Tales of Hearts is an released for the in Japan and the worldwide. It is the eleventh main entry in the , developed by and published by . The Japan-exclusive DS version received two editions: the "Anime Edition," featuring cutscenes by , and the "CG Movie Edition," featuring CGI cutscenes created by . A remake of the game, Tales of Hearts R was released on the Vita in March 2013 and later released in western regions in November 2014. Hearts R was also ported to and released in Japan in October 2013 although it was pulled from the App Store on March 31, 2016, and therefore no longer available for download. Hearts R was developed by 7th Chord and includes staff from Bandai Namco Studios.
Like previous entries in the Tales series, Tales of Hearts is an . The game is split into two main areas: the field map and battlefield arenas triggered upon encountering an enemy. The battle arenas are fully rendered and played out in 2D. Characters are rendered outside pre-rendered cutscenes as 2D character sprites against 3D backgrounds. For the original version, the top screen shows the main visuals, while the bottom screen shows the navigation map and other functions. Battles are triggered by running into enemy sprites rather than appearing as random encounters. As with previous titles, Skits, extra conversations between characters, are available for the player to trigger.
The battle system is a variant on the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS) from multiple Tales titles: an action-based combat system similar to a : button commands instantly trigger various attacks and actions, and different attacks string together to form combos. The system used in Hearts is called the "Combination Aerial LMBS". Up to three characters participate in battle, with one controlled by the player and the other two controlled via . The two AI characters be assigned to perform different actions such as healing or attacking. The "Combination" element refers to a special gauge that fills up and can be used to perform special attacks with party members not assigned in battle. A second "Emotion" gauge determines how many moves a character can perform: the gauge fills while the character is blocking, and is depleted by performing actions. The lower the gauge is, the lower a character's defenses are. Characters can employ special attacks called "Combination Blasters," Hearts' take on the series' staple Mystic Artes ("Hi-Ougis" in the Japanese version). Defeated enemies drop items and materials that can be used to level up character abilities, with certain combinations of items yielding certain abilities and skills. Once enough skills have been learned, a character's weapon can be upgraded via three separate skill trees, with the abilities and power of the character changing according to the choice of skills beforehand.
