Tales of Crestoria

Overview

A mobile-exclusive JRPG developed and produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Crestoria is an original entry in the Tales franchise with a gacha system that allows players to build a party of characters from across the Tales franchise, set in an original world and story. The game was released worldwide on July 16, 2020.

The game was later shut down on February 6, 2022.

Premise

In the world of Crestoria, every action can be recorded by magical "Vision Orbs" that everyone wears, and anyone caught committing a serious transgression is branded by a "Stain of Guilt" and hunted down by enforcers who punish the wicked. One night Kanata kills his father to protect Misella, who then burns the church down to help him escape. The two are forced to flee their home with the help of "The Great Transgressor," a free-sprited criminal known as Vicious.

Gameplay

The player creates a party of up to 4 main characters (and two sub-characters), trying to balance their strengths to take on a number of enemies in each stage. Each stage may have 1-3 phases where players take a turn attacking enemies and then the enemies get a chance to respond if there are any left. Some boss monsters may have a meter and will unleash an extra-powerful attack if they are not defeated or the meter is not drained by the time the turn number ticks down to 0.

Party members will be gained from drawing SR or SSR-rated Memoria Stones. SSR characters have an additional special attack that they can unleash when a symbol is filled by dealing enough damage to the enemy, allowing them to take two turns instead of one when it is full and unleash their ultimate technique on the battlefield. SR characters do not have this ability.

Any excess Memoria Stones or R-rated Stones will not a usable copy of the character depicted on them, but can be attached to any character (or placed in a sub-deck) to provide both active benefits to their attached character, and passive benefits to the whole party. Characters and Stones alike can be leveled up to increase their power, but must be leveled up separately.

Other Media

Bandai Namco announced a CG-animated short film, TALES OF CRESTORIAーTHE WAKE OF SINー to be released October 18, 2020. The short was made by Kamikaze Douga, the same studio behind other trailers for the game. The Wake of Sin would depict the same-named first chapter of Crestoria's main story.