Review: Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Symphonia is the first of two large RPG's to be released for the Nintendo Gamecube by Namco in 2004, this will be the first 60+ hour RPG on the Gamecube since Skies of Arcadia Legends back in early 2003.
Story:
You play as Lloyd Irving a young man whom was raised by a dwarf after the passing of his parents. Lloyd's child hood friend Collette has been chosen as the savior of their world, and Lloyd and his friends Genis, and Raine as well as their ally Kratos are tasked with guiding Collette on her mission. A good story over all, but in the long run it is essentially your typical Anime storyline with many twists and turns, but if you love RPG's you will eat this up.
Graphics:
The graphics in Tales of Symphonia are excellent, well up there with some of the best of any RPG on any console. That being said there could have been more animation cells for the stills when there is dialogue between the characters on the over world screen and I wish the lines between the cell shaded characters and the back ground could have been thinner.
Music:
The music is good as well, a nice and epic feeling orchestral soundtrack aids to the grand feel of the game, though the rock music that is played during the fight sense dose tend to get to be a little much especially if you keep running into fights. What makes this game stand out is the voice acting, the cast is not only good but is very experienced as well. Scott Melville whom voices Robin on the hit cartoon show Teen Titans, also voices Lloyd Irving, the hero of this story, and as a fan of Teen Titans I half expect him to say "Titans GO!!" in every fight scene, or at least a boss fight.
Control:
Controls are top notch, you can set up not only your main character, but your teammates and they respond exceptionally well and perform maneuvers as you direct them, what is better is that if you have a friend over they can get in on the action, and take control of one of the characters and fight right along with you. However the cameras are not too friendly in multiplayer, only sticking on the first player, so one or 2 players might end up on screen, but this doesn't hinder game play at all.
Game play: What sets Tales of Symphonia apart form the rest of the RPG ilk out there, is that they use a real time action system used during fights, instead of a turn based system, the fighting is in real time and easy to pick up and have fun with. Fights are not random and can be avoided if you don't want to fight, and the over world text dialogue mentioned above can be avoided if you really want to
Design:
The world Tales is set in is huge lush and gorgeous on every level, not to mention the tale of two worlds intertwined by destiny adds not only to the story line but the design of this game. That being said if you play a lot of RPG's, you not find anything hugely different from what can be found most other RPG's of this sort, though I like that you can avoid fights, by avoiding random blob creatures that stand as over world creatures, and the design of the combo system.
Tales of Symphonia is a must own for RPG loving Gamecube owners, and well worth a rental for anyone else, and now that Tales of Symphonia is on Nintendo's greatest hits line up, the game is easily affordable for all.
Graphics
9/10
Game play
9/10
Sound
9/10
Fun factor
10/10
Tilt
10/10
Average score
9.4
Tales of Symphonia:
Pros:
Great voice acting
Fun Multiplayer
Beautiful world
Good story
Cons:
Cameras are not too friendly in multiplayer
Either get more stills, or animate please