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Tales of Symphonia Opening
Review: http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/index.html
If you have a GameCube and like RPGs, you definitely need to check out Tales of Symphonia.
Namco's Tales series of role-playing games have always carried something of a cult status outside of their native Japan. In a console genre that many people define in Final Fantasy parameters, the Tales games have been quiet understudies that haven't garnered much attention. Enter Tales of Symphonia, the latest game in the series and the first to appear on the RPG-starved GameCube. Happily, the game is more than just a pretty face--it is a welcome entry into a console's needy genre; it's an entertaining game with a pretty standard story line, but it also has terrific gameplay and a lot of appeal.
The game is set in the world of Sylvarant, a land that is on the wane due to a steady loss of mana, the energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself. As the crops begin to wither and hardship sets in, the people turn their hopes to the Chosen One, a servant of the Goddess Martel, who can reverse the ills of the world by completing a journey of world regeneration. You play as Lloyd Irving, a teenage boy, who sets out with Colette Brunel (the young girl who happens to be the Chosen) and a group of compatriots to restore the world's mana and to set things right. The story is standard fare and has a few obvious twists, though it's shored up a good deal by the wide range of characters you come in contact with. The journey may be long, but it's well-populated with characters and a few subplots, which you can keep track of in a synopsis journal accessible from your main menu.
Your journey through Sylvarant is also made lighter by the fact that you're generally not subjected to random enemy encounters. Both in dungeons and on the world map, you'll see representations of monsters hanging about. In dungeons, there'll be various types of creatures roaming specific areas, and it's almost always possible for you to navigate right around them, even in close quarters. The world map handles things a bit differently; monsters show up as either blobs or wacky little bipedal critters, and you'll be able to see them when you get close enough. Some of them sit still, some of them wander randomly, and every so often you come across one that hops excitedly and dashes straight at you. They can start dashing when you're still not in range to see them, so you can still get caught unawares every so often, particularly on long treks. And even that's not necessarily such a bad thing, because once you get adept at dodging enemies, it's easy to go for long stretches without fighting; however, then you'll find yourself running into a brick wall in the form of a boss. You'll want lots of hit points and special techniques at your fingertips to handle those baddies, and to get there, you're going to have to spend some time leveling. However, that task is itself made less onerous by the versatility of the battle system itself, and the fact that you get to pretty much choose your own fights.
Visually, the game's characters sport the cel-shaded effect that was all the rage not so long ago, and the cartoon look fits the anime-inspired art style well. Fresh-faced and brightly colored, everyone looks almost too cute in that way the Japanese have perfected, although the 'toon look isn't flawless. The game, at times, utilizes a blurring effect that attempts to create a sense of foreground and background positioning of characters within certain scenes, but it just ends up smearing the look and making you squint. Towns and cities have made the crossover from the classic Tales' hand-painted design to a new 3D setup very well; they still have a lot of detail and personality, and are very easy on the eyes. The world map portions of the game have much less eye candy, due to the fact that there's already so much going on with enemies popping in and out of view. The camera view, when running across the landscape, can also be a bit chancy; a lot of times you'll have to adjust it to try to get a clear idea of where you're going, and even then you'll sometimes run into a monster you felt you should have seen.
Final score: 8.8/10
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