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Give it another chance

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Yes, this games has a lot against it: crap graphics, a 2D battle system that consists of little more than button mashing, character outfits so weird looking that I was convinced the main character would turn out to be a robot, no voice acting for half the game, and its the only main tales game not made by the tales team. On the other hand, this is one of the few games that really pushes character development. Unlike most RPGs, which add tons of characters to the group of heros and then ignores them for the rest of the game, you get to know all the characters and watch relationships develop between them, pushing you to finish the game just to see what happens next. The only exception to this is Shirley, who is boring, has an annoying voice, and is scarily obsessed with the main character to the point of trying to kill ALL humans just because he says he doesn't like her.

Emotionally great!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game's story is easily the best story of all JRPGs. I tear'd up during each of the game's chapters!

I actually picked up the JP version of this game because there's more voice acting. (one of the pitfalls of the NA version is that they only voiced the first story arc)

-Classic tales gameplay
-Great story
-Great music

Buy this game!

Good Re-release.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Good product. No Problems. Originally for dreamcast. I noticed some slowdowns in places where there was a lot going on. But that is to be expected for ports to the playstation. Also some slowdowns between menus and whatnot.

Review from an 8-year-old girl

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The characters are awesome (officially). The game's really exciting - you should get it.

About characters - they each have their own character quest after the main part of the game. That way you'll know more about them.

It is awesome.

Good story, but repetitive combat

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am about 10 hours into this game and doubt I am going finish it. So what is the problem? Why is it boring for me? The combat. I was extremely excited when I found out that there is a combo system within the combat. When I learned how to do the combos I realized that there is no depth in it at all. You connect 3 different moves and that's it? Why can't I connect 5? Why can't I mash moves together and accidentaly discover a great 6 hit combo? No, you use your regular attack, then any base skill, then any higher level skill. I was siked! It's boring and it has no depth. Besides the weak "combo system", combat is nothing more than button mashing. When you are not using your skills with the main character, Senel, you are doing nothing more than hitting the same basic 3 hit combo by pressing your attack button 3 times. Boring and repetitive! Sure it is nice to have real time hack and slash battles in an RPG, but at least make it fun and innovative! I saw the same thing already in Tales of Phantasia and I was not pleased with that game either. Sigh. The story is interesting and may be the only reason for me to play this game. The combat does not impress! I will try to finish this game, but doubt I will. It's becoming a chore to play, but at the same time I can understand why other people may like it. I am just not as patient and forgiving as other players. It's a cheap buy, so buy it if you want; you may like it.

Interesting Story - Nothing Spectacular

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game was decent. It is definitely worth playing through once but after you've done that there really is no need to play it again.

Unlike most of the Tales series this one revolves specifically around one floating island. There is one main town which sits at the center of the island but like most tales games there isn't much besides the main storyline in terms of what to do. I did enjoy learning new recipes to bake food (you can use baked food outside of combat for healing) but besides that there wasn't much else.

The combat system is the same as with other Tales games where its a side scroller fighting based battle system. This has its own advantages and disadvantages but the system here seems just about the same as the other games. One thing to note though is the bonus you get for the fight is dependent upon if you meet certain criteria while fighting (avoiding the user of skills for example or beating it under a certain period of time). These side little bonuses are fun to strive for but get old fast.

I have to admit though that the story began to pick up towards the end of the game. You'll see once you play, not going to spoil anything.

Decent RPG but one of the lesser gems in the series. Play it for the story though even if it's just once, it's worth at least trying.

A Good Spirited RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

So I know there has already been reviews from user like Michelle that point out a lot of the flaws in the game, but they also compare it directly to other Tales games. What I wanted to do was point out how great the game is as stand alone title instead of focusing on the fact it has "Tales" in it's title.

I honestly must say that some gameplay in the game is shallow, like the cooking which I never actually used. The game though has a lot to offer which I want to sum up in my short review.

The graphics are extremely inviting and colorful. I love this in Role Playing Games. Exploring towns was a real treat especially with an outstanding soundtrack to follow it. The composer really created the perfect combination of techno and orchestra music together to make a vibrant and excellent soundtrack. The composer even threw in a good deal of Jazz which really compliments the situations it's used in. I personally have a large interest in Anime and get really relaxed when I get to sit down and watch a great one like Trigun, CowBoy Bebop, etc, so exploring the towns, environments and the great humor of this game was a real treat.

I don't have a lot of time in my day. I am married and I have a 3-month-old son. Sitting down and demanding an RPG that requires me to invest hours and hours into it with a slow evolving story just doesn't work for me anymore. This game moved fast and kept my interest for the 5 minutes to the 2 hours I could afford to play it during my weekdays. My Wife even loves to sit down and play it. I think the fact that it is has a bit shallower gameplay than the average or above average RPG fanatic enjoys makes this game really appeal to people with a full schedule. I enjoyed the perfect mix of gameplay, customization and story development and would recommend it for ANYONE that is looking for a great way to pass the time and put a smile on their face.

With the great graphics and graphic style, the excellent soundtrack (btw the customer submitted picture that mentions that the music is cool in that area; that song is called "The Bird Chirps, I Sing" by an artist named: Kanon) and fun and funny (despite being a bit generic, which is sometimes half the fun) story I cant really say that these reviews that point out the bad are doing the good any justice.

Go pick it up, it's cheap and you can't go wrong with quality.

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game was my favortie ever. I've played through it many times, I never get sick of it. I only have a little video game time every night so it feels like living with the characters when you hear them a bit every day. It's funny thats how it was with my first play through. Their personalities were so beleivable. The only one that really got to me was Shirley. She's a pain in my behind.
All the characters are lovable though and crack me up. You gotta grin listening to Moses and Jay fighting and then look and you see that they're ALWAYS standing enxt to each other. That was always cute to me. My friends and I do that sometimes.
The battle system was nothing like I've ever seen before! It's AWESOME. It's like a fighting game, and a musashi games fighting mixed lol. The battles are actually FUN! I hate them usually. It's a good fact that most of the game is storyline and not just figting. The games story is good, and still leaves just enough room for the fangirls to throw their fics in there in the time gaps. It really is a good fanfic game.
The voice acting was great, I wish the character quest voiceover thing wasn't so pricet, else I'd buy it. Only half the game has voicing... that was disapointing. When I save up enough, though I'm buying those CDs. My friend and I got together and made our own "dub" of the second half of the game... I swear she looked truly frightened when I was "doing the Solon voice". That... man...
The graphics are cute, and fun to draw if your into fanart too. And I LOVE the sountrack. Awesome. And very suiting. And the Sunny-Side-Up monster. I draw him on stuff. XD

One of the worst games in the series... but not a complete waste

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: December 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Usually, when a new game in a franchise comes out, you expect it to be a step up from previous entries. Unfortunately, Tales of Legendia, while a decent game overall, fails to live up to its predecessors in almost every way imaginable, and is a big step backwards. Fortunately, this is mostly due to the fact that it was made by different people than those who were responsible for Tales of Symphonia, which was arguably one of the best games for the GameCube, so you know it's not really a sign of things to come for the franchise (to wit: Tales of the Abyss was fantastic).

First of all, the main story, which covers about the first half of the game, is pretty terrible. The villains are horribly cliche, and the story revolves around by far the most unlikeable of the main characters (a shame, since the rest of them are so likeable). Symphonia's story wasn't the greatest, and one of the weaker things about the game, but it had some strong points to it. The same can't really be said about Legendia.

But the reason to play a Tales game is really the battle system, right? Well, unfortunately, the game fails here again. Instead of building upon the system used in Symphonia, Legendia retreats into the style of the older games, and there's really no excuse for it. It doesn't work here. There's no variety to the encounters, and the enemies have the tendency to be horribly cheap, which makes for less fun and more frustration. The encounters are completely random, so there's no way to avoid them outside of escaping once the battle has started. (All though I always am amused by the shades of Timmy Turner in the way Tara Strong's Norma shouts "Run!" during an escape.) Legendia, unlike previous games, brings nothing new to the table here, and it's a big mark against the game.

Not to mention there's no exhibition match in the arena. 'Nuff said there, I think.

The dungeon design is also pretty lame. Not to mention any puzzles are confined to boring "puzzle booths" that can be completely skipped (what's even the point, I ask you). I was never that fond of Symphonia's penchant for block puzzles (probably the games biggest flaw, in my opinion), but at least they were somewhat integrated into the dungeon and had a purpose. There's no purpose to Legendia's puzzles, and the temptation just to skip them is very strong.

The map in general is also one of the most annoying and frustrating things about the game. I have a notoriously bad sense of direction in video games, but it was even worse in this game. Blah, is all I have to say there.

The cooking system, not to mention the annoying Mimi Baker, is not very good either. In Symphonia, cooking was a cheap but very effective way to heal HP, TP, and various status effects in between battles. In Legendia, you have to cook everything at bakeries and stoves before you venture out, and you can't carry much at any given time, all of which makes it far less useful.

Legendia gets some things right, though. The presentation in general, though especially the music, is nicely done. In that respect (music, that is), Legendia is probably one of the strongest in the series. Shame that's the only aspect about which that can be said, though. The voice acting is also well done, but I've come to realize that there are always going to people who can't tell taste from quality in this respect, so we'll leave that at that.

It also gets a gold star for character development. In Symphonia, there was really only one character who got much development. Some of the characters, like poor Regal, felt like they were just there. In Legendia, everybody gets a chance to shine in the character quests, which, despite the lack of any voice acting (big thumbs down, NOA) are in my opinion the best part of the game. The character quests comprise the second half of the game, and they're a nice change of pace from the terrible first half. The enemies are just as cheap, the bosses probably even cheaper, but at least you get the benefit of some entertaining character exposition. There's a part of me that wishes these could have been integrated into the main story better, but I understand why they weren't, and I suppose it's best just to get past that main story as quickly as possible anyway. That way, the character quests remain untainted by the likes of Vaclav and Walter.

So, basically, in sum, if you're looking for a Tales game, look elsewhere. Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube and Tales of the Abyss for the PS2 are much superior entries to the franchise. But if you've already played these games and are looking for an RPG with engaging characters and don't mind repetetive, cheap battles, Legendia's not a bad way to kill some time.

Worth playing for RPG fans... 3.5 Overall

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

RPG fans can be a little picky when it comes to their games. Some play for the story, some play for the gameplay. Overall, Tales of Legendia is good. Its not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it the best Tales game. But is it fun? Thats really the bottom line when it comes to games. Are they fun? Well....

...the answer is yes. It is fun. I don't have time to play every game on the market, so I'm somewhat picky with what I choose to spend time playing, and I have numerous games in my closet that are unfinished. Yet I spent about 64 hours on ToL. So that certainly speaks for something. Honestly, the game gets off to a rocky start. Its boring and the pacing is not very good. But don't worry, it gets better.

The gameplay of ToL is very engaging, deep, and compelling. You will fight alot of battles, but they typically don't last long, so this doesn't bother me. You control only one character at a time, but you can switch around and each character is diverse and unique in its combat style, so this adds alot of diversity. The only complaint that could be levered against it for me is that most of the game is quite easy. I died maybe twice the whole 60+ hours.

Let me also say that the overall story is pretty weak. Nothing great. The real strength is in the characters. The characters really really grow on you. 3 characters in the game are easily some of the most memerable and unique characters in all of gaming, for me anyways. The dialogue can be cheesy, but for the most part, I found it compelling. The interactions between your group is great, and very funny. I laughed alot during this game, and its a real draw in having you coming back, so this imo offsets a poor story. However, after the main portion of the game, you get the character quests, and these add alot to each of the characters and this part of the game which starts about 30 hours in is much better than the first 30 hours. When the credits roll, don't stop playing, save your game and play the characer quests, they really define each person more fully.

Well, thats about it. If this sounds like your game, go for it, I enjoyed it.

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