I bought Tales of Symphonia about 3-4 weeks ago and finished it just last weekend. The characters in the game are cel-shaded, which I have grown to really enjoy. What really got me into ToS was the storyline. Everytime I thought I was getting to the end of the game, there would just be more stuff to do.

The ending was kind of strange, almost dissapointed, but I felt I had a great gamin experience spending almost 34 hours on the game. Unlike most RPG's I have beaten before, ToS actually lets you "buy" stuff for the next time you play through it. This stuff includes things such as transfered skills from your previous save, increased EXP, transfered titles, and many many others. The 10x EXP would have been nice, but I had only 10% of the required grade to get it....

I highly recommend this game to any one who owns a Gamecube and likes RPGs, because there certainly aren't any other really good RPGs (that I have played).

BTW, Tales of Symphonia does not have a turn-based combat system. It is a real-time battle where you control your main characters while the other 3 in your party are on Auto (though you can tell them what to do in the menu.)