Summary

In the future, Tales of Symphonia will be considered one of console gaming's greatest RPGs of all time. It is a fantasy/sci-fi RPG with very prominent action elements. If you took the best of Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, Skies of Arcadia, and Grandia II, you may just come up with something like this game. From Zelda, you'd take sword combos (and combine them with spell and techinique combos, and character combos, too). From Kingdom Hearts, you'd take the team member user programmable AI (and enhance it five fold). From Skies of Arcadia, you'd take the vast scope of gameplay and the inability to put the game down (Tales also comes on two disks). And from Grandia II, you'd take an incredible story line that flows so very smoothly and that involves you emotionally so much it's scary. And in the case of Tales, the final product is truly greater than the sum of it's parts. A unique, addictive real time battle system (though you can pause in mid battle to make changes in your characters' strategy) combined with unbelievable graphics intertwined with incredibly immersive gameplay. And so much more. That's Tales of Symphonia. The amount of work that must have gone into this game is hard to comprehend. But I know this for sure. You should run, not walk, to your favorite retailer and get this game for your Gamecube. I would be willing to bet a paycheck that the price of this title will not be coming down for a long time to come. Get it and it will suck you into it's world so deeply that you will not want to come out until your eyes burn from fatigue and your fingers ache from combos. Not including the menus (and there are many), Tales is played on four main screens. These are Towns, Dungeons, Battle, and The Field. In addition to these are cutscenes and Skits, which are 2D anime based dialogs that are superimposed over the main screen. These give clues to what is going on and advance the story line. In Towns, Dungeons and The Field you encounter enemies. Touch one and fighting commences on the Battle screen. The Field is where and how your party moves from one locale to another, with the locations shown as miniature buildings, fortresses, and so on. However, treasure can be found on the Field screen, as well as in Towns and Dungeons. Encounters with enemies, especially in The Field, occur at about twice the rate of encounters in Skies of Arcadia. If you played that game, you may be thinking, ugh, no way can I stand that again. However, unlike that game, you will want to fight the enemies in Tales, not avoid them, because the battle system is such a blast. I can swear to you that you have never heard, seen, or played anything like the real time battles in Tales. There are also puzzles of the moving block variety in Tales. And these can be challenging. Overall, compared to other games, treasure and rares, and even health items, are a bit scarce in Tales...until you master the Battle System. For each encounter you are rated and Graded. In addition to the tradional experience points, Grade is accumulated as well, and it can be used as barter for weapons and upgrades. In fact, Grade is but one of many unique gameplay elements to be found in Tales. For instance, in each Town, there is an Expedition shop. Here you can hire explorers to go out and find out if there were areas you missed, items you did not pick up, and they will make a map for you as well. For a negotiable price, of course. The only bad thing I can think of about Tales of Symphonia is the name of the protagonist (the main character). You cannot change it, it is fixed. Not Vyse, not Link, not KOS-MOS, not Tidus. No, no. Namco gave this character an unreal name. His name is...Lloyd Irving. I'm not making this up. His teamates have cool names, but..Lloyd is Lloyd. The game uses Save Points, and they are plentiful. Anyway, get this game. It rocks!

Sound

I remember reading that the Gamecube had some unusual audio abilities back when it first came out. I don't know if Tales uses these abilities or not, but the audio in Tales is amazing, or very irritating, depending on your point of view. To experince the full audio quality of Tales, you will need a Surround Sound system. The music is outstanding, and the sound effects are first class. But what is killer is the character voice acting. Each of your characters has a set of voice acted responses druing Battle. Responses for being hit, for dying, for calling out a spell or techniqe, for being a smart ass, and so on. But in Tales, each enemy type has a set of responses too! And, if you have Surround Sound, it seems as if each character onscreen, both good guys and bad guys, is speaking from a different position. So, you can have eight or more characters and enemies yelling and talking at once! Each one can be heard clearly and distinctly if you listen for them, but the overall audio effect is a chaotic cacophony of speech, music and sound effects. To some, this might be irritating, and the voices can be turned off in Preferences. But I leave them on, putting up with the repitition of the enemy speech since it fits so well with the imagery and enhances the fighting experience.

Gameplay

If you've played RPGs before, you know the basic quest based nature of this game. It's true that the storyline is first rate, that there are cool, unique and interesting sub-elements, mini-games, quests and sub plots. It's quite possibly the best I've ever played, actually. But, it's a tried and true formula, and it flows along well, and RPGers know how this goes. But what makes Tales stand out is the Battle system. And fighting battles is where you spend most of your time in the game. There is nothing else remotely like it in any other game. It is real time, but you pause the battle to make decisions for your characters. You have four of them onscreen at once, and they are almost infinitely programmable. Not only can you program each of them regarding what spells and special attacks to use, you program them to fight close in or stand back and cast magic, to conserve or freely spend TP and items, and so on. All of these commands together are known as Orders. And, you can have four sets of Orders for each character, each of which which can be changed during battle individually! In single player mode, you can directly control Lloyd only. But, if you have a friend or two or three over, and you have extra controllers, they can each control one of your characters in real time during Battle! And, each character can have a unique set of combo moves that you create. These are assigned to the Dpad and B button. Plus, special Magic attacks are assigned to the C-Stick. In additon, there are user definable Unison Attacks that you have complete control over for having all party members lay in to an enemy at once. And, you have complete programming control over character position as well. There are literally hundreds of possible battle combos. Speaking of enemies, I need to state right here that the enemy AI is amazing. The battles are tough. I have not seen anything close to compare to it with the exception of Record of Lodoss War on the Dreamcast. I have not played the game with Hard mode set up, but even in Normal mode, enemies will block (you will need to learn the art of blocking, too, simple button mashing will only get you so far), cast support magic on their teamates, gang up on a weak player on your team, reposition themselves to get a better shot with a bow or gun, and more. There is a large variety of enemies. And they each have their own unique set of attacks and strategies. With your four characters, and with that many enemies or more, there is a lot happening onscreen at once. In fact, for the first few hours it can be overhwelming trying to keep up with all the information thrown at you. But you'll get it soon enough.

Summary

I had played Tales of Eternia about 3 years ago and found it to be a rather mediocre RPG. So I was a little hesitant about getting this latest title. But after playing about 3 hours of this game, my fears were quickly laid to rest. This game is superior to the previous in every way. It is long, but never boring and is definitely worth the time and money of any RPG fan.

Sound

Overall the sound quality was very good. The music quality was mixed. There were alot of tracks that were good, while some were just so-so. The voice overs however, were fantastic. I haven't heard voice talents this good in an RPG since Grandia II. The girl that did the voice for Colette was terrific because she gave the character a very sweet, gentle and lovable personality.

Gameplay

This RPG is different from most because of it's real-time battle platform. You have total control over your characters movements in battle when using physical or magical attacks. It takes time to getting used to the controls, but once you do, it's a pretty simple task. Another unique feature is that all the enemies are visible. You may not be able to avoid all enemy attacks, but you will at least know they are coming and can prepare accordingly. I also found the characters very likable. Each had their own special skills and unique personalities. I found Colette to be one of the best female lead characters since Aeris in Final Fantasy VII. Some of the puzzles and other trouble shooting tactics were also alot of fun. Some were very simple and basic, while some were tricky and complex. All this together made the game very interesting and will have gamers glued to their seats for hours on end.

Summary

What Can I say that hasnt been Said already. Truely this game is unlike any other I have ever played (and I played atleast over 115 games). I am "Loyal" To Nintendo. Im the type of person who Hopes and Prayes that Soon, Someday, Nintendo will bring out a game and Comepletely Devestate Other games from other systems (PS2 and X-Box) And Well, it seems like my prayes have been answered. Tales of Symphonia is Incredible. No other game that I played even comes close. Im a RPG fan... and I know what makes a good RPG: Story Line, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, and replay value and a few other things. Tales of Symphonia Has all of that in more. At first, when I played and tried to understand the whole logic of the game... It whent over my head, I mean really...its a lot to Take in. It can get really heavey but that what makes it so good. Like somebody said here, the story line will take you to its world and make you feel like your part of the "whole saving the world" group. And also, so many things you can do, stock up on items, give orders, put special commands in different combinations of your controller... it goes on. It takes a good while to get use to everything though. Id say it took me a good 30 or maybe 40 battles (after dieing a few times) before I really got use to everything, which included "blocking" and "jumping back" and running away from the fighting... hoping that somebody will heal you so you can get back in the Action. Another major thing that I like about the game is the posing at the end of a battle. The character who KO'ed the last enemy would "pose" and say there comment. My fav one is Zelos... As cocky as he is... hes really funny and good to play with and I like his Attitude. But depending on who you are and what you like... You'll end up picking a fav and battling with them most of the time. This game is worth all your time and all your money... cause you'll be spending all your time trying to beat it waiting to see what happens next And cause you'll be spending money on buying coffee just to stay awake and play it. Its like you cant go on with your life until you advance further in your adventure.

Sound

I honestly really dont care for sound. I mean I know it completes a game but its not That Major for me. But I will say that the sounds are excellent and realistic. The music is Very good too. I know its hard for "maker of games" to fit the characters voice with the charcters mouth, but Tales of Symphonia really does do a good job in it. (mostly). I am tired of playing games to where you hear peoples talking but there mouths arent moving. It makes the game Unrealistic... But nope the developers of Tales of Symphonia whent the X-tra mile in satisfying True Gamers, such as myself. The talking over battling is really a Added plus to the sound... its really impressive. I hope that other games that are to come out Follow the lead of Tales of Symphonia, Cause I doubt any game is gonna top this. Finally a game I can shove in PS2 and X-box face and say "BEAT THIS"!.... which Im sure one day it will. I hope Nintendo Sticks in there and be's the #1 console.

Gameplay

The Game play is very easy at first if you just press the "A" button near a enemy, you'll just swing your weapon around and Eventually you'll KO the enemy if it Doesnt KO you first. But if you really want to look good and make your Character look good, like me, you'll do what ever it takes to come out on top and be the one to KO the last enemy. Like I Kinda said up top... there is a lot of things you can do and its really not that difficult once you get the hang of it. Once you get the basic idea of "Whats this mean?" and "What does this button do?" and "I should of use that before I died" you'll have no prob with the gameplay of this game. Im a person who likes to gang up on a enemy and KO it as a team. So playing this game with friends is a Must! Sorry to say you cant all controll your character in dungeons and cities when your not fighting...but its a good thing that you cant. The Main character has that right to make all the moves... which is boring as your friends sit there watching you play waiting for the next battle. But thats how it is... cant complain about it much. You wouldnt want to get lost. The Dungeons are Huge, as well as tricky. This is a R-P-G like game but its very different. Its a "real time" battle system. I will admit at first I didnt exactly know what "real time" battling meant but as I had my first battle I quickly found out (as I was nearly Killed). But I survied. Like I said before.. the Story Line is Huge... Like a very thick 1,321 Paged book, that kind of goes on and on and on. It didnt get boring it just got kind of... "Drawn out" (if you know what I mean). But still a very good story line with a lot of "drama". Finding out Lloyds True Father... Mithos... and etc. really Adds to what is a already Great game. Shoot cause after I was betrayed by a "Certain Character" Who I LIKED...who always HEALED me at the beginning...I was a bit upset, I was like... "Im gonna die everytime I fight a boss" ... Thank GOODNESS for ( **** )... the best healer Ever! I wouldnt want to play As "this character" knowing I got to constantly heal everybody when there HP is low. While you fight you can easily target any enemy you want by holding down the "L" button and moving the arrow over the enemy or just randomy go at who ever is closest. Which is something I really like about the battle system... it does give you a lot of freedom and a lot of options. Shoot I could stand as far away as I could and watch my comrads do all the work if I wanted too and get free EXP... (course I never Did that). Another very good thing is the the ***( I cant say it, sorry)***. It can tell you where to go and what to do when you get stuck... and YOU WILL get stuck on this game. Something IS going to hold you back and when you find out where "SO and SO" is and "OH this is what your suppose to do" You'll slap yourself for not thinking about it sooner. Its tricky and challenges the mind a good few times...but It really isnt anything major. Common since is something you need for this game. One thing I also liked was the combos... "Espcially *****'s" ... he just never stops with em... but he loses TP very quickly. the "Unity" option is also a very good thing to use especially when fighting a Summon spirit or a boss. Its complicated at first but you can only get better at it. Everything is hard at first but with practice everything becomes easier to understand.

Summary

Tales of Symphonia short for ToS is an anime Action RPG game for the Gamecube released 2002 by Namco (Now called Namco Bandia). The game focuses on a dying land called Sylvarant, where mana (life source) is running short. A chosen must go on a journey to regenerate the world so mana will be restored. Collete (young blond girl) is now the chosen one who must undergo a trial and become the chosen one, accompanied by his childhood friends Lloyd and Genis. The world apposes an organization called the Desians, they are a group of people with elf blood, who terrorise humans at their ranch, ranches are sometimes located next to a town/village. There is a god the people worship named Goddess Martel, and they often speak about a hero Mithos, who stopped the Ancient Kharlan War ages ago.
There is a crytal device called Exsphere. A device that boosts up a character ability 2x. However only desians wear them, Lloyd is the only boy who has one in the village.

There are 4 characters to begin with, as you progress, you will meet new people who will join your party.
Lloyd: the default character you will be playing as, a not so bright character, self trained, arrogant and lives with a dwarf who takes care of him.
Collete: a dumb girl who is the chosen one, theory goes she has a father who is an angel, the angel (father) guides and instructs her on her journey to regeneration.
Genis: a smart little boy who is excellent at cooking and magic skills and a best friend with Lloyd.
Prof Sage: Genis older sister, a teacher, who focuses her life over ancient scriptures and ancient architecture.

Strength

GRAPHICS:
The graphic as a mix of cel-shaded and 3d graphics. The characters and enemies modeling are cel shaded while the background and rest are 3d. The cel-shaded on the characters are colourful! especially when the camera closes up on them, you can see the outlines, however with not much details. There isn't any physics to the game, visuals in the game are good but not strong enough. You can see interactive objects in the background of the battle arena, for an example, if you are fighting in a battle arena forest, you can see leafs blowing away: that doesn't matter much. The more you progress through the game and unlock special moves, once a character utilize his/her skill, you will see the high colourful details, this can be seen from Lloyd's Falcon Crest. Basically the game has a high colourful visual.


GAMEPLAY:
The fighting for this game is not another Turn Based Game style, this features a free roaming real time fighting. You can maneuver your character back and fourth while the enemies are attacking. 4 players can join the game controlling the other 3 characters. You do not need to fight all the time, as you can set the character to Auto, which the computer will auto pilot the game itself. The game as a cooking function which I think its not too useful in the game, you basically have to find hidden recipes, once gained and learned, any character can cook the food, the more you cook, the more your star ratings builds up. If a character has a high star rating, when the character cooks, it will provide a bigger effect than usual, meaning more health and TP regained, character will also require more ingredients. If a ingredient is missing, the character will fail at making a food.

There are 4 characters to choose and control in the game, progressing through the game you will gain the ability to summon all characters to attack an enemy at once giving a high damage, if using the right skills with another character will allow both characters to perform a special combo move. The special move for a character are broken down in two forms a T (Technical) type and a S (slash) type. T type deals in move damage and S type deals in combo.

This game can be played in so many different ways. You can play it as a Turn Based Game, even though the game is based on real time linear. Just wait for a boss/enemy to attack, then attack it, repeat the process etc. You can play the game fast paced like, just pulling off combo (which I love this game for). Or be a strategist and plan your characters motive and attacking. The Character Status menu displays the characters details from current level, ranking, weapons weakness etc. This also allow you to switch between titles a character recently gained, titles have an effect to the characters status.

Ex Gem is a unique function to the gameplay, there are 4 levels of an ex gem, 4 can be set at a time, which gives a different ability to a character. For an example, Lloyd can get an ex gem level 2, if a ex gem is set to Personality, which gives different effect, Lloyd's personality will allow him to run faster in dungeons and towns. Another addition to the Ex Gems, is called Ex Skills, ex skills also boost the characters mobility. Setting 4 different ex gems with the same or different levels, will acquire a new skill which will change the characters attribute. For an example, Lloyd has these 4 ex gem set: lvl1, lvl1, lvl3 & lvl4. With different options chosen, it will give Lloyd a ex skill: the ex skill can allow Lloyd to attack in mid-air.

Battle system: battle system takes place in 2 different places, a dungeon or adventure field. Adventure takes place 2 different places: towns/city and adventure field. Ofcourse a gamer can upgrade the characters weapons and armors. There is a function which you can be enabled or disabled, called Skit. A cut scene that appears and shows characters relationship discussion, some are funny and some are not.


STORY:
The storyline for the game is unique, and gains some plot and twists. Progressing through the game you will meet new characters. Also progressing through the game, you will have the ability to summon spirits that will aid you in battle. Just like other RPG's, you have the ability to decide on a discussion (yes or no). What ever you choose won't mess up or trigger part of the storyline, but just sidequest or a cut scene. Sometimes what ever you choose, will still become the same result has what you oppose. Sidequest is a little mission that adds extra story to the game, they are nothing special but interesting.


SOUND:
The music isn't an epic or memorable tune. However some of the themes are worth listening to, like the dungeons theme in both world*. Voice acting is really good, especially for Lloyd's (voice actor of Robin from Teen Titan animation).


REPLAY:
Once you finish the game, you will unlock a new difficulty setting Mania mode, although hard mode is already unlocked at start. When a game has been completed, you have the option to carry on your details; galds, unlocked moves, monster list etc to the next game or not. There are sidequests to complete.

Weakness

GRAPHICS:
There isn't anything wrong with the graphics. Although, the character movement/action for a cutscene is really weak and cheap!!! For an example, the group blew up a human ranch, the explosion was so cheap it didn't feel like a building being blown to pieces. A character called Presea tried to attack a bad guy called Rodyle with an axe. She first of all walks so fast as if the game was being fast forward, lifted up the axe for 2sec and strikes. What do you call that?

GAMEPLAY:
The interactivity for the game is really weak! Finding hidden treasures is hard to find as you may find one by instinct! You won't find anything in a town/city. Interacting/talking to people is a waste! As what ever events happens their dialog stays the same. Game runs really slow, they should have added a run feature:/ The sidequest are a waste as they happened towards the end of the game:/ the same applies to unlockablities such as titles and costume, what is the point?

STORY:
The game talks about the chosen one who is Collete, yet the game focuses heavily on Lloyd..what the hell?
I havn't played that much RPG's, the only RPG I have played and enjoyed was Golden Sun. Some people complained about this game's storyline is cliched! Since I haven't played that much RPG or even Final Fantasy, I don't know nothing much, however I do know they copied Golden Sun's element plot: the never ending forest, colosseum , mana like psynergy etc. I love the storyline, the starting was so unique to me, how a chosen will go on a journey to regenerate the world. But by the time you get half way, the story flushes down the drain, with weak plots such as racism and discrimination:/ Plus there are too man betrayal! It comes with stupid twist that appears surprising! Some cutscenes are stupid! For an example: a villain called Yuan traps Lloyd in a decision situation, he said he drugged everyone so they are asleep. After reviewing the secret and Lloyd in distress, Collete wakes up...after focusing on the situation, suddenly everyone wakes up:/ The story about the exsphere is interesting at start, yet falls down the drain when they started talking about cruix crystal. The same goes to angels, wings, church and goddess martel.

SOUND:
The sounds are not memorable but still ok. But the voice acting for some characters are so bad! Professor Sage's voice is ok, later in the game, her characteristic changes and her voice goes beyond her personality:/ The same goes to Sheena. Regal is a great character, you'd just be surprised how a (*****)*later revealed in the game, has this sort of personality who goes on about his sins etc. The first time you meet Zelos he looks like one of the people who loves girls and thinks girls are made for him. Later when he joins your party he starts to act homosexual:/

REPLAY:
I really don't see the point of unlocking Mania mode, or hard mode already unlocked:/ Who would want to start a first time game with hard mode set? When I finished the game for the first time, I didn't find a use for the game, since the interactivity is weak, I noticed I missed out alot of things: sidequest, special cutscenes like Hotbath, special bosses and the Mania mode is different than Normal & Hard mode.

What can I say? This is a great game with awesome gameplay, interesting characters, weak storyline/plot, annoying dungeons quest and cheap character actions.



OVERALL:
ToS is a great RPG with weak and cliched storyline aspect gotten from other games. The gameplay is really what steals the problems away with high colourized visuals, lots of movesets and crazy combo style!
This game is definitely for people who own a gamecube, who loves RPG, who loves combo crazy or who loves anime!