From what I can remember, this is what happened:<p>Both the "Tales of" and "Star Ocean" series were started by developer Tri-Ace.<p>They chose Namco as publisher and worked for them, and developed Tales of Phantasia. The team was aiming to make a good real-time battle system.<p>Some time after Tales of Phantasia's release, they left Namco, and went to work for Enix. There they made Star Ocean, and improved on their real-time battle system. They stayed with Enix, who later merged with Square.<p>However, Namco had the rights to the "Tales of" series. So they made more games using the same real-time battle system as Tales of Phantasia, and went their own way of improving it. Namco developed all the other "Tales of" games by himself, in their "Tales of" studio.<p>So, in summary, neither is a rip-off.<br> <blockquote>Benoit, you still haven't finished the game yet?</blockquote><br>No... I have school, and I'm cursed with a family that watches too much TV.<br>I also take my time with the game, doing as much side-quests as possible. I just reached 70 hours earlier today.<br> <blockquote>BTW, you know when I said to you that I've completed ToS in under 49 hours with the characters levels in their fifties? Well, I was wrong: I beated the game in under 51 hours with the characters in their late sixties. Sorry.</blockquote><br>I thought you said in their forties... Oh well.<br>Those levels are more realistic.
