Tales of Symphonia centers around a young boy named Lloyd who lives with his father just outside of Iselia, a town in the dying world of Sylvarant. According to legend, a Chosen will rise up from among the people and complete the "Journey of World Regeneration", which is supposed to restore the life giving mana back to the land, and vanquish the Desians, the anathema of the people. Collete, Lloyd's lifelong friend, is the current Chosen of Sylvarant.
As the story opens, Colette receives an oracle from the Goddess Martel instructing her to begin her journey. As she is receiving the message from the Angel Remiel, the temple is attacked by what the townspeople believe to be Desians. The priests and temple guards are slain, and Collete herself became endangered, but Lloyd and his Elf friend Genis had followed Colette unknowingly to the temple and take up the sword to defend her. With the help of a traveling Mercenary named Kratos, the attackers are killed and the Chosen is protected. Encountering many trials along the way, the group finally releases the last seals and heads to the Tower of Regeration, the symbol of hope to the people. There they must climb its great many stairs to the altar above, and it is there that Colette will complete the final step of World Regeneration. But there is more to this journey than meets the eye...
Synopsis: ElvishImmortal
Story & Playability
Hm, where to begin...
"Tales of Symphonia is actually a pretty standard, though fully-fledged and very fulfilling, Role-Playing video
game. You have a world in peril because of a war fought long ago, a sleeping goddess who needs to get kicked outta bed
(>_<), a klutzy but kind-hearted young girl as the long awaited savior, an academically-atrocious but tough and
reliable young man as her best friend and constant companion, and an odd-ball assortment of interesting characters who
are either tagging along for the ride or get picked up along the way. And of course, a diabolical organization of
demi-humans bent on killing said savior and ruling the world.
Or so it seems."
The plot twists and turns at many points across the breath of the game, sometimes obvious and sometimes not. However, it
is a compelling tale all the same, drawing the player right in. I am NOT about to go into this in detail, as it would
inevitably spoil some of the many surprises that await eager players.
The characters are real and can be identified with. Also, the game uses "skits" (which pop up while simply
trekking around the world, or in response to certain events) to flesh out these characters for the player, and to evolve
their relationships to each other. Missing certain skits will in fact effect how the characters react to each other much
later on in the game.
Also, as a reviewer on Amazon.com said: "There are obvious nods to other fantasy oriented stories and games, but
these are handled as a form of homage to prior generations of RPGs, and don't feel like blatant, shameless
rip-offs."
Rating: 9
Graphics
The visuals vary, from mediocre (you most likely won't notice, having better things to focus on) to spectacular
(enough to make you sit up and exclaim, "WOW!"). True, the animated cut scenes seemingly promised by the
game's amazing opening are few and far between. However, the cell-shaded landscapes and people actually seem to fit
the "mood" of the game overall. Again, "anime conventions" define most of the characters looks (i.e.
mostly realistic, except for too-large eyes, impossible hair, and the occasional bit of floating clothing). The biggest
problem is a blurring effect that seems to have been intended by Namico to show depth. While not very effective, its
easily ignored.
Character animations are very good. While on the map and in towns and dungeons, there are times when two characters
don't quite line up (ex. when exchanging an item), in battle they look very good. The attack sequences and spell
effects, however, look fantastic all over, and are expertly combined with SFX and vocal battle cries to a truly
immersive, heart-pounding experience.
Rating: 8
Sound
The musical score is pretty standard fare, but original, and very effective at its purpose: setting the mood for a scene
or battle, then staying out of your way as you focus on the characters and dialogue. The battle theme for the certain
boss battles toward the end of disk 1 is a personal favorite of mine.
The voice acting is surprisingly good, especially considering that this is a dub from its original Japanese (many game
dubs are semi-notorious for their lack of "emotion" and "connection" with the characters
they're voicing). And better yet, only major events or sequences are voice-acted, so you never really get tired of
hearing the character's voices. Indeed, I actually found myself looking forward to the next major event, if only to
hear said voices again.
Rating: 7
Fun
Playability? Well, lets start with the battle system. Real-time. That's right, this game, like it's
predicessor Tales (and Star Ocean) games, breaks from the old fashioned pause-menu-menu-command-action-repeat formula.
However, the goodness of ToP, SO, and SO2, has been streamlined and fleshed out. Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) and VII
(with their timed menus (waiting in realtime before the menu reappears) just can't compare to it.
By moving a particular character into the top slot in the character list, you can take direct control of that character
in battle, from an option on the Techniques list. A simple, basic attack with that character's weapon of choice
(for Lloyd, a sword slash) are carried out with the 'A' button, variations of that with a direction on the
Control-stick and the A button together. Special attacks (multiple rapid slashes, a power-strike, etc.) and spells
(Fireball, Heal, etc.) have to be assigned, but the format is the same as normal attacks, only applied to the
'B' button. Also, even while you're controlling you favorite character, you can quickly and easily cue
another character in the battle to use a particular attack/spell of their own, provided you assign that technique to a
shortcut, 'C-stick up' or 'C-stick down', ahead of time. Finally, we get to 'Unison
Attacks'. I wont go deep into them, but then, the name pretty much speaks for itself. Whatever you do, though,
don't ignore them. Certain combinations of techniques by certain pairs of characters, when used together in a
Unison Attack, result in a bonus "Compound Special Attack" at the end. These compound techniques are one of
the best ways to deal lots of damage to those thick-skinned bosses you'll encounter throughout the course of the
game.
Time involved in beating it? My first run through took me NINETY hours! Subsequent attempts took less and less, but
still, my point stands: the fastest I've beaten ToS is 45 hours.
REplayability? This game has it in spades! There are so many subquests, but more importantly, critical sections of
plot-revealing dialogue change dramatically depending on who's "closest" to Lloyd. Thus far, I've
finished ToS six times, each with a different character paired to Lloyd (only two more to go!).
The game is a challenge if you consciously dodge most random battles, and never take any time to level up. However, each
time you beat the game, you get "grade" points, and after the first time you can start a new game from the
endgame file and spend those points in a "shop". There you can make the game as easy or as difficult as you
choose, as long as you have enough points to spend on the changes.
Humor-value? I'd almost, but not quite, call it "Legendary". Ok, sure, there's plenty of cheesy
lines and corny jokes, but hey, can you ever really escape them? Besides, ToS handles such things well; many was the
time I fell out of my chair and puddled on the floor, howling in hysterical laughter, at something stupid Lloyd just did
or said, or something that happened between the characters.
Rating: 10
Final Verdict
8.8333 (very good)
Reviewed by Trooper1023, Oct 28, 2005
