Tales of Rebirth

"The fact that this game didn't come to US is enough reason to start a war. No, really."

Tales of Rebirth is the last 2D installment of Namco's Tales series, and in my opinion it's by far the best.

Story: 10/10
Unlike previous Tales games, Rebirth tells a more serious story, focusing heavily on racial discrimination and its consequences. That, however, doesn't make the story less enjoyable, thanks to the great cast of characters and awesone voice acting.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in my opinion are far better than even the later 3D Tales games such as Abyss and Legendia, featuring beautiful hand-drawn environments and highly detailed character sprites. The only thing that doesn't quite impress is the overworld, but it isn't even really supposed to impress in the first place (come on, who would waste time LOOKING at the overworld, when there's so much to explore on it?), so that's not really a problem.

Sound: 10/10
The soundtrack is one of Motoi Sakuraba's best works and the voices are all as well done as you would expect from a japanese RPG. Out of all the character voices, I find Tytree's the best one.

Gameplay: 10/10
Though the graphics and story are truly amazing, the best thing about Rebirth is really its battle system. The Linear Motion Battle System has been highly improved since Tales of Destiny 2, now featuring three lines instead of one, and both characters and enemies can switch lines at free will. This adds a lot of strategy to the combat, as going around enemies and attacking them from behind has gotten much easier - and, of course, the enemies can also easily surround you...

The Technical Points, Tales' equivalent to most RPGs' MP, has been replaced by the Force Cube, a really nice - though somewhat strange and hard to get used to - addition to the battle system. The Cube appears next to the character portrait and HP in battle, and has four small blocks, each one corresponding to one skill or magic you assign on the menu. When you use a skill, its corresponding block becomes empty and then starts to refill slowly, and if you use the same skill again before it's filled it won't do as much damage. That forces the player to use his skills wisely so he never runs out of Force, which requires lots of strategy and makes battles less based on button-mashing.

The only aspect of Rebirth's gameplay that didn't really live up to my expectations was the fact that the dungeons are rather small and also there doesn't seem to be many of them. Even if you count the bonus dungeon I still have a strong feeling that I've spent much more time on towns than on them. But then again, that isn't really a problem.

Replay Value: 10/10
Besides battling in dungeons and walking around towns, there are also lots of side-quests and minigames to spend your time on. Your weapons can be upgraded with points you acquire from battling and there are many skills (Tokugi and Ougi) to be learned. The world map is full of secrets and there are bonus dungeons as well. That means you'll spend quite a lot of time playing this game.

Final Score: 10/10
Tales of Rebirth is one of those games you just can't find any reason to hate, no matter how hard you try. Even if you don't know japanese, you have more than enough reasons to give it a try. Grab a translation script on the internet and have fun playing this rare 2D treasure.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/07

Game Release: Tales of Rebirth (JP, 12/16/04)