This group is for tales of fans to talk about the tales games.The game begins in the world of Sylvarant, a land that is suffering a steady loss of mana, the energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself.[6] As crops begin to wither and hardship sets in, the people turn their hopes to the Chosen, a servant and messiah of the Goddess Martel, who can reverse the ills of the world by completing the Journey of World Regeneration.[7] In order to regenerate the world, the Chosen must travel from continent to continent, awakening the Summon Spirits that sleep at ancient shrines known as "seals." With every seal released, the Chosen comes closer and closer to becoming an angel. Once the Chosen fully transforms into an angel, the world will be regenerated. The Chosen of this generation is Colette Brunel; she travels with main character Lloyd Irving, former schoolteacher and healer Raine Sage, Raine's younger brother Genis, and a mercenary named Kratos Aurion.

As the game progresses, many revelations are made about World Regeneration and the hidden plots that complicate the scenario. One of the earliest revelations is that becoming an angel forces the Chosen to give up the aspects that make him or her human.[8] With the release of the first seal, the Chosen loses the need to eat; with the second, the ability to sleep; with the third, the ability to feel physical sensations; and after releasing the fourth seal, the Chosen can no longer speak. The fifth and final seal requires the Chosen to give up his or her heart, memory, and life. When this process has been completed, the Chosen's body will become one with the goddess Martel.

Because the pilgrimage of the Chosen means life for Sylvarant, many of its citizens are supportive of Colette's efforts. However, some oppose the journey, including the Desians, a terrorist organization of half-elves who resent the discrimination their kind have suffered over the years. Another is an assassin, Sheena Fujibayashi, who claims that life for Sylvarant means death for her world. Eventually, after making peace with the party, she explains that she comes from a second world known as Tethe'alla, which lies parallel to Sylvarant.[9] Replenishing Sylvarant's supply of mana changes the flow of mana, thereby draining it away from Tethe'alla - much like the sand in an hourglass - and will cause decline there even as Sylvarant prospers.[10] Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were once a single, united world, but were divided by the legendary hero of the Kharlan War, Mithos, as an effort to prevent the mana overuse which led to that conflict. Even worse, the object which was supposed to be the source of all mana, the Tree of Mana, does not exist; a single seed for this tree does exist, but Mithos has prevented it from germinating.

The party succeeds in releasing all the seals, and Colette becomes Martel's vessel. However, they learn that the angels that they are trying to serve have been using them. The party is betrayed by Kratos, who is then revealed to be an angel. The remaining party then goes to Tethe'alla to find answers, where their goal ultimately changes to saving the two worlds. In order to do this, they decide that they must sever the ties between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla to separate the worlds, thus ending the competition for mana.[11] In doing so they must face the opposition of the Desians, who are controlled by a half-elf villain named Yggdrasil. The party is shocked to learn that this Yggdrasil and the legendary hero "Mithos" are one and the same; during the Kharlan War, Mithos' sister Martel was slain, and the entire efforts of the church have been focused towards resurrecting her. The Desians, meanwhile, are Mithos' efforts to punish both worlds for their unending discrimination against half-elves such as himself. While his two remaining companions from the Kharlan War, Kratos Aurion and Yuan, once supported his goals, the two have since begun undermining him, Yuan by leading an underground resistance movement and Kratos by helping Colette and Lloyd. Kratos, in particular, teaches Lloyd that Mithos used the power of the "Eternal Sword," a semi-mythical blade of immense power, to sunder the two worlds; however, Lloyd would not be able to wield sword until its current master, Kratos, was defeated. The duel is particularly poignant for both characters, as Kratos had recently revealed himself to be the orphaned Lloyd's father.

Lloyd and his companions succeed in obtaining control of the Eternal Sword, as well as breaking the links holding Tethe'alla and Sylvarant together, defeating Mithos to do so. However, this causes the Great Seed to go out of control.[12] In the end, the party revives an ancient tree of ever-flowing mana, which, with the aid of the Eternal Sword, merges the two worlds once more.[13]