Gameplay
Gameplay
His name is what?
You start off in the small village of Iselia, where Lloyd Irving and his friends Genis and Colette call home. Soon after a brief introduction into the dumbness that is Lloyd, monsters start to attack the town giving Colette the sign she has been waiting her whole life for, as you find out that she is the chosen one that is destined to save the world by going on a journey to become an angel and regenerate the world. This will not be a simple task so they will need the help of Exshperes, a gem that when a human wears it, will gain extra abilities such as strength, speed, or wisdom.
This may all seem like the template for a text book RPG, but rather than go that route the developers decided to take a few chances with the story and by the game’s end you will be truly satisfied with the storyline as you will see the characters question their faith, beliefs in humanity and the true nature of the journey itself in the games many twist and turns. They even went so far as to give you a chance to get to know the personality of each of the characters in the game by using the Z button at certain points on the world map to give you the chance to see a small cut scene involving up to 4 characters talking to each other about recent events, character flaws, hints into each characters background and their stance on issues plaguing them as go along.
Another thing that you will notice is that Namco also went to the trouble of giving each character a fairly dynamic personality that will take center stage at more than one point in the game. Colette’s clumsiness, Lloyd’s lack of intelligence, Raine’s freakish curiosity, and Regal’s sense of justice all take a pivotal role in the storyline allowing you the player the chance to get to know and eventually care about all of the characters in their fight against evil.
A time to talk and a time to fight
If you have played any of the previous titles in the Tales of series, then you would know that it is in possession of one of a unique blend of both action and menu based RPG’s that with the improvements that have been made, makes combat one of the highlights of this game. When a battle starts you use the A button for a standard attack, the X to block, the B with the directional stick to use special attacks and the directional stick to move around the battlefield giving it a more hack-and-slash type battle system, which n turn gives you more control over your character than most other games do. You can also access your menu in mid-battle by pressing the Y button this will allow you access to your items, magic/techniques, and the ability to change the A.I. behavior of a computer controlled character any time during battle, while the Z button allows your group do a “Unison attack” that can sometimes lead to devastating combo attacks if you select the right magic or techniques to do so.
As you battle, your character will sometime learn a new spell or technique based on how you fight with that particular character. They also give you the option to “forget” any moves that you learn in favor of different techniques. You are also giving the opportunity to cook for your characters using ingredients that you buy in town and recipes that you gain from finding the “Wonder Chef” in each town to gain back lost HP, TP or to temporarily increase a certain attribute for a fixed amount of time. The only main problem about the battle system is not in the system itself but in the A.I. being too uneven: there are times in the game where you may find yourself defeating a boss character easily, only to be killed by a cheap hit. This definitely brings down the pace of the game as you will find yourself having to level up just so you can take on a boss or rather just to survive in a certain area.
Would you like to see a menu?
If I have noticed one change about Role-Playing Games over the years it’s that the menu screen has taken a more important function than just saving and equipping new armor and weapons. Tales of Symphonia is no stranger to this rule, as the menu function becomes one of the more central features in the game. Whenever you press the Y button out of battle, you can access your menu giving you the chance to not only switch out weapons, armor and accessories but also giving you a chance to do a few other things as well.
One of these things in the menus is the setting of the A.I. of your other three characters when in battle. This is pivotal for success because in some areas you will need to conserve magic for the tougher fights ahead, whereas you may want to use a character to just attack so that they can learn new fighting techniques. As you will find out your characters have a very robust set of A.I. commands to follow that range from fighting right down to item usage that will allow you to wage war anyway you want. There is also the chance to equip different exspheres that depending on the level of the sphere, will give you access to different abilities which are called EX skills. While there are some EX skills that are the same, there are also some that are different for each character such as decreased spell time, discounts at stores and an increase on cooking ability. The menu has since grown from the earlier days of Dragon Warrior and it is a trend I hope will continue.
Toon World
The world of Tales of Symphonia unfolds by the use of three different modes: Town, Dungeon, and Map.
Town mode gives you a chance to get new items and weapons, rest up, or find clues as to your next destination. Dungeon mode, as you expect, is where a good portion of the fighting takes place as you trek your way through to get to your next objective. While the dungeons are gorgeously detailed, there were certain points in the game where the dungeons just seemed to go on for too long, especially later on in the game, but these points are far and in between. Map mode allows you the chance to level up, or to make your way to the next town or dungeon. The map mode seemed to be a problem for me because it just does not live up to the rest of the beautifully rendered environments that the game seems to have. Don’t get me wrong the map is nice, but when compared to the rest of the game you will wish that they spent a little bit more time on it.
All three modes are done in the familiar cel-shading style that gives it the look of a cartoon which makes for some good-looking scenery. All around the environment of Tales of Symphonia, you get a chance to see just how clear and crisp the graphics are in every environment you get to see. Right from first entering a new town, to leaving a dungeon, there is no denying that Tales of Symphonia is a work of art.
The sounds of Tales of Symphonia also are good, giving you music that goes right along with almost every moment accurately, but there is just not enough variety in tunes and you will soon find that it seems to get repetitive towards the end of the game. The voice acting is also fine, with many of the voices coming from many other popular video games and anime. While not the best, it is good enough not to annoy you all the way through.
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