Tales of the World demands fame

Many Tales fans are excited about Tales of the World. Being able to play with fan-favorite characters from previous iterations of the series is certainly enticing--but, getting them to stay in your party is another challenge in and of itself. 1UP recently previewed the game, and found that the game is a little bit more forgiving than the typical hardcore dungeon-crawl RPG. For example, "you won't lose your loot if you're defeated -- though you may lose your clout within the city."

It appears your fame, and your overall battle quality, will determine your ability to have returning Tales characters join your team permanently. "Most of the time, these 'guest' characters will be available to you for their associated quest, but you can also try to get them to join you permanently. Whether they do or not depends on their overall opinion of you, which is determined by a variety of factors that are so far unclear. We imagine you may not need to do much besides playing skillfully and avoiding death when they're with you on a quest."

If you play like a second-class warrior, you'll end up with second-class partners: generic heroes that must be paid to follow you around. Like in real life, it appears you'll have to earn friendship through charisma ... or money. See a video of the game, after the cut.