pet Galf. The notorious leader of a clan of mountain bandits aboard the Legacy, Moses Sandor leads his band in raids across the surrounding lands.

Jay (ジェイ) - This cryptic boy is a practitioner of Iron Eres. A master analyst, he calmly observes events from the sidelines and often serves as a strategist and tactician.

Grune (グリューネ) - This mysterious Crystal Eren possesses the ability to infuse in others a warm feeling of inner peace and tranquility no matter what the circumstances. The only memory she has is that of her name, yet this fact does not dispirit her and she can always be found smiling gently.

Battle System
Tales of Legendia features the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS) that has been present in some form throughout theTales series. The system is essentially real-time battle skin to a fighting game where each character and his opponent fights on a 2D line. The player controls one character, while the others are controlled by the game's artificial intelligence. The Tales series is also famous for its "Manual" combat mode which allows the player full control over his character's basic movements such as running, jumping, and special attacks, instead of default semi-automatic control.

The battle engine is commonly considered a step back by fans of the series due to its lack of innovation, as well as omitting features like a multiplayer mode and Mystic Artes (powerful special attacks) available in previous games. While the older Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Destiny 2 brought a 3-D battlefield, three line LMBS and Spirit Points (respectively), Legendia does not bring a major addition to the battle system. This inconsistency with the overall trend of the rest of the series is likely due to Tales of Legendia being Namco's first major Tales game which is completely developed internally instead of by the series' usual developer, Namco Tales Studio/Wolf Team.

Eres
In Tales of Legendia, Eres is the art of harnessing minute energies found in the air and using them to perform extraordinary feats. A person who uses eres is known as an eren. These feats correspond to the spells and skills seen in previous games in the Tales series, and are divided into two categories: Iron (physical attacks) and Crystal (magical attacks). Iron Eres have the ability attack enemies with sword or spear moves and they are able to be fused after being master to make arcane eres or fusion skills. Crystal Eres are spells that focus on status attacks, elemental attacks, and healing moves unlike other games in the series crystal eres are obtained by scrolls and can only be learned when the party collects Eres Stones from monsters.

Skits
Skits are very common short conversations in the Tales series where the characters will pause on the maps in the games by pressing the select button. Although very common in the series, Tales of Legendia's skits are similar to the Chats from Tales of Destiny 2 and Tales of Rebirth, since they show full portraits of the character instead of a box with just the characters head. Tales of Legendia marked the first time in an english localization that the skits were fully voiced.

Controls
Tales of Legendia's controls differ from the other Tales games on the PlayStation consoles, originally previous games released on the Sony System were required to hit circle to attack and cross to use artes. With Legendia some new controls were added, cross was changed to attack, circle was changed to use artes, triangle is used to open the item menu, square is to guard, R2 and L2 can be used for shortcuts for eres, and L1 can be used to unleash Climax Mode.

Trivia

 * When spoken to, the Sentinels state the names of the game testers in binary ASCII.
 * Like many of the other Tales games, Tales of Legendia contains several references to other Namco titles.
 * One of the objects that the Wonder Baker hides in is a statue of Pac-Man.
 * Another of the Wonder Baker's hiding places is a flag from Rally X.
 * Another hiding place of the Wonder Baker is a drum from Taiko: Drum Master.
 * One of the Rare Monsters you can find and battle with the Sorcerer's Scanner is a type of dragon called Quox, an enemy that originates from the Tower of Druaga and its sequels.
 * Another of the Rare Monsters is Bacura, an enemy from Xevious which also appeared in Tales of Symphonia as a cameo enemy.
 * Will can gain the special title Heihachi, a character from Tekken.
 * One of Chloe's titles is Soul Edge, possibly a reference to the evil sword featured in Namco's Soul series of fighting games.