I’m back, with my second Review of a video game. Last time I reviewed Fire Emblem, for the GBA. Sticking to the RPG genre, I have moved on to the GameCube and discovered this new RPG released by Namco, the company that brought the delightful character based on a pizza with a slice missing, Pac-man.

If you think Tales of Symphonia is going to have ghosts and round yellow creatures that eat dots, you’re wrong. Part of the not-that-well-known Tales of series, Tales of Symphonia is one of the few RPGs that can be discovered on the GameCube console.

Tales of Symphonia is rated T for fantasy violence, language, and suggestive themes. Without further ado, here is the review.

This Review will be based on a rating system of 0-9, based on the number of playable characters, with 0 being drop-dead terrible and 9 being flawless.
 

Story: 9

The game takes place in Sylvarant, a world on the brink of destruction. The land is in need of mana, the essence of life, and people are suffering.

A tree once supplied the world with mana, but when a war disrupted the peace of Sylvarant, the tree withered away. To replace the tree, a hero had to be sacrificed. A goddess, upset over the loss of the hero, fell into a deep sleep. If the goddess wasn’t awakened, the world would crumble away into nothing.

To awake the goddess, a person known as The Chosen was handpicked by the angels and assigned with the task of awakening the goddess and restoring mana to the world. However, the game takes place when the seventh Chosen is assigned the task of going on the journey. With the past Chosens dead, the fate of the world relies on the seventh Chosen, Colette.

The game revolves mainly around Lloyd, a 14-year-old boy raised by a dwarf and friend to Colette. When Colette receives the oracle of prophecies, the sign that it is time for her journey to start, Lloyd decides to accompany Colette on the journey of regeneration, along with his elfish friend Genis and a mysterious mercenary named Kratos. More people join the group as the game progresses.

However, Lloyd possesses something in his grasp that the Desians, an evil group of half-elves who cultivate humans in human ranches, want. The Desians not only want what Lloyd has, but they want to make sure that the Chosen’s journey is ended before it begins. Lloyd’s job is to protect the Chosen from the Desians, as well as avenge his mom, who was killed by the Desians when he was a baby.

However, the storyline doesn’t end there. More twists are added as the group travels through Sylvarant, and it is soon discovered that there is a mirror world known as Tethe’alla. Regenerating Sylvarant and returning its mana means the destruction of Tethe’alla. Not only is your task to save Sylvarant, but it is also to find a way to have both worlds in harmony.

However, that is not all. More twists are added, and it makes me embarrassed to have given Fire Emblem a perfect score for storyline. Your path isn’t straightforward, and secrets are discovered each step along the way. This is excellent, the best I’ve seen in any GameCube game.
 

Graphics: 7

This is a cel-shaded game, but if you compare it to the cel-shaded Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, you will find a huge difference in style.

While LOZ: TWW is done in a carefree style and the graphics are almost polygonal, Tales of Symphonia is great when it comes to its cel-shaded graphics. The characters themselves are well-drawn, effects are amazing (the scene where you’re in a destroyed village, the burning buildings look almost realistic). While it doesn’t come up close to some games like Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2, I don’t really think much about graphics when getting a game.

I took off two points for two reasons. When characters are speaking, sometimes their faces show the wrong or no expression. Also, their mouths sometimes don’t move at all. Other than that, awesome cel-shading.
 

Characters: 9

The characters' personalities are superb. None of them are dull or undecipherable, and they are really memorable. In fact, the person who tried to kill you once comes in and saves you from danger, but then tries to kill you again, or vice versa. Also, you are never guaranteed your enemy will remain your enemy or your friend will remain your friend. Here are all of the main characters:

Lloyd: You play as him throughout most of the game. At last, a hero in an RPG who isn’t a mute! He’s actually quite talkative. While he is brave and knows what’s right, he’s dumb when it comes to school and studying. Still, he comes through for his best friends Colette and Genis. He uses twin blades as his weapon and he is one of the most powerful members of the group. You control him by default, but you can switch to another person. Most of the game revolves around Colette and him.

Colette: The Chosen of Sylvarant, Colette is a girl around Lloyd’s age who is unprepared for the trials ahead. She is indeed one of the clumsiest characters in the game, but she is warm and generous. She has two chakrams, or throwing discs. While she is not the strongest with the discs, she will learn some magic later on in the game, and she’ll excel at magic.

Genis: Lloyd’s other best friend, who is an elf. He may be young, but he is the smartest person you’ll meet. Though he tends to disagree with Lloyd and sometimes they can get into fights, they’re still friends. Genis uses magic with a paddleball-like staff which can also be used as a weapon. Though weak physically, he can bring out the most pain with magic.

Kratos: He is a mysterious mercenary who joins Colette’s group just for the money. Through Lloyd’s eyes, Kratos is annoying and Lloyd shows some hatred towards him. However, Kratos gives Lloyd tips on his fighting style and you learn several techniques from him. He leaves your group halfway through the game and whether he joins you again is up to your choice-making skills. He is well-rounded in both magic and swordsmanship and he uses daggers and swords. He also is skilled in the healing arts.

Raine: Genis’s older sister and a teacher too, Raine is obsessed with research. She takes into account every ruin you come upon, and she brings out a lot of pain on those who don’t agree with her (mainly Genis and Lloyd). While she does have a tendency to slap and kick Lloyd and Genis around (and some others), she is not the fighter in battle. Instead, she can use magic to boost your stats and heal your HP. Later in the game she learns some offensive magic, but she still remains the best for the sidelines, keeping your fighters alive in battle.

Sheena: An assassin from Tethe’alla assigned with the task of killing The Chosen, Sheena is pretty much mysterious. You meet up with her several times and fight her twice. Later on in the game, she joins your group. Mysterious in her actions, Sheena is a summoner and has the power to summon spirits in battle when she’s in overlimit mode (I will get to that soon). Her weapons are special cards that she uses to bring out a lot of pain on the enemies. The cards hurt, and can cause some status affects too.

Zelos: The Chosen of Tethe’alla, Zelos is a guy who I mistook for a girl (he has long red hair and he wears pink) when I first saw him. He is not a girl, I could tell after meeting him. Rather, he is a guy who would do anything to impress a girl. He has ‘no time to talk to men’ and is Genis’s rival. Zelos could be considered Kratos’s replacement because he uses the same weapons and also uses both magic, swords, and daggers. He is a sicko and quite a scoundrel, but he is still there to protect the Chosen of Sylvarant (perhaps because Colette’s a girl).

Presea: A mysterious girl who lives in Tethe’alla, Presea has had a terrible life. Forced to undergo experiments, Presea has lost her emotion in exchange for intelligence. Genis thinks she is cute (and secretly is in love with her), but her true background is gloomy. She has not aged one day, and she doesn’t even realize that her father lies dead in the bedroom of her house. She is Genis’s age and size, but she has the power to lift an axe her size. She uses battle axes in battle and is quite a force to reckon with. However, if the cure is not found for her experiments' side affects, she could meet an unfortunate death.

Regal: His hands bound together by handcuffs, Regal was sent to eliminate the Chosen’s group by the Pope of Tethe’alla. However, after seeing that Presea was another victim of the experiments, Regal joins you after a battle against him. Although his hands are bound together and he cannot hold a weapon, he makes up for that with his kicking. The kicks are really all he can do, but don’t think that makes him weak. He can beat the living daylights out of any enemy.

Remiel: He doesn’t join you, but you meet him at every seal (the seals are holding the mana of Sylvarant), and he claims to be Colette’s true father. He gives Colette angel powers at every seal, but not much else is known. A confusing angel, his purpose is unraveled a quarter of the way through the game.

The main villains will be discussed in the boss section,
 

Length: 9

Woah, Namco has promised that an average RPG fan who takes their time playing the game will have over 80 hours of gameplay. I haven’t even defeated the game yet (I’m about almost halfway through), and the thing is, Tales of Symphonia comes with two discs, at a normal GameCube games price of 49.99 dollars.

This comes not short at all. You’ll be hooked from the start and can play for quite a while.
 

Humor: 9

When I rate this game on humor, I’m not rating it on how many jokes and puns it tosses at us, I’m talking about how well it uses these jokes. Some games (ex. Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo Kazooie and Tooie) have tons of jokes and puns, but all of them (or the main majority) are funny. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga had tons of puns, gags, and jokes, but if you have more, they have to be of more quality and must not take over the game.

Tales of Symphonia does not get into the corny stuff as the previously mentioned games have, but the humor is still great (Lloyd is dumb when it comes to schoolwork, Colette is a klutz, Raine keeps beating up Lloyd and Genis, and Zelos... ah, let’s not get into detail about him). I am still laughing about most of the jokes, like how Lloyd scored 25 questions right out of 400 questions on a test (he is really ignorant of what everyone learns).

Though it doesn’t focus on humor, it does have quality jokes that are quite funny and keep you entertained. The funniest of them all is Zelos, by far, although some people may not find his jokes appropriate (especially concerned parents).
 

Sound/Voices: 8

When I refer to sound, I’m referring to the noises and sound effects. The sound effects are great. The water can be heard, and it’s really great. However, the sound of your sword coming in contact doesn’t sound that realistic.

The voices I think are some of the best voice acting, better than Final Fantasy X. While the facial expressions aren’t that reliable, their voices tell you exactly how they’re feeling. In battle, they can get kinda repetitive, though. (Almost every time you kill a Desian, they say ‘you inferior being’. It’s okay at first, but it gets repetitive after killing so many.) The voice actors are quite skilled, and some are known, such as the voice actor who did Presea, who also did Rikku from Final Fantasy X and X-2, and there’s Jennifer Hale who did Sheena (from Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes). If you want to know the other voice actors, search the web like I did for their names and what other games or movies they appeared in.
 

Music: 9

Some music, like in racing games, for example, tends to be very VERY repetitive. Tales of Symphonia is not a racing game, and its music is not repetitive.

These songs are orchestral masterpieces at times. My personal favorites include the piano theme when you talk to Marble, the Desian theme (the only one that repeats, but still good), the Desian boss theme (an electric rock and roll beat which surprisingly has a nice tune), and the boss theme for when you battle Sheena and Regal (a Latin touch to it). The music ranks up next to Fire Emblem and Golden Sun.
 

Bosses: 8

Alright, before I tell you why I gave it this rating, let me introduce the main villains:

Yggdrasil: This is the guy with the most difficult to pronounce name (Yig-Drass-eel is how it’s separated into syllables). He claims to be the leader of the angels and the Desians. Whether he is telling the truth or not is another tale.

Forcystus: The person with the second hardest name to pronounce. He is a member of the Five Grand Cardinals, or the five members of the Desians who rule over the Desians. Forcystus is the first of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals that you meet. He is in some strange getup but should not be underestimated. He rules over the Iselia Ranch.

Magnius: Another member of the Five Grand Cardinals. He rules the Palmacosta Ranch. He has a strange accent, but he shows no mercy. By far, he has the second-most dirty-mouth I’ve heard (Lloyd comes in first), but he also carries a giant axe which should be feared. He uses fire magic.

Pronyma: The leader of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals, she rules over no ranch. She just governs the Five Desian Grand Cardinals. She serves only Yggdrasil, and she also wishes to retrieve the Chosen and kill her.

Last 2 Members: The last two members are still a mystery. One rules the Asgard Ranch while the other is a backstabber to the Desians and doesn’t own any ranch. I forgot one of their names, the other's I've yet to learn.

Luan: The leader of The Renegades, a group of half elves who oppose the Desians. He seeks Lloyd also, but he does not wish to capture Colette. He is also a mystery, since you see him few times.

Botta: Luan’s lackey, Botta carries out Luan’s orders. Botta simply follows Luan’s orders and doesn’t really rule over anyone but several soldiers who are part of his legion.

Now that you know the main villains, I have to say, the bosses are quite entertaining to fight. What the boss battles have that most other games don’t is the fact that throughout the fight the boss slowly changes its strategy or attack. For example, the first boss you ever fight starts out with a mace and an axe, but three quarters through the fight, the axe breaks and he takes out his sword, which can penetrate defenses.

Another example is the boss you fight in Palmacosta (a harbor). Slowly as the boss takes damage, strange bone objects grow on her skin and soon she’ll have bone wings and a bone tail, and she’ll then be able to cast Dark Sphere.

I took a point off for how some battles start. The first boss comes out after you defeat the first two soldiers and battles you. He’s a Renegade, but he appears out of nowhere. Second of all, Luan hunts you down when you steal his dimension vehicles which allowed you to go to Tethe’alla. The thing is, Luan can probably warp to Tethe’alla, but seriously, the soldiers with him can’t warp since you stole the vehicles.

Pronyma battles you suddenly. Even though she comes to capture the Chosen, she should have been introduced through a bigger role earlier (she appears on a projector earlier, but that’s it). She’s the leader of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals for crying out loud, give her a bigger role.
 

Battle: 9

Tales of Symphonia introduces a new type of RPG battle system. This is not turn-based, so it is real-time, but you now have the linear-battle system.

In the linear-battle system, you are in a battlefield with boundaries. You and three other party members will be on the left side while the enemies will be on the right side. While you do level up like in regular RPGs, you can now dodge the opponent’s attacks. While the battle system takes a while for you to get used to it, it’s simple once you gain the hang of it.

In battle, your group will attack enemies, but you now have the ability to give them a strategy on how they fight. You can put them so they stop using TP (Technique Power, what is needed to pull off your special moves) below 75%, 50%, or 25%, or you can tell them to attack spell-casting enemies and such. In battle the Y button opens a menu. While you’re on the menu the action is frozen. You can assign your special moves to different button controls (B up, B down, B, B left or right, C down, and C up), use items, flee, and other stuff.

In battle, when you have taken a certain amount of damage (even if you are healed in between), you will reach Overlimit mode. In Overlimit mode, a black aura surrounds the affected character and the damage they received is cut in half and the time it takes to cast a spell (if they’re magic users) is cut in half. There are other special abilities as well (Sheena can summon spirits only in Overlimit mode).

The linear-battle system is truly unique and should be easy to use once you get the hang of it.
 

Difficulty: 4 ½

Tales of Symphonia, being a RPG, has some puzzles you have to solve. Though you may be stumped from time to time, it’s not enough to spoil your fun and make you quit. The dungeons were actually quite short, but to some that will be okay, because if you’re stuck in a dungeon for too long, the fun goes down.

The dungeons are mainly puzzles with enemies scattered in various places, but that’s okay. The difficulty is just in between, and just right. The hardest moment was when I had to find this unicorn horn and I didn’t know where to go. Turns out it was in one small corner on the world map. If you search, you find the answer.
 

Cooking: 7

Why add a cooking section, you ask? The game allows you to get special ingredients and cook food. Your character’s ability to cook goes up a level (in stars) every time you cook, and each character has a certain star limit for each food.

To learn new recipes, you must find the Gourmet Chef, a weirdly-dressed chef (yes, even stranger than Chef Torte) who hides in the smallest corners. If you can examine a certain spot in a town, then do so. That may be his hiding place. Every recipe he teaches you he’ll supply you with the ingredients.

You can live without cooking, but it’s a nice attachment to the game.
 

World Map: 8

If you’ve played Golden Sun, you’d know the world map well. It’s an overview of your character traveling on a small scale of the world (your character is bigger than the town). Tales of Symphonia is similar, but in 3D and from a different camera angle.

Unlike Golden Sun, you will gain some modes of transportation, like Noishe (Lloyd’s long-eared dog), Reihards (the machines needed to travel between Sylvarant and Tethe’alla), and an EC (a mechanical boat).

Also, enemies appear on the map. They appear as shadows that appear when you get a couple of feet (at the game’s scale) away. Touching one will trigger the battle.

My biggest complain here is the camera angle. It’s hard to see where you’re going until you get long-range mode (and you have to search for a travel monument, in other words, a giant rock). Nonetheless, this is okay.
 

Controls: 7

I had to take off those two points because not everything is explained in the game. Half of the controls are explained in the game, while 99 percent of the controls are explained in the manual. Read the instruction booklet first before, and I mean it, BEFORE you start the game, to know the controls.

That 1 percent that’s missing is the multiplayer, which is not explained in the game or the booklet. I don’t even know it. It can be found somewhere on the Internet I think. To find out the controls, read the manual. There’s so much I can’t list them all.

Character Interaction: 9

At certain times, you can press the Z button to trigger a ‘skit’, a scene which shows your characters talking to each other. Even though it only shows the characters’ faces, each character has different facial expressions. Genis and Zelos have the best facial expression (Genis is pure anime humor when it comes to facial expressions, Zelos truly has hearts in his eyes in some skits, and then we have the anime sweatdrop and anime goodness). The skits also offer info on where to go, although sometimes it’s just for fun (also part of the entertainment value).

Also, you are sometimes faced with choices to make. When a group member asks you a question or you make a choice of what to do, that affects the storyline GREATLY. Your choice you made at the beginning of the game can determine the end.

The skits and choice-making combined make this a great section.
 

Overall: 8 ½

Nintendo Power proclaimed this the best RPG on the GameCube to come out so far. I agree. Though not perfect, I definitely recommend getting this game. This makes me ashamed of giving Fire Emblem that almost-perfect score. This is excellent. Not flawless, but still the greatest RPG yet to come on the GameCube.

Well, it’s definitely worth that money (2 discs for $49.99 isn’t a bad price), so you should buy it when you get the chance. Tales of Symphonia rules!

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