Tales of Symphonia

Gamecube game [2 discs]
Predicted playtime [80 Hours]
Best played with [Component/S-video cables & Cola]

If youÂ’re too lazy to read this, and want a verdict right now, here it is:
You NEED to buy this game. If you donÂ’t have a Gamecube (and donÂ’t want to see its IQ reduced on the PS2 version) then you owe it to yourself to pick one up.

Now for the rest of you, and those who want a reason even after reading the above, hereÂ’s the meat.

Story:
If you were to pick this game up, and only play through the first 5 or so hours you’d be left with the impression that this game is just a run-of-the-mill RPG that plays on all the clichéd story twists and characters. However, once you get past the groundwork for this game, it turns all that on its head. In the meat of the game, you’ll still see the clichéd situations crop up, but they almost never conclude in the predicted fashion - more often that not, there’s added humor in these scenes as the game actually pokes fun at the traditional clichés.
Clichés aside, the story is very engrossing, but unfortunately plays out at a very inconsistent pace. At least that was my impression of it, it could be that I lost track of time due to increasing in-game tension. Unfortunately, it’s that same tension that drove me to complete the game without fully exploring the world and side quests, but in a good way – I couldn’t help myself but find out more, but that led to the end of the game :(.

Plot: Early game only, I donÂ’t want to spoil things for you
The game starts off with you escorting Colette (see character section below) on her journey of ‘World Regeneration’ (I still don’t like that word, but it exists). During this process Colette starts to turn into an Angel, but at a terrible cost. This happens slowly though, and only progresses as you release a seal and come closer to replenishing the world’s supply of mana. At one point in the game, you get transported to an alternate world (complete with new world map etc.) and find out that the other world is in competition with you for the same supply of mana.
A lot of sub-plot is carried out in conversations between the characters presented in ‘skits’. These skits show a (apparently) hand-drawn picture of the face of those involved, with text underneath containing the dialogue, with a moving mouth on the part of the speaker. The characters here display appropriate emotion for what they are saying, although a little more variety in this regard would have been welcomed. The skits bring a lot to the table in terms of character interactions, but really could have used voice-overs.


Characters: Early game only, I donÂ’t want to spoil things for you
Lloyd Irving: In ToS you play Lloyd Irving, a teenager whose mother was killed by a group of Half-Elves called the Desians (De-zy-ans), and has an adoptive dwarf father. He has a special jewel called an Ex-sphere, which allows him (a mere human) to withstand and exert forces which a normal human is unable to. Ex-spheres play a large role in the story, and yours is special somehow.

Colette Brunel: Colette is the ‘Chosen of Mana,’ and this title is nothing but a curse to her. She won’t ever show you that side of her though, as she feels it’s her responsibility as the chosen to bear the weight of the world, including this curse. As such, you’ll always find her apologizing for everything. Colette is probably the sweetest girl ever conceived. - Will give dogs names when talking to them, if selected as party avatar

Genis Sage: Genis is an ‘elf’ who’s Lloyd’s best friend. He’s there for 98% of the game, and can become a powerful mage. Basically, he’s Stimpy to your Ren – O.K. not quite, but he’s always tagging along.

Kratos Aurion: A mysterious sword-for-hire who saves your ass at the first temple. He can use magic, but is also an excellent swordsman – constantly making Lloyd see red when he suggests possible improvements in Lloyd’s sword techniques.

Raine Sage: Raine is GenisÂ’ older sister. SheÂ’s the professor at the school where Lloyd, Genis and Colette are introduced. She has an uncanny knowledge of pretty much everything. Her primary use in the game is as a healer.

Sound:
Flawless. From the in-battle attack sounds and cries, to the music and dialogue, I donÂ’t think I ever heard a low-quality sample.
-Music
-I really enjoyed the music in this game. Each location has its own score, and each score is appropriate for the location. There are your special even scores, and your ‘OMG something bad has happened’ scores etc. and almost all of the work appropriately for the situation. I can’t think of any that didn’t apply. If there were a music CD for this game, I’d buy it. The music is comparable to, but not as good as, Skies of Arcadia.
-Voice work
-The majority of the voice work is very well done. The only major complaint I have is for ColetteÂ’s voice-overs. They sound as if the voice actor was very inexperienced, or tried too hard to sound sweet. Still, her work is better than Yuna from FFX/X-2.
-Effects
-The majority of the sound effects in this game are spot on. A few of the sword slashes, etc. could have been replaced or ignored altogether, but they wonÂ’t bother anyone.

Graphics:
Think Wind Waker with outlines. This is a traditional cel-shaded approach, but sets itself apart from the rest by doing it properly. By this I mean that the world and characters look as if they were hand-drawn by very talented artists.
-Models
-There are some VERY high quality models in this game. However, due to the graphical style, high quality models arenÂ’t as noticeable as youÂ’d think. The only way to see them properly is during in-game cinematics where characters parade around onscreen and the camera shows you the many different sides of the model, or you can use your monster collector book to see any of the foes youÂ’ve fought. Really, there are some outstanding pieces of work here.
-Textures
-Being a game designed to look like an Anime, the textures may, on face value, appear to be very un-detailed. However, this just shows you how well they did them. When under closer inspection, you’ll see that the textures do have a lot of detail in them, it’s just that they all fit so perfectly into the game that you don’t notice it. (Keep in mind this is my own perception of what happens here) Every shadow you see (not world-map) appears to be a part of the texture its ‘projected’ on. I say this since the characters just get a blob shadow, while palm trees have highly detailed shadows. This is no small feet, mind you, since to pre-shadow textures you need to pay close attention to how they line up with all the other shadows.
-Effects
-Battle: The in-battle effects are breathtaking at times, especially the summon seals. ToS has a nice balance for the eye candy in battle, with the weaker spells not being so yummy to look at, but the more powerful ones sometimes drop your jaw when you first see them.
-Non-Battle: The game uses the same effects in and out of battle for special encounters, but for the most part the non-battle stuff isn’t as good as the battle stuff. Still, it is very pretty – some places have reflections too.
-World-Map: Ok, this is the one part where I say they could have spent more time on. Explosions in the world map look like they were lifted from early PS1 games. TheyÂ’re uglyÂ…really ugly. Apart from that, shadows are done well here.
-Frame-Rate
-The frame rate sometimes dips in battle, but when it happens, you know why. On the plus side, it does give you an opportunity to see the eye-candy for longer and appreciate it more. Out of battle, it only dipped once or twice on the world-map, and never in cities/dungeons etc.
-Animations
-For the most part, animations are great. There are a few sequences where they needed to work on such as new-pseudo-angels flying, but other than that, its great.
-Misc
-The ocean is probably the ugliest thing in this game (apart from the world map explosions). There is a terrible amount of tiling, and its all FLAT & STATIC! Even when looking out over the ocean from inside the city, thereÂ’s no sense of movement. It reminds me of the FF8 Ocean, with more detailed textures.

Cinematics:
The anime styled cinematics are very well done. Thankfully they rarely interrupt the game itself with the majority of them being either early on, or very late in the game. This is a welcome change of pace from other modern RPGS where cinematics are used as an excuse to pretty the game up right before a climactic battle. The cinematics do justice to the in-game locations too, never changing, removing, or adding more detail that the game itself presents. In-Game cinematics are very well done too, and are just as enjoyable to watch as the FMV ones, although for different reasons. The FMV ones tend to be action packed, and the in-game ones add a lot of story and emotion to the game.

Post-Game:
Once you beat the game, you can start again with a end-of-game saved data file. Doing this allows you to purchase certain bonus ‘things’ for the new game with the grade you earned. These ‘things’ involve keeping all your learned techniques from the previous game, keeping your gald, keeping your character interaction level, earning more or less exp, earning more or less gald, holding up to 30 of each item now, keeping your recipes/cooking ability, earn more grade, etc. During this screen there are hints at certain end-game conditions which are somewhat enticing.


I ended the game at 46 Hrs (I missed a lot of side-quests though, replaying it now), lvl 56, and 130,000+ gald.

Ratings: 9
Gameplay : 8.5
- Controls : 8 All except the world-map rheairds controls are perfect
- Story : 9
Presentation : 9
- Menu : 9 character organization needed to have the buttons reversed, otherwise 10
- Misc : 9 Skits added a lot, but could have used voices
Sound : 9
- Voices : 8.5 Colette drops it by 1, everything else is great
- Music : 9.5
- Effects : 8.5
Graphics : 9.5
- Style coherency : 9.5 Near perfectly created an anime feel to the game
- Visual merit : 9.5 High quality models, perfect non-world map, little frame-rate issues


Feedback welcomed
-Judicus