Further Info: "Tales of the Tempest" was released for the DS on October 26th, 2006 in Japan, selling 301,000 copies. Saving is allowed on "Save Points" throughout dungeons, cities, and houses; and on the World Map.
Story Info: Our hero, Caius Qualls, is a young man with aspirations to join his father in business. He has grown up in a small village with his friend Rubia Natwick. One day, when some soldiers come to town for some reason or another to cause some trouble, Caius' father transforms into an animal and defeats the guards. Caius' father also informs Caius that he actually is not Caius' father--in fact he was a guardian for Caius' mother, who was of royal lineage. In response to Caius' "father's" strange transforming power, the confused and short-sighted townspeople accuse him of being with the enemy and exile him from the town. Caius sets out to find his father, and find Rubia, who has run away to a nearby port.
Characters:
- Caius Qualls, voiced by Motoki Takagi
- Rubia Natwick, voiced by Mai Kadowaki
- Tilkis Barone, voiced by Takumi Yamazaki
- Forest Ledoyen, voiced by Kenji Nomura
- Arria Ekberg, voiced by Kae Araki
- Lukius Bridges, voiced by Mituski Saiga
Skill/Spell System: Every character has skills/spells. Characters learn new skills by mastering a skill, and leveling up. With a character that is set on "S. Auto" or "Manual" for battle mode, one configures 4 skills to be used with buttons. The four skills can be set to be used in conjunction with a combination of a D-Pad direction button/Left Control Stick and the skill button. i.e., one skill is performed by pressing the skill button by itself, another skill can be done by pressing the up button/tilting Left Control Stick up+skill button, another with down button/tilting Left Control Stick down+skill button, and another with left or right/tilting Left Control Stick left or right+skill button. Two characters in the game--Caius Qualls and Lukius Bridges--can use skills to transform into animals when certain battle conditions are met.
Battle System Info: The battle system in Tales of the Tempest is called the "3 on 3 Linear Motion Battle System". This battle system is
3-Dimensional with 3 lines (whereas Tales of Rebirth was 2-Dimensional with 3 Lines)
3-Dimensional with 3 lines (whereas Tales of Rebirth was 2-Dimensional with 3 Lines)
- When one presses the Menu button, one can use items.
- D-Pad moves character, one can double-tap up or down to move to another plane.
- The Attack button combined with various directions allows for different regular attacks.
- The Defend button combined with various D-Pad/Left Control Stick combinations allow for various defensive maneuvers.
- The Skill button combined with various D-Pad/Left Control Stick combinations allow the player to used the desired equipped skill(s).
- Start pauses the game.
- Select toggles among "Auto", "S. Auto", and "Manual" battle modes.
- R allows the player to switch targeted enemy.
- One can use the DS Stylus for many different functions in the game, including attacking during battle and running around outside of battle.
- Animal-Transformation -- One of the aspects of Tales of the Tempest is for certain characters in the game to be able to transform into animals. Two characters in the game--Caius Qualls and Lukius Bridges--can use skills to transform into animals when certain battle conditions are met.
Audio/Music: This is not one of the game's strong suits, even though Motoi Sakuraba has returned to do the music in this game.
Graphics: Tales of the Tempest's graphics are not a strong suit either, but this being the first 3-D DS game in the series, one cannot expect perfection. The sprites look very old-school, throwing back to Playstation-era sprite days. While the battle system is very similar to Tales of Rebirth, the graphics are certainly nowhere near the quality of Tales of Rebirth (but it is unreasonable to expect a DS game to compare too highly to a PS2 game). However, the world map graphics look very nice.
Difficulty: Tales of the Tempest is not that difficult. It is one of the shorter game in the series. Further, the game allows for less battle control than many other games in the "Tales of..." series, meaning that the player must set formation and strategies for AI-controlled players out of battle and let them run loose in battle. As long as the player somewhat dynamically configures strategies and skills (such that they are the best to utilize in each different situation), the player will be all right.
Replay: While Tales of the Tempest does offer features such as "Cooking" and "Tools" which may require more efforts in order to fully complete them, this is not one of the most blow-you-away games in the "Tales of..." series. The graphics are not as impressive, and neither is the character depth, story, or battle system. Therefore, the replay value for Tales of the Tempest is not as high as some of the other "Tales of..." games.
Where to buy:
