New to RPG's? Looking for one of the best RPG's in recent history? Tales of Symphonia in the game for you!

User Rating: 9.5 | Tales of Symphonia GC
By Drewble | Review Date:
Being a huge fan of Japanese RPG’s, I naturally decided that this was the game for me. I was not disappointed. I picked up this game with the expectations of it being another traditional Japanese RPG; which wouldn’t be a bad thing. But boy was I surprised. Namco’s revolutionary new game, Tales of Symphonia, is innovative in a couple of ways. First off, there are no random encounters, a feature that is more forgiving to one that is new to RPG’s. Another great feature in Tales of Symphonia is the revolutionary battle system. If you’ve been shying away from RPG’s because of complex or confusing turn-based battle systems, you have to play Tales of Symphonia. It’s pretty much like playing your standard fighting game, like SNK vs. Capcom, or something of that sort. The only difference is that the battle system in Tales of Symphonia is faster paced. The graphics in Tales of Symphonia were executed with skill. Cell shading has become a popular style of graphics, and it works very well in Tales. When wondering around the world, your avatar, and the monster avatars looks merely ok. The environments in the world map are fairly detailed for cell shading. The few cut scenes in Tales of Symphonia are hand drawn, and look excellent. I really wish they threw more cut scenes in the game, I enjoyed all of them. Let’s talk about the Battle system again. Not only is it the best battle system out of every RPG I’ve ever played (I’ve played a lot), it’s also fairly easy to master, takes an ample amount of strategy, and gives you a great sense of satisfaction. It just feels great to walk up to an enemy, unleash a 30 hit combo on him, knock him off his feet, and finish him off with your most powerful attack, all without taking any damage. There must be over 150 different special abilities in this game, each one bringing you more satisfaction that the previous one. After getting a certain number of successful hits, you will get the option to perform a “Unison Attack.” This is where all of the characters you have in the battle get to perform one of there special abilities all at the same time. There are several unique attacks you can pull off if you two of your character perform certain abilities during your U. Attack. These can often times be devastating. The voice acting is Tales of Symphonia is a little over exaggerated at times, but its usually fairly accurate to the mood your character are supposed to be feeling. The sound you get when making contact with at enemy in battle is very satisfying, as is the sound when you kill an enemy. When they die, they sort of blow up, except its more like imploding, rather than exploding. It’s kind of hard to describe, you have to see/hear it for yourself. The sound of a lighting spell striking a foe is very realistic, along with the sound of a fireball spell, or any other spell for that matter. The only thing that I actually disliked in Tales of Symphonia, were the skits. Throughout the entire game you will have the option of initiating conversation with other characters traveling with you. These skits have no sound; you only know who’s talking by looking at whose lips are moving. This is often times quite annoying. Not only are these skits boring to watch, but sometimes they’re pretty long. The longest one I encountered was about 60 seconds. These skits aren’t a big problem though, seeing as they’re optional. But sometimes, if you stuck and don’t know where to go, skits can offer you a hint. If you looking for a regular old mediocre Japanese style RPG, then you’ll enjoy Tales of Symphonia to a certain extent. But if you’re getting bored with traditional RPG’s, and want an innovative new battle system, than get off your computer, get in the car, drive to you closest game store, and purchase Tales of Symphonia. NOW!!!

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