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Warning- this game can be addictive!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have really been enjoying Namco's Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo Gamecube(I've heard that there is about 80 hours worth of main story & sub-quests on the 2 disc set, and I have played roughly 50 so far and still have a way to go...) and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good RPG type of game! The characters are interesting, the detail in the different towns and dungeons is wonderful, and it is incredibly easy to lose track of time while you are playing because of the many quests and sub-quests you are faced with as the story unfolds. While you work through the very involved storyline, each of the 9 player charaters has the ability to learn a great many attacks and there is a lot of great (and sometimes funny) dialog between the people in your group and also the non-plater characters you meet. You can let the different characters lead the group and depending on who is the lead character you can get diferent responses from the townspeople- hint: try talking to all the female characters you meet while you are Zelos and he charms them into giving him gifts, or talk to all the town dogs while you are Collete and she'll give them each a name. And while the gameplay and chacter developement has been lots of fun and in itself is a reason to buy the game, I also have to mention that the music and the anime cut scenes are just spectacular! As someone who has played and has watched while other family members have played many, many, many RPG games I must say that this has been a game that I feel I can REALLY recommend to other game lovers!!!

Finally another RPG for the Gamecube!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Not since Skies of Arcadia have I had my RPG demands been filled on the Gamecube. Tales of Symphonia is truly a wonderful expereince. You are delivered with lush backgrounds and beautiful locations.Anime style characters and themes that have become popular and welcomed. The battle system is enjoyable each time you engage in one, since it is independent rather than the traditional turn based tactics. The characters are emotional and not some prop used to make the game they are the game. The story is wonderful and more importantly you feel as if you have been a part of the whole expereince since the gang set out from their small village in Iselia to later in the game whe they venure into the other world. Sound is another thing I personally tend to overlook at times but all the music is wonderful and well suited for each setting in the game, the spken dialouge within the game is just aswell. This game is wonderful pick it up you will not be dissapointed. Thank You Namco!

Nintendo Has a Winner

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I was playing Tales, someone asked me what made this game so special to me; what was so great about it. After all, from first glance this game can appear like any other game: save the world, fight some monsters on the way. But a closer inspection will find that this is much more than a game of fighting monsters, that this truly has an emotional aspect to the game that plays a large part of it. The game pulls you into the world and allows you to connect with the characters. When they're sad, you feel sad. When they're happy, you feel happy. Compared to other games by Nintendo, I'd say that this is one of their more serious games.

The graphics, for me, were only "alright." I've seen better, personally, and I was expecting more. However, the cell shading is still nice to look at, and the game still has better graphics compared to some others.

The music is dramatic and really sets the mood for the game. In the opening sequence, for example, a symphony plays while an anime intro (very beautiful, by the way) runs. The emotions of the symphony change as the animation does, of course, with wonderful smoothness. During the game itself, music is only crucial during the battles and cinematic scenes. The music here definitely fits the mood. As for the voice acting, it didn't seem up to par, really. Although I recognize and admire some of the voice actors on this game, it was not their best work. Perhaps it's because of the animation itself; it didn't really offer much as far as letting the actors becoming convincing in their work. However, I did like the acting, as it added another bonus to the game.

I, at the moment, have most likely not even gotten past half the game. So far, the story is excellent. Again, the emotional aspect plays into the game, making it all the more meaningful to the player. I will admit, some of the characters get a bit annoying from time to time; sometimes I wish that Collette would get real and stop acting so happy-go-lucky. Apparently, however, Collette changes over time to a more cynical person, proving the careful character development in Tales.

Some things to note:
* Yes, some of the battles are hard. However, they aren't impossible. These battles only build on the importance of strategy in the game, which, with practice, is not difficult to understand.
* The game needs to be played perhaps for half an hour to an hour before one can judge it as a "bad game."

Overall, I highly suggest this game. I myself am an RPG lover, so I may be a little biased. However, if you are looking for a game that plays itself like a movie, containing smart character development and growth, smoothness of music, and an excellent story, then this game is definitely for you.

How about a review from someone who's not a fanboy?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 18 / 43
Date: September 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

There was a time when I loved rpgs. Starting with Final Fantasy III for SNES as my main introduction to the genre, I began to go through each release after that like a drug addict. Games that had actual plots other than "do this and you win", leveling up characters how you want, hidden areas with special items or weapons, alternate endings for some, and more, I really loved the genre. Then, Final Fantasy 7 came out, and began what continues to be the popular standard for the genre- typical cliché, predictable sub-par rpgs. Once FF7 came out, rpgs were released like they were nothing. Do I have to mention Legend of Mana? How about Silver? Or what about Sudeki? Squaresoft has really lost it in recent years, and I began to lose interest in rpgs. When I got my GameCube, I knew that Nintendo was pretty much screwed when it came to the genre as well, having what, 3-4? Tales of Symphonia though, was regarded as -the- rpg to play if you had the system. So I bought it without much hesitation, and gave it a shot. Then, I lost interest after a few hours, left it for dead, then gave it another shot some months later. Repeat that process until earlier this year, when I just plain quit caring about it in general and sold it. ToS continues the trend of easily predictable rpgs with no redeeming qualities what so ever, aside from the novelty of having a fun combat system. Yeah, it's great not having turn-based fights for a change, but do you really want to just focus on combat in what's otherwise a genre that's supposed to focus on story and character development? Namco and Nintendo sure wanted you to think so, as ToS sprouted countless fanboys that can't seem to look past the combat and character designs. I'm happy to let you know that this review will contain no bias that typical rpg-fanboys give.

ToS begins with the would-be hero, Lloyd, waking up (surprise surprise) from a nap in school. He fell asleep while his hot teacher, Raine, talks about a "Chosen" and how they're sent to save the world from complete destruction from what sounds like a completely random and silly event regarding a tree and angels that decide to destroy the world if certain procedures are not followed. Lloyd's friend, Colette, just so happens to be the Chosen, and embarks on a journey to save the world, which isn't really in much jeopardy from the looks of things. They run into some trouble from an army who have their own ambitions for world domination, and use helpless townsfolk as guinea pigs for their tests, turning them into hideous creatures that destroy everything in sight. Of course, being your average hero, Lloyd can't take this and makes it his duty to put an end to this army while saving the world with Colette. More or less, take Final Fantasy X's plot, make it even more linear, and that's what Tales of Symphonia is. Colette would be Yuna, and Lloyd and the others are Yuna's guardians. They visit various temples/towers in the world, while at the same time learning of a corrupt religion that has everyone fooled. Sound familiar? But ToS decides to take a few turns in the plot, and has numerous double-crossing by both characters in the party, and side characters. There's also a very stupid plot device regarding dwarves and elves, and them being enemies, but it's not really a big deal. Raine and her brother, Genis (god, if you could just change one letter there...) are half-elves, but there's no point in saying anything about it, since it doesn't give them any benefits over non-elf characters. One of Colette's guardians is Kratos, a well-known legendary knight *cough Auron cough*, who gets quiet whenever Lloyd mentions never knowing his real father. Gee, I wonder what that could mean. He only gives a hint about it in the first 20 minutes of the game when you first meet him. Later, you meet your standard female ninja character who can summon spirits, standard brawler male character with some manners for the heck of it, an alternate to Kratos in the form of a ladies man but still a legend, and an emotionless little girl who can swing axes like they're feathers, who later becomes herself thanks to the power of friendship. Hey, it sounds like 30+ other games right there!

What ToS lacks in characters and plot, and that's A LOT of lacking mind you, it somewhat makes up for in the combat system. You can control your characters, and actually allow other people to play the 3 others in your party. You can attack freely, using skills with the flick of the C-stick and melee attacks with the A button, while being able to block and dodge easily. It's pretty cool, and good to see that it's not real-time disguised as turn-based like some other modern rpgs have. One of the fun parts about this is that you can create combos that rank in the 6 digits if you're really good. Though the game came out several years ago, many people are still outdoing each other when it comes to combo counts. It gets crazy. But this is really the only good thing I can say about the game. Everything else is just a waste. The wannabe "innovative" Cook skill allows you to create meals to heal the entire party after fights while the experience count racks up, or from the status screen as well. It costs a lot to create meals, as you need various types of food for each one, and really isn't worth it when you can just use healing magic or rest at an inn and get the same effect for even less money. But, I guess there's some fun in finding the chef who gives you these recipes, who is hidden in each town. The back of the game's box leads you to believe that there are many animated cut scenes done in "anime" style, but in reality, there are maybe 3, including the opening movie montage. ToS is on two discs, but most of the game...about 70% is the first disc. If it weren't for Nintendo choosing mini-discs for the GC's format, it could easily fit on one dvd instead, as the game isn't graphic-heavy. One more thing regarding the plot- you can ignore most of it, and it won't matter: characters verbally say the meaningful plot points, but you're just given text to read when it's something minor, or just a clue for where to go next. Hint- when you hear the GC loading a new track or something, pay attention to the dialogue...if you think it'll get interesting, which it doesn't. Ever. Really, I found myself predicting the lines and being 95% accurate. This game is for rpg-newbies at most, and even then, there are much better games to start out with. Add in some forced, obligatory puzzles in each temple [some that force you to restart the whole thing if you screw up once at any point], and you've got yet another generic rpg.

Visually, it's nothing special, but gets some things right. Characters are given a nice cel-shaded look, but are VERY blurry when you get a close-up shot of them. I don't understand why this made it through production- it's that annoying. You can see it in any pictures of close-ups of the characters' faces. Check it out and see what I mean. The backgrounds and everything else tend to look decent to pretty, depending on the place. The world map however, is just a joke, reminiscent of a PSone rpg's like FF7. Wait no, it sometimes looks like the Mode-7 stuff from the SNES days. Hoo boy. As for the soundtrack, there are some good themes, but most of it is unmemorable. Aside from the map theme, which you'll hear a lot, I can't recall any from memory this very moment. But a lot of tracks are used frequently, like the "sad" music, or the "angry" music. After playing the game for 5 hours or so, you'll begin to know when each one will be used during the cut scenes/story parts. The voice acting though, is a mixed bag. There's some good talent here, but they're not used properly. The voice of Lloyd is the same guy who plays Robin on Teen Titans, and it really sounds like he's reading right off the script rather than expressing each line. Kratos' actor doesn't seem to know what range is, Genis only knows happy and WAAAAAAAGE!!, and the others are tolerable. Except for stupid Colette. God I hate that character. Nearly every line she says is an apology for nothing.

If you absolutely NEED an rpg for the GC, I guess ToS is worth a purchase, as long as it's for under ten bucks. Anything over that is robbery. Besides, you could give others like Paper Mario and Baten Kaitos a shot, which are both better than this thing could ever be. But keep in mind that this won't be anything special unless you lie to yourself and keep waiting for something cool to happen, never getting said thing, and not being able to admit that ToS wasn't good at all.

A good game for a starving RPG system

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: June 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Gamecube, for as long as I can remember, is perhaps the most neglected system for RPGs. XBOX has KOTOR, Jade Empire, and more. PS2 has the Final Fantasy games, Xenosaga, Star Ocean, and tons more. Why the hell would any RPGer want to get a Gamecube then?

RPGers now have something on the Gamecube, that's actually an original game (not some port like Skies of Arcadia or Phantasy Star Online), and it's a damn good original game at that.

Tales of Symphonia centers on the dying world of Sylvarant. The world is slowly losing its mana and "The Chosen" must go on a quest for regeneration and restore mana to Sylvarant. It all goes back to ancient times when the tree of mana was planted to give the world energy. Does it sound cliche? Sure it does, but as the story moves on you'll see some of the most jaw dropping plot twist in any RPG that ultimately takes you away from the world of Sylvarant. Are you saving the world? Or are you saving the universe? You decide.

Gameplay wise, Tales is probably one of the funnest games ever. To be frank, battle is in real time. When a battle starts you take control of one of four characters (you can switch, but only outside of combat). Each character can perform techs, magic, use items and such. Since it's real time you can easily run around and take your time. To put it frankly, it's an action/adventure battle system. If you liked Star Ocean's battle system, you may like this one. It's also multiplayer with up to four people. Battling is also contact-based rather than random battle like Final Fantasy.

Surprisingly, in battle, your AI is incredible! You can set the computer up to do anything and be content with what they're doing. If a character falls, the computer will revive them. Not all the strain is put on you. YOUR AI CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY SMART! Customizing them is endless as well.

Small problem with the battle system though. Should you be playing with more than one person, the camera only stays centered on PLAYER ONE! So if player one runs away from his allies, then your friends won't be able to see what they're doing.

Learning techs is also intersting. Each tech must be used fifty times. Once that happens you can use the tech again and a character will randomly learn another. But this is certain on two things. Your characters level, and what "Type" they are. Characters are either "T-Type" or "S-Type". If you don't want a character to be T-Type you can easily make them go the other way. Likewise, if you odn't want a T-Type skill, you can make a character S-Type and make them forget T-Type skills.

There's more. What type your character becomes depends on "EX Skills" gotten by EX Gems. There are four levels, all of them varying in many different ways. Each character has his or her own set of skills. You can also combine EX Skills to form "Compound EX Skills". Each time you put on an EX skill, you're deciding whether your character will be T-Type or S-Type. The more S-Type EX Skills you put on, the closer your character goes to S-Type and vice-versa.

Dungeons--if you can believe this--are actually fairly small. Most of them have puzzles or two, and they're not hard. You can fly through dungeons just like that. But don't think that this makes Tales a short game. The first time through you'll easily spend over sixty hours playing, and that's not including every side-quest.

Graphics wise, Tales is a beautiful game. Anyone who likes anime will love this game. If you don't like cel-shaded graphics, then you'd be shooting yourself in the foot by buying this game. But it does look gorgeous, and the frame speed isn't slow either.

Soundwise, the game has its moments. A few tunes can get repetative very quickly. The voice acting is good, and much like Star Ocean, you can skim through most of the dialogue if you happen to read faster than your characters talk. There are moments where it's clear the voice actors tried too hard, but it's forgiveable.

Tales of Symphonia is not without fault though. Can it hold a candle up to Final Fantasy. You better believe it can! But much like Final Fantasy, and any game, it has its faults.

For one thing, the story is repetative! Especially at the beginning of the game. It DOES go in a different direction later, about at the middle point, but then a few hours after that middle point, we end up doing the same thing we did at the beginning of the game with a different character!

Also, later on in the game (MUCH later) backtracking becomes to prominant. You'll spend a lot of time running back and forth between towns that are VERY far from each other and sometimes--literally--in a different world! And you don't move very fast on the world map. It becomes to be very annoying, very fast. The game also won't let you get too far ahead. You won't be able to explore an are before you reach it, you'll automatically leave.

The game is a good length, and it has TONS of sidequest, but lets face it. A long RPG tends to have a lot of meaningless dialogue, and portions of it that mean nothing to the actual story, yet you have to go through with it anyway. In Tales, there are A LOT of meaningless moments.

It's also a disappointment that you can only carry twenty of each item. Dungeons may not be long, but battling is tough! It sucks when you have to constantly run out of the dungeon to buy more items (this same problem plauged Star Ocean: Till the End of Time). Then when you come back, all enemies are there again, and they WILL give chase if they see you.

However, there are more good things to make up for the minor small ones. For one, the game is FULL OF SIDEQUEST! You think Final Fantasy has a lot of side-quest? Think again, these side-quest will keep you busy for hours! The optional bosses are challenging, but the rewards are worth it!

The characters are also loveable. It's perhaps one of the most important thing in an RPG to have characters you like (after all, you'll be stuck with them for 80 hours!), and Tales has likeable characters.

For an RPG deprived system, Tales of Symphonia is just what the Gamecube needs. It's a great game that can rival Final Fantasy in so many different ways. One of the most amazing storylines I've ever seen, and some of the most addictive gameplay. There's also high replay value with you being able to start over and "inherit" certain things based on your score at the end.

Tales of Symphonia is an incredible game! If you're an RPGer with a Gamecube, you actually HAVE something now. Rejoice, Tales is a game that gives even Final Fantasy a run for its money.

The Good
+LONG game (over 60 hours)
+Enticing and engaging storyline
+INCREDIBLE PLOT TWIST!
+Loveable characters
+INCREDIBLE BATTLE SYSTEM!
+AI Characters are actually smart!
+A good challenge
+Tons of side quest, with awesome rewards
+Beautiful graphics
+Lots of replay value

The Bad
-In battle the camera only centers on player one
-You can only carry twenty of each item?
-Way too much backtracking and running between towns... and worlds
-A good story, but for the most part it's repetative
-60 hours but about 20 of them are spent doing nothing that relates to the story, and leveling up your characters

Really, this deserves five starts but the cons were a little daunting at times, but look at all those pros? You tell me Tales of Symphonia isn't worth the buy? It's an incredible game, that any Gamecube RPGer should get! Grab it. Play it. Enjoy it.

Still don't know what Symphonia means, but this game rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game once with a friend without even knowing what it was, and was surprised that we kept going back to rent it every time we were together until I finally got it for Christmas, a week or two later. This game is awesome (or at least to me it is)! I didn't expect it to be as good as it was when I took it off the shelf. It has great, fast paced gameplay, an engaging storyline with lots of secrets (though some people don't like the storyline), and amusing, believable characters! As mentioned, some people don't like the storyline in Tales of Symphonia, this is mainly because it has some cheesy moments... Personally, I just found these moments and lines amusing. The storyline does have lots of emotion and depth though, and I was always kept on the edge of my seat because of all the hidden secrets. The story does of one issue though - pacing. The story moves very slowly, and it takes forever before anything is revealed. In the beginning the plot seems pretty typical, Collete the Chosen has to awaken all the elemental seals in the land of Sylvarant to bring regeneration to the world. But as you progress it gets a lot more complicated than that (you are only going after the seals for about a little less than half the game)! And you realize that nothing is as it seems. The characters are great, they are a little more like "normal" people than most RPG heroes, and they all have flaws and good points. There are 9 playable characters in this game (though ultimately you can only have 8 in your party, your group depends on story events), I will now introduce them, be aware that there's some MILD SPOILERS, but I tried to introduce them with the least amount of spoilers possible. Lloyd is the main protagonist - he accompanies Collete on her journey of regeneration, and is also trying to avenge his mother's death and the terrible accident he is partially responsible for in his home town of Iselia. He isn't particularly bright, and can be a little rash, but always tries to do the right thing. Genis is one of Lloyd's best friends, also from Iselia. He is a whiz kid, and an elven magic user. He's a little head strong. Collete is the Chosen, who must release the seals. She is clumsy, gentle, and well, immature, but has a strong sense of responsibility and is very caring. There is also Kratos, who is a mysterious mercenary hired to protect Collete - but it seems he made be hiding something (or lots of things...). Raine's the elven school teacher in Iselia, and Genis' older sister. She has an interest in archeology, and is good at healing magic. Sheena is an assassin hired to kill Collete the Chosen, though her motives for this are unknown at the beginning. Sheena truly cares about people, but takes guff from no one! She is also trained in the art of Summoning. Zelos is cocky and flirtatious (putting it lightly...), but there might be more to him than that... He is a Chosen, like Collete. Presea has a lack of emotion because of an experiment conducted on her. She struggles to find herself again. Regal is kinda the odd one out (he's my least favorite character, anyway), he is a convict that is surprising aristocratic for being one, can't say much else without spoilers. The gameplay has basic RPG elements (talking to people, navigating world maps, solving puzzles in dungeons, etc.), with a fun real-time battle system. The battles always feel crisp, and you can play as any one of the characters I just mentioned. You can pick 3 others to accompany you into battle. You can attack normally, do powerful techs and magic, and unison attacks. You can also set strategies for the computer controlled character in battle to follow, or order them to do certain techs. Some characters are good at melee fighting, some are healers (Raine mainly), and some are mages (Genis mainly). Up to four players can take control of the characters in battle, so your friends can fight along with you! You gain experience, gald, and grade (or lose grade) when you complete a battle. Gald is the currency, and you can also buy certain things with grade (including cool bonuses if you play the game a second time), and you level up with exp. The game also has a title system (where you unlock and chose "titles" to change certain stats, sometimes costumes change too), and a cooking system (used for healing). And also has the element of "affection", where you answer questions as Lloyd to either get your fellow party members to like or dislike you - this slightly effects the story. The game is challenging without being overly frustrating (though if you really spend time leveling up it becomes pretty easy, and the final boss is disappointing). It also has tons of fun side-quests to do BEFORE beating the game (one annoying thing is after you beat the game you must restart, do all side-quests first!). Whew! This is probably my longest review ever... Well, time for a pros and cons summary:

PROS:
Fun and frantic battle system
Likable characters with lots of personality
Plot has lots of secrets
About right amount of challenge throughout most of the game
Lots of side-quests, and you can buy bonuses 2nd time round
Multiple paths through the story
Good multi-player in battles

CONS:
Plot has bad pacing
Has some cheesy moments
Can be a little hard to figure where to go next sometimes
Final boss is WAY to easy
Don't have a chance to do side-quests after finishing, before restarting

OVERALL: I love this game - personally it's one of my very favorites! It may not be for everybody, but I think a lot of people would really like it. I recommend at least renting it (baring in mind the beginning is rather slow).

The 1 and only good rpg for the gamecube

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Tales of Symphonia (TOS) is the one and only good rpg for the gamecube.

You play as the troubled adolecent Llyod Irving in his quest to regenerate the world. The world needs regenerating because the world lives off mana, and of course, the world is lacking it. So you team up with Collete, the "Chosen", who was born to regenerate the world. You, Collete, and the remainder of your group must travel the world to various "seals" and unlock them.During this quest you''l have to fight variuos monsters and bosse, using your wide variety of spells and attacks. After all the seals have been unlocked you can "regenerate the world" supposedly. Which leads to heart breaking cliched lines, and heart to hearts.

Visual- The game is cell-shaded, which doesn't have quite the rep it desreves. Unfortunately, the graphics seem limited, most spells look similar and the monsters are usaually the same. Then there's the cut scenes, most are in cell-shade, but sometimes they throw in some anime during some of the key moments. A-

Audio- What I don't understand is that they only put voice-overs during cut scenes, and battles. For everything else it's just text, which is put in places where voice-overs belong. The battles voices are usually the same, battle cries, spell casting, and an occasional remark. Probably could have used a couple bleeps for the younger players. B+

Gameplay- Of cousre as in any RPG there's LOADS of customization. You can decide, and change attacks, spells, and even how each chracter levels up. There's a wide variety of characters to choose from, healers, melee attackers, and spellcasters. Don't think your alone, you can hook up another controller so others can help you in this constant battle game. You can set the AI's settings, which is useful in differeent situations. There's also various "orders" you can assign so that AI will attck according to instructed list. Of course, a game like this involves many battles. Which is great, but sometimes you'll feel overwhelmed and frustrated by all the constant fighting. You won't always feel frustrated though, you can heal at any time in the game(as long as you got the right items or have enough tech points)which is VERY nice. All chracters have two very important stats that always need to be monitored. HP and TP (Hit Points and Tech Points)Hp represents how much damage your chracter can take before dying. Tp is somewhat like ammo, all spells and special attacks cost a certain amount of TP, you subtract the points it costs to perform the spell/attack from the totla TP your chracter has. Which is standard in any RPG, but what is also standrad is that you'll find yourself low on TP when you really need it. Otherwise battling is pretty straight forward, hack and slash most of the time. Then there's those puzzles. There's lots of going from room to room, fetching items, and switches to hit, and warps to take. It can get REALLY frustrating at times, you might even want to throw the conroller on the ground. Luckily, none of the puzzles are very long so if you do ever come across a problem, it's just a matter of guess and check. There's lots of Running around finding people, which is very unhealthy for a game like this. The rest is just buying items,(which is ridiculously easy.) and talking to people. A+

Even with 2 discs, the game seems a bit to short. Thankfully, there's TONS of replay vaule. You can transfer over various thing s from your old game to your next game, which can be used to tip the scale in your favor.

OVERALL- A-

This Game will be awesome.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game does NOT require a Gameboy Advance to play with relatives/friends so this is the ideal buy for anyone who wants decent multiplayer, Heavy Plot line, and just good ole' rpg goodness. I wouldn't recomend this game for children 10 and under because it takes a lot of patientce and the puzzles in the game are very challengeing. Also like in most rpg's after you travel through the dungeon to get to the boss it automatically places you back into the feild area but in Tales of Symphonia you have to treck back out after the boss fight.

This is amazing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is gold. It has been the best RPG I have played since Super Mario RPG for the SNES. Please, don't listen to the ones that gave this game a bad review. I can tell that those are the kind of people that just plain hate Anime. Let's go over some stuff about it.

STORYLINE 10/10: This is incredible. It's about saving the world. Kinda plain, right? Wrong! It's nothing what you think. Throughout the game you'll find dozens of twists, spins, and turns, making it an unbelievable story! Every time it happens I practically faint! This rocks.

GRAPHICS 8/10: The graphics in this game are cel-shaded. I gave it an 8 because sometimes they forget things. Like sometimes when they talk, they won't blink or anything. Plus when they are holding something in their hand, it shows nothing. And also sometimes their mouth won't move when they talk. But much later in the game, you will experience high-quality Anime cutscenes. This game is good enough to even make a whole anime series out of it!

MUSIC/SOUND 10/10: Not many people I know like this music, but it's INCREDIBLE. The sounds are too. And even the magic! It's all great. It uses some kind of midi music, it's very good.

GAMEPLAY 10/10: This is the best part! The walking on the world map or town is normal, but the battle is amazing. I've never seen it. You run into a monster, a background area pops up. You and your group can run around, slashing and stabbing monsters. Colorful, bright spells are constantly coming on the screen, making it exciting. But the best part is, its not like any other rpg where you TAKE TURNS. There is no waiting in this game, it's constantly going and going, SUPER fast!

VOICES 10/10: All I have to say about this is that the voices match the people PERFECTLY! I've never seen better.

OVERALL 10/10: Overall, this game is my all-time favorite rpg. Please, take my advice. Buy this game, or at least rent it. If you rent it, and play it, you will surely want to buy this game. It rocks!

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Awesome game! Tons of characters, moves, and weapons. the storyline is long enough, but through in hundreds of sidequests, and you have yourself over 80 hours of gameplay. Myself I only did a couple sidequests, so it took me 44 hours! I would recommend this game to anyone who loves RPGs. Especially long ones with a great storyline!

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