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Perfect...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Usually I only get Sonic games. So when this one came out, I kinda shrugged it off. So, when I heard it was getting really good reviews, I thought about buying it. Now I realize I should have scrambled for the store like a rabid dog when it came out. I love this game to pieces. It's fun, entertaining, and touching. The battle system could get annoying for some because of the inability to pass by an enemy without jumping over it. But, the graphics are really good. If you just leave the gamecube on instead of touching anything at the start, you get an anime introduction. Overall this game had a great story line that always kept you guessing, nice and short dungeons so you don't get bored, beautiful battle scenes, bosses that aren't overly hard, and the ability to play a great RPG on the gamecube.
Do yourself a favor and buy this game!

The Best Game for the Gamecube hands down!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When Tales of Symphonia was released a year ago, it brought big changes to the world of RPGs. Tales is what is commonly referred to by gamers as a "action RPG", where instead of giving commands in a turn-based format, you actually do all the fighting yourself. That is where the similarities to standard Action RPGs end however.

Tales has a long and sweeping story involving nine playable characters, each with his or her own part to play and story to unfurl. As the game opens, the main hero of the game, Lloyd Irving, is in school in the village of Iselia, with his friends Genis Sage, a child genius and magic user, and Colette Brunel, the Chosen of Mana, when a oracle is conveyed. This oracle is a signal that Colette is to be confirmed as the next Chosen of Mana, whose job is to unlock the seals in the world of Sylvarant and become a Angel thus restoring the normal flow of mana, the essence of all life, to the dying world of Sylvarant. While undergoing the confirmation trial Lloyd, Colette, and Genis encounter a strange mercenary Kratos, who joins up for some unknown reason to help protect the fledling chosen. All this happens in just the first 30 minutes of the game which promises over 80 hours of gameplay.

In addition to the storyline, there are several sidequests to be undertaken during the game. One of the earliest involves having Colette name dogs in each town visited to gain a special Title which will increase the stat bonuses she receives upon leveling up.

Tales of Symphonia is a wonderful game you will find yourself playing again and again, something that very few RPGs are able to give you reason to do. The in-game conversations span a whole range of topics dealing with everything from Honor and Loyalty, to how incovenient it is for a angel to deal with their wings when changing clothes.

If you play RPGs and haven't played Tales yet, or are looking for a good game to get started in the genre, Tales is the best RPG on the Gamecube. Plus it's now selling for under $20, so it is perfect for those on a budget, so pick it up and give it a try. You'll like it. I guarantee it.

Tales of Symphonia: An Excelent Anime-Style RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Okay, here goes my review of "Tales of Symphonia" for the GameCube.

I was blown away by Tales of Symphonia. I saw it in a store and had heard good reviews from it, so I bought it, brought it home, and instantly fell in love with it.

Graphics- 5/5

The graphics are excelently animated. The cell-shaded anime-like style is executed perfectly. There is nothing to complain about here.

Story- 5/5

The story has a lot to absorb. I'm barely halfway through the game, and I've already come across one of the biggest plot twists I've ever seen in any video game I've ever played. I'm not gonna spoil it, I'm just saying it's HUGE. Like "your life is a lie" huge. The story overall is a bit confusing though, and easier to understand if you're an anime/manga nerd like me.

Multiplayer- 4/5

This game is enjoyable in single player, but wait! There's multiplayer as well! If you have more than one controller, than by all means-- Take a friend! The second day I had this game I brought it to a friend's house and we were addicted. The second, third, or fourth players only participate in battles though, playing as one of the characters that the AI would control otherwise. The only complaint I have is that the camera tends to zoom in on player one, making it harder for the rest of the players to see where they are and what they're doing.

Overall- 5/5

My only complaint was in the multiplayer, and it's not enough to take me away from my opinion that this is a great game. RPG Of The Year material right here.

Tales of Symphonia

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is my first review, so please, no criticism. Well... to start things of, my name is Alan. Tales of Symphonia is a great game!! TOS is mainly `bout a girl name Colette Brunel who must take a journey to rejuvenate the world by turning into an angel. She is aided by Lloyd Irving (who is the main character); a swordsman whose mother and father were murdered by an evil organization called the Designs, and was taken into custody by a dwarf, and Genis Sage, a spellcaster who is Lloyd's best friend. They are also assisted by Kratos Aurion, a mysterious mercenary who fights for money (Gald), and Prof. Raine Sage, a professor of history, and also the sister of Genis. On the road ahead, you will be aided by other characters that are vital to the story. You will face many challenges, effortless and tough. Many exciting twists and turns will almost be constantly altering the gameplay in some way. I don't want to spoil the rest for those who haven't played. Here is my personal rating for one of the first RPG game on GC:

Graphics: 5- Tales of Symphonia has many great graphics, from the setting to the design of the characters. The monsters have been thoroughly detailed, and the world map is great. There's not much more I can say `bout this.

Gameplay/Battle System: 5- TOS's fighting system is awesome!! The battle system consists of 1-4 players. You can neither use TP (Technical Point) moves or just the good ole' MEELE attacks!! You can equip yourself w/ up to 6 battle items (max) and 4 tech. abilities. Boss Battles are difficult, especially if you haven't equipped enough items or aren't prepared. You can also change the strategy of the way your characters fight. Soon in the game, you will receive a technique called the Union Attack, which all players can attack at once. Earn as much ex. points as possible and you will level up.

Sound: 4- It's hard to complain on this one, because the music and sound itself is so great. My personal concern is that some of the music gets a bit annoying, especially when you're stuck on one activity and you're seriously frustrated. Some music is jolly, and will get you in the mood. The sound has a superb quality to it.

Controls: 4.5- The controls are perfect, BUT... if you are a first timer playing TOS, it'll be a little while before you get the hang of it, probably 30 min. - 1 hr. In the instruction booklet, they don't explain the controls very well. They are confusing in the beginning, but soon will become simple, and w/ the customization option, you can change everything from message speed to the controls themselves.

Storyline: 4- The storyline in this game is very strong and deep. The only reason in which I put a 4 instead of a 5 is because some certain twists can greatly modify the game. And when the game promises 80 hours of gameplay, my friend beat in 30 hrs. (She probably had a guidebook) and I've heard others have beaten it in 50 hrs. If you wanted to unlock EVERY SINGLE THING, it would probably take 80 hrs. This is my concern. Are you listening, Namco??

Overall rating (average): 4.5- Overall, there's not much to complain `bout for this game, but Namco still need to make some adjustments for this game. I hope they create TOS 2, for Tales of Symphonia is a success. Way to go, Namco!!

The Best Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: July 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well-Developed Characters, Ingenious Puzzles, a totally original storyline, and 4 player co-op make this my favorite game ever. Much strategy comes with the 8-9 characters you can be (and switch to between battles), and the revolutionary battle system never gets boring. ALL GAMECUBE OWNERS MUST BUY THIS GAME, I PERSONALLY THINK IT IS MUCH MORE EXCITING THAN EVEN METROID PRIME.

Better RPGs Have Come and Gone... Just Not on the Overlooked GameCube...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: March 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The quick summary of Symphonia is that you'll play the role of Lloyd Irving, a teenaged boy with a cloudy past, who stumbles (along with several friends, naturally) into the adventure of a lifetime, culminating in the rescue of not one, but two endangered worlds. It seems that Lloyd's lifelong friend, Colette, is at the center of a once-every-generation pilgrimage that leads to the mysterious salvation of the world, and that everyone but Lloyd realizes that this journey will not end well for Colette. Basically, it's the plot of Final Fantasy X with more of a homogenized, Saturday morning cartoon flair, and less hideous flying monsters named "Sin." I had a really hard time enjoying the progression of the story, as not only was the writing a bit suspect and the characters largely unlikable, but the pacing was jerky and off-putting. After a handful of hours of treading water and building toward an ongoing climax, just as things would begin to get interesting, the story would slam on the brakes and go right back to treading water again. If the writing was feeling particularly exotic, maybe you'd gain or lose a party member in the process.

Perhaps most accountable for the slow death of the story was the inclusion of far, far too much unnecessary dialog, without any sort of payoff to validate its existence. This is a game that would have benefitted tremendously had it been basically halved in length. The plot isn't without its intricacies and shining moments, but they're so few and far between that they lose a lot of their impact amid the tedious, back and forth discussions and repeatedly dull, fetch-and-return styled missions. Conversations almost always go on well beyond the point of good reason, even in key situations. It's understandable to have a silly, one-sided conversation with an unimportant character on the outskirts of a city somewhere... such dialog is the bread and butter of RPGs as a whole. Where such meanderings are less acceptable and more damaging, however, are in the key scenes after crucial battles or big plot twists.

About two thirds of the conversations in Symphonia are delivered via written text, while the more important chats are spoken by a cast of voice actors... it's a fairly good way to indicate to the player that they need to pay special attention to what's going on, because what's being discussed is going to affect the way the game plays out from that point forward. Yet even these spoken scenes are usually marred by poor writing and unnecessary asides that only serve to elongate the experience. I spent fifty two hours shoveling through about twenty hours' worth of really interesting material.

Assuming you can look past the majority of the story, however, the actual practice of playing the game is an extremely enjoyable ride, with plenty of innovation to go alongside the more universally applied elements. All fights occur in real-time, and more resemble a limited Final Fight-style beat-em-up than a standard, turn-based RPG. You're limited to four party members in the field at one time, and will be routinely facing off with as many as six enemies at once. At first glance, the system looks to be nothing more than button mashing and a little luck, but as you become more familiar with your special attacks, working in conjunction with your teammates and shifting your strategy to fit each battle, the actual depth and flexibility of the system becomes much more evident. To tell the truth, I was far from a fan of this battle system until roughly the ten hour mark, when that tiny switch flicked in the back of my brain and I finally understood the intricacies of a fight in the world of Symphonia. The in-game instructions aren't exactly helpful in explaining the full potential of its own mechanics, which leaves you to sort things out on your own... and actually, I preferred it that way. It's much more rewarding when you develop a particularly successful strategy and apply it than it would have been, had you merely followed instructions and begun to paint by number.

The controller setup works well with the way the battle system functions, and never gets in the way, even when things are at their most frenzied. Successfully using the GameCube's controller is usually just a matter of how effectively the "A" button is mapped, since it's basically the sole point of focus on the hardware, with every other button and even the analog stick playing a secondary role. Fortunately, Symphonia handles the button in question admirably. In a battle, it's your driving force, working in conjunction with the direction you happen to be pressing on the analog stick to begin one of your basic attacks. While enduring one of the game's lengthy speaking segments, it both increases the speed at which the text appears and acknowledges that you've finished reading that passage and are now physically and emotionally prepared to enjoy the next sentence fragment. It's the only button you absolutely, positively have to have. The rest of the buttons are laid out, basically, declining in button size as they also decline in order of importance. The "B" button activates both your special attacks and your magic, depending on the type of character you're controlling. The "Y" button brings up whichever menu is appropriate at the moment, the trigger buttons momentarily pause the action while you choose a primary target, and the tiny "Z" button initiates incidental conversations at seemingly random points around the map. Because if there's one thing this game needed, it was more incidental conversation.

One area in which the controls run into a snag is in the world map, where roaming around the land can quickly become a headache-inducing experience. The camera angles chosen for this view are typically an overhead perspective, following the player from behind and perhaps zoomed in just a little bit too close for comfort. Should the camera nudge anything above ground level, such as a cliff or small building, however, it'll shift to a godawful view, directly over your party. It'll also kindly zoom in beyond the point of any comprehension, so that you're basically seeing your lead character's scalp and a few feet in either direction around him. Naturally, this makes navigating the map extremely difficult, and usually requires some maneuvering to get back into something resembling a workable view. Inside dungeons and during battle, no such issues are evident.

The visuals are one area in which this title really excels. Although most characters are rendered via cel shading, which is a technique I'm starting to see overused more and more, they never look forced or unnatural. Set against the beautiful, painterly appearance of the entirety of the game's backdrops and surrounding textures, the shading gives the impression of a big budget, animated motion picture. It's a truly lovely combination, and gives the title a style and look all its own. The character designs are provided by Kosuke Fukishima, well known for his work with the "Oh My Goddess!" and "You're Under Arrest" animated series, and is truly a shining point for the title. The world is filled with a unique visual flair, which is both represented and enhanced by the characters' appearances and their choice in clothing (aside from Lloyd, who wears a jacket that he may as well have lifted from Vash the Stampede himself). The enemies are universally outstanding, and rarely fall to the RPG trend of merely recoloring a design and unleashing it as an entirely different villain. My only real complaint lies with the notable lack of cutscenes during dramatic moments, and that's more a personal preference than anything else. From start to finish, there are three animated cutscenes in this title, and none run for longer than a minute and a half. That makes the giant shot of just such a scene right on the back of the case a bit misleading, and there were surely some moments that would have benefitted tremendously from a little additional visual flair. Instead, 99% of the game is live-rendered, and while this is an example of one of the GameCube's better looking titles, I really would've preferred to see a little bit more than cel shaded polygons after a big fight from time to time.

The audio has its ups and its downs, honestly. Some of the voice acting is really top notch, such as the brooding, secretive speech of Kratos and the unintentionally snooty tone of Raine, but for every character with a quality voice, there exist two or three that are absolutely wretched. Most of the summon monsters have irritating voices, and the leading duo of Lloyd and Colette are so super-nice and cheery, I want to take after them with a rusty butcher knife and a bag of salt. The music, as well, goes beyond the point of no return with the inspiration gathered from colorful nature of the graphics, and is almost entirely forgettable. If I weren't such a stickler for listening to every last moment of spoken dialog in a game, I'd have more than likely played this from start to finish with the television muted and my iPod providing the audio input.

Simply, if you're a GameCube owner and you're jonesin' for an RPG, this will fill your need adequately. The battle system is outstanding, if you've got the patience to figure it out via trial and error, and the visuals are worth a look or two, because they use the Cube's hardware fairly well. If you're also the owner of a PS2 and / or an Xbox, I've got to say there are far better titles out there in the genre. The story stinks, the characters need some serious work, and there is a LOT. OF. NEEDLESS. CONVERSATION. I'd call the entire package above average, but it's not really anything I'm going to recommend my friends go out of their way to try out.

insanely awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: August 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

ok what i liked about this game was the fact that you can switch which character you can play as in the game field and in the battle sequences(which were designed the way most people i know lOVE)
the story-line was hard to get into at first,but the further i
got in the game the deeper everything became, it was as if each character had a dark seacret(which they did.)there were so many twists that it was uncanny
i once thought i beat the game but it turned out i was only half-way in it
but wen i did beat it i found out that if u start a new game it can add more to it,dont know what i mean?well beat the game when you buy it to find out!

WARNING:THIS GAME SCRATCHES EASILY IF YOU PLAY IT TO MUCH!!!

Screw final fantasy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game beats the WHOLE FF series in every way, shape, and form. 'nuff said

Chit-Chat-Fight!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game over all is good. I find the storyline to be rather "twisted" since it has so many different turns throughout the game. Some of it was predictable and other not as much. But one thing that I can say for sure is that THERE IS A LOT OF TALKING. I played the game with 3 other people and the other 3 would fall asleep while waiting for a battle. There are times when you will have to wait for over a hour for a battle.

Besides the long awaited battles the game is fun. The battlemode is rather unique and very enjoyable. The only drawback with their battlescreen is that the camera always focuses on the first player (Which will make it complicated for other players to see themselves).

This is the first Co-Op RPG that I've had the oportunity to play. If I had to go out and buy the game again I would. But just be warned of the extremly long pauses of storyline between battles.

The game claims to have over 70 hours of gameplay. But I beat the game in 37 hours when quickly skipping past the majority of text. Most of your time will be waisted reading.

Namco: The new Squaresoft?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is really awesome. There's a million things I love about it, but I'll just go over the best parts. First, there are the characters. Usually in RPGS, you don't see much of the characters beyond their battle performance and a few cutscenes, but in this game, there are dozens of little "skits" that you can participate in. They really help flesh out the various personalities, and make you feel attached to the characters. Plus, they're often hilarious.

Then, although I'm loathe to mention it (I'm severely anti-graphics), I have to say that the look of the game is breathtaking. Again, I usually can't stand it when a game uses graphics as a crutch, but the anime style is just so different and cool, especially in the cut-scenes. And speaking of those, the voices are great too.

The battle system is more action based than most. It lets you control one character (the others are ably handled by the AI), and use simple combos to pull off different moves. However, you can still control what moves your entire party learns and what basic AI pattern they follow. Plus, if you need a specific action carried out quickly, you can give direct orders to the other characters. Overall, battles flow at a fast pace and never drag down the experience.

Then there's the story. Although it may at first seem unbearably cliched, good things come to those who wait. Around halfway through the game, a gigantic twist occurs, and from then on the story is fresh and intriguing. As more characters reveal their secret identities, you'll begin to wonder who you can trust.

Finally, there are just so many extras to collect! There are dozens of sidequests, a boatload of items and equipment, and even hidden costumes! Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've headed into battle with an entire party of swimsuit-clad warriors. And after you're done with that, you can entertain yourself by performing various feats to attain the hundreds of "titles" for the characters.

Overall, this game is amazing. It's one of the best I played in 2004. Looking at this masterpiece and the similarly excellent Baten Kaitos, which I'm playing now, I think that Namco is the new Squaresoft!!!

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