The Tales series takes pride in their ensemble of characters. It may not be as popular as the Final Fantasy series, but it has often left an unforgettable story for those who take a shot in playing the game. Those who are planning to get a version of Tales of the Tempest for the DS will definitely have the chance to play around with these two new characters introduced in the game.

The first character is Albert Mueller, the leader of the Order of the Black Knights. His title contrasts his appearance though, as he's wearing something white all throughout the game. He's one of the top swordsmen in his crew, but isn't really happy with his position.

Another character is Romi, a cleric who accompanied Lukius in the journey. She's quite Machiavellian, doing anything and everything to get what she wants. She also acts independent of Lukius which almost always places Romi in a compromising disposition.

These are just two of many characters you'll definitely find in Namco Bandai's Tales of the Tempest. Make sure to grab the game, if you want to start on a big adventure this winter.

We've given you a report before on the gameplay features of Namco's Tales of the Tempest. Anyway, I don't really want to give give you a second run through of what to expect from this game, but just so you'd have something to work with before you watch the video, the main points of the previous report were these:

• Anime-cell-shaded style still going strong in this incarnation.
• There's an unlockable wireless mode that allows for up to 3 gamers to battle each other.
• Even though you can only control one character at a time tactics and stuff are assignable to your other two characters.

Anyway, if you want to see the game in action, check out the video from TGS 2006 below. Yes, those are giant DS screens. Why can't Nintendo come up with a console-sized NDS that's almost as powerful as a GameCube? I don't know about you guys but I think that would be pretty cool.

A couple of weeks ago, we've shown you some updates on Tales of the Tempest, so we thought we'd give you a heads up on how the gameplay will feel like.

The Nintendo DS incarnation of Namco's Tales of... series features a system that is similar to the TOA active-battle fighting system, although in play, it's really more of a series of grids that you fight on in active battles.

Even though it's still loyal to the Classic 2D Pixel art style (a little cell shading added here and there) famous during the 16-bit days, the system allows you to move around in a limited fashion.

Although you control only one character at a time sub-menu, the sub menu allows you to assign traits and tactics zone placement to the rest of your party. The game allows you to play using either the stylus or the D-Pad.

Eventually, after you pass a certain point in gameplay, a wireless Mode feature will be unlocked and will allow up to 3 gamers to fight each other in battle.

The game is set to come out this October in Japan. Will it be released in North America? We're guessing user demand will decide. "Localizing" a game into a different language does take time and effort, and you all know how we hate bad transitions.

GameFront has the Japanese box art for Tales of the Tempest. The game has been delayed countless times now and has finally gotten itself into a October 26th, 2006 date. It obviously didn't want to be too close to the mammoth franchises of Final Fantasy and Pokemon. This means that there is still time for a box art change. It's not really one of the best we've seen so far, maybe the North American version will be different?

The Tales series is the most popular RPG series behind Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Well, it's also less popular than Pokemon, but that's not considered a traditional JRPG. Even if Bandai Namco doesn't localize it for a North American audience, Nintendo of America likely will. Keep your fingers crossed!

  

The pre-order bonus for the Japanese version of Tales of the Tempest has been announced. Now that Final Fantasy III is finally out, Bandai Namco seems to be finally revealing more about their DS RPG. If you pre-order the game, which will cost the standard price of 5,040 Japanese Yen, you'll receive an artbook and a DS card holder. The card holder should be useful for keeping an extra game or two in your pocket without losing it! The game will be released on October 26th, 2006. No English release has been announced, but hopefully Nintendo will fund one like they did for Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Phantasia.

  

Bandai Namco weaves new screenshots for its coming title, Tales of the Tempest. Gamers are really awaiting this new addition to the Tales series. Here, we follow 15-year old boy Caius Qualls as he search for his parents as well as for his past. Instead of being a half-elf, the main character in this rendition changes into a werewolf, something that expands our imagination a little bit more.

As we all know, after being pushed back for God knows how many times already, Tales of the Tempest is coming out in Japan this October 26. There is still no mention of a Western release as of now.

     
     
     
    

Tales of the Tempest has been causing a stir for quite awhile. Japanese magazine V-Jump creates another buzz by publishing new scans of this DS title. Making its debut is the scene where the young hero Caius Qualls is able to transform himself into a werewolf during combat, much like his buddy Forest Ledoyen. Its release has been postponed many times already by Namcom, but now it's reported to be finally out in Japan this October 26. Let's just hope that's not another fluke.

The release for Tales of the Tempest has been set to the 26th day of the 10th month, something we call "October 26th, 2006"! However, that is the not release date for the English version of the game - it is the date for the Japanese release. The Japanese release has been delayed a bunch of times for different reasons.

The most interesting previous date was when it was set to launch in the same week as Final Fantasy III. Since Bandai Namco isn't a completely insane company (not just yet anyway), they've decided to release it a couple of weeks after the juggernaut. Hopefully, we will get an English version of the game soon after!

With the wonderful news that Tales of the Abyss (PS2) will be localized, comes new beautiful screenshots and artwork for Tales of the Tempest (NDS). There are currently no plans to localize this game, but the chances are very high. Tales games for Nintendo consoles seem to be published by Nintendo often and Namco is publishing Tales of the Abyss even after Tales of Legendia bombed.

The newest issue of Famitsu has more screenshots of the upcoming Tales of the Tempest from Namco. It reveals that in addition to the main character being a werewolf, a few party members are as well. Although the half-human/half-elf thing has been done in many past Tales games, half-beast/half-human looks like it can open up some more possibilities. The second game featured was Mushi King 2.