Tales of Eternia

Tales of Eternia for PSP brings Namco's fantasy action role-playing adventure to PlayStation Portable. Released in Japan in March 2005 and in Europe in 2006, it is a handheld port of the 2000 PlayStation game, the third main entry in the Tales series. The European PSP edition kept the Tales of Eternia name; this is significant because the original North American PlayStation release had been called Tales of Destiny II, despite not being a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny. The PSP version was not released in North America.

The adventure begins in Inferia with young hunter Reid Hershel and his longtime friends Farah Oersted and Keele Zeibel. Their lives change after they meet Meredy, an injured girl from the distant world of Celestia who initially speaks a language they cannot understand. Meredy warns of the Grand Fall, a looming catastrophe involving Inferia and Celestia. The group sets out to uncover the cause of the crisis, gaining companions and travelling between the two worlds as the scale of the conflict becomes clearer.

Exploration moves between towns, dungeons, field areas and a world map. Talking with residents, visiting shops, finding equipment and progressing through story events all feed into the journey. The party can prepare for difficult encounters through its menu systems, which handle inventory, equipment, character statistics and battle strategy. Cooking is also part of the routine: recipes and ingredients can be used outside combat to provide restorative or status-related benefits before the next stretch of travel.

Combat uses the series' real-time Linear Motion Battle System, specifically the Aggressive Linear Motion Battle System associated with Tales of Eternia. Fights play out on a side-view battlefield rather than through separate turns. The player directly controls one party member at a time, strings together normal attacks and character-specific artes, and can change tactics or issue directions for the computer-controlled allies. Different party members bring their own fighting styles, including swordplay, hand-to-hand attacks, magic and ranged weaponry, while the Craymel system connects elemental spirits with magical abilities and encourages attention to the party's spell setup.

The PSP conversion preserves the game's 2D role-playing structure, animated scenes and broad adventure while adapting its presentation for the portable system. Namco promoted refined PSP graphics for battles, towns and fields, along with widescreen support and the return of the animated movie sequences. That makes Tales of Eternia PSP a portable version of a defining early Tales adventure: a lengthy single-player quest built around a four-person party, fast 2D action battles, elemental magic and the journey to prevent disaster across Inferia and Celestia.