A fairly interesting, if familliar experience, Tales of Symphonia still manages to entertain.
The graphics are nothing short of pretty. All of the characters are rendered in cel shading; something that seems to have become quite popular over the last generation. It's unfotunate that some of the animation can look terrible at times, to the point where it can be almost laughable. The backrounds, for the most part look good. However, there are a few spots where the game looks bland, and the world map is nothing special. The FMVs are noteworthy for the fact that they are all drawn in anime style, which is quite a pleasure to see. The game looks very good, despite a few minor flaws.
The way the game plays is more action oriented than your run of the mill RPG. Enemies appear on the field and if you make contact with them, a battle occurs, similar to most of the mario RPGs and the Grandia series. The camera zooms in from the side, and you take control of your character. The game has a linear battle system, where you move across a 2-D plane, and change targets with the tap of a shoulder button. The A button is used to execute standard combo attacks, and the B button is used to execute special moves, or "techs", which range from a flurry of sword strikes (physical), to a huge lightning bolt that causes a large nova explosion (magical). The moves are all very fun to look at and are very simple to pull off. Hitting the Y button alows you to access the batle menu to configure certain things and use items, while holding down the X button makes your character defend. Enemies also have Techs and Spells unique to them most of the time, so you can expect to see quite a bit of variety overall. That said, the battles can feel a bit forced somtimes due to the large encounter rate, but it's easy to adjust to. Some of the enemies also look very cookie cutter-like, and others look very cool. Out and inside of battle you can cook certain things, given you have the required recipe and ingredients to make your characters recover a little and in some cases, boost their stats temporarily. Then there's EX skills, which grant certain abilities during battle and infulence the way characters learn new techs. Outside of battle, you'll be traveling to many different dungeons with plenty of puzzles to keep you occupied. There are times, though, where the puzzles feel like filler and they can generally get annoying more than they are fun to solve. The gameplay is solid and most of all fun, even if it does get a tad repetitive and at times. It's also a bit easy, but that doesn't really stop it from being fun.
The sound in the game is excellent. There's a fair share of music that makes use of wind like intruments, and some pretty rockin' battle themes with the odd guitar thrown in. The sounds are pretty average and, can perhaps even be left at generic with the ordinary sword slashes and magic explosions. The voice acting is good for the most part, but some of the characters have voices that become increasingly annoying, and others are just down right terrible. Even though it's not very sharp all around, the great music makes the minor flaws pretty much forgettable.
The story is nothing to write home about. Your basic goal is to guide the chosen through all of seals so that she can make the world once again flourish with mana. It becomes more complicated than that, and there are some pretty interesting, if slighty obvious plot twists. So what helps keep the story lively? The characters do. The main character of the centerpiece, Lloyd Irving is a dumb-witted, fairly idealistic and easily likeable teenager living in the small village of Iselia, followed by Colette, the chosen, Lloyd's friend Genis, Genis' older sister Raine, a mercenary called Kratos and a few less intergal party members. Each one of the characters is developed well enough, all with their own personailty. It's just generally fun to watch Lloyd's idiocy get in the way of things, Genis' book smarts that put Lloyd to shame, and Raine who seems quick to chide both of them. So even if the story is very standard, the characters are great, diverse and are fun to interact with.
When it comes down to value, Tales is where it's at. The massive and very long quest can take 50-70 hours to complete, not to metnion the plethora of sidequests to complete. The most interesting aspect of Tales' value comes from the grade shop; a shop that is unlocked upon completing the game. You earn grade from battles depending on how well you fight in them. At the end of the game, all of the grade you've acummulated during the main game can be used to swtich certain options on before begining a new game. Some of them allow you to repossess things from the previous game, others give you major advantages by multiplying the experience of battles, and some evern make the game more difficult by reducing your HP, if you desire a challenge.
In the end, Tales is a worthwhile RPG that any fan of the said genre should check out, or at least give a try before purchasing. The beautiful visuals, intersting exploration and battle system, wonderfully composed music and massive replay value make the game easy to reccomend to pretty much any gamecube owner.