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The GCN has got it's RPG!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: August 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for an RPG that made me yern for the old days of the Nintendo box... it has come and it has recipies!!!

THANK GOD, A GOOD RPG FOR GAMECUBE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Simply put this game puts all other Gamecube RPGs to shame. If you have a Gamecube and like RPGs at all, buy this, there's no reason you shouldn't. The battle system is great and even better if you have 1-3 friends playing with you too. There's a pretty good story to go along with the action too. If you buy any RPG for Gamecube, this is the one you WILL buy.

Easily one of the finest games ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Combining truly shocking degrees of innovation, quality, and fun, an accurate paean to this game could go on for pages and pages. Suffice it to say it's safely one of the five best video games ever made in any measure, whether accoladed for being ahead of its time, well-executed and extra-special in all the fine details, most playable, most fun, or most memorable.

The multiplayer aspect is a very significant part of the game's profound enjoyability and yumminess. Tales of Symphonia is simply a must-have, a killer app whether you're oldschool like me or newschool like my friend- we enjoyed it so much together. Probably best of all is the potential for recurring jokes, undefined scandal (why is there so much tension between Sheena and Zelos? heh heh heh), and the biggest aspect of an epic journey that every other video game (and even traditional RPG) misses completely: the experience of travelling together, sharing their lives, and the contribution of each well-developed character to the experience of the others.

I also liked the music a lot more than other reviewers apparently. There's probably no better single game to own. I'm amazed this wasn't a Silicon Knights project.

How all RPGs should play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I picked this one up at its launch day to send Namco a clear message, I want these type of games on GameCube. I just started playing it a few months ago, though. I was relieved to hear that the game was a moderate success, but much to my dismay the next Tales game will be a PS2 title, but there is a GBA and a DS Tales on the way as well, which will be nice.
The story revolves around a young human named Lloyd Irving who was raised by a dwarf in a village where his best friend and his teacher are both elves (Though we later discover they are half elves). The town he is growing up in is in the world of Sylverant, a world in decline, and highly oppressed by a race of half elves called Desians. Every so often the Chosen of Mana arises to regenerate the world and restore it's Mana supply. The previous chosen was killed, and now, Lloyd's close friend Colette has been called to serve as the Chosen. Lloyd and his (half)elf friend Genis join her in her quest part to protect her, and part because a spat with the local Desians cause the village mayor to banish the two.
At first the story may seem a little clichéd, and at points when the Church of Martel (which eerily resembles Catholicism) is revealed to be the bad guy then one can raise concerns that there may have a bit of an anti-religious tone, but there is, thankfully, a plot twist at the end which nullifies anything which may come of as such, and the game never addresses religion itself as being bad or harmful as some individuals out there have been of late. In general the game remains passive in it's political and religious themes.
The tale gets better the more you get into it, the more you learn of alternate worlds, cool summons, intricate characters with a detailed back story that is learned in the main story line without the need for excessive side quests, and a story that bests the best efforts of rival Square-Enix for the moment.
The game play is where Tales really shines, as the game incorporates a linar motion active battle system which lets you combat the monsters in real time, a revolutionary step (I haven't played a Tales game before) eliminating the frustration that turn based RPGs have begun to give me lately. The game also eliminates the nightmarish and sluggish random battles. Nearly every non-boss battle in the game is avoidable as the fights are represented by moving icons on the screen which can be maneuvered around. This makes progressing through the game much less headache educing than other RPGs which can't seem to let go of the archaic random battle, or worse turn based combat. The combat engine here is what I've been waiting for, for what seems like a lifetime.
The graphics do disappoint a bit. The characters are sadly inconsistent with their anime cut scenes and there is a bit of a blur effect that is supposed to create the illusion of depth, but just makes the characters look smudged. It would have been nice if the characters were drawn to be more like their anime counterparts, less "super deformed" but considering that there's only like 4 anime cut scenes in the entire game, and 2 depicting mass destruction and not featuring the characters it's no where near as annoying as the inconsistencies in the artwork of FFVI.
Music is kind of bland from what I'm used to, and the sound effects are sorely lacking, worse yet as inconsistent as the art may have been the flow of the game is interrupted by a minimalist approach to the amount of voice over work featured in the game. Only the most critical of cut scenes feature voice-overs, sad when you consider that many competing RPGs are fully voiced. Namco really needed to take the FF X approach where all the leads were fully voiced, and only irrelevant towns folk would be text only. That would have been better. The good news is that the voice overs that do appear are pretty good, and don't disappoint. I just wanted more.
Over all Tales of Symphonia is hands down one of the best RPGs I've played of the current generation, if not one of the best games (sans disappointing graphics and sound). It's truly an epic game that takes about 50 hours to complete and should be a welcome addition to every GameCube owner's library.

Wow

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well, I wanted to get this game the day it came out bu because i have no job, it took awhile to get the money...anyways, i got it in october for 30 bucks canadian and boy oh boy i have never made a better game purchase...im about 23 hours in and still on disc one, and usually im not a huge rpger, i bought this mainly for the anime aspect and the truth is, this game is the best game ive played in a long time....so far ive laughed, been sad, and have been angry...and that is perfect for the games style as it carries emotion with great voice acting and plots....the bosses are hard if your not levelled up, and thats the only flaw imo that this game has....spending time levelling up...though where im at it doesnt take long..its just boring. lol, anyways...5 out of 5 as this is the best game ive played in years

OH MAN!!! wait WOMAN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was another great one. The Battle System was one of the best to date for sure. I was surprised collett was actualy the chosen at the begining of the game, i thought Loydd was gonna be the chosen some how but after we went to the oracle, and then further events i realized that wasnt a twist that was gonna happen.(There are alot of twists in this game which add alot of depth). This game diserves more credit.

This game's AMAZING!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Tales of Symphonia is an incredible game! The graphics are good, and the Anime cut scenes are well done. The plot of the game is incredible, there are some unexpected surprises that just make your jaw drop. The characters are well done, and it's one of those games where you can lose track of time and play for hours without stopping. The first time through it never gets boring.One of the best RPG's that I've played since Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars.

Worth Every Hour

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Okay, To start off, im only using this kids review because it faster. Anyway, This is a truly beautiful game. The unique cel shaded graphics are better than the same old graphics you see in other games. This is an awesome rpg and worth anyone's time. The storyline is moving and so realistic. Betrayal, hate, and courage, the characters really come at you. Their emotions are portrayed wonderfully as they fight their way through the world. This game is different from other rpgs because of the battle system. You choose a character to control, and the rest is AI. There are no turns, and everyone actively fights with either spells or swords. You can buy this relatively cheap, and you won't regret it. You can get at least 50 hours out of this game, and all the twists in the story never get boring. Worth your money and time. Awesome. 5 stars can't say enough. (...)

MY FAVORITE RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Hmmm...where to start with tales of symphonia. This really is my favorite rpg and it's definitely one of my favorite games. Especially for me, every single aspect of the game appealed to me immensely and when I finally finished the game, there was a deep sense of loss and sadness that I was done with the game.

The story of tales of symphonia involves the world of sylvarant. The main character is lloyd and in the world of sylvarant, all of the mana is disappearing and so one of lloyd's friends, Colette is sent to the tower of salvation to get more mana for the land of sylvarant. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the story and eventually, a parallel world, tons of new characters, and many different plot twists. I personally enjoyed the story immensely and every character had a lot of depth and likeability.

It's obvious that namco put a lot of effort into the gameplay. It really works well and the game never gets old or repetitive. This is probably because the battle system is extremely enjoyable and innovative and the rest of the game has lots of appeal due to the ability to avoid battles if you want to and inventive puzzles. When you are not battling and walking around on the field, enemies are represented as little black monsters and if you run into one, this will nitiate a battle with whatever creatures you have touched. If desired, just about every battle can be avoided but this would be foolish since every one of your characters will need the experience to level up in order to defeat the bosses in the game. Though the game is not overly difficult, it is still a challenge and it requires a high degree of skill, and endurance to complete the game.

The battle system of Tale of symphonia definitely requires a paragraph all it's own. It's definitely the best system that I have ever encountered and this is mainly due to the fact that the battle system is not turn based and is actually real time. This is actually a huge accomplishment because when I think about it, Tales is the ONLY next gen traditional rpg that uses a turn based system the way it does. Basically, after you touch an enemy either on the field or in a dungeon a battle is started and all of your characters are transported to a 3-d field. However, even though the field is 3-d, your characters move on a 2-d plane parallel to the enemy's. In addition to the basic attack, guard, and item buttons, each character has the ability to have many different special moves. These are instigated by pushed the b-button with a different direction on the control stick. Also, if enough attack's are completed, the u-meter goes up and if it is filled all of the way, then each character can perform a special move without using up any of their own designated special attacks. There is also a combo system involving combining two character's special attacks combining into a more powerful attack. Also, all of the character's special moves and equipment can be upgraded. Another aspect of the battle system are the EX gems which add to the character's in very useful ways.

As far as sound goes, the best part is definitely the voice acting. Everyone played their parts brilliantly and tales definitely has the best voice acting in a game that i have ever heard. (there's also a lot considering the game has a 700 page script!) The music is not quite as stellar but it still fits all of the environments and moods perfectly. The graphics are cel shaded and it's really top notch. Get this game, it's one of the best!

An awesome RPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game is an RPG,but it is different from other RPGs because in the battles you move your character and attack,not wait for your turn to strike. Its similar to Kingdom Hearts,but in this game you only control your character to move left and right in battles

The Story starts out really similar to Final Fantasy 10,but after that it is really uniqe,with things like 2 worlds fighting for mana yet they don't know that the other world exists.

The Graphics are nice and enemies look awesome.

The 2 major problems are:

1.Its too easy;I only had trouble on one boss,and it wasan't even the final boss! (that was easy)

2.Multiplayer;Although the game allows you to fight enemies with three of your friends,the camera follows 1st player instead of going back to get a wider view,which means other players may not even see their characters

But the game should not be missed,it has a great battle system,cool locations,and lots of characters to fight as.

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