Further Info: "Tales of Symphonia" for the GC (GameCube) was released on August 29th, 2003 in Japan, selling 953,000 copies; and July 13th, 2004 in America. Four party members can fight at one time. Curing items, spells, and skills can be used outside or inside of battle. In the menu, you can set the battle strategy and formation for your party, check the status for a character, and customize menu colors, sounds, buttons, battle targeting, and voices. Saving is allowed on "Save Points" throughout dungeons, cities, and houses; and on the World Map. While this game deals heavily with societal issues such as utopianism and racism/prejudice, other things like pragmatism and existentialism, and religious piety play roles in the main plot, as well. Most of the characters in this game are young and act a bit more childish, unlike some other "Tales of..." games like Tales of the Abyss or Tales of Phantasia which for the most part, have more adult/serious characters. However, the storyline in this game still draws you in and is quite intriguing. Additionally, there are many plot twists. Certain events lead you to thinking, "Now, which party is this?", "Who double-crossed who?", and characters you may think are one way may or may not turn out to be something else--it is very well-done.
Story Info:
The game starts off with the hero Lloyd Irving sleeping in class. He attends class in his local village with his two best friends, Genius Sage and Collet Brunel, and the three are taught by Genius' sister Refill Sage. Following the pattern of many "Tales of..." main heroes before him (Stan Aileron, Rid Hershel, Frio Sven, and Kyle Dunamis), Lloyd would rather be anywhere but school. He'd rather be off fighting, adventuring, and daydreaming. One day during class, Collet, Lloyd, and Genius all become aware of something happening at the nearby temple, and they rush off to see what is going on. Once there, an angel who claims to be Collet's father claims that Collet is the "chosen one", and she must seal the fate of some dangerous beings known as "Desians". Lloyd vows to protect Collet. As mentioned above, as the story progresses, there are many plot twists. Certain events lead you to thinking, "Now, which party is this?", "Who double-crossed who?", and characters you may think are one way may or may not turn out to be something else--it is very well-done.
Characters:
- Lloyd Irving, voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi in Japan, and Scott Menville in America
- Collet Brunel, voiced by Mizuki Nana in Japan, and Heather Hogan in America
- Genius Sage, voiced by Orikasa Ai in Japan, and Colleen O' Shaughnessy in America
- Refill Sage, voiced by Touma Yumi in Japan, and Kari Wahlgren in America
- Kratos Aurion, voiced by Tachiki Fumihiko in Japan, and Cam Clarke in America
- Shihna, voiced by Akemi Okamura in Japan, and Jennifer Hale in America
- Zelos Wilder, voiced by Onosaka Masaya in Japan, and Shiloh Strong in America
- Presea Combatir, voiced by Kuwashima Houko in Japan, and Tara Strong in America
- Regal Bryan, voiced by Akio Otsuka in Japan, and Crispin Freeman in America
Skill/Spell System:
- Every character has skills/spells -- Curing spells can be used outside of battle, as well as in battle. With human-controlled players (1st player is Lloyd by default), one configures six skills to be used in conjunction with a combination of a Control Stick direction button and the skill button. i.e., one skill is performed by pressing the skill button by itself, another skill can be done by moving the control stick up+skill button, another by moving the control stick down+skill button, another with moving the control stick left or right+skill button, another with the C-stick tilted up, and another by tilting the C-stick down (and the final two with the C-stick can be set to cause an AI-controlled palyer to cast a chosen spell or perform a chosen skill). Players learn different moves based on their fighting style, by leveling up, and by using a certain skill/spell a certain number of times. Some really special moves are learned as the story progresses.
- Unison Attacks -- In this game, eventually the characters learn how to perform a "Unison Attack" or "U. Attack" for short. Eventually, an in-battle gauge fills up as the characters land hits on opponents, and whenever it reaches its peak, the player presses the Z-button on the controller to start the Unison Attack. Each member of the battle party has certain skills/spells equipped to be able to be used in Unison Attack situations (the player sets this up in the "U. Attack" menu), and when a Unison Attack starts, the screen moves from player to player, and as each character is shown on the screen, the player moves the control stick and corresponding button shown on screen based on whatever skill/spell the player wants that party member to use. When this is chosen, each character then uses the skills chosen. The unique part steps in now, in that sometimes certain skills/spells by certain characters, when used in combination with each other in a Unison Attack situation create an entirely new move that is a combination of the two characters' individual move. Can you find them all?
- Ex Skills -- Each character has their own particular set of "Ex Skills" available to them. A rare item in the gam called an "Ex Gem" can be found every once in a while, and Ex Gems range in level from 1-4 and they enable Ex Skills of whatever level the gem is for whichever character on which it is equipped. Each player can hold a maximum of four different kinds of Ex Gems, and whenever an Ex Gem is equipped, the player now can use a certain kind of Ex Skill. Ex Skill effects vary from changing battle conditions, to dealing with how the party reacts to the environment outside, and many many other effects. Can you find all of the Ex Gems and unlock the Ex Skills that will customize to create the party most suitable to you?
Battle System Info: Tales of Symphonia follows in the footsteps of most of the other "Tales of..." games and once again offers the LMB (Linear Motion Batle) system, but offers a new twist. It is sort of a Multiple-Plane, Real-Time Linear Motion Battle System. That is, while characters fight on a line with enemies like with previous LMB systems, Symphonia allows for a full range of movement. So enemies can side-step and enter another plane, as opposed to one, flat, 2-D line like all of the "Tales of..." LMB systems have been before. The player can then switch targets to an enemy that may be on another plane, then when the player is locked on, fight in a single line with the enemy--but as that enemy moves out of the way, or another enemy attacks and the player wishes to change targets, the player finds himself moving around multiple planes to fight. In battle, the player may control any playable character. The three battle modes are S. Auto (Semi-auto) Auto, and Manual. S. Auto means the human player controls the character (but with limited control over character's movement). Auto means the character is AI-controlled. Manual means the human player is in complete control of the desired character's movements. By default, the player controls Lloyd Irving in the S. Auto battle mode. Lloyd can attack normally, attack with skills, and block. The "Attack" button itself, as well as different combination of Control Stick+Attack button are various combinations for attack. Also, different combinations with the control stick and "Defend" button allow for different types of defensive maneuvers. (The way to use skills is detailed above) However, one can switch Lloyd from the first position to any other position, and control any character in the 1st player slot. Also, 0-4 human players can control characters in battle. Example: 1st player is Lloyd. The 2nd player wants to be Genius. The 3rd player wants to be Collet. And the 4th player wants to be Refill. Set each character on "S. Auto", or "Manual" in the "Tech" menu, and now each player can now move whoever is in the same position as their controller slot!
- When one presses the menu button, one can pick "Tech", "U. Attack", "Strategy", "Equip", "Item", and "Escape"
- "Tech" allows the player to configure skills/spells for the human-controlled player (detailed above), or give an AI-controlled character the command to use a given skill/spell (which can also be toggled On or Off for AI to use the skills/spell automatically).
- Choosing "U. Attack" allows the player to set the desired skills/spells on the desired slot for battle characters (U. Attack system described above).
- The "Strategy" option allows the player to set three levels of battle behavior/movement for AI-controlled characters.
- The "Equip" option allows the player to access characters' equipment and set various weapons, armor, accessories, etc.
- "Item" takes the player to the items menu and lets the player use a desired item.
- Choosing "Escape" causes a gauge to start filling up, and when it is filled, the party exits the battle (not available in boss fights).
- Use the Control Stick to move around.
- The "Attack" button itself, as well as different combination of Control Stick+Attack button, are various combinations for attack.
- The "Defend" button itself, as well as different combination of Control Stick+Defend button, are various combinations for different defensive maneuvers.
- The "Tech" button itself, as well as different combination of Control Stick+Tech button, are various combinations for skills/spells, configured in the "Tech" menu.
- The "D-Pad" circulates among various battle group battle strategies by which all AI-controlled characters abide.
- The "C-Stick" is used for skills (detailed above).
- The "R" button is used to change the targeted enemy.
- The "Z Button" taunts and is used to initiate Unison Attacks (detailed above).
- The "Start" button pauses the game.
Audio/Music: Motoi Sakuraba returns to compose a wonderful soundtrack for this game. The battle music is so reminiscent of Tales of Phantasia's and Tales of Destiny's music, yet still feels fresh and new; all of that plus Sakuraba's brilliant touch all combine to create a wonderful audio experience for the entire game. And unlike Tales of Eternia, the English voice acting in this game was decent. Sometimes scenes with no music provide some awkward sound effects, but this is minor.
Graphics: This was the first game in the series to offer a new camera angle mode, provided more detailed character expressions out of battle than previous "Tales of..." games, and has more of a 3-D feel than any previous game in the series. Even for those of us who enjoy the classic 2-D old-school anime graphics, Tales of Symphonia's graphics are pleasing, the character designs nice, and the occasional anime cutscene very enjoyable.
Difficulty: Similar to the rest of the series, on the default "Normal" game setting, the game is relatively easy, with the occasional boss battle being tough. But with some of the harder difficulty settings available in the game, wild battles are enough to do your party in if you're not careful. The puzzles in the game are challenging, but more time-consuming and repetitive than too terribly rough to figure out.
Replay: Tales of Symphonia has a high replay value. Similarly to other games in the series, there are collector's items, and books that catalogue things such as enemy encounters, items collected, etc. etc. Also, each battle is "graded" and given a rating. At the end of the game, the player can use the accumulated grade points to purchase various different bonuses and effects to kick in for future playthroughs. These can only all be purchased with multiple play-throughs that allow for collection of more grade points. Also similarly to other "Tales of..." games are the existence of various side-quests on which the player can embark. They are fun little quests that may or may not have an impact on the main flow of the storyline, but are usually fun to explore and find.
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