Tales of Symphonia

released on Aug 29, 2003

In a dying world, legend has it that a Chosen One will one day rise from amongst the people and the land will be reborn. The line between good and evil blurs in this epic adventure where the fate of two interlocked worlds hangs in the balance.


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When I compare games to the nostalgic whimsy of an early 2000s JRPG, there's a good chance I'm probably comparing it to Tales of Symphonia. It certainly is one of the JRPGs of all time.

The original Gamecube version came out in checks notes Oh God 2003. This game is almost 20 years old in the States. I just aged everybody reading this review, you're welcome. But yeah, it was a big epic JRPG on a Nintendo platform at the turn of the century: the N64 and GCN days were not common grounds for JRPGs, so Tales of Symphonia for a lot of us was an oasis of a corny anime RPG in what was pretty close to a dead genre on Nintendo console platforms. And ToS is so anime it almost hurts. The art style on top of the cel-shaded graphics and anime opening made this feel like just an anime in video game form.

This also comes down to the writing, which feels like a stock-standard fantasy anime. You have the protagonist who is too stupid to die and his wife who's too selfless to live, the parental sibling and the shithead sibling, the eye candy, the stalwart child with an oversized weapon, and everyone's favorite wacky pervert who's actually immensely tortured on the inside. The story literally starts on the whole "The chosen one must revive a dying land" trope, and I'm not paraphrasing. The subtext is actually just text.

The combat is the skeletal beginnings of the ARPG sub-genre that earlier Tales games have established, and it ranges from good button-mashy fun to completely mindless and uninteresting. The exploration is open-ended as Hell but always has a primary destination the game is shuttling you to. The puzzles are simple enough and straightforward.

So why is this game so deeply beloved? Primarily it was the cultural zeitgeist it found itself in the middle of; the late 90s and early 2000s there were very little RPGs on the N64 and Gamecube, so getting one was kind of a mythical presence. This was the first JRPG for a lot of people who grew up with a Gamecube. It was in the right place at the right time.

And also because... Tales of Symphonia is just a pretty good game. It's definitely dated for sure, but barring how generic and trope-heavy the story is, the stakes are felt, the motivations of every character make sense, and with the abundance of writing the game has from a sheer size and scope, the characters have a lot of space to breathe and grow and be charming. Except Lloyd and Colette, horrendous main characters in a cast of infinitely more interesting ones. The fantasy setting is beautifully realized, it feels epic, and you just like seeing how all these characters interact with the worlds they're in.

I floated between 3.5 and 4 stars for this game because my feelings of Symphonia are complicated. I think older Tales games are more esoteric and interesting, and new Tales games have improved mechanically enough to render Symphonia feeling a bit dated. My feelings for the game at the time were warmer because I had less to compare it to, but as more JRPGs made it under my belt, the more that Symphonia lost some of that luster. But it's still a good game, a great game for some. It evokes some powerful nostalgia. But without nostalgia, the game feels more like an afterthought nowadays.

Genuinely one of my favorite games I've played: it's themes struck me in the heart, it's characters are wonderful and full of life which all comes to make a magical experience.
This game is fucking miserable and I beg you not to play it.

Fun combat but sometimes dungeoning back to fucking back can get very burnout inducing. I liked the story on paper and in certain aspects but there were some “let’s be stupid for the sake of creating stakes” moments. It can feel too much like Colette is a vehicle, and Lloyd might not jive with everyone as a protagonist. Still, while modern fans call this game dated, I think it was enjoyable for its fast paced combat and whimsical worldbuilding. I played the 60fps version and the fact combat on modern releases doesn’t play smooth like this might deter people playing on said versions.

A Fantastic entry in the series, i can definitely see why this got the franchise popularity in the west back in the day
in the modern day id say compared to a lot of more modern entries it has aged a little bit and the puzzles can often be annoying
Great cast of characters with a pretty good story with decent combat, not to much to complain about here!

Es un rpg bastante cliché y simple, pero tiene algo que me hace volver y recordarlo. Música de cristos, historia que sorprende y gameplay que cuando me lo pasé en experto conseguí apreciar.

This was one of my first experiences with the RPG genre, and it has stuck with me ever since. Unlike some of the other games within the genre, the plot of this game leans heavily into the tropes and cliches that define many Japanese animated shonen series. Yet, its characters and world are so endearing that you can't help but get invested in them.

Not only is the story involved and intriguing, but the combat is incredibly unique. It plays a bit like a Smash Bros. game, where you have a basic attack and a set of skills that you can set to a button as well. It makes the combat feel more like a fighting game where you need to rack up combos rather than a traditional RPG. It's quite intuitive for the time it came out.

This is a landmark game for the Gamecube and for the genre. I would even consider this game to be as important as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy just for how it redefined what a Japanese RPG could be. I recommend you check this game out if you have the chance.