Current Events > I'm about 30 hours into Tales of Symphonia *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Warning: there will be unmarked spoilers in this thread, for Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy X. Being as vague as possible, the latest plot details to develop involves Ozette, Palmacosta, the Palmacosta human ranch and the Renegades, and the FF stuff involves the similarities between the games in question. Please don't post anything past this point without tags, or preferably don't post later spoilers? Anyway - spoilers will be pretty extensive for the first 30 hours of the game, and they'll be relatively unmarked. This is your one and only warning.

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So, Tales of Symphonia.

I have a minor history with this game - heard it was a classic from back in the day, eventually took the plunge on the PS3 version, and I hated how it played. It was an unpolished port, and I just don't like the combat. It fell by the wayside for games I enjoyed more - I had a lot of games on my plate at the time, and this game just didn't hook me. With my PS3 dying last year, I switched to minor laptop gaming and then I got a Switch - but I left my PS3 library with too many regrets, so I snagged another one for cheap recently. I don't have a lot of RPGs on the Switch, so I decided to download some titles I hadn't given a fair shot. The plan was to play this while the Mass Effect games downloaded, and then Persona 5 - but my wifi's been fucked all week, so I've been hooking into Tales almost exclusively.

Honestly? I still hate the gameplay. I've been playing on autopilot, and micro-managing healing items and particular spells. But winning is satisfying, and I really like the story.

It's very anime-inspired, and it's convoluted and cliched and shit. The opening cinematic spoils Kratos turning against you, the plot points are all very on-the-nose - I know that Presea is like ridiculously old, despite the details not being clear yet, and I have the feeling that Kratos is Lloyd's father. It was clear that Colette was losing her humanity, well before the cutscene revealed it.

But what I like is that it's a very earnest story, and while the characters can be a bit flat at times, the characterisation is pretty fleshed out. There's not like a Wakka moment when Lloyd learns that Genis and Raine are half-elves - the shift makes sense since he likes Genis and he's a decent dude, but they barely address it. One second, Lloyd is pretty solidly anti-half-elf and Genis has to hide it and feel sad, the next Genis is outed as a half-elf and Lloyd is just... okay with it. I still like these moments more than something in FFX, though. It's refreshing, and a bit nostalgic.

Speaking of Final Fantasy - this game starts off like a more anime-fied Final Fantasy X. There's a Chosen One who has to travel to all of these locations to pray, and get these new powers, then it turns out the church is using these Chosen Ones as meaningless pawns to sustain a futile cycle of destruction. The stories have their nuances, of course - Colette was born as the Chosen One, while Yuna feels obligated due to lineage and competes with other summoners. But the plot outline starts off very similar.

So imagine my surprise when the story goes all Final Fantasy V and involves a second world. And the world feels less alien and strange than FFV's take on it - it feels a lot more welcoming. The "one world split into two" was visible from a mile away, but it was nice to have some whimsy after being used to the FFX's and XIII's of the world.

There's so much characterisation with the skits, and those glowy character interaction points. It's a wealth of content for those who like to see characters fuck around - it's worth sitting through battle scenes to grind, with minimal player input. I like it a lot. And the music is so on point as well! I love the music! And the overall product is pretty well-polished - the character models are nice, and they have a lot of posing animations and stuff. Miles away from the canned poses from FFX.
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can see why this is considered a classic, even if the PS3 port is seen as subpar. I don't doubt that it's subpar compared to the original. But it's been a surprisingly enjoyable experience, from someone who just doesn't like the battle gameplay at all.

I've just allied myself with the Renegades in Sylvavant. I've given a walkthrough a cursory glance, and without spoiling any locations for myself, I've seen that I'm past halfway through the main story. I'm looking forward to the rest of the game - I can't wait to see where this Mithos plot thread goes (it's either OG Mithos, Kratos or both), I want to know Colette's secret and I want to learn more around Lloyd. I'm enjoying this game a lot.
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Game is literally 20 years old
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Bumparoo
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yes its a very mediocre game that gets highly overrated because it was likely the first rpg the generation who grow up on the gamecube played

doesn't hold up at all and is pretty bad compared to other tales games