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Tales of Symphonia nails the combat system. It's addictive, original and well-animated. Unfortunately, the puzzles, characters and plot are cliched and unmemorable. Pity because it's such a beautifully animated game.
Characters talk too much (every thirty seconds you'll be dragged into a conversation, even in the overworld). I don't need to hear about every character's favorite color while I'm trying to save the world?
Save the world? These characters are too busy finding dragons for a little boy, cooking for restaurants and just generally mucking about to make you think that they're really focused on their goal. The battle system is nice, but only fans of vapid Japanese anime need apply.
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I have the gamecube in the household. and my brother wanted tales of symphonia for christmas and told me i would like it. i got my mom to get at target for $20 for christmas. i wasn't too interested but decided to play since it is partly mine. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES YOU WILL EVER PLAY!!!!!!!!! i recently replayed for the 4th time and ended up staying up to 3:30 am, which i don't do. i love the battle system, and the story line is amazing. and i love the music. one of the best rpgs i have ever played
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This game twists and turns you through an adventure that will sometimes shock you. You start off as a reckless young boy with his friends sets off on a journey to save all mana and when you think you know whats right then it takes a couple of turns and completly changes your mind. I played this game for a while but turned it down when I couldn't get past a part because there was a lot of talking and just got bored. Then I picked it up again and adored it! This game is worth the money! It took me forever to beat it and was sad when I did. If you don't like hard battles, great adventures, and a quest greater than to save your world than I suggest you don't buy this. Long live Tales of Symphonia!
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When I saw this game at blockbuster, it looked fun so I tried it...OH MY GODDNESS! Though the game is long, you really get into it and like all the characters you meet and fight with. The animated graphics are fun, but I wish there more real anime like scenes, since there's only a few. Each character doesn't act like another, so that's a plus. But oh yeah, this game is LONG and can be difficult. If you're impatient, buy the guide also, even if you want to get extra stuff.
Also, the story is as epic as the Zelda games! You play as Lloyd, a somewhat dim-witted but emotional and brave character; you help protect the next Chosen, Collette. Other awesome characters come along, and you can learn awesome magic attacks and do group attacks that really help. It does take a little while to develop strategies when fighting, but it really grows on ya once you get more attacks and weapons. Now I found out they're making another for the Wii, so that'll be sweet! Its not too late; grab a gamecube and buy this game (and guide) and get lost in Symphonia, you won't regret it!
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Some of the Tales of...titles seem to generate comparisons to the Star Ocean series. While the two are completely different games, I, too, began to see similarities...and then the similarities grew as I progressed through this title.
Graphics
Cell shaded. The locales are quite nice, but some of them do appear rather flat and stale at times. The graphics during battle run very smoothly and are quite nice. The detail of the characters and monsters are quite nice.
Gameplay
You will love the combat engine. There are a few mini games scattered throughout the game that are quite easy to pick up and play. Also, navigation isn't too difficult; though, being on foot for almost the entire game on the world map can become quite tedious. The game has a short learning curve. You can easily compare it to Star Ocean.
Story
When is picks up, it gets good; however, when it slows down, its really slow. Even some of the main missions seem out of place as at times they do very little as regards to progression in the story. At times, the story does drag...The story, for the most part is solid, but not all that original. The story itself is somewhat predictable.
Characters
Entertaining, but not a bunch I would opt to travel around the world with. Some character's personalities are a little dry while some of the others are just plain annoying. Some of the characters are almost one-dimensional as there isn't much to their personality--story wise, there really is only one character who goes through a massive change.
Overall
There are some sidequests...and they take you way out of your way to complete them. It would have been one thing if your character had a faster means of transportation across the world map. With the amount of random encounters, its bound to annoy anyone who just wants to get the mission done. The story has a very light-hearted sort of feel; while not necessarily geared towards kids, the plot and progress may turn some players off as they may see it as somewhat immature. The game is good, but similar to Star Ocean in many aspects.
The Good:
-Short Learning Curve
-Enjoyable Cast of Characters (some)
-Nice Graphics
-Fun Combat Engine
The Bad:
-Considered an "inferior" Star Ocean
-Some parts of the game drag
-Appears to be geared towards kids
-Music is repetitive and forgettable
The Ugly:
-The character portraits during dialogue
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The game is good in its own merits; however, if you're anything like me, you still won't find this game as appealing as other role-playing games out there. Being one of the few GOOD Gamecube role-playing games out there, I see it not ranking as high among others.
My BIGGEST personal issue (which may apply to some others and may have to do with your style of RPGs) was its poor pacing. The game fleshes out a story I have come to like; however, there are breaks in the game where the story doesn't pick up for hours. I've logged a good 20 hours into the game and have just come across a shocking turn of events in the game; unfortunately, I'm back to running from town to town running through a series of events that are detracting from the MAIN and FAR MORE INTERESTING story.
I could get past running through the same labyrinths/dungeons/Ranches twice--once to progress the story, the second time to obtain a summon (pertaining to the dungeons/labyrinths), but the world map isn't the most pleasant to stroll through as random encounters are far too often (the onscreen enemies often come out of nowhere and attack you slowing down the progress). The worst part of exploring the labyrinths and dungeons would be the respawning enemies patrolling its floor.
Some of the dungeon's puzzles the game could have done without...it's as if they threw them in last minute. The overall objective of some of treks through these locations could have done away with some of the redundant puzzles (since there are so many enemy encounters) and the ring used to solve puzzles was more of a nuisance.
It's a tough call with this game as I introduced myself to this series when I purchased my gamecube a little while back. It starts off good, it progresses well for a little while, it gets better, then it begins to drag. It picks up the pace very well with a very, very interesting plot twist or turn of events, then it drags again. You solve some puzzles--some pointless and some clever, you go through a series of events that are seemingly out of place, and so forth. The most disheartening part of the game (to me) was trekking the world map as I wanted to immediately jump back into the story. Newcomers MAY or MAY NOT enjoy this game, long time fans; however, will love this game.
+Pros:
+The story is GREAT
+Engaging and Fun Battle system
+
-Cons:
-Pacing is very poor and the progression of story is spaced out because of side-events, obtaining summons, and random characters
-There is probably one or two characters whos personalities may wear thin with players
-Revisiting the same areas twice can be a drag
-No vehicle...scaling the world map can be a pain for the first...15 hours
??:
-Graphic style may or may not appeal to everybody
-Some may or may not be turned off by the character interactions
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