Tales of the Tempest

**Tales of the Tempest** (テイルズ オブ ザ テンペスト, *Teiruzu obu za Tenpesuto*?) was the ninth main mothership title of the *Tales**of* series. It was the first of title of the series to be developed for handheld systems. The game was developed by the main Tales team, Tales Studio, which is now a Namco branch, with aid from studio, Dimps. The game was released on October 26, 2006 in Japan and received no western localisation for launch. Most probably due to critics and low reception and on ratings, it was taken out of of the mothership title series and started the birth of the escort title series, which now coincides with spin-off titles. The game's characteristic genre and theme translates to "**RPG that Awakens the Soul**" (魂を呼び覚ますRPG, *Tamashii wo yobisamasu RPG*?). The theme song for the game is ｢VS｣ composed by misono.

## Story

*Tales of the Tempest* is set on the continent of Areula, where humans live alongside a half-beast race called the Reimon. The Reimon once dominated Areula, but they gained the ability to command a dangerous technology called Precepts, which was hoped would bring about coexistence between the races. Around the same time, hostile soul-eating spirits called Spots appeared, causing conflict. The experiment to bring about a unification of the races through the creation of the "Law of Life" entailed the forging of a gem called the Patient, which cost the lives of many Reimon. The Law of Life appeared in an imperfect form, killing most of the Reimon population and plunging the entire continent into chaos before the gateway was closed. In the aftermath, the formally-weak Humans rose up and took control. In later years, the human authorities would rewrite the history into an interracial conflict known as the Beast War, further soiling the Reimon's image. *Tempest* begins 100 years after the Beast War ends: humans are in dominance, and the Reimon are derogatorily called "Lycanths", and are shunned in human settlements or even hunted for rewards.

## Characters

**Caius Qualls** (カイウス・クオールズ, *Kaiusu Kuōruzu*?) - The leading main character. A boy living together with his foster father in a remote village in Areula. A grotesque creature called ***Spot*** attacked his village because he was entrusted with a crystal by a soldier of the Imperial Guard he saved by chance. When he fought with Spot and his foster father, the people of the village found out that his foster father was a Lycanth, and they were treated with a cold attitude. Caius is voiced by Motoki Takagi.

**Rubia Natwick** (ルビア・ナトウィック, *Rubia Natouikku*?) - The female lead, heroine of the story, and a childhood friend of Caius Qualls who has lived in the same frontier village since they were children. Since her parents were both priests, she had planned on going to the capital city in order to study; however, her parents were killed by Lukius and his group, who had come to take Caius's father. She went on the journey with Caius to follow Lukius. Rubia is voiced by Mai Kadowaki.

**Tilkis Barone** (ティルキス・バローネ, *Tirukisu Barōne*?) - He is a Prince who originates from a small country far from Areula. To investigate a mystery occurring in his country, he travels to the capital city of Areula. There, he meets with Caius and Rubia. He handles a large sword skillfully and is a very wise person. Tilkis is voiced by Takumi Yamazaki.

**Forest Ledoyen** (フォレスト・レドワウヤン, *Foresuto Redowauyan*?) - He is Prince Tilkis's bodyguard, sent to protect him on his journey into the kingdom of Areula. Forest is a Lycanth that immigrated to a small country. He joins your party to save this country from trouble. He knows a lot about the geography of the world, so serves as a travelling guide. He may seem intimidating, but he is really a nice person overall. Forest is voiced by Kenji Nomura.

**Arria Ekberg** (アーリア・エクバーグ, *Āria Ekubāgu*?) - Arria Ekberg is a priestess of the capital city, but does not support the killing of Lycanths, and instead joins the party to stop what the other priests are doing. She joins the group after thinking of killing Lycanth as a crime. She fights with a wand and is very proud of her abilities as a mage. Arria is voiced by Kae Araki.

**Lukius Bridges** (ルキウス・ブリッジス, *Rukiusu Burijjisu*?) - He is a character who hunts for Lycanth, and wear a mask to hide his identity. When the main characters defeat Lukius in the desert, his mask comes off and his face is revealed for the first time. To everyone's amazement he looks almost exactly the same as Caius. This is because the two of them are actually brothers, separated at birth at sent to live with different parents. He is voiced by Mitsuki Saiga.

**Albert Mueller** (アルバート・ミュラー, *Arubāto Myurā*?) - A blond-haired swordsman. Albert is the leader of the King's Black Knights. He hunts Caius's group relentlessly, yet nobody quite knows how he is able to track them down so easily. He is voiced by Tomohisa Asō.

**Rommy** (ロミー, *Romī*?) - Rommy works for the church as a Priest-Soldier, and it is her job to round up Lycanth with her partner Lukius Bridges and to take them to the capital city of Janna. She is voiced by Ayumi Sena.

## Gameplay

### Battle System

*Tales of the Tempest* utilizes the 3-on-3 Linear Motion Battle System (3 on 3-LMBS). "3-on-3" refers to the fact that this is a 3D battle system based on the *Tales of Rebirth* "3 Line LMBS". Like the "3 Line" system, 3 on 3-LMBS places 3 combatants on a battlefield with 3 linear planes. Players can move between these three planes at will, and unlike in the "3 Line" system, they can attack enemies on other planes by adjusting their position. The game also features the "Beastman Transformation" system, where the Lycanth characters Caius and Forest are able to morph into their beast form during battle, which increases their strength and attack power but leaves them unable to use their artes.

## Development and Release

The main concept behind *Tales of the Tempest* was to create a compact version of a standard *Tales of* game. In addition, the team wanted to create a *Tales* experience that people could play on the go. Later, it was stated that the compression of features for *Tempest* and the staff's inexperience with the Nintendo DS caused multiple problems, including technical issues. The title, "*Tempest*", was derived from the concept of chaotic events and feelings. Makoto Yoshizumi, the producer for *Tales of the Abyss*, came over to produce the game once *Abyss* was completed. *Tempest* was the first *Tales of* title to be developed for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by the main *Tales of* series game developers and their collaboration with Japanese game studio Dimps. In contrast to previous *Tales* games, which featured a sizable amount of voice acting, *Tempest* restricted voice work to the execution of abilities and the completion of cooking.

The characters were designed by Mutsumi Inomata and Daigo Okomura. *Tempest* was Inomata's fifth time designing for the series. As part of her design, she created the characters with the DS graphics in mind. Okomura, a minor designer for the title, was responsible for designing the characters Albert and Rommy. In contrast to previous titles, which had purely animated openings, the game's opening cutscene used a mixture of CGI sequences created using the in-game graphics and animated segments by Production I.G.. The scenario was written by Shino Taira, Riku Okimata and Makio Kurita. Okimata was brought into the writing process halfway through production. The overall theme of coexistence between different nations and peoples was carried over directly from *Abyss* and *Tales of Rebirth*. Its characteristic genre name, a recurring feature in the series, was **Tamashii o yobisamasu RPG** (**魂を呼び覚ますRPG**, ***RPG that Awakens the Soul***?). One of the main ambitions for the story was to make it comparable with one of the home console *Tales of* games despite the platform and development goals. The game's music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, the main composer for the*Tales of* series. As his first work for the DS, Sakuraba found composing the music a challenge. One of the main problems was the limited sound capacity of the platform. As a result, it used a high degree of pop music. The title's theme song, "VS", was performed by misono, a singer who had previously performed the theme song for *Tales of Symphonia* while she was still a member of Japanese band Day After Tomorrow.

The game was originally announced as *Tales DS* in October 2005, with 2006 as its projected year of release.The game's official title was announced in December 2005. The game's release date was originally set for April 13, 2006. It was later announced that the game would be delayed. Its release date was moved to June 8 of the same year. It was then delayed again, with the release date being set as "before the end of 2006". The state reason for the delays was that the team needed extra time to properly develop the gameplay functions, which were specially designed for the DS. Yoshizumi later claimed personal responsibility for the delays.

## Merchandise

Several pieces of merchandise were created to either promote or supplement the game. As part of the promotion for the game, a 32-page booklet titled *Tales of the Tempest Official Fan Book* (テイルズ オブ ザ テンペスト オフィシャルファンブック?), was created, including an interview with Inomata and trivia concerning the game and series. Three different guides to the game were published between October 2006 and February 2007. A two-part novel based on the game was published by Super Dash Bunko: the two volumes were titled *Arashi no Shō* (嵐の章?, lit. Chapter of Storm) and *Kagayaki no Shō* (輝きの章?, lit. Chapter of Sparkle). They were released in January and March 2007. The novels were written by Ryunosuke Kingetsu and illustrated by Inomata. They included extra stories and character development not included in the original game. The game's soundtrack album, *Tales of the Tempest Original Soundtrack* (テイルズ オブ ザ テンペスト オリジナル・サウンドトラック?), was released on February 27, 2007. The album included an audio drama written by Okimata, portraying events between Caius and Rubia during the ending.

## Legacy

The game was originally described as a main entry in the *Tales* series. After the game's release, with the announcement of *Tales of Innocence* in July 2007, the series was divided between mainline "Mothership" titles and spin-off "Escort" titles. *Tempest*, described by Yoshizumi in 2007 as a precursor to *Innocence*, was officially reclassified as an Escort title at this point. It was speculated by *Game Informer* that the game's lack of critical and fan acclaim that caused the change, but this has not been confirmed. The game has yet to receive a western localization. Later, staff members of *Innocence* stated that *Tempest* was seen as a spin-off while still in development. After the release of the Vita port of *Innocence*, *Innocence R*, artwork found in that game caused speculation that *Tempest* might be remade. In 2014, it was revealed that Bandai Namco had been considering a remake of *Tempest* for some time, and that there was demand for both a remake by Japanese fans and a western release. So far, nothing has been announced.

## External Website Links

* **[JP]** Tales of the Tempest (Official Website)
* **[JP]** Tales Channel +