[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TalesOfHearts_4879.jpg]]

->''There lies a princess fair and dear who has slept for over a thousand years, amidst a bramble of thorny spears.''\\
''Her streaming hair is emerald green, her rose quartz cheeks a blushing sheen.''\\
''But while she rests in the forest of thorns, the rocks call out and the sea forewarns:''\\
''Look for the man with scarlet hair, who seeks to end our world so fair. It is his curse you must beware.''\\
''O Princess trapped in slumber's claim, your dream is evermore the same. A world snuffed out, a smothered flame.''

''Tales of Hearts'' is the eleventh mainline entry in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''. The game was released on December 18th, 2008 in Japan on the Platform/NintendoDS. It is the third entry in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' to be released for the Nintendo DS, and the first to be worked on by Namco Tales Studio. It features graphics produced by Production IG, a musical score by series veteran Motoi Sakuraba, and a combo-centric battle system in the vein of the remake of ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny''.

In the distant past, [[TheHeartless parasitic monsters known as Xerom]] ravaged the world, feeding on the hearts and emotions ("Spiria") of all living things. To defend the world, weapons called "Soma" were developed, allowing weapon-masters to physically enter the Spiria of an infected victim and eliminate the Xerom directly.

Centuries later, in the quiet country village of Seaville, enthusiastic teen Kor Meteor trains to become a Soma Master under the tutelage of his grandfather Sydan. Meanwhile, two siblings- Kohaku Hearts and her elder brother Hisui- are on the run from a mysterious sorceress called Incarose.

Not long after the Hearts wash up on the shore of Seaville and meet Kor, Incarose catches up to them, killing Sydan and cursing Kohaku into a deep sleep. With no other way to save Kohaku, Kor takes up Sydan's Soma and enters her Spiria. There he finds an infection of Xerom, encounters a beautiful emerald-haired girl straight from a famous nursery rhyme, and witnesses the Spiria Core that forms the keystone of Kohaku's Spiria shatter into pieces.

With Kohaku reduced to an [[EmotionlessGirl emotionless doll]], Kor takes responsibility and embarks on a [[CallToAdventure worldwide quest]] with Hisui to track down the missing pieces of Kohaku's Spiria Core and restore her to normal, one emotion at a time. Of course, it's never as simple as that: a new wave of Xerom infection is sweeping the world, several factions from the local Empire and Church are [[GambitPileup fighting against Kor and each other]] over the pieces of Kohaku's Spiria Core, and just when it looks like everything might turn out for the best, the story takes a [[WhamEpisode hard right turn]] and reveals another BigBad whose plans extend to the origins of the Xerom themselves.

Kor, Kohaku and Hisui are joined by a few others on their quest: Beryl Benito, the team's TokenMiniMoe who dreams of becoming the Imperial Painter; Ines Lorenzen, an enigmatic Soma saleswoman with [[SuperStrength inhuman strength]]; and Kunzite, a humanoid robot with an artificial Spiria. Then there's Chalcedony Akerman, an [[TheAce elite agent]] of the Valentin Church tasked with preventing the restoration of Kohaku's Spiria Core.

The game received a VideoGameRemake on the Platform/PlayStationVita, ''Tales of Hearts R'', released March 7th, 2013 in Japan, November 11th, 2014 in North America, and November 14th, 2014 in Europe. It features a graphical overhaul from 2D to 3D, and promoting Chalcedony to [[PromotedToPlayable playable character]], as well as introducing Gall Gruner, an enigmatic Soma Master who seeks to end despair once and for all.

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!This game provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: General Tropes]]
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Straga's sewers are downright huge and have a handy ladder connecting them to the castle. You visit them more than once.
* AlienSky: Standing on the "white moon" Quartzia, the sky is the same, but with a blue "moon" instead.
* AnimeThemeSong: "Eien no Ashita"[[note]]Eternal Tomorrow[[/note]]by DEEN, previously responsible for the ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' opening.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise [[AntiFrustrationFeatures/TalesSeries here]].
* ArtificialBrilliance: The bosses tend to gun for the casters far more than the melee fighters.
* BattleBaton: Kohaku Hearts's Soma produces a fire baton and during her idle animations sometimes twirls them. She can enhance her baton with flames and then uses them [[KickChick in conjunction with kicks]]. And offensive magic. And some healing magic.
* {{BFG}}: Pyrox' Soma; Hisui's Hi-Ougi, as well as Incarose's; the effect of the Flame Gun and Aqua Gazer spells.
* BigDamnHeroes: Kor's timely entrance to [[spoiler:thwart Chalcedony's public execution and have him finally join the party.]]
* BioAugmentation: Xerom-enhanced soldiers who have their Spiria eaten gain superhuman powers in return.
* CaptainErsatz: Compare [[http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4605/3368767.jpg this Creed]] to [[Manga/BlackCat this]] [[http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o5/nadi_nara/Black%20Cat/Creed.jpg Creed]]. They even share the [[Creator/ShinichiroMiki same voice actor]], who uses the exact same voice for both.
* CrystalLandscape: The Spir Mazes, labyrinths formed inside people's hearts where the core of their Spiria (the essence of their feelings) resides. They are composed entirely of crystal pathways and gemstones, and the only living beings are the Xerom who invade them in an attempt to consume that person.
* DistractedByTheSexy: The characters can go to {{c|rystalDragonJesus}}onfessionals. At one point, Hisui admits he missed a shot because he was staring at Innes' breasts.
* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler:Everything up to and including the PowerOfFriendship is something the Quartz made.]]
* DotingParent: Hisui and Kohaku's aunt, the very strict leader of Dronning. The loss of her sister has made her overprotective of her nephew and niece.
* DubNameChange:
** The translation patch renamed Kohaku and Hisui as the literal translation of their original names (Amber and Jadeite). When Kohaku reappeared in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces F'', dubbed, she got her name changed to Amber as well.
** Several other names get changed in the official localization (i.e. Shing becomes Kor). The kicker? Amber goes back to her original name. The ''real'' kicker? The game isn't even getting a dub!
* EmpathicWeapon: Variant. Somas don't have their own feelings, but they are the vector for the PowerOfFriendship, Soma Link. In a skit right after the player's first experience with Soma Link, Hisui tries to take Asteria so that he can experience Kor's Soma Link [[PowerOfLove with Kohaku]].
* EnemyCivilWar: TheEmpire is not exactly evil, but starts off very antagonistic. After the entire world was united under its banner, the military and the church started vying for supremacy, which culminates during the story. And then there's further betrayal and backstabbing when General Grossular's subordinates are also trying to one-up another. [[spoiler:In truth, they're all being used by Incarose.]]
* {{Expy}}: Possibly. There are two characters that share quite some similarities with ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''' Lamia Loveless. Lithia shares her voice, green hair and slightly {{Stripperiffic}} outfit. Kunzite shares her ArtificialHuman elements (and [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot ridiculously human look]]), combat capabilities (this seems to mirror Aschen (another of her Expy) from ''Mugen no Frontier'' more) and her TinMan to BecomeARealBoy development.
* FairytaleMotifs: The game's locations are named after writers and fairy tales. A picture book with the story of a [[Literature/SleepingBeauty sleeping princess]] is central to the events of the story.
* FlowerMotif: Xerom have a general plant motif, some of them flowers. Lithia and Fluora also have obvious flower influences on their designs.
* GoodMorningCrono
* GottaCatchThemAll: The premise of the game: gather Kohaku's fragmented Spiria Core pieces so she can return to normal.
* GratuitousEnglish: Amethyst's speech patterns are reminiscent of [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Yeager]] inserting random English in his sentences.
* GroundhogDayLoop: Possible with the Mechanoids' Artificial Spiria. Clinoseraph uses it to trap Lithia into his Spiria Nexus and have her experience an eternal repeat of the day Quartz was destroyed.
* TheHeartless: Xerom, mindless monsters from the Sleeping Princess's fairy tale that dwell within dreams and eat people's Spiria.
* TheHedgeOfThorns: Present in the story of "The Sleeping Princess" as an obvious reference to ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', but with a twist: [[spoiler:the Forest of Thorns is a codename used to identify an ancient control unit known as the Mysticete. It also happens to be the Flying Whale worshipped by the church and the place where Lithia's physical body has been preserved in stasis.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:At the end of the game Kunzite chooses to enter a permanent state of hibernation so that the dying Lithia can live on in his Spiria.]]
* HiddenElfVillage: Dronning village, home to Kohaku and Hisui. The village is protected by a special stone rendering it impenetrable to any outside influence. The barrier was put in place to protect Lithia, resulting in a few eccentricities in the village's ulture and speech.
* HotBlooded: Hisui's hat, to the point where "Nekketsu Heart" is a title for him; Kor does it too, Chlorseraph takes care of it for the villains, and even Kunzite gets in on the action at times, even predating Hisui with his own title of "HotBlooded Guardian Knight".
* HotSpringsEpisode: Multiple events that raise Soma Links are available there, though sometimes you may see more than you bargained for.
* InnocentInnuendo:
** An event you can trigger at the inn has a rather...heated event between Kor and Kohaku. [[spoiler:The subject is actually pickling a cucumber with miso for Beryl.]]
-->'''Kor''': Kohaku...so this is your...
-->'''Kohaku''': It's...the first time I've shown it to a man. I'm a little embarrassed...
-->'''Kor''': It smells so nice...let me see!
-->'''Kohaku''': W-wait, Kor! You can't just put that in so suddenly!
-->'''Kor'''': Oh, so that's what it's like in the inside! I think I can can pull this out now...
-->'''Kohaku''': You can't, Kor! It's still not ready!
-->'''Beryl''': STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! I won't allow this to continue!
** A pair of skits entitled "Totally Huge!" with the ostensible subject being [[BuxomBeautyStandard Ines' large breasts]]. The first turns out to be about her [[{{BFS}} Big Freaking Axe]] and visibly amuses Ines; the second is her pie-eating abilities, and by then she's getting flustered and annoyed.
--> '''Kunzite''': In addition to size, the shape, elasticity, and performance are the highest recorded in my memory banks.
* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere:
** High Tower is located just outside Lion Park and serves as the stage for a race in order to retrieve another fragment of Kohaku's Spiria. The outcome of the race was rather unexpected.
** One of the final dungeons of the game, Beanstalk, is an uphill trek in Quartz's highest tower while one of your characters is facing severe HeroicRROD. The dungeon culminates with the final battle against TheDragon and Lithia's CharacterDevelopment.
* LethalLavaLand: Brahmel volcano, home to the dragon Volga Jaws. Sadly, no lava puzzles are present.
* LimitBreak: Hi-Ougis.
* MeaningfulName: WordOfGod says Shing's name is meant to mean "heart weapon". Soma have their own names, like "Asteria" based on Greek for "star" or "Elrond" being short for "Elpis Rondo", which means "dance of joy". To say nothing of the ''evolved'' Soma names, like Asteria's being named after stars, comets, and constellations, Gale Arc's after winds and mythical birds, etc.
* MomentKiller: Poor Hisui. He has a sweet moment with Richea on the eve of the final battle, but when the rest of the party come tumbling out of their hiding place...
* MoralityPet: Spin and co. for Peridot, Lapis for Silver.
* MythologyGag: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise [[MythologyGag/TalesSeries here]].
* OfficialCouple: Obviously, Kor and Kohaku, as well as [[spoiler:Chalcedony and Empress Paraiba, and then Hisui and Lithia]].
* PoorCommunicationKills: Kunzite fights the party because Hisui lied to him about Pyrox breaking Kohaku's spiria core instead of Kor, except ''Kohaku'' wasn't telling the ''party'' that ''Lithia'', not Kor, who broke the spiria core.
* PowerLevels: Said to be Kunzite's ability to scan them. Through a hilarious skit, he discovered that an angry Kohaku's power level is 18500 ''giga-sugo''. Giga is a billion. We don't know how big a sugo is though.
* PowerGlows
* PowerOfFriendship, PowerOfLove
* PokeThePoodle: Beryl sucks at taking hostages.
-->'''Beryl:''' I'll get her face all sticky! The paint won't wash off for a week!\\
'''Hisui:''' Okay, so she's not evil...
* PretextForWar: Relations between the church and the royal army were already strained, but when Chalcedony's Soma goes out of control and Paraiba is accidentally caught in the blast, the army doesn't hesitate to declare it an act of aggression against the empress and declare war on the Crystal Knights and march against the holy city. Chalcedony, being incredibly lawful, intended to surrender if not for Pyrox's intervention.
* PublicExecution: Chalcedony is sentenced as a traitor in exchange for sparing the rest of the Crystal Knights. To drive the point home, Byrocks's Soma is used to carry out the deed.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Quartz and Mechanoids by default; the three living Quartz in the game have had their bodies in suspended animation since the destruction of Quartzia 2000 years ago, and most of the robots have been in storage and/or asleep. In particular, Richia strikes up a relationship with Hisui in the latter half of the game.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Seraph twins; possibly Hisui and Kunzite; Kor/Chalcedony and Peridot/Pyrox both have the actual colors down.
* RelationshipValues: The game never misses a chance to raise them, from minor skits to important plot points; characters get "X's Soma Link with the party has gone up" to wrap up their character development scenes, and particularly awesome moments are capped with the notice: "''Everyone'''s Soma Link has gone up."
* ShipTease: Naturally between Kor and Kohaku, but also prevalent between [[spoiler:Hisui and Lithia]].
* SpaceWhale: The Great Winged Whale is the deity of the Valentin church [[spoiler:and the Mobile Crystal Castle Mysticete]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Oh boy... just ask if a "u" is needed at the end of "Kohaku"'s name.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Quartz
* SuperSoldier: Kornerupine's Xerom-enchanced soldiers are ferocious and can stand up to Soma users, but they trade any shred of sanity in exchange.
* TitleDrop: Lithia says their connected feelings have carved the way to the "Eternal Tomorrow"[[note]]the title of the opening theme[[/note]] for their planet on the eve of the final battle.
* ThatsNoMoon: 3 times, no less.
** The black moon [[spoiler:is the hibernating form of the giant Queen Xerom Gardenia]].
** The white moon [[spoiler:is the planet Quartz, frozen in a crystallized stasis after drained by all its Spiria.]]
** At the end of the game, [[spoiler:the floating Mysticete supporting the link between the two planets is described as an emerald moon.]]
* ThemeNaming: Rocks. Lots of rocks. Xerom are also all named after plants; [[spoiler:Gardenia Core]]'s parts take names from plant parts and organs. The locations in the game are a mashup of fairy tales and children's authors.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Kohaku and Kor spend the whole game on an "Unresolved Romantic Tension" dynamic. [[spoiler: at the very last second of the post-credits sequence, they do]]
* WholePlotReference: The first arc can be best summed up as ''Tales of Anime/PrincessTutu''
* YearsTooEarly: Used as a gloat by Peridot if you lose to her in her solo fight.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Right as the final Spiria Core is returned to Kohaku.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hearts R Only Tropes]]
* AdaptedOut:
** Due to budget constraints, Nibelung Island and Latwick Forest were removed from the Vita version. The Rage Camelia boss fight is also suspiciously absent.
** Most sidequests in the original game included traversing through Spir Maze dungeons (where the player is under a strict time limit and gets a game over if they fail) in order to help the [=NPCs=]. They were mostly replaced with short fights instead.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Each character gets at least one alternate costume after watching sub-events. Some even draw on the fairy tale themes of the game, like Kohaku's "Amber Riding Hood". A larger selection of clothes is available as DLC.
* AnimalEaredHeadband: Lithia loves cats and wants to pet them, but she's highly allergic to them. Kohaku's solution: put cat ears on Hisui and then make them an attachment anyone can wear!
* BeachEpisode: Added in the Vita, along with a visual novel-style picture. It unlocks the first swimsuit set, while a second one is separately available as DLC.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The main character is called Kor in the subtitles, but the game has no dub, meaning you hear everyone call him Shing. There are other alleged problems with the English script, like certain lines no longer making any sense, CharacterExaggeration and {{Flanderization}} to the point that some characters come off as being perverted, violent, or just plain stupid, and many, ''many'' [[http://www.blade2187.com/2014/11/16/a-crash-korse-in-how-not-to-localize/ more problems]] that go beyond simple {{Dub Name Change}}s.[[note]]However, most can agree that a major part of why the translations didn't work was because the script itself was made with an English dub in mind, which [[NoDubForYou sadly didn't materialize.]][[/note]]
* CombinationAttack: The Vita version has the Cross Chase and Cross Link mechanic. During a succesful Cross Chase, a character can help you deliver a finishing strike by touching their portrait. There are also a few Dual Mystic Artes, accessible by raising the relevant characters' Soma Links to rank 7.
* DualBoss: What was originally a really badass cutscene in the DS version became a DualBoss in R. [[spoiler:Solo Chalcedony taking on two of Incarose's bodies.]] The first will barrage you with physicals and the other casts dark magic. Unfortunately, they have little HP and the battle ends as soon as you defeat one of them, so the "wow" factor is somewhat diminished.
* DungeonShop: Added in R. Most prominent ones are in Lignatore lab and Straga sewers. The latter mysteriously disappears after the first time you go through the dungeon.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The game has some subtle and not-so-subtle hints about Gall's identity. First, one of his introductory scenes has him do something to the seemingly invulnerable Grim Creeper, which lets the party fight it normally. [[spoiler:Kongwai's introductory scene in [[VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence Innocence R]] is almost exactly the same.]] Second, the glyph that appears when Gall casts spells is different from the one everybody else uses. [[spoiler:He shares said glyph only with Kongwai, suggesting they are both from the same world.]]
** An optional scene in Prinseur has the party throw coins in the fountain in the hopes of once again returning to the city in the future. [[spoiler: Pyrox and Peridot are the only ones who miss.]]
* FunWithHomophones: [[http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/lu127/2014-08-25-132813.jpg The Necoronomicon]], a legendary dark organisation that worships the cuteness of cats all over the world, is named after the Necronomicon.
* LethalJokeWeapon: The joke weapons return, but it in the R version, they have decent endgame stats and give out 12 TC when equipped, more than any other weapon. Kor gets a wooden sword, Hisui a pair of kitties, Kohaku a squid, Chalcedony a rose bouquet, and Beryl gets a brush made of ''Gentleman monsters.''
* OptionalBoss: The R version removed most of the DS bonuses and instead added two Grim Creeper palette swaps, Soleil Levant, Ultime Des Rose, a Volga Jaws palette swap, and a hidden boss with a ridiculous iron stance, and a new cameo boss fight against [[VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Hubert Oswell and Pascal]]...cosplaying Playstation mascots Toro and Kuro.
* RemakeCameo: Windum, the mascot of the original game that gave you access to the Sorcerer's Ring, was made into an attachment in R. For bonus points, you get it from Gall when he gives you the ring.
* WakeUpCallBoss: ''R'' adds Grim Creeper, an early boss in the Forest of Twilight. While Chalcedony helps with his light-elemental attacks, you only have one piece of darkness protection at that point and the guy's multi-hitting moves are deadly. Combined with the limited TC early on and the fact that the boss is accompanied by an incredibly annoying scythe that automatically revives after a minute or so, you have a very frustrating early boss.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hearts DS Only Tropes]]
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Like the other DS titles in the series, the limits of the console brought the active battle members down to 3. The Vita version adds a fourth member and there are points in the story where you have around 12 people accompanying you.
* CombinationAttack: Combination Artes, during which a supporting character can be called in with the command panel and synchronize their artes with somebody from the active party to initiate a combined arte. Most of them were made regular artes in R.
* DolledUpInstallment: Namco released a year later Keroro RPG, which is a cartoony TalesOfHearts clone which is good in its own right. It even has a better camera system. Namco has a habit of making good licenced Keroro games: the first DS game which is based on the fourth movie, is also a quite good Klonoa clone.
* OptionalBoss: The DS version has a bunch of cameo bosses from previous games, including [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny the Kraken]], [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2 Vassago, Vepar, Glasya-Labolas, Halphas]], [[VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss Guy]] and 4 Gentleman monsters designed after other [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco Bandai]] franchises. And then there's the Proto-Zerom Rishia Cattleya, final boss of the bonus dungeon and toughest optional boss in the series.
* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: The Combination Blaster attacks can summon a character from the VideoGame/TalesSeries to provide a quick helping hand. They can even summon villains and characters from other series entirely, like [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} KOS-MOS]]!
* ShoutOut: A huge list of cameo Link Attacks from other games in the series and even other titles produced by Namco.
[[/folder]]
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