The game takes place in the world of Ephinea, which is divided into the countries of Windor, Stratha, and Fendel. Each nation relies on energy known as "eleth", distributed throughout the world in the form of crystals known as "Cryas". The three "Valkines Cryas" are giant crystals which are the primary source of eleth for each nation. Asbel Lhant, Hubert Lhant, and Cheria Barnes are children from Lhant, a village in Windor, who one day befriend an amnesiac girl from outside their village, whom they name Sophie. Richard, the prince of Windor, visits Lhant and befriends the group. After Asbel and Sophie save Richard from an assassination attempt, Richard returns to Barona, Windor's capital city, inviting them to come visit. Asbel and Sophie secretly head to Barona soon after. Upon reuniting with Hubert and Cheria, the group enters the castle through a secret passage at Richard's instruction. They discover an unconscious Richard and are attacked by a powerful monster, and Sophie sacrifices herself to save them. Asbel awakens in Lhant and learns of Sophie's death and Hubert's political adoption into the Oswell family, done to secure Asbel's future as the Lord of Lhant. Distraught over Sophie's death and the political events at home, Asbel runs away and enrolls in Barona's knight academy, training under Captain Malik Caesar. Seven years later, Asbel encounters Cheria and learns that his father has died defending Lhant from Fendel's invasion. They return to Lhant and unexpectedly encounter a revived Sophie, who has lost her memories. Fendel resumes the attach on Lhant but are stopped by Hubert, who arrives with Stratha's military. He reveals that Windor ordered Stratha to secure Lhant, and assumes the position of Lord after banishing Asbel from the village. After hearing rumors of Richard's death, the party investigates and finds him in the castle's secret passage. Richard tells them that his father was killed by his uncle, Cedric, who has assumed the throne. The party travels to meet Richard's ally in a neighboring city and encounter Pascal, a prodigy from the ancient Amarcian tribe of engineers, who joins them. As they travel, Richard begins to show signs of madness and has several violent outbursts. With the allied army, the party overthrows Cedric and Richard regains the throne. Richard orders an invasion of Lhant to free it from Stratha's control, forcing the party to betray him. Recognizing Hubert's efforts to protect Lhant, they travel to Stratha with Malik to negotiate with the government and formally instate Hubert as the Lord of Lhant. The Strathan government agrees on the pretense that Pascal repairs Stratha's valkines, which is malfunctioning. Though they succeed, Richard arrives absorbs the valkines' eleth before fleeing. The party learns that Windor's valkines has also been absorbed, and plan to intercept Richard at the final valkines in Fendel. Hubert joins the party and they travel to Fendel, but they fail to stop Richard. They deduce that the Lastalia, the planet's core, is Richard's final target. The party finds him there and attempts to reason with him, but he mortally wounds Sophie before sealing the entrance in a massive cocoon-like barrier. The party is unable to heal Sophie with magic or medicine, so Pascal suggests that they travel to Fodra, a nearby planet that Sophie originates from, to find a cure. After finding a space shuttle left behind by Pascal's ancestors, they travel to Fodra and meet Emeraude, the last remaining human there. Using advanced machinery, Sophie is healed and regains her memories, revealing that she is a biological humanoid that does not age, engineered by the people of Fodra to defeat Lambda. They also discover that Lambda is the monster that attacked them seven years prior and is possessing Richard. Emeraude helps the party bypass the barrier on the Lastalia, where they confront and defeat Richard. Emeraude betrays the party and attempts to absorb Lambda's power in order to restore Fodra, but fails to assume control and is killed in the process. Lambda begins to fuse with the Lastalia, allowing the party to see his memories and learn of his suffering at the hands of humanity on Fodra. Within the core of the planet, the party defeats the materialized Lambda; since he cannot be killed by normal means, Sophie intends to sacrifice herself once again to kill him. Instead, Asbel absorbs Lambda into his body, and convinces Lambda to let him show humanity's worth. Seeing the strength of Asbel's resolve, Lambda reluctantly agrees, to before falling into a deep sleep. In the after-story
Lineage and Legacies, the monster population has become an epidemic, forcing the party to reunite and investigate the cause. Hypothesizing that the eleth from Fodra is influencing the monsters, they travel there and discover that Fodra's core has reactivated and is sentient, seeking revenge on humans for Fodra's environmental decay. The party defeats Fodra's soldiers, the "Little Queens", and have the reawakened Lambda absorb Fodra's consciousness before he returns to his deep sleep in order to dispel Fodra's hatred, as Asbel had done for him. The party separates and returns to their daily lives, with Asbel proposing to Cheria and the pair adopting Sophie as their daughter. In the distant future, Sophie shares the story of the party's adventures with Asbel and Cheria's great-great-grandson.
Main characters ; Asbel is the eldest son and successor to Aston Lhant, the Lord of the village Lhant. After Sophie's death and Hubert's adoption into the Oswell family, Asbel leaves for Barona, where he trains to become a knight in order to atone for his failure to protect Sophie. After the events of
Tales of Graces, he assumes the position of Lord. In
Lineage and Legacies, he marries Cheria and adopts Sophie into the Lhant family. Since his debut, Asbel has ranked third in the
Tales character popularity polls. The game's producer,
Hideo Baba, wanted Asbel's story to portray the need to conform to social guidelines and expectations as one grows up. Through Asbel's conflict between choosing to succeed his father's Lordship or follow his dreams as a Knight, Baba wanted the players to understand the importance of protecting what is important to them and following through with their own path and dreams. During the events of
Lineage and Legacies, Sophie expresses her fears of life after the death of her friends due to her immortality. To lessen her fears, Asbel formally adopts her into the Lhant family. After fusing with a Little Queen, Sophie ages to an adult and is able to express a greater variety of emotions. Since her debut, Sophie has ranked on the
Tales character popularity polls. Hubert resents Asbel for deserting Lhant, perceiving the act as spiteful to his sacrifice, and his parents for abandoning him. He overcomes his anger when he reunites with his family seven years later. Due to his capabilities, he is appointed the lieutenant of the Strahta military. Hubert ranked on the fifth
Tales character popularity poll and fell from the rankings afterwards. ; Cheria is the granddaughter of Lhant's family butler, who was sickly as a child but is healed due to Sophie's powers. She is in love with Asbel, but treats him coldly after he leaves Lhant; however, she later reconciles with him after revealing her sorrow at him abandoning her. She later marries him after he proposes to her. Since her debut, Cheria has ranked on the
Tales character popularity polls. Cheria is a playable character in
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 and
Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave. ; Richard is the prince of Windor, who befriends Asbel and Sophie after his visit to Lhant. Before meeting Asbel, Richard is distrustful of others due to them exploiting his status for their own gain and his uncle Cedric's attempts to murder him. When Cedric poisoned him and left him to die in the underground passage, Lambda saved his life by fusing with him. Seven years later, Lambda's influence causes Richard to become violent and attempt to destroy humanity by fusing with the Lastalia. After separating from Lambda, Richard is determined to atone for his crimes, causing him to become more popular with the people of the three countries. Since his debut, Richard has ranked on the
Tales character popularity polls. ; Pascal is a prodigy of the Amarcians, a tribe of engineers, who is fascinated by mysterious technology and Sophie's origins. Since her debut, Pascal has ranked on the
Tales character popularity polls. ; Fodra is a sentient desolated planet. A thousand years ago, Fodra began annihilating humanity with its personal army, the , to preserve its environment. Fodra's scientists shut down Fodra's core and relocate the surviving humans to Ephinea. In
Lineage and Legacies, Fodra is reactivated and resumes its genocide; after being confronted by the party, it merges the remaining Little Queens to form . After the party defeats the Queen, Fodra's consciousness is absorbed by Lambda, who intends to dissuade its hatred. As the last Little Queen is dying, Sophie accepts her request to merge with it and watch over Fodra. ==Development and release==