Tales of Legendia (Japanese: テイルズ オブ レジェンディア, Hepburn: Teiruzu Obu Rejendia) is an action role-playing game created and released by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It is the seventh main game in the Tales series. The game was first released in Japan in August 2005 and later released in English in North America in February 2006. A team called "Project MelFes" developed the game. This team included members from Namco's Tales Studio, as well as developers from the company's Tekken and Soulcalibur fighting game series. The game includes character designs by anime artist Kazuto Nakazawa and music composed by Go Shiina. Songs were performed by Do As Infinity, Donna Burke, and Kanon. The game's producers named it RPG Where Bonds Spin Legends (絆が伝説を紡ぎだすRPG, Kizuna ga densetsu o tsumugidasu RPG).

The game takes place in a fantasy world covered in water, set entirely on a huge ship that is a remnant of an ancient civilization. Players control a young man named Senel, who must rescue his sister from people who believe she is a prophesied savior. As Senel explores, he uncovers secrets about his world. When the game was released in North America, it received mixed reviews. Critics praised the music but criticized the story for being unoriginal and the gameplay for being slow. The game sold about 397,000 copies worldwide.

Gameplay

Tales of Legendia is a console role-playing game set in a fantasy world with three-dimensional characters and environments. The game is viewed from a top-down perspective, and players guide their character through different locations, fight monsters, and interact with other characters to progress the story. In earlier games of the series, monsters were visible before battles began, but in Tales of Legendia, battles occur randomly every few steps inside dungeons or dangerous areas.

Like previous games in the series, Tales of Legendia focuses on the relationships between the main characters. A unique feature of this game is the inclusion of additional story segments after the main plot is completed, which highlight individual characters. Some parts of the story include animated sequences.

The game uses a version of the series’ Linear Motion Battle System, called "X-LiMBS" (Crossover Linear Motion Battle System). This system allows players to move their characters freely in a two-dimensional battle area and fight enemies in real-time, similar to a traditional fighting game. Even though characters and enemies are designed in three dimensions, battles take place on a flat plane where players can only move forward, backward, or jump upward. Players can use normal attacks or special skills called "Eres," which require spending Tech Points (TP). These skills can be combined to create sequences of attacks.

Up to eight characters can be recruited as the game progresses, with four of them forming the player’s party at any time. During battles, attacking enemies fills a "Climax" gauge at the bottom of the screen. Using this gauge temporarily freezes all enemies. After completing battles, players earn experience points to level up and strengthen characters, as well as items called "Eres Stones" that can be used to buy new skills.

Plot

Tales of Legendia is set in a world mostly covered by water. All events take place on a huge, country-sized ship called the Legacy, which is a remnant of a very advanced ancient civilization. The population is split into two groups: the Orerines ("the people of the land") and the Ferines ("the people of the sea"). The Ferines are a race with fair skin and light hair who can live underwater. Tensions between these groups form the background of the game's story. Some people have special powers called "eres," divided into two types: crystal eres, which include magic, and iron eres, which involve physical abilities. A fictional language called Relares is used in the game for some names and places.

• Senel Coolidge is a 17-year-old martial artist and member of the Holy Alliance who uses iron eres. He is strong-willed and protective of his "sister" Shirley, but his cold attitude makes others think he is unkind. His name comes from Cuban writer Senel Paz.
• Shirley Fennes is a 15-year-old who uses crystal eres. She is shy but stubborn and is followed by people who believe she is the "Merines," a chosen leader of the Ferines with great power. Her name comes from the 1849 novel Shirley by Charlotte Brontë.
• Will Raynard is a 28-year-old historian and sheriff who uses crystal eres. As the oldest in the group, he is often looked to for advice and is strict but kind. His name comes from William Shakespeare.
• Chloe Valens is a 17-year-old knight from the Valens family who uses iron eres. She is determined to prove herself as a warrior but hides her softer side. Her name comes from a character in the 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian.
• Norma Beatty is a 16-year-old treasure hunter who uses crystal eres. She is cheerful and creative, often giving nicknames to others. Her name comes from author Norma Field.
• Moses Sandor is a 17-year-old bandit leader who uses iron eres. Though rough in appearance, he cares for his wolf-like companion, Giet, and values family. His name comes from Romanian writer Moses Gaster.
• Jay is a 16-year-old ninja who uses iron eres. He is cynical and uses sharp comments, but is skilled at gathering information. His name comes from author Jay McInerney.
• Grune is a mysterious woman who uses crystal eres and wields magic water jugs. Though she has no memory, she remains calm and cheerful.

The game starts when Senel and Shirley are washed ashore on the Legacy after a storm. Shirley is kidnapped by Moses, prompting Senel to team up with Will and Chloe to rescue her. Will explains that Shirley's arrival was linked to a light seen on the ship, leading others to believe she is the "Merines." After finding her, Shirley is captured again by a Ferine soldier named Walter Delques, who takes her away. The group later captures Walter, who reveals the real enemy is the Orerine Crusand Empire Army, led by Vaclav Bolud, who abducts Shirley. During captivity, Shirley befriends a Ferine girl named Fenimore Xelhes.

Senel's team is joined by Norma and Moses, who wants to make amends. They explore the ship and discover Vaclav has Shirley and her older sister, Stella, whom Shirley and Senel believed dead. After escaping Vaclav's forces, the group meets Grune and Jay, who join them. They confront Vaclav, who plans to use Shirley and Stella's powers to activate a giant laser cannon to destroy the Ferines' village and conquer other countries. Though victorious, Vaclav triggers the cannon, and Stella sacrifices herself to stop it.

Shirley decides to complete a ritual to become the Merines, meeting Walter and the Ferine leader Maurits Welnes. During the ceremony, soldiers from Gadoria attack, thinking Shirley sided with Vaclav. Fenimore saves Shirley but dies. This causes Shirley to be possessed by Nerifes, a malevolent ocean spirit. Senel and his friends follow her, discovering the Legacy was a colony ship from another world. The Ferines and Orerines fought 4,000 years ago. At Maurits' stronghold, Walter reveals his jealousy over Shirley choosing Senel. Maurits explains the Orerines, not the Ferines, are the outsiders, as their technology disturbed the ocean. He wants to flood the world to appease the sea. After defeating Maurits, Shirley is freed, and Nerifes is driven back. In the end, Maurits seeks peace between the Orerines and Ferines, and the characters return to their lives.

Development

The early development of Tales of Legendia began in 2000, after the release of Tales of Eternia. Many of the game's staff members worked on Tales of Eternia before joining this project. The game was developed at the same time as Tales of Destiny 2 and Tales of Symphonia. While the exact time it took to make the game is unknown, a report in Famitsu said the development lasted three years. The game was first shown in December 2004 through a teaser trailer included with a pre-order bonus disc for Tales of Rebirth, the previous game in the series. At that time, the game was only referred to by its development name, "Project MelFes." On February 14, 2005, Namco posted outlines of two characters on their Tales Channel website. The game was officially announced four days later. A tentative Japanese release date for sometime in 2005 was announced the following month. An English release for North America was officially announced in April 2005 for February 2006. In May 2005, Namco set a final Japanese release date for August of that year. The game was shown at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in June 2005.

The game was made by a team that included staff from earlier Tales games and developers from Namco's Tekken and Soulcalibur fighting game series. Producer Jun Toyoda explained that the goal was to create a role-playing game with exciting battle scenes similar to those in fighting games, and to attract players who thought fighting games lacked stories or who found traditional role-playing game battles too slow. Although the game has 3D characters, battles were designed to take place in 2D to allow developers to include large monsters without blocking the player's view. Character animation was done by Yosuke Kadowaki, who used the same motion-capture technology on Soulcalibur II. The story was written by Koki Matsumoto and Tsuyoshi Tanaka. The main theme of the story was "bonds," focusing on how the characters' stories overlap. Unlike earlier Tales games, where character art was mostly done by Kōsuke Fujishima or Mutsumi Inomata, Tales of Legendia features characters designed by Kazuto Nakazawa, an anime illustrator known for work on Kill Bill Vol. 1 and animated films like El-Hazard and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. The game includes animated cutscenes made by Japanese studio Production I.G. and has more animation than any previous Tales game.

Tales of Legendia is the second main Tales game after Tales of the World: Summoner's Lineage that does not use music by Motoi Sakuraba. Instead, Go Shiina composed the music. The game's opening theme, "Tao," was performed by J-pop group Do As Infinity. Due to licensing issues, this song was replaced with an original track. The ending theme, "My Tales," was performed in English by Donna Burke and Gab Desmond. Other songs include "A Firefly's Light" (in Japanese by Mayumi Sudou and in English by Donna Burke), "Let's Talk" (in Japanese by the Suzukake Children's Choir), and "The Legendary Sorcerer" and "The Birds Chirp, I Sing" (both performed by Kanon). Some instrumental themes were played live by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

An official soundtrack was released in Japan in August 2005 by Avex Trax. It includes two discs of selected game tracks and a third disc with a radio drama featuring the game's voice actors. Two follow-up drama albums, Tales of Legendia ~Voice of Character Quest~, were released in August and September 2006. The second album added 41 new tracks not on the original soundtrack. Music from the game has been played at events like the Eminence Symphony Orchestra's A Night in Fantasia 2007 in Sydney, Australia, and Press Start -Symphony of Games- 2009 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space.

Reception

Tales of Legendia was generally well received in Japan. It earned a score of 32 out of 40 from Weekly Famitsu, based on four individual scores of 8 each. Dengeki PlayStation magazine gave it an average score of 85 out of 100, based on scores of 80, 80, 90, and 90. By the end of 2005, the game sold 342,779 copies in Japan, making it the 30th best-selling software title of that year. Worldwide sales reached 397,000 copies by December 2007.

In other regions, Metacritic described the game as receiving "mixed or average reviews." IGN praised the characters and the engaging battle system but noted the story was unoriginal and the battle AI was weak. The website said the second half of the game was more enjoyable, stating it would appeal to players who prefer action-focused role-playing games. IGN also mentioned that the voice acting was stiff, but the translation was of good quality.

GameSpot highlighted the strong characters and their interactions but criticized the frequent random battles and need to revisit locations. 1UP.com praised the story, saying it was entertaining despite being predictable. The site noted the game tried to be different by featuring strong female characters and a large, strong man who acts as a healer and intellectual. However, 1UP.com criticized the sometimes frustrating combat and said the game played similarly to earlier Tales titles, likely appealing only to longtime fans. In 2012, 1UP.com listed Tales of Legendia as one of the "Underwhelming RPGs with Overwhelming Soundtracks," calling its soundtrack one of the best in the series.

In 2005, Namco Bandai's 2nd Top 30 character fan poll ranked Chloe 8th and Senel 29th. Game Informer also listed Jay and Moses as some of the best characters in the series that year, praising their engaging dialogue.