Further Info: "Tales of Phantasia" for the SFC (Super Famicom, the Japanese version of the SNES/Super Nintendo) was released in 1994 in Japan. Six party members are allowed to be in the same party, but there are only a total of five playable characters in the game--the rest being NPC's. Curing items and spells/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.
Story Info: On one hand, Tales of Phantasia's story somewhat exhibits the non-original, cliched, "hero-saves-the-world" type of storyline. However, the game's various plot twists, time travel, and its back stories/side stories (see bottom of the page) make up for the tired-old RPG cliche of the hero savin' the world. The game begins with Cless Alvein and Chester Barklight's town of "Totus" being destroyed by a group of men looking for a pendant the Cless father Miguel gave Cless when Cless turned 15. As storyline progresses, the pendant's function becomes quite clear. Like many of the "Tales of..." games, this game deals with prejudice against groups of people (elves/magic users and half-elves), equality, existentialism, genocide, utopianism, and other philosophical/psychological/societal issues.
Characters:
Skill/Spell System:
Regarding the skills part of the game, with Cless, one configures four skills to be used in conjunction with a combination of a D-Pad 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 pressing the up button+skill button, another with down button+skill button, and another with left or right+skill button. Throughout the game, you can learn combination skills in which two of Cless' regular skills are combined into one move. However, to use these combination skills, the two skills that make up the combination skill must be "Mastered". This means a skill must be used 100 times--and you can check skill usage percentage in Cless' skills menu. Mint learns her skills/spells by leveling up. Arche's skills/spells are found inside of books placed in different places, throughout the world. One must simply search around and examine different locations in order to find them. Sometimes they are located around bosses. Klarth learns his skills/spells (which are Summons), as you progress throughout the story, and then later in the game, some are optional. Chester does not have any skills in this version of the game.
Battle System Info:
This game features a battle system called "LMB", meaning "Linear Motion Battle". Four characters make up your battle party--the party you use to fight battles. The players fight on a one-line plane with enemies. In battle, the player always controls the main character "Cless Alvein". Cless can attack normally with a weapon, attack with skills, or block. The player can also go into the menu, and pause the game. Regarding the attack part of battle (with Cless), The "Attack" button itself, as well as different combination of Direction Pad+Attack button are various combinations for attack. 
Blocking is performed automatically based on Cless' stats and the stats of the monster he is fighting.
- When one presses the Menu button, one can pick "Spells/Skills", "Strategy", "Order", and "Item".
- When choosing "Spells/Skills", one can pick either Cless, Mint, Arche, or Klarth (Chester does not have skills in this game). When choosing Cless, you can re-configure his skills to correspond with whatever combination of the D-Pad and the skill button you want (See above for more details on this). Choosing Arche, Mint, Or Klarth allows you to command whoever you want of these to cast a spell. Also, you can toggle AI spell usage on and off for each spell.
- Choosing "Strategy" allows you to set how the AI character acts during battle.
- "Order" allows you to put the players in the position you want for this battle. The game's order system is centered around you, Cless. So if Klarth, Arche, and Mint are in front, and Cless is in back, they will always try to run (or fly, heh) to the right of where you are standing. If Cless is in front, they'll run to the left. You have to fool around with this to get what's right for your own particular battle style. Also, when Cless dies and you control his spirit, the other players will move corresponding to where Cless goes. Cless cannot be switched out of the battle party.
- Lastly, choosing "Item" allows you to give whatever character you want the command to use an item. After using an item, a certain amount of time passes before you can use another item.
- Use the D-Pad to move around.
- The "Skills" button itself, as well as different combination of Direction Pad+Skills button, are various combinations for skill-usage.
- The "Attack" button itself, as well as different combination of Direction Pad+Attack button, are various combinations for attack.
- Start pauses the game.
- Pressing/Holding "R" or "L" will make Cless walk in the corresponding direction (Right or Left). Once he reaches the edge of the screen, the run away counter will begin, and once it is all red, your party escapes from the battle.
- The "Start" button pauses the game.
Audio/Music: This game's composer is named "Motoi Sakuraba". The audio quality is not the best, but what can one expect from a SNES/SFC game from 1994? There are some suiting tunes that are nice if one can get past the primordial sound. It also has a nice opening theme, which you can download in the Tales of Phantasia Audio section (actually, it is the GBA version opening, but they are the same). Also, the characters have voices used during battle, but again, they are poor quality. Finally, the game has a wonderful theme song called "Yume wa Owaranai", which means "The Dream Will Not Die", sung by Yukari Yoshida.
Graphics: The game came out for the SFC in 1994, so one can expect the graphics to match those of that era. For it's time, it was average-to-excellent; and it does have some nice special effects.
Difficulty: This version of the game is quite difficult--or at least this is the case with most first-time players. A few slight glitches such as Cless's vulnerability in being trapped, and then the characters' getting knocked unconcsious quite easily add to tough battle situations. Also, outside of battle, some Engligh players have difficulty passing certain plot points because they have not triggered certain events by talking to certain NPC's during the game.
Replay: There are about five features that increase this aspect. The game's difficulty, intriguing story, collectible items, collectible titles, and collectible spells/skills make up a high level of replay value. However, if one gets discouraged by difficulty, this might take away from its replay value. Also, there are no unlockables or carry-over features to speak of after beating the game, so this might decrease replay value if one is used to this feature in newer games.
