Tales of Symphonia
Game Info:
| Platform: | Gamecube |
| Developer: | Namco Tales Studio |
| Publisher: | Namco |
| Players: | Up to 4 Co-Op |
| Format: | 2 DVD |
| Gallery: |
Editor review
Like reading a no. 1 bestseller
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Namco started with the 'Tales of' series on the Super Famicom, with the great game Tales of Phantasia. Ever since the series has been expanded with 5 more games, of which the most well known are Tales of Destiny I and II for the Playstation. But these games were not nearly as good as the original game. Fortunately, Namco has come with Tales of Phantasia to make up for its mistakes. The very first RPG from Namco for the Gamecube did not disappoint. While there may be a few flaws, which will only be noticed if you pay close attention to every detail in the game, the game definately is one of the best RPG's out there at the moment. The game starts off with the declining world of Sylvarant, where the people have put their hope on the Chosen One; a girl who must save the world by giving the land it's Mana back. Mana is the typical 'source of life' (which has been used in RPG's more often than not) and living beings need the Mana to survive. The game's main character is Lloyd Irving, a young boy who goes along with the Chosen One on her journey to restore the world. Along the way, you'll meet many interesting characters who join your group, each with a background story, equally deep and well worked out as the main character's. With a few unavoidable (and unavoidable isn't always bad) twists in the plot the story will keep you on your toes during the entire game. And the game is a long one at that. If you just intend to play the main game, you'll be done after 50 hours or so, and even that is a lot longer than most games can achieve. If you want to know everything about the story, the characters history and complete all sub-plots, you'll be another 30 hours further. This is the series' first leap to full 3D, and it didn't disappoint. The houses and people don't look static at all, and the colors are nice to look at. ToS makes use of cel-shading, a technique that makes everything look like it has been drawn. The style does its work well in the game, as the characters look great and the landscapes look like they have literally been painted. Some of the landscapes look really amazing, which adds to the fun of playing the game. In some of the cutscenes that are scattered throughout the game, the characters do look a bit smudgy. The biggest flaw ToS has, is that the overworld map looks like it has been made by a 5-year old. The textures are really simple and plain, and towns and objects on the world map don't look very classy either. A nice feature of ToS is that it is supported by anime cutscenes, by the hand of Kosuke Fujishima, which do add a bit of variety to the game, which, by the way, it doesn't really need. The audio is fair; not really great and not bad. Many of the tunes are nice to listen to and they fit the places well. The battle music does a nice job getting you hyped up while battling, and they don't get irritating after a while. But if you pay close attention to some of the sound effects, you'll hear that some effects, especially in battles, just don't seem to be time right, some even sound a bit dull. But most gamers won't even pay attention to it, let alone hear it. And with all the tunes and sound effects popping up wherever you go, you'll likely hum along with some of them before you even realize it. The gameplay is quite basic for an RPG; you'll walk around in towns and villages quite a bit, buying new weapons and upgrading them and replenishing your items, just as much time you spend in dungeons and fighting monsters. The only thing I did not find in any other RP is that this game makes use of conversations which can be activated at will, so-called skits. This really fleshes out the characters and gives them more of a character. All of the characters have such an individual personality, which is used to its fullest, that it almost seems like your reading a no. 1 bestseller. However, fighting monsters in this game isn't done by selecting attacks in a menu. ToS makes use of the "linear motion battle system", first used by the 'Tales of' series first entry. You can attack directly just by pressing a button, no menu's to search through when attacking, just hit the corresponding button and your character will automatically dash forward and start slashing at your enemies. Using your special attacks, called techniques you can kill your foes in a quicker and more efficient way, which is needed, since you are rewarded a certain amount of points after battle. Well, I said 'rewarded', but that isn't entirely true; if you get hit a lot or don't defeat the enemies within a time limit, the amount of points will decrease, even below zero points, at which point you'll lose points instead of earning them. So you had better get used to the fighting system early on in the game, for you can use the points, called GRADES, to buy some really useful items. Battles soon become hectic battlegrounds with characters running and fighting the enemies, using special techniques that can be earned by leveling up, while others stay out of the battle using magic spells that either aid your allies or inflict damage on your enemies. To really finish the baddies off, you can make use of the Unison Attack. After a bar is filled, you can attack with all of your teammates and create massive damage. | |||||||||
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