The first fully-3D Tales game took the series to a new level of popularity thanks to its memorable main cast and fully active combat, where you can move characters around and assign special techniques to different buttons, even allowing for multi-player (but in-battle only). The lengthy story falls into a lot of typical cliches, but is buoyed by the characters and some unexpected moral choices/twists. It also has tons of extra content and a massive game world consisting of two alternate dimensions. A great introduction to the Tales series and a very solid JRPG on its own.

The JP-only PS2 port features some extra content. There was a direct sequel on the Wii, but it wasn't exactly well-received. This game and the sequel were ported to the PS3 with some additional content and Japanese and English dialogue.