-    The story in TOE focuses on a sword hefting hunter named Rid Hershel and his girlfriend Farah Oersted. The game starts off with the two joining together to gaze into the heavens. A blinding flash of light interrupts the moment of repose and the two venture off to investigate. They discover a girl who has crash landed in a field and attempt to communicate with her. She speaks an odd language that sounds like a mixture of pidgen Japanese and gibberish...if such a dialect existed. Her name is Meredy and her intonations are accompanied by a strange alphabet text bubble.    Once introductions are over and the game gives you full control, you find yourself in a quaint home. The stove burns with a flame below and a kettle of water steams overhead. Walk into the other room and the sun streams in through the window while a constant breeze waffles the curtains. Walk in front of the mirror and your reflection follows your every move. Try to look inside Farah's bureau and she admonishes you. Upon exiting your home, the view inside the town is from a 3/4 overhead angle. Once you exit the town, the camera moves to a wider shot of your immediate surroundings and the player is afforded a comfortable overview of the world.    Inevitably, you'll encounter your first battle as you travel the land. The fighting system is fairly chaotic and you have sole control of Rid. Dash forward and slash, jump, thrust your sword at foes and do as much damage as possible in realtime. There is no hindrance in the amount of moves that you can pull off since this is not a turn based battle system but rather a healthy action based fighting sequence. Your comrades will do their own thing and Meredy will occasionally blast off some pyrotechnics while Farah slashes in her own way to help in the course of battle.    Tales of Eternia has garnered healthy pre-orders thus far. The characters are affable and the game looks beautiful. If this preview is any indication, Namco have another hit on the way. The full release of this game will ship on November 30 for the Playstation in both a regular and a limited edition. Price: US$20.    Rid and Farah meet Meredy for the first time after she crash lands on a wooded patch of green. Communication with the purple haired girl is strained at first. Meredy also shows an unusual amount of affection towards Rid and a strange energy emanates between the two when they stand clost together... Farah appears puzzled by this.    The fledgeling party battles a stone creature and takes their share of hits.  The first couple of battles are simple where you take on snakes and birds. To make Rid hit airborne foes, press up on the pad and attack for a upward thrusting attack.    A look back at a Tales of Destiny calendar. Some other goods from Tales of Phantasia and Destiny are inspected. We especially liked the sketch section with preliminary character artwork from designer Mutsumi Inomata.