Fight in real time with Artes, the special attacks in the Tales games. Tales is a long-running fantasy action RPG series from Bandai Namco, and it began in 1995 with Tales of Phantasia. Each game has its own cast and story, but they all share the same basic loop: you explore, you fight, and you grow stronger. Exploring means crossing a world map, visiting towns, and making your way through dungeons full of enemies.
Fights happen in real time under what the series calls the Linear Motion Battle System, so the action keeps moving instead of pausing for turns. You control one character while the computer handles the rest of your party, and you use Artes, which are special attacks. Chaining moves together can add extra damage, and fights earn you experience and money. Between battles, cooking meals from the ingredients you collect helps you recover, and skits, the short conversations between characters, show how the characters interact.
As you win fights, your party gains experience, levels up, and unlocks new skills, so you can keep up with tougher enemies. Titles, which are nicknames that can grant battle bonuses, come from story progress and side quests. The goal is to see the story through, such as stopping the Grand Fall, a collision between worlds, in Tales of Eternia Remastered.
- Developer
- Various studios
- Publisher
- Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
- Release
- Series debut (Tales of Phantasia, Japan): 1995-12-15
- Platforms
- Nintendo consoles, PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, PC, Mobile devices
Tales of gameplay tips
- Cook whenever the game lets you. Meals restore health and some give short stat boosts, and the character doing the cooking changes how well a dish turns out, so choose the cook carefully.
- Equip titles that suit how you fight. Titles can grant battle bonuses, and in Tales of Symphonia the equipped title shapes how your character's attributes develop.
- Watch the skits when they appear. They show how the characters interact, and in Tales of Symphonia some choices you make in them change how the party views Lloyd.
- Use Free Running in fights, where the game offers it. It lets characters move around the battlefield instead of staying on one line, so you decide where to stand.
- Turn back from areas where enemies far outclass your party. Open maps can lead you into those areas, so level up before you push on.