Game Profile

By: Lee

 

Screenshots

 

With the seventh title in the Tales series, Namco has decided to go down a new road in terms of aesthetics. Rather than go with the character designs of Kousuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata that players have become so familiar with, Namco has employed the talents of Kazuto Nakasawa.

The setting of Legendia revolves around the remnants of an ancient vessel that measures over 100 kilometers in length. The people of the world have come to inhabit the Ship and have even built towns and cities upon it using artifacts and technology from the long-dead civilization, "Melnes." The Melnes were a civilization of priest-warriors who were known for being a little different from the rest of humankind. They were masters of a strange fighting style known as "tsume-jutsu", which roughly translates to "claw skills." However, the Melnes civilization ceased to exist long ago for unknown reasons, and no Melnes has since been seen. Somehow, the little sister of the game's main character becomes connected to the lost Melnes people and ends up on the wrong end of a massive man-hunt by an unnamed party. Thus begins Tales of Legendia.

 Also, sea and water will play an important role in the world of Legendia. A lighthouse town within the Ship, called Weltes, depends heavily on water. Waterwheels provide most of the town's power and a large waterfall among well-tended canals set the scenery about the town. The strange part is that these structures where in Weltes long before the people settled there, begging the question: who built them?

Battle System:

Though Tales Of Legendia seems to differ from its predecessors in many new ways, one familiarity from other Tales games that players can look forward to is the unique battle system. Not the RPG-typical, turn-based battles, the Tales series implements what's called "Linear Motion Battle System," or LMBS

Tales Of Legendia, however, will take the LMBS one step further this time around. This twist on the previous system has been dubbed X-LMBS, or "Cross-Over Linear Motion Battle System." In this system, player characters and enemy characters form two lines, not side-by-side as in traditional RPGs, but rather one behind the other. This set-up allows only the foremost player character and the foremost enemy to face each other directly. From there, the battle takes on more of a fighting game feel, rather than an RPG feel. The player and enemy characters begin fighting with their respective weapons and Legendia's set of exclusive special abilities called "Claw Skills." Using the Claw Skills, though, requires the spending of Technical Points (TP), a system that veterans of the Tales series should find familiar.

Story:

The story of the game will revolve around Senel Coolidge, the 17-year-old hero of the game. Using knuckles as his weapon of choice, Senel specializes in hand-to-hand fighting and is a user of Art Claws. In the world of Legendia, Senel works as a Marine Trooper, which is a type of seaside policeman or monster hunter. Needless to say, he's had a lot of practice honing his fighting skills. As a person, Senel has a strong sense of justice, though he's very stubborn. Once he has decided on a course of action, for example, he will see it through to the end, no matter what. Because he's not very talkative, he also comes off as an impulsive and curt type of guy. His only known family is his little sister, Shirley.

Shirley Fennes is Senel's 15-year-old younger sister, despite the difference in surnames, and she has an odd problem. Should she ever get wet from the surrounding sea water or even feel a salty ocean breeze, she'll immediately become ill. Not a fighter, Shirley is a pretty and quiet girl, though she does share her brother's knack for stubbornness. She is also rumored to be a descendant of the ancient Melnes people, which is what drags her and her brother into conflict surrounding Legendia.

Other stuff:

It was recently announced that humans and monsters won’t be the only creatures roaming about the world of Tales of Legendia Lurking on an ancient ship is a race of creatures known as the “Mofumofu.” These fuzzy critters are highly advanced versions of raccoons, thanks to being closed off in the bowels of the ship for over millennia.

Tales of Legendia is set to hit the stores of Japan Spring 2005, there are no details as of yet of plans for an NA release, not even mentioning European.