Ramblings of a Crowe

Tales of Symphonia

It's been awhile since I reviewed a videogame. Then again, it's been awhile since I found one that was so much fun!

I'm a sucker for RPG games, I love them, and I tend to stick to that particular genre. Tales of Symphonia is a fantastic RPG, with many unique componants that make the game incredibly entertaining.

Firstly, the art work is incredible. The opening scene starts with a beathtaking anime feature designed by Kosuke Fujishima, known for his work of Oh! My Goddess, Sakura Wars, and You're Under Arrest. The characters inside the gameplay are cell shaded, something I'm not normally too fond of, but somehow, it works well in this game. In fact, I hardly notice it at all. The towns are beautifully designed, made complext by 3-D animation. The colors are bright and catchy, even the world map, which I happen to enjoy depsite it's blandness (not much going on there, but it is just a world map, after all). Occasionally, events will dictate a conversation between several characters, and their hand drawn, anime counter parts take the screen. I just love the character designs in the game. They are astoundingly creative and individualistc.

The voice acting deserves mention too. It's not the calibur of Natoe in 7 Samurai, but it's close. There's very little over acting of lines, the voices aren't corney, nor are the irritating. The producers managed to put together a great cast for this game. I hope the trend continues.

This game is a "busy" game. There is often several things going on at once and it's up to you to take care of everything, which is why I like it so much. There's always something to do...whether it be naming dogs, looking for the mysterious chef that hides in the towns, running errands, completing puzzels, or just furthering the story line...your never bored.

Fighting consists of four players, though your party may be more than that. AI controls the characters that you aren't fighting with. By default, you control the main character, but during battle can switch to control which ever of the four party members you choose. All battles become a melee of chaos. It's important to balance tech points and regular attacks to win the fights (if you run out of TP you can't do your most powerful moves), and on occasion it can be difficult to keep up with everything that is going on. Camara angles are a bit iffy and annoying at times, but it's really quite trite in comparison to all the other great aspects of this game.

Puzzels in this game are fun. Usually I hate the puzzel aspects of games, since many producers make them too damn hard. However, TofS manages to hit a nice balance of not too hard and not too easy. Most puzzels revolve around certain shrines and these places caused "Human Ranches". Solving each puzzel is an important key in the story....

Speaking of story, we all know that no rpg would be worth crap if the story sucked. TofS has an incredible story. Not Xenosaga incredible, but it is unique and interesting in it's own right. There are several different plots going on all at once. Every character has their own story and mysteries which need to be solved, though the main story revolves around the destruction of two worlds that vie for each other's mana and a lone girl who is deserprate to save them.

TofS is a long game. I've logged nearly 60 hours and haven't made it to the second disk yet. I have no doubt I'll love this game to the end. It's worth the money and time I've spent on it, and I recommend all RPG fans to give it a shot...

(Now...I want to get my hands on the new Star Ocean! Out on 8/31!!!)

Posted by Zoso at August 14, 2004 12:56 PM