DuringNintendo ’s August 2024 Partner Direct , Bandai Namco announced thatTales of Graces fis pose a remaster for modern platforms . The RPG was earlier released in Japan for the PlayStation 3 in 2010 , and finally made its way to the West in 2012 . Its return this come January is no surprisal . With thecriticalandcommercial successofTales of Arise , the Tales series has get more attention than it ever has before . Now , the serial publication is celebrating its 30th day of remembrance and manufacturer Yusuke Tomizawa has released avideo messageaboutTales of Graces fand Namco ’s widerTales Remastered project , teasing that there will be more on the way .
Tales of Grace fis a great start for that project , but I hope it ’s only the beginning . This is the sodding chance to release Tales games that never dumbfound a proper localization . And there ’s one entry in the serial publication that ’s long overdue for a westerly release : Tales of Rebirth .
A quiet classic
Tales of Rebirthtakes place in a worldly concern where two races coexist : humankind ( called Huma ) and beast hoi polloi ( Gajuma ) . The two races come together to form the Kingdom of Calegia . The news report kicks off when the Gajuma king , Ladras Lindblum , dies . Right before his expiry , he unleashes his own power onto the Earth , bestowing Huma with elemental abilities called Force .
Rebirthtackles topics like racialism as it explore the tensions between Huma and Gajuma . It reinforces its themes in several different way . personnel powers were antecedently only useable for Gajuma to wield , but after the king ’s death , Huma were capable to demonstrate them as well . Both groups are on equal footing now .
The protagonist , Veigue Lungberg , awakens his Force of Ice . After his childhood Quaker , Claire , gets snatch by an all - Gajuma military mathematical group called the Four Stars , Veigue correct off on a journeying to rescue her . Throughout his adventure , Veigue recruit allies to his side , including the Panthera pardus Gajuma and Force of Steel user Eugene , as well as the one-half Huma and half Gajuma Force of Lightning drug user Hilda . Veigue ’s eclectic gang shows how different mathematical group of people can ring together for a vulgar movement .
Rebirth ’s discussion of racism through fantasy is n’t perfect . It ’s heavily - handed in its storytelling and its villain are cartoonishly shallow with airfoil - layer motivations . The antagonist who sets off the chains of events in the story simply trust that one race is good than the other because of generic and selfish reasons . Still , I ’m happy thatRebirthsticks to its serious theme rather than couch it aside likeFinal Fantasy XVIdoes .
As such , Rebirthfeels poignant for a Western liberation at the mo . Countries like theU.K. are experiencing wash riots , while the U.S. is gearing up for a presidential election in Novemberfilled with dissentious rhetoric . It feels like the right-hand moment to revive a game that touches on those cultural anxiousness , even in an imperfect way .
May the Force be with you
Aside from that meaty story , Rebirthsports a alone conflict organization that was a departure from the distinctive Tales formula at the time of waiver . Instead of using the received TP / MP system for special skills that many RPGs have , Rebirthhas the Rush Gauge . That get role player build up offensive impulse to unleash special skills call off Artes . This solves the issue of combat pacing when you bunk out of succus and have to just stick with normal fire instead of throwing out flashy skill .
There ’s a nice peril and reward element to it . Offensive Artes heal HP on top of doing legal injury . The more offensive players are , the more advanced Artes that they can perform , with the barter - off of plump defense . After using an Arte , it goes into cooldown mode . It can still be used during that time , but it ’s not as effective and the healing factor is n’t as potent . It ’s a smart determination - making layer that hold open scrap from trust too much on button mashing . Rebirth ’s more data-based struggle scheme was so much playfulness at the prison term as it felt less restrictive ; it ’s a shame that it was ditched for the return of the distinctive TP / MP system in subsequent entries .
Rebirthwas bizarrely skip over for localization not once , but twice . In 2004 , when it was first released on PlayStation 2 , and then again with itsPSP portin 2008 . It ’s even more perplexing when its predecessor , 2003’sTales of Symphonia , was a smash bump off on the GameCube and put the series on the map in the West ( Namco continually remastered it for every modernistic platform imaginable ) . Namco could ’ve easily used the momentum fromSymphonia ’s winner to localizeRebirth . Instead , 2005’sTales of LegendiaandTales of the Abysson PS2 were choose instead .
WithTales of Graces fgetting a remaster , there ’s no well time than ever to giveTales of Rebirthits global due . In fact , Veigue even makes a cameo appearance inGraces f ’s optional coliseum fight , and theparty can face off against him . Since Veigue already has an English vocalisation actor , why not go all the path ?
