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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.

Some decent story and a flawed battle system

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: June 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game after playing (and loving) Tales of Symphonia. I was quite a bit disappointed by this title in the series.
The story is decent, but nothing spectacular. Character development is minimal for most characters, and you never really feel a deep attachment for them, or the story in general.
The game is split into two portions: the "main game" and when that is wrapped up, the "character quests." For a total of 80+ hours. The character quests come after the main "ending" and actually tie up all the many loose ends for each charcter... many of which are major plot points. In this way, these long quests feel more like they should have been sidequests in the game, especially since they only rehash old areas of the game and up the monster difficulty. But, the character quests also add in another main enemy, and you really have to play them to get the "real" ending...

This would have been decent still, even with no new areas to explore and very uneven difficulty, except for the flawed combat system. This game felt like a real step back from Symphonia, and didn't live up to its "RPG that plays like a fighting game" promise. Basically, you get a three hit melee combo, and you can follow it up with "eres" your special moves. Once you learn enough, you can chain them together with the AI character for big combos. Unfortunately, the AI wasn't usually good enough to accomplish this - they will attack enemies that are well out of range, break your combos, and cast costly magic spells AFTER battle is over.
My biggest complaint: a glitch in the game causes you to perform the same "eres" twice in a row after inputing it only once almost 75% of the time.
This means you will waste resources, most likely miss, and break your combos. This being an action RPG, this glitch caused me to actually lose a few battles by performing the move twice and missing the target. An inexcusable problem, in my opinion, and it really knocked an entire star off my rating.

The game is overall easy, as well. There were a lot of times I would simply button mash and not even pay attention. However, once you get to the character quests a few of the random mini-bosses are extremely more difficult than the surrounding enemies. Very unbalanced.

Visually, the game is alright. The painted backgrounds were very pretty to look at, and the anime cutscenes had their moments. I didn't like the squatty character models at all, and thought the 3D didn't look as good in this game.

All in all, a less than satisfying game that I often felt like I was forcing myself to finish rather than enjoying.

The undying will of humanity

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

is the main source of this game
Pros:
-Cute graphics that suits the game's mood
-Awesome soundtrack(It's a nice blend of Jazz, and has nice chourses in some stages)
-Excellent voice acting
-Rapid fight style gameplay
-Great story(And a ending that might be a bit emotional for some, like me)
-I love the cheerful comedy this game brings(If you just played a horror game, it's never a bad idea to turn to this to cheer you up
-It said 70 hours, and man this was the clostest that any game has close to being right about it's lenght on the back cover(I was only 15 minutes over 70 hours)
-Very nice animated ciniematics(It provides much more than the 2 Tales of Symphonia had)
-Excellent group of characters:
--Senel:The main man who walks around with the strenght of 100 men. He can be a pain sometimes. (Like when he abandoned his party, and felt like a total @$$ later)
--Will:The 28 year old man, who uses a hammer, but uses to much magic.(What is the point of having a hammer that can crush a cinderblock at ease if you're hardly gonna use it)
--Chloe:The knight with a generation of greatness before her, but she has loads of doubt and revenge in her(At one point it will, and I mean WILL piss you off)
--Norma:Where would this game be without the cheerful, bubbleheaded Norma. She brings loads of comedy, keeps the game from being completly boirng, well she's like Ed from Cowboy Bebop.
--Moses:And no he's not the guy who said let my people go. He's kinda like Zelos, and he's a bit of a goofball, and he provides comedy as well.
--Jay:I swear the first time I saw this dude I thought he was a chick. She-male lookin' sunova... Anyway, he's the least likable for me, because he always acts like he's too good for everyone.
--Grune:Ah, other than the fact that she lost her memory, she reminds me of Sheena, super sexy, fights with a weird weapon, has a relationship with summon spirits, the perfect woman, a Goddess(Seriously, and she's generaly rather nice to Moses, unlike Sheena and Zelos' relationship)
--Shirly:Senel's sister, and he cares for her a lot, but yet, she always seems to find a way to be a complete burden for like 2 of the game, but she's usually sweet.
-Gald is hardly a problem(The fact that you usually have more than you can spend from time to time)
-Skits have voice acting(Which is suprising since it wasn't that way in tales of symphonia
-Nice load of extras after the game was completed
-This game is a ton of fun, and is very enjoyable installment of the tales series.
Cons:
-No multiheal items(Only Norma can heal everyone, but it's not always enough)
-No Voice acting through Character quest.(Throughout the final 35 hours the only way you can hear voice acting is through the animated FMVs or skits. I missed the voice acting so much, I almost forgot what the voices for some characters sounded like)
-No summon spirits used(Their names are mentioned but they're never used. What happedned there)
-I hate random battles(The dungeons are wayyy to long and random battles are a bit frequent. I don't know what was wrong with the Tales of Symphonia system)
-The world map sucks! The paths are not far away, but Senel runs way too dang slow!(Not to mention there's nothing of an airship or anything like that)
-Puzzle booths are annoying(The only good thing I found about it, is you don't get into random battles with them.
-During character quest this game suffers from Magna Carta syndrome where you backtrack through previous dungeouns(Dungeouns I thought I'd never have to see again. They could have gave a quick jump like Tales of Symphonia did.)
-I wish you could cook after that battle and eat, and get a limited status raiser like in Tales of Symphonia(But, you gotta wait till after the battle.)
-No alternative endings(That is a real downer, seeing as how it is very common in RPGs today)

Tales of Lengendia is a great fun experience, but in pails in comparision to it's Gamecube predicessor Tales of Symphonia. This game looks like it was the prediseccor, and Tales of Symphonia was the successor. Seriously this game was inferior to it. Yet this game is enjoyable, and PS2 owners that never played the Gamecube success, nor had a international PS2 to play the japanese version(Which was realesed on PS2 there, and had much more extras than the gamecube version, and a casino, which was messed up), should enjoy this Tales experience, altho I played better.

peace

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.

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.

Disappointing, boring...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I snapped this title up as quickly as possible, having loved Tales of Symphonia to death. I was extremely excited to play, as it seemed to have all of TOS's gameplay mechanics with a new story and characters.

Well, call me disappointed to say the least. Sure, all the ingredients are here for a great RPG, but the chef has left the building. TOS's unique, charming characters and dialogue have been replaced by bland sterotypes and endless conversations that I could have predicted after the first sentence. Here's a hint, Namco: Gamers like to play as people that they actually LIKE. There's nothing fun about having as a party a perpetually angry teen (who looks like a mutant), his nauseatingly sweet sister, a bland older man who could be everyone else's babysitter, a whiny female knight, a "cowboy" with a stupid accent...the list goes on and on.

Gameplay is similar to TOS, but it's dumbed-down and feels like an endless pattern of "go here, talk to some people, run around these corridors, get into a battle, mash the buttons to win, repeat..." And the random encounters were irritating--I would have liked to see my enemies before battling.

Overall, it seemed that Namco wanted to duplicate its previous RPG success, but failed to add that extra kick and charm. In a previous review, an enamored me called Namco "the next Squaresoft". I guess this is only true when they develop for the GameCube.

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.

Tales of Legendia Review

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

Tales of Legendia Review

I admit I was a little skeptical of Tales of Legendia when I saw the first news of its existence. At first glance, I felt that I would hate the character designs and the gameplay seemed to have regressed backwards a generation. Fortunately, time passed, and these were largely unfounded concerns. Tales of Legendia, while not a perfect game by any standard, holds its own against it's predecessors Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Eternia, adding it's own flair to the mix.

Characters and Story

Tales of Legendia seems to be one of those things where first impressions are usually negative and then they get better. Without going into too much detail, the storyline is intense and fast moving with lots of twists and turns. The entire game takes place on a large island that acts as a ship, created by the Kingdom of Terises. However, as Senel and his comrades soon discover, there is much hidden they don't know about the origins of the Legacy and the villains who will do anything to have its power. Every one of the main characters is thoroughly developed, especially Senel and Chloe, and they grow over the course of the adventure. With Senel, you a change from a brash, young marine to somewhat of a leader figure as he copes with his mistakes, past and present. The story is divided into two sections, a main quest and optional character quests, which contain some of the best written dialog in all the series.

However, I felt that much remained unanswered in the main quest that needed to be answered before the optional parts began. While the character development is deep for the protagonists, I cannot say the same about the antagonists and some NPCs. Very few of the bad guys in the first arc appear to be more than the average cruel henchmen of an overlord bent on helping him in world conquest. Only a handful of Ferines, a faction aboard the Legacy, were developed at all, those integral to the storyline.

Gameplay

First, Tales of Legendia was created by a separate team than Tales Studio, so there are some changes in the mechanics. The gameplay in Tales of Legendia consists of the standard exploring dungeons, cutscenes, running back to town, and then the progression of the story, sometimes in a different order. Since the world is one big ship, it is not very large, and thankfully, there are teleportation ducts that provide a shortcut between the various points on the Legacy and the home city of Werites Beacon. Battles are similar to Tales of Eternia with a single line of battle. Because Senel fights with his fists, the battles feel much tighter and intense than Tales of Symphonia. They are also very accessible for newcomers to the Tales series, and I found myself racking up 20 combo attacks with ease. One of the innovations is the idea of Chaotic Fields where higher level monsters lurk guarding a treasure like a powerful weapon or piece of armor. Unlike other games, Legendia makes you work for your upgrades.

Negatively, I did not enjoy the dungeon design of this game. Primarily, they involve a fairly linear path through a dungeon, ending with a puzzle booth in which you must solve a simple block pushing or beam reflecting puzzle to advance to the next level. To me, it seems to be an artificial way of introducing puzzles into the action. A better way would be to insert the puzzles directly into the process of progressing through the dungeon; for example, toppling a large piece of debris to get across a river. There are some flaws with the battle AI, also. In boss battles, melee characters tend to run headlong into enemies without regard for falling back when their health is low. This is sometimes frustrating if one is counting on them to hold the line for the casters.

Audio and Visual.

Tales of Legendia is the series first step into true polygonal 3D graphics, and they have done a good job making the leap. All of the characters, as described in some of the early Japanese bonus material, are motion captured, so their movements are smooth and natural. In an attempt to create an exotic world, the environments are elaborately decorated with many curves and colorful lighting for some areas and a more technological setting that seems to have been pulled out of the corridors of a space ship. One look at a level like the Great Hollow, one can tell the detail Namco put into crafting the world. The characters, though, are somewhat lacking in detail, since they are small compared to the environments.

Many people complained about Tales of Symphonia's synthesized soundtrack, and they will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Namco has worked with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra to bring the players an orchestrated soundtrack. Every location's music is aptly suited from the quiet of Werites Beacon to the tense moments on the battlefield as Senel marches forward. Another thing to point out is there is one song that is constructed in Relares, the artificial language used in the game. It, along with some others, brings the player into the realization that this truly is another world.

Localization

Peter Garza, localization manager at Namco, did a fantastic job as he took the helm of translating it. The character's voice actors are properly chosen and fit the personalities. None of the voices are annoying and the dialog is without any major errors. While those people who have imported the Japanese version will lament the exclusion of TAO by Do As Infinity for the opening, the new instrumental song synchronizes cleanly with the opening movie. There are no Japanese voices, but with the talented English voice acting, I did not seem to mind. One major fault in localization was, due to budget constraints, the voice overs in the character quests and the voice of Mimi Bread the baker are missing. After a few hours in the thoroughly emotional character quests, I have not found this to be a large issue. The localization was a step above Tales of Symphonia and sets a new standard for the series internally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel Tales of Legendia, while it has it's flaws, is still a worthy game by most standards. It has a fluid, intuitive battle system, an emotion filled story, enticing environments, and the best localization a game in this series has received. On the other hand, the linear dungeons, fragmented sections of the story, and underdetailed character models may be a drawback for some players. I would recommend Tales of Legendia to both fans of anime role playing games and people who are just getting into this series.

A poor rpg in most respects.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 16
Date: March 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Legendia is certainly not a AAA title, as it seems to define the word generic.

Graphics - 7/10

The graphics aren't bad and use the SD model which makes them look like the old Tales characters. The backgrounds are bright, and the charcter drawings are decent. No widescreen, no prog scan.

Sound - 5/10

The voice acting is reasnoble although some characters seem forced and Celia in particular has the typical high-pitched voice so favoured when voicing the typically weak damsel in distress. There is also an echo when characters talk, as it seemed to be recorded badly. Overall music is OK but nothing memorable.

Gameplay - 5/10

The game consists of wandering around a world map, and going from one location to the next with some collecting of items and incidental dialogue. The battles are on a 2d plane much like an old fighting game, they are decent if limited but never dull. The enemy variety is not great though, as you will see the same enemies over and over agains for long sectons. There are a decent number of sidequests to complete so it does have some longevity. However nothing really stands out.

Overall - 5/10

Not really bad, but lacking any real spark of creativity, this is light years away from FF, DQ, Shadow hearts etc

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