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Another Great Tale

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

There are many titles in the Tales series, yet most of them are relatively unknown outside of Japan. Only a few other titles in the series have made it over to North America, and of those games, only Tales of Symphonia has been successful so far. Tales of Legendia, the fourth game in the series to be on PlayStation 2, also happens to be the fourth game of the series to reach North America, and it is arguably one of the best in the series.

Although it is a part of Tales series, Tales of Legendia is rather different than the rest of the games. Unlike the others, it was not created by Namco Tales Studio; it was done by a new team containing some of the folks that worked on Soul Calibur. As a result, many things typical of the series are different in Tales of Legendia, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, Tales of Legendia uses a character designed, Kazuto Nakazawa, and a composer, Go Shiina, that no other game in the series had, yet every other game in the series used the same people over and over.

Anyway, he story of the game starts with Senel and Shirley, a girl he calls sister, drifting at sea for some reason or another. They are under attack by monsters, but Senel manages to take care of them. Moments later, their ship wrecks on what appears to be an island. However, Senel quickly found out that they were not on an island; they were on a giant ship known as the Legacy. Soon after their arrival, a mysterious youth attempts to kidnap Shirley, only to be thwarted by another kidnapper who called her the "Merines," and that's how the journey begins to solve the mystery of Shirley and the Legacy. At this point, Chapter 1 of the Main Scenario begins. The Main Scenario, which focuses on Senel and Shirley, consists of seven chapters, but completing Chapter 7 does not mean the end of the game. The Main Scenario is followed by the Character Quests, which tie up the loose ends about characters other than Senel and Shirley. The setup of the chapters gives the story an interesting pace which gives it an action-packed feel.

Tales of Legendia, like nearly every game in the Tales series, uses a form of the series' Linear Motion Battle System. In this case, it is the X-LiMBs, or Crossover Linear Motion Battle System. Unlike most games of the role playing genre, the battle system is active, and you fight your battles similar to a fighting game. As the name implies, combat takes place on a straight line. You move back and forth along this line, controlling a single character; the computer controls the remaining party members, but you can use control the settings for how each character behaves in battle. You can attack with basic skills such as punches or kicks with Senel or slashes and thrusts with Chloe, but there are also special abilities to make things more interesting. This incarnation of the Linear Motion Battle System does have some new features of its own. One new feature is Climax Mode. As you take or deal damage, the gauge fills. The rate at which the gauge fills, though, depends on your current situation; if you're losing a fight badly, for example, then the gauge will fill extremely fast. In addition to Climax Mode, you can also perform a Climax Combo if you have four party members when you entered Climax Mode. Another new feature is the ability to pass through enemies; by pressing down next to an enemy, you can pass through the enemy to get behind it. Despite these new features, some may not find the battle system as interesting as that of Tales of Symphonia due to the two-dimensional nature.

In this game, there are two types of special abilites called Eres. One type is Iron Eres, which are physical skills, and the other type is Crystal Eres, which are spells. A user of Eres is referred to as an Eren. It may seem a bit odd to use these terms for special skills, but the name stems from a language used in the game known as Relares. Many things in the game use this language, such as Fennes, which Shirley's last name. Anyway, Iron Eres are rather simple to understand; when you reach the right level, you learn a Base Eres. If you use a Base Eres fifty times, then you master it; by mastering two Base Eres that are compatible, you can learn an Arcane Eres, which is a combination of the two Base Eres involved in learning it. An Iron Eren also has the ability to use mastered Eres to create new, custom Eres. What's created depends on the character. For example, Senel gains can create various throwing skills through this, but they only work on certain races of monsters. As for Crystal Eres, they're slightly more complicated. When you reach a certain level, you gain the ability to learn a new Crystal Eres. To be able to use it, however, you have to get the specified number of Eres Stones, which are also called Sculptures. Eres Stones are divided by race, and they are dropped by enemies in battle.

Another classic feature in Tales of Legendia is cooking, but it was changed a bit in this incarnation. This time around, it's all about baking. Rather than cooking on the fly, you have to bake bread in advance at bakeries or ovens. Rather than a Wonder Chef, we now have Mimi, the Wonder Baker. Mimi is a bit odd, but as a result, the encounters with her are rather interesting as well.

This is the second game in the series to use three-dimensional graphics, and it pulls it off rather well. At first, the graphics seem rather childish, but once you start to play the game, it starts to work with the presentation and comedy. It becomes interesting to see the cute little characters interacting in the vibrant environments and such. The graphics in battle are also rather well done, especiall the motion. For the motion in battle, they used motion capture; real actors were used to create the characters' movements, and as a result, the characters move almost as if they were real people. In addition to the three-dimensional graphics, some important scenes are animated. There are quite a few animated scenes in the game; Tales of Legendia has twenty-one in total, which is more than any other game in the series has had.

As stated earlier in this review, the composer this time around was Go Shiina rather than usual people. This gives the game's music a very different feel than the others in the series, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing; Tales of Legendia arguably has one of the best soundtracks in the series. Most of the themes have a distinct orchestral feel, and eight of the songs were even performed by the New Japan Philharmonic. There are also some vocal songs in the game, such as "my tales" or "Hotarubi," and they also work well with it.

On the subject of sound, the voice acting is also rather well done. The voice actors play their roles well for the most part, and unlike a lot of English voice acting in games, it isn't annoying. Unlike Tales of Symphonia, even the skits have voice acting this time around. There's only one problem with the voice acting; unlike in the Japanese version, only the first half of the English version is voiced. Once you reach the Character Quests, you're pretty much doen with voice acting. It's disappointing to suddenly have no voices after the Main Scenario, but it was cut due to business decisions. Despite this, the voice acting in the Main Scenario is still rather well done.

Where this game really shines, though, is in its character development. At first, the characters may seem odd to you, especially with the look and feel of the original character art, but when you play the game, you'll grow to love the characters. The presentation is simply wonderful, and it gives you a real feel for the characters. Tales of Legendia has the best character development in the series by far.

All in all, Tales of Legendia is a great game. The gameplay may not be quite as good as that of some of the games in the series, but it makes up for that with its wonderful character development; the game also features great music and voice acting, and the story will keep you wanting more. If you own a PlayStation 2 and like games with interesting stories and character, then you'll probably enjoy playing Tales of Legendia.

better then ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

hey i just bought this game yesterday from Ebgames and man shocked how good of a job that Namco did, better then Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Destiny 2. the graphics are cool the characters the story everthing. If u like any these series then its worth getting this one
Story 5/5
Graphics 5/5
Gameplay 5/5

Tales of Legendia, an epic quest and a rought fight!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Ahh Tales of Legendia, one of few games to introduce itself to you, take you away, pull you close then sucker-punch you in the face. Not that those are bad things, mind you; Legendia's a fantastic game with lots of inspiration and is guaranteed to immerse you in its world.
The deeper you get, the more lifelike and difficult it becomes...It's a rare quality for a video game nowadays, and should be relished by any fan who likes their RPGs fast and furious with emotions and tension on high.

The story of Legendia takes place all upon a giant ship known as The Legacy. Senel Coolidge and his sister, Shirley Fennes crash upon The Legacy, believing it to be an island. Soon enough, people start to come after Shirley, referring to her as the "Merines" and so starts Senel's quest to protect his sister, and to unravel the mysterious behind the giant ship they wound up on.
Friends are to be met, with their own pasts and problems. All willing to help Senel for his noble cause, or even for their own reasons, characters such as Will Raynard, the nerdy sheriff of Werites Beacon and Chloe Valens, an honourable knight of Gadoria appear to add their pieces to the ever-growing puzzle that is Tales of Legendia.

After completing the epic main story of Legendia, the player is given a chance to dig deeper into the pasts and present lives of the wonderful characters they meet on the island. These Character Quests offer deep insight into each character and have wonderful plot direction, though more abstract than the main story at times, the substance and enjoyment is still where it belongs.

Throughout the game, random encounters in dungeons and on the Legacy's surface are to be fought. Tales of Legendia makes use of an RPG-fighter hybrid combat system known as the X-LMBS, or Crossover Linear Motion Battle System. Essentially what the name entails, is that the party of four fighters will be fighting on a two-dimensional plane, although with three-dimensional graphics; directions are limited to up-down, left-right.

The battle system is of course, played in real-time with X set to launch normal attacks and O to launch special techniques known as "Eres" in accordance to the direction pressed. (Other buttons are used to access the menu or as shortcut keys for other attacks.) The techniques set to the directions may be changed at any time, in or out of battle, so the first character's selected list of moves is created by the player.

Eres come in two varieties, the people who use them being "Eren."
Crystal Eres are the typical ranged magical spells mages use in RPGs, where-as Iron Eres are physical attacks and combos.

Crystal Eres are learned by levelling up a Crystal Eren to a proper level, at which they acquire a spell book. When the right amount of Eres Stones, according to the spell, are acquired from enemies of different species, the Eres will be available to use.

Iron Eres are learned by levelling up an Iron Eren and at the proper level, they may use the new Eres technique. When an Iron Eres is used 50 times, it is mastered and usually automatically combined with other Iron Eres to form Arcane Eres, an advanced skill that also can be mastered.
Compound Eres are a special type of Iron Eres that is formed by combining three separate mastered Iron Eres outside of battle to form an attack. Depending on the character, some requirements may apply for the attack to initialize and all Compound Eres require a high amount of TP, or tech points.

Senel has a special type of Iron Eres, that allows him to throw enemies when they are knocked down, or in the "Down" state. Each skill applies to enemies of various weights, so obviously, you cannot use a throwing Eres of the Feather weight on a bear (which would probably be a Heavy weight.) Of course, when using throws of heavier weights on lighter enemies, the throw of the lower weight will be used instead.

The other attractive aspects of gameplay involve baking and customization. Customization being available only late in-game, involves making weapons out of various components as opposed to buying them in shops.

Baking features making various types of bread dishes, which you learn from the quirky Mimi Baker. Finding her hiding inside a spinning goofy, and out-of-place object on the field means acquiring a new recipe after a funny cutscene.
Taking the right ingredients to a bakery or an oven somewhere on the Legacy, then selecting the bread you want to make is all it takes. Then anywhere on the field when necessary, the Square button brings up the bread basket where you can eat your currently stored bread, healing the entire party with its affects.

Now that you know how the game lays out, here's a summary of how it all feels and works in the end:

Gameplay -/10/-
Legendia's gameplay is not flawless, but that does *not* stop it from being one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences on the console. Its combat system is fast, immersive, dangerous and difficult. On any difficulty level there is sure to be a challenge for any player, young or old.
With classic RPG conventions, but with the flair and finesse of a fighting game, every battle is engrossing and will definitely make any player be on their toes while smacking down monsters and saving the world.
The amount of thinking that goes into fighting and the sheer amount of varied techniques can aid or hinder you, but soon enough into the game anyone can be slaying demons with ease, though be sure to expect some challenging fights, as the difficulty curve is very steep and really makes you think about how you're fighting.

Few games can challenge a player to such a high point while still retaining their charm; Legendia pulls this off very well, so well, in fact, that you won't be able to blame anybody but yourself if you see the ominous Game Over screen.

Graphics -/8/-
From animé cutscenes to super-deformed field-midgets to smooth and slick battle models, the graphics in Tales of Legendia are superb. They are not something that everyone will love right away, but sooner or later even the coldest of hearts will thaw watching the little guys power-walk onto the screen.
Cutscenes are pulled off nicely in Legendia, with a mix of models talking amongst themselves to a wide-screen viewing window featuring art of the characters. The all-encompassing field shots and the close-up imagery of the windows add dimensions to story-telling and character emotion ; they are a nice touch that really work well in the game.
As battles are fought on a 2D plane, many may think that the in-battle animation is limited. This is not the case! The plane is set up well so that the characters can move in full 3D while movement is limited to the side-scrolling the Tales series is known most for.
Overall the graphics and animation of Legendia are fantastic, but occasional bland textures of fields and the world map lead to a slightly less than impressive set of locales. Each place on the Legacy have lots of feel to them, but sometimes they appear a little too soft.

Sound -/9/-
Tales of Legendia is again, one of few games to feature something so great. The top-quality acting and voicework that has poured into the game really show, adding more dimensions to storytelling and cutscenes. In battle, voices are aggressive and notable. Outside, emotion can be heard and conversations feel as they should, important and epic, or calm, sweet or emotional.
A few characters hit the low end of the quality spectrum, and there are slight issues with repetition of attack names in battle; add the fact that the Character Quests lack it in cutscenes, it may become a bit disappointing later on. Overall, however, the voices featured in the game are irreplaceable and truly feel like they belong in the game.

Legendia's music is also well composed and orchestrated. Every area has the perfect surround of music, and it all comes together to bring each locale to life. Cheery drinking shanties, dark and cool pub tunes, epic battle tracks and despaired softness; it is all there. Go Shiina, the game's composer, really added something to the game that it could not be without...Hopefully such great work is featured in later games in the Tales series, as Legendia was granted.

Value -/9/-
The final line is that Tales of Legendia lasts. From 30 hours or main storyline, and 40 hours for Character Quests (great for added character development) the game never seems to end, and any player will like it that way. And even after, there's more fun to be had with challenging yourself to be better, to track your records and restart with what you've earned already. Legendia gives the player many chances to continue on with their experience even when the game's story is finished.

In the end, Tales of Legendia continues the tradition of great games in the Tales series. With great gameplay and production values, it is not to be missed and any PS2-owning RPG fan will just love it to death; casual or hardcore.
All we can hope for now is that we will see more of this series in the future and that the art from Tales of the Abyss featured on the back of the manual was hinting at something...

Tales of Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Tales of Legendia Review
3/5/06
By Dack.

Tales of Legendia, is the newest entry in the "Tales of" series to come to North America. ToL features an all new battle system, that feels like a fighting game, a awesome new story, and some nicely done anime cut scenes. The game starts out when Senel, the hero of the story, and his sister, shirley are in the ocean on the bring on sinking when all of a sudden, a wave pushes them onto the shore of a giant ship. Soon after shirley gets kidnapped, and that's where the adventrue begins. The game plays diffrent then any game I have played before. It's a pretty open ended world. There is one big town, which you can warp too, to buy any suplies you might need. When you first go to a area, you can open up the vent, which lets you warp there anytime you want, which cuts down on travel time.
I really didn't expect ToL to be a great RPG. But I was pleasently mistaken. ToL is one of my favorite RPG's, and is in my top 10 for sure. The game draws you in and never lets go. There aren't any spectacular Cut Scenes, or insaine plot twists, but it's a funny enojyable innovative RPG. The battle system, is meant to be like a fighting game, and it is interesting, but in the end, it's hitting the same two buttons over and over, which makes it a little too repetative. The coolest race of people are in this game, The oresoren. The oresoren are little Fuzzy Creatures, who are good at building things *ors ors*! The soundtrack in this game is suits it, and is very enjoyable as well. The main story line can be cleared in about 30 hours, and the character quests in about 20 or so.
In closing, Tales of Legendia is the best RPG of 2006 so far. If you are a longtime RPG fan, or new to the series, you will want to check this game out

Story: A very enjoyable and interesting story that draws you in, and doesn't let go; 9/10
Graphics: Suits the game, but are at times to simple; 8/10
Music: Very nice soundtrack, the song selection fits every area; 9/10
Gameplay: Fighting system is flawed, but the basic game plays good: 7.5/10

OVERALL: 8.9/10: Great RPG.

My Tales

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: March 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've been awaiting Tales of Legendia since its US release was announced, and I've not been disappointed. ToL is a pretty engaging experience, and is a nice change from the turn-based rpgs I play. It has some weak spots, and it might not be for everyone, but I'm having a blast playing it. As of the time that this review is being written, I'm playing through the Character Quests, so I'm not quite done yet.

ToL starts when Senel and his sister Shirley wash ashore the Legacy, a huge ship that looks like an island. Shirley is prophesized to be the Merines, and is said to be the key to unlocking the Legacy's secrets. Thusly, many different people are after her for their own gain. The game starts out with Senel and his party members doing the whole "save the kidnapped damsel" thing quite a lot. At first the plot seems rather dry, but it does eventually pick up steam and become something a bit more epic.

The story is more character driven than I'm used to seeing in rpgs (I'm looking at you, Shadow Hearts: Covenant). The characters interact with one another and show their personalities in every cutscene, so fans of character development will love this. After the first half of the game is finished, you can move on to the Character Quests. Throughout the game, hints are dropped about the pasts of your party members, but the only characters who really get development are Senel and Shirley. Character Quests are chapters devoted to one specific character, where you can finally discover their history and bring closer to the story. A nice touch is the inclusion of anime movies. Some are rather short, but they're all pretty and well animated.

The battle system is real-time, and plays sort of like a fighting game. You can move left or right on the battle field, while pressing the circle button to use special attacks. "Passing through" allows you to move behind enemies if you're in a tough spot. The Climax mode stops time, allowing you to beat on enemies until the gauge runs out. Press the L1 button again before the bar runs out and you'll initiate a Climax Combo. The only bad thing about the battle system is the AI. You receive negative Grade (points won in battle that can be used to unlock bonuses after the game) for doing things like attacking enemies with elements their strong to. Crystal eres users use any magic they feel like, whether the monster is strong to it or not, and this can cause a huge loss in grade. Sometimes melee characters will just stand by idly on the battlefield and do nothing for a few seconds. Sometimes they run straight into attacks and Fields of Effect. It's very annoying, but you can do a few things to help the AI along. The game's also pretty easy outside a few challenging battles, so the bad AI won't cause you to get game overs or anything.

The graphics of ToL are to my personal liking. They're vibrant and beautiful, and use lots of bright colors to bring the Legacy to life. Some of the areas are quite a treat to look at, although the camera seems to be permanently zoomed out to give a bird's eye view of the area. There's no chance to see things up close. The character models are super-deformed 3D models, which some may not like. They look nice in motion (mostly during battles), but sometimes I wish for larger, more detailed models. Some may think the backgrounds and models look too soft and "doughy", but the style is unique and I enjoyed it.

The music is a high point. The composer is Go Shiina, who replaces Motoi Sakuraba, the usual composer for the Tales games. Shiina is a very talented composer, and there are very few tracks in the game that I don't enjoy. Some themes are often repeated, but I liked the tracks enough not to be annoyed by listening to them over and over. Another great thing is that ToL is full of actual vocal songs. The first area of the game has a woman singing in Relares, the imaginary language of the game, which is a nice touch. Senel also encounters the Bantam Bouncers, who sing a cheesy and hilarious song at nearly every encounter.

The voice acting is above average. Some lines seem a bit awkward, but nothing is really cringe worthy. The voices fit the characters (Moses' southern twang is particularly interesting, and adds to his rowdy personality). The only problem is the lack of voice acting in the Character Quests. It's a rather sudden transition, made even more so by the fact the some scenes don't have background music. I grew used to it soon enough, and I have no problem reading, but the voice acting was so good I was sad to see it go.

Overall, I found Tales of Legendia to be a welcome addition to my collection. It does have its flaws (as every game has), but it's still very fun and a nice change of pace. There are many other features I'm leaving out of the review (puzzle booths, skits, etc) because it might be more fun for players to see these things themselves rather than hear an explanation. Also, I haven't played many Tales games, but to my understanding ToL plays more like earlier Tales games instead of Tales of Symphonia.

A Legend of Its Own!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Tales series has been in good hands lately. Tales of Symphonia, which was a masterful game, was grand. Tales of Legendia is even better and more fleshed out. From start to finish, the game shines.

The game begins with Senel Coolidge and his sister Shirly fleeing from enemies aboard their ship. Soon another ship called the Legacy comes by and over takes them. The Legacy, we discover, is an ancient artifact from the Kingdom of Terises. When Senel and Shirly board the legacy we discover Shirly has the ability to breathe underwater which means she may be of a race called Ferines. But that's not all, because locals think she is a Merines, she might also be able to pilot the Legacy. Unfortunately she also gets kidnapped by bandits within the first five minutes or so. It's a lot to swallow, but you'll find out all the answers as the story progresses.

The Tales series is known for having well-developed characters, and Tales of Legendia is no exception. Each character that joins your party is neatly fleshed out to the point where they are their own self. What helps the character development (besides the well crafted dialogue), is how they will react and interact with one another in battle. Each character has his or her own attitude and way of thinking. You'll easily fall in love with these characters.

The biggest strength of Tales of Legendia though is without a doubt, the battle system. It's real time battling, mixed with a sort of Action/Adventure appeal. That is to say, you actully run up to an enemy and start attacking as if it really were an action/adventure title. It's fun, intense and well executed. You can only control one character at a time. The other characters in battle are controlled strictly by AI. AI usually has a bad reputation in RPGs. Not in Tales of Legendia. Your AI characters are actually smart, and they stick around for a while. You'll actually come to see that they're good at keeping themselves alive. It easily works out to the point where you don't have to babysit a weak character.

Each character also has Eres. Magic abilities that cost magic points to use. These attacks are devasting and beautiful. Your characters have several kinds of Eres they can perform on enemies, and they'll get more and more. And each one is more beautiful and more devastating than the last.

You can take advantage of the battle system by the combos as well. As you and your allies take on the monsters you'll be able to get some pretty high combos. Not only do combos work to cancel or slow down enemies, but the higher your combo, the bigger bonus experience bonus you'll get. If you're really good, you'll get several experience points just off combos alone.

There are a lot of battles in Tales of Legendia. This is good because battling is fun, but it's also bad because they're random battles. Dungeons tend to be long and drawn out (with a lot of backtracking) and the encounter rate is high. You'll have lots of fun battling, but you'll be begging for a break. It might've been best to stick with contact based battles like in Tales of Symphonia.

The Random Encounter rate also doesn't help when moving around on the world map, either. Since you move rather sluggish on the world map, you're just asking for a lot of battles. Walking across the world map is simple, but using the map provided can be tough sometimes. Towns don't make themselves that well known. So if you're traveling to a town, you might find yourself walking on the wrong side of a mountain range and not know it because it wasn't clearly pointed out on the world map. This is a minor problem, though, and probably won't frustrate you. Although the random encounter rate might start to eat at even the most patient gamers.

Tales of Legendia is a beautiful game. Every area shines with beautiful detail. You'll be in awe with these graphics from the moment the game opens up. Everything is bright and colorful, and the game doesn't suffer from any framerate issues. The characters are also detailed, and some of the story plays out in animated cutscenes. The music is also really good. One of the most beautiful soundtracks you'll hear in an RPG. The characters voices are also well performed. This is some of the best voice acting in a video game.

Tales of Legendia is worth it. With an incredible story, remarkable characters, engaging battle system and astounding beauty, the casual RPGer should be awe-struck throughout.

The Good
+Beautiful Graphics
+Great Soundtrack
+Engaging story
+Beautifully developed characters
+Top-notch voice acting
+Tons of extras and secrets
+Incredible Battle System, I've never had more fun with an RPG

The Bad
-There's only one con that sticks out. When you mix the high random encounter rate with the length of these dungeons and sluggish movement on the world map, even the most patient RPGers will lose it... but it's easily resolved with a FUN battle system!

Another great RPG from Namco

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First I'll have to say that I admit I'm really getting into Namco's "Tales of...". Of course, even though I've played various other RPGs over the decade (namely, Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, etc.) along with the first Tales game released in the US (Tales of Destiny. See my review for feedback on that game) I played enough games to be able to see which is fun and which is a big baloney among all hyped RPG releases. I once loved the Final Fantasy series until I've figured out that not all games from that series are as good as the hype they generate (especially the recent releases). On the other hand, the "Tales of" series has a better record for me when it comes to what games should be: FUN.

With that being said, the tales series are always fun to play with its unique, interactive and exciting battle system, flashy and cool-looking spells and skills, likeable characters, numerous secrets, amusing side quests, etc. The recently released Tales of Legendia is no exception.

There are so many things I really like in this game that I've decided to mention the bad parts first. I'm sure this game won't be liked by everyone, probably due to the lingering (and probably outdated by now) interest on certain big name RPG series we all know and used to love. The battles would pose a problem to those who kept the initial settings (semi-auto), but this can easily be solved by selecting manual mode instead. Those who are used to turn-based RPGs may not be able to adjust immediately to the frantic action Legendia's battles offer. First hours in the game is riddled with cliches, but it won't be much of a problem since it sets you up in anticipation of the major and interesting story a bit later in the game. Some may not like a few characters (which, in turn, makes you like the other characters). It may ba a little easy to most, which can be remdied by the fact that you can change difficulty in-game to seek a btter challenged for skilled players. Tales fans will be a little disappointed on some stuff that didn't make it from the japanese version of this game. That's all the bad things I can think of.

As for the good, I tell you theses:

The battles are AWESOME to fight in. The tales series, for me, is the only RPG that makes me look forward to battle enemies, even to the point that I'd use items that raises encounter rate and whack the heck out of every enemy I get to meet. As a total fighting game fan, guarding, pulling off combos, adding in skills (special attacks) and magic attacks, and unique to this tales game: throwing enemies and the time bending Climax mode, it's all heavenly for me. Yes, it's a little easier to pull high-hitting combos this time around, yet it's immensely satisfying.

The music is just as amazing, I tell you. Previous tales composers (one is Motoi Sakuraba) can pull off nice tunes that I dig (especially a few ones that comes up to mind, including battle themes), but Go Shiinai is no pushover! In fact, I love the background tunes in the game so much more than most music in previous installmens of the tales series. Ranging from orchestra-like violins to upbeat jazzy tunes, to vocalized music with a very soothing quality to it, I found myself a new favorite game music composer. Listen to believe.

The voices are surprisingly well done (aside from one character's voice, which is but a lone mismatch compared to the well-voiced overall cast). Many will like the fact that Cam Clarke (voice of the fan popular Kratos from Tales of Symphonia and Liquid Snake from the Metal Gear series) does the voice on one of the characters in the game (Will Reynard). Others fits well too, from the serious but cating hero (Senel), the wild and loud (Moses), to the fun and bubbly (Norma), the high profile voice actors bring character and life to the cast of characters, making the voiceovers on events a sweet treat to hear out.

The graphics are nice, colorful, vibrant, and has a nice flair to it in which can't grasp why (it's probably the "softness" and far blurs that makes the game look refreshing). The character 3D models has good detail with a sleek touch. The character animation is superb, not surprising coming from the makers of Soul Calibur, you got to see it to believe the aesthetic wonder good animation can pull off, especially in a game where such animations play a large part in beauty of battles. MOnster designs are a little similar with the types of monster classification, but each one is modeled with good detail, so it's no mere pallete swap. The spell effects and skills are truly nice view for all, and it never makes a battle look dull (it made me go *ho-hum* on turn based battles ever since playing tales of games)

Anyway, this review is getting longer than expected. I guess it's the fact that I can't deny such awesomeness in front of me (I was making this review with the game right in front of me). A really, REALLY cool bonus for buying this game (and the upcoming Tales of Phantasia, which is great also) is an increased chance of a US release of Tales of the Abyss, the BEST tales of game ever known (Famitsu score: 38/40 - very few games reach that range from the tough reviewers of Famitsu). I am but one among legions who are really excited over this fact.

Be the judge yourself when you try the game out.

bad angel, why you so bad?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

well basically all i had to say was already (...) in the reviews, and all i can say is that if you have the chance, play tales of symphonia first. this is a way different experience imo. oh and ignore the kid's review. so what if their weapons are funky. that dosen't matter.

Pretty Good RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Tales of Legendia is a lot like the recent Tales of Symphonia. All of the "Tales" games have been very similar and they've made suddle changes each game that makes each one play a bit differently. There are many good things about this game.

One of the best things about the game are the graphics. At first, you might hate them. The first dungeon looks terrible in my opinion, however over the game the graphics improve. Some of the dungeons are extremely well done, and each one has a different style. The character designs themselves are really good. At first I was a little bit put off, but after a few battles they grow on you.

Another great thing about the game is the voice acting. Practically the entire game has voice acting(with the exception of random npcs in towns and a few lines here and there). Senel has a very good voice actor. One of the best I've heard in a long time. Vaclav also has a great voice actor, as he kinda sounds like Jeremy Irons.

The battles are like the other tales games. You run left and right and perform combos. There are some interesting new additions to the battle system. One of them is the ability to combine various abilities into a new ability. You won't do this often, but the new abilities you create can be very powerful against certain creatures.

The story is good. It is cliched, but it is well done. There are interesting characters and a very interesting relationship between the main character and his sister. The game is long enough so you develop a lasting attacthment to the characters.

I would highly reccomend that any fan of the Tales games picks this up. I don't think it will stand the test of time, but it's definetly a great RPG right now.

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

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