Gaming Tales of Symphonia

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='silver_blade']Tales of Symphonia was made as a sort of prequel to Tales of Phantasia. Some of the story points click, such as a special tree and a certain character with the last name "Fujibayashi" is available. That game has been ported to the GBA and is currently sucking up my life.[/quote]
Huh, I thought it was the other way around, since [SPOILER]the magitech is invented in Phantasia, the "Fujibayashii" thing can go either way, and the Phantasia tree is called "Yggdrasill," who was NOT considered to be a respectable hero by the end of Symphonia. Then again, Martel is embodied in the Phantasia tree, when she didn't die until the Kharlan War, when the Kharlan tree died, so she might have still been contained in the new one. Plus, Lloyd gets to name the tree at the end, and he might have named it Yggdrasill in memory of the hero Mithos and his wonderful intentions for the world, regardless of the twisted ways he was planning to execute them, because deep down, he meant well. They might have reinvented magitech, too.[/SPOILER]
Wow, that's a lot of spoiler tags.
[QUOTE=_Kenshin_]This is my most treasured game on the gamecube, I've beaten it twice and once at a party when we had a four player story which is the funnest thing EVER!! But I got stuck with Raine the whole story, she's not my favourite, but I got alot of praise for helping out.

I want to play Tales of Phantasia, but I'm on a tight budget at the moment so I can't.[/QUOTE]
This shouldn't be too much of a problem now, seeing as how it is now on Players Choice. (Yay, cheapskates like me!) This and ToP are both stellar games that deserve to be played over and over.
Dwarven Vow #714: If thou hast a Gamecube without this game, thou shalt sell thine Gamecube (or buy this game) immediately. If thou has not a Gamecube, this game is worth it... eth.
I was a little disappointed when all the magazines promised me anime cutscenes and I only saw 3 in the entire game, though.

Edit: OOOOH, Phantasia. Sorry, it's not on PC, but it is worth it. A lot.

[Sangome]

[font=arial]Mmm mmm...ToS.

The only rival I have to FFVII, in my opinion.

ToS is a wonderful game - I found it refereshing to have a good RPG on the GameCube after so long. I love the characters (especially Zelos! *shot*), the music is good, as are the graphics.

My only complaint is that there aren't more anime cutscenes. I heard that the PS2 version fixes this ( Oooooof course. All the good stuff gets on the PS2. :animesigh ), though it's likely that the port won't make it here, unless there's something I haven't been informed of. >< Minus the OVA, of course.[/font]

[Magus]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]As mentioned in the "What Are You Currently Playing" thread, I finally got my copy of the game. It's nothing special so far.

I'm about 11-13 hours into the game. Most of my time has been spent on levelling up. My parties level is between 20-22. Just getting to Luin.

Also, as I mentioned in that said thread, the battle system is interesting. The linear path fighting style takes a little to get used to because I prefer to run around my enemies instead of jumping over them. I did perform my first Unison attack... Cross Slash or something like that. The techs also take a bit of getting used to, when trying to combine attacks and rack up combos, which I suck at, at the moment. My max combo was 19 hits.

Graphically speaking... I have mixed opinions here. I like the background and whatnot, but I hate that chibi(?) look of the characters. That's just never been my thing.

My favorite character so far is Kratos but I use Lloyd more often the Kratos because it seems like Kratos is a bit slower when it comes to defending himself. I mean I was doing 3 hit combos and then pushing the block button right afterwards, but then enemy was still sneaking in an attack before I can fully defend with him, whereas, I can do the same with Lloyd, and block alot quicker, but I'm still getting used to Kratos so "shrugs".

At the moment, I can't stand Collette (sp?) nor Genis. I have issues with children, and Collette is a ditz.

I'm not seeing anything funny about the game outside of Raine and Genis moments.

The voice acting's not bad, but it's not good either. It sounds alot like Naruto's dub. (In terms of dullness people lol.)[/COLOR]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]As mentioned in the "What Are You Currently Playing" thread, I finally got my copy of the game. It's nothing special so far.

I'm about 11-13 hours into the game. Most of my time has been spent on levelling up. My parties level is between 20-22. Just getting to Luin.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Keep playing. The fun hasn't even begun yet.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Also, as I mentioned in that said thread, the battle system is interesting. The linear path fighting style takes a little to get used to because I prefer to run around my enemies instead of jumping over them. I did perform my first Unison attack... Cross Slash or something like that. The techs also take a bit of getting used to, when trying to combine attacks and rack up combos, which I suck at, at the moment. My max combo was 19 hits.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Not much to say. It does take a bit of getting used to. It's pretty much unlike any non-Tales RPG or action game.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Graphically speaking... I have mixed opinions here. I like the background and whatnot, but I hate that chibi(?) look of the characters. That's just never been my thing.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

If it's not your thing it's not. I understand your sentiments.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]My favorite character so far is Kratos but I use Lloyd more often the Kratos because it seems like Kratos is a bit slower when it comes to defending himself. I mean I was doing 3 hit combos and then pushing the block button right afterwards, but then enemy was still sneaking in an attack before I can fully defend with him, whereas, I can do the same with Lloyd, and block alot quicker, but I'm still getting used to Kratos so "shrugs".[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

There's really only two characters that are anything alike in battles. When you get one, it should be obvious why. The difference in character styles is part of the replay value. The best idea would be to finish your first play-through with Lloyd, then try the others as you see fit. I main Kratos when playing with friends.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]At the moment, I can't stand Collette (sp?) nor Genis. I have issues with children, and Collette is a ditz. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Agreed on Colette. Genis not so much, but again that's your opinion.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I'm not seeing anything funny about the game outside of Raine and Genis moments.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

A few of the Z-skits are pretty good. If "Kendama practice" or something similar pops up, I recommend it.

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]The voice acting's not bad, but it's not good either. It sounds alot like Naruto's dub. (In terms of dullness people lol.)[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Crispin Freeman's in there, but it may take a while for you to get to him.

Haven't played in a while, but I've basically clocked around 150 hours on this thing. I was totally addicted at one point. Fun game, fun game.

[Kei]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Indeed, if you're only 11-13 hours in, you really haven't gotten into the fun stuff yet. Then again, as a hardcore ToS fan (being someone who has replayed the game eight times and gotten to her party average to Lv. 164), I can't really say my opinion of where the fun starts is not biased, heh.

I agree with Aceburner that some one the more humourous moments in the game come from the Z-Skits, but there are a lot of funny things that happen later on. The plot may seem a bit convoluted when you eventually get to the end, but it really is a solid game, though it is lacking in a few departments (namely voice-acting, with the obvious exceptions of Tara Strong and Crispin Freeman).

EDIT: On the subject of Kratos, he is one of the slower swordsmen in the game, however, he boasts slightly more power (arguably) than certain other characters met later in the game. You'll be able to make the comparison for yourself eventually.[/color][/size]

[darksuzakurera]

I played this on the PS2 console and I somehow finished this game last year. I only got to levels between 72-76 (with Lloyd as 76) but I didn't had the time perform the other's Hi-Ougi (Collete, Zelos/Kratos' Majin Senkuuha had problems learning it, Presea's Hien Messhoujin and Regal's). I'm planning to tackle the second playthrough again.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Memphis'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I'm about 11-13 hours into the game. Most of my time has been spent on levelling up. My parties level is between 20-22. Just getting to Luin.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]The only word of advice I would give you, is to give it a little time, or rather go a little further to get more into the story. It picks up and becomes more interesting just as you eventually reach the point where you can tackle some very difficult quests. Ones that make beating the game look like nothing. The only drawback is you practically need to read up on the game in order to make sure you get everything you need to unlock them. Though I did that after I beat the game once since I didn't want to spoil to many things.

As far as Tales games go, I think you'd find Tales of the Abyss more to your liking. It doesn't have the chibi look, the voice acting and music is in my opinion more appealing and the battle system though similar has some stuff that I found far more enjoyable than this one. Even though I like this game. :p

[Magus]

[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="1"]Heh, I kind of forgot about this game..

I haven't been playing it lately because my brother said he had to delete everything on his card, because of something.. Not sure, but I haven't been in the mood to go through all that again.

Eventually, I will get back to it one day.

[quote name='Rach']As far as Tales games go, I think you'd find Tales of the Abyss more to your liking. It doesn't have the chibi look, the voice acting and music is in my opinion more appealing and the battle system though similar has some stuff that I found far more enjoyable than this one. Even though I like this game. [/quote]

I really want Tales of the Abyss. I checked out a clip on youtube, and was really impressed with what I saw. It just seems like I'll enjoy that one over ToS.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Chaotictwilight]

Personally, I thought the game was awesome. It was my first RPG and I really enjoyed it. I kinda prefer Tales of the Abyss though; better graphics and had a rather interesting plot.

[Guest Tsorin]

I liked ToS better. It seemed to me that TotA was bogged down with all of the technical jargon associated with Fonons, like fon slots, field of fonons. seventh fonons, etc. I'm playing it, and the game is just throwing all of these words at me too quickly for me to really get a feel for the whole fonon thing. That's probably my biggest issue with TotA.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Tsorin']I liked ToS better. It seemed to me that TotA was bogged down with all of the technical jargon associated with Fonons, like fon slots, field of fonons. seventh fonons, etc. I'm playing it, and the game is just throwing all of these words at me too quickly for me to really get a feel for the whole fonon thing. That's probably my biggest issue with TotA.[/QUOTE]How far into the game are you? Because once you get further along and start getting a hang of it, it can be a lot of fun and leads to some very powerful moves. Plus, unlike Tales of Symphonia, later on you unlock a lot of moves or rather button sets for different types of defense. So if you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy it because it has a much higher level of that type of involvement as the game goes on. My favorite being the ability to essentially free run to get around opponents to attack from behind, Tales of Symphonia always kind of irritated me with how linear that aspect of the battle was.

Though I like both, I only wish Symphonia had been a little less chibi and had more cut scenes. After playing Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2 Eternal Blue... Tales of Symphonia's lack of cut scenes is painfully obvious and feels like a cheat in that they didn't want to be bothered to do it. Relying on the characters to talk instead of taking the time to do some nice animations for important events.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][quote name='Rachmaninoff']Though I like both, I only wish Symphonia had been a little less chibi and had more cut scenes. After playing Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2 Eternal Blue... Tales of Symphonia's lack of cut scenes is painfully obvious and feels like a cheat in that they didn't want to be bothered to do it. Relying on the characters to talk instead of taking the time to do some nice animations for important events.[/QUOTE]That was my biggest hang up to Tales of Symphonia since I had played both of those games [I]before[/I] I ever played ToS. That fun trailer or rather intro was why I even bought the game in the first place. And though I enjoyed it and finished it several times, I never quite got over the disappointment of next to nothing as far as cut scenes go. I got spoiled by the Lunar Games. I mean Lunar 2 Eternal Blue had over an hours worth of those weaved into the game.

But that's just something I enjoy, things like that make it more fun for me. I really detest the use of conversations or rather skits to get that effect since the Lunar games had lots of fun conversations as well. XP I still like the game though, enough that I've probably put over a hundred hours into playing it. [/FONT][/COLOR]