I started this game 6 months ago after I beat Tales of Vesperia. I got burned out about halfway (25 hours) through though. However, I didn't want to abandon the game forever, and really wanted to see it through to the end, so I did. My end game clock was about 45 hours. It still stands that this is the least favorite of the Tales games I have beaten, but having only beaten 4 (this being the 4th), it has some tough competition (Abyss, Vesperia, and Graces f being the others).

Originally being designed for the Gamecube, it has graphics that suit its time. 2003 was still fairly early in the Gamecube's life cycle. The actual environments look rather nice and comparable to other RPG's on the system, and the monsters also look really great. The overworld has always looked really bland end empty to me though. However, that's a small complaint.

The battle system is one of the bits I have the most qualms with. This was the last Tales game before they truly took the leap to a fully 3D battle system, and the middle-ground it occupies makes some battles very frustrating. The free-running mechanic wasn't implemented until Tales of the Abyss. However, the battle arenas are still in 3D, and monsters and your companions can occupy and maneuver 3-dimensionally. What's really aggrivating is trying to dodge spells that have very clear effect radius, when you, the player, can only move toward and away from your target. This limited movement really hampers the combat engine, and was a constant obstacle to trying harder difficulties. The combos you can make and the way you can combo techs together is otherwise fairly run of the mill for the series. I never really understood the "Unity Attack" system. It seemed a fairly odd stop-gap between a simply activatable overlimit system. Otherwise, you just never know when you're going to overlimit, so it's very difficult to plan fights around. Regardless, it's a fun brawling engine, and whacking things about is still tough and satisfying, even though it's not the more highly technical work in later games like Legendia or Graces.

I also didn't really care for the skill system. You find skill gems as items throughout the game, and you can consume one to set it to a character. Each character can have 4 gems set to them, and of the 5 levels of gems, each one has 4 (usually passive) skills to pick from, and can be reset at any time. Also, certain combos of skills can activate certain other hidden passives for even extra effects. However, the amount of these skill gems being limited in the game made me very cautious to experiment with them. Ultimately, I just gave up on trying to find any nuance in that system, and just went with what seemed arbitrarily good at the time. This being the earliest Tales game I've played, I can't really comment too much on the innovation of this system, but it's definitely the skill system I've liked the least out of the Tales games I've played, so take that for what you will.

The main attraction for me in Tales games, though, is the story, and this game delivers well, though this is probably one of the Tales game stories I've had the biggest issues with during the course of the game. Every Tales game has some sort of theme pervading the story, and in this game it's "Sacrifice." What sacrifices are acceptable, and how do we as people deal with the thoughts that we or ones we care about might have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good? The voice acting is usual Namco Bandai quality though: It's a surprisingly good showing by an English voice cast for the period. My detailed thoughts are very spoilery though, so into a spoiler box they go.

Note: I went for the Kratos-included ending, so my opinions on the endgame might be slightly different than others who didn't.

The game has a bit of a lull in the middle. After the original revelations that exspheres are people, the pilgrimage for world restoration story-line just wasn't too interesting. However, the twist that the Desians and Crucius are the same really gets it going again. I also really really liked some parts of the end-game, but had some noticeable gripes with other parts. When its revealed that Kratos is Lloyd's father, and Lloyd starts to have a breakdown, only to have Collette console him with the same virtues of acceptance of one's self in spite of one's background, that was such a powerful moment and one of the highlights of their relationships (It even made me tear up a little).

In my personal opinion, times like this, when Lloyd and Collette are going through her transformation and sicknesses, and his conflicts of personality and identity, are the highlights of the game. The relationship between Kratos and Lloyd comes in at a close second. This is also the Tales game that I think does the best job (of those that I've played) of humanizing its villain. You really see Mythos' motives by the end, and even pity him (something I think Graces tried to do, but that attempt at a similar formula felt far more rushed).

Things I liked far less, however had to do with the game's main other theme of "discrimination." It was a very interesting plotpoint, but the way characters would face it often felt narratively inefficient and hamfisted. Genis' monologues about his feelings on it, as well as Mythos', are often a bit to hard-hitting and unnuanced to really feel natural. Additionally, the game has a fantastic buildup at the end, when everyone is slowly sacrificing themselves to make sure Lloyd lives to save Collette. But then the game just totally throws away that good will by having a large set of very direct and to-the-point conflicts in Walgaia of everyone very somewhat preachingly facing their biggest personal conflicts.


Story is a very subjective thing in all media, but I'd give this game a rating of "mixed bag." It's really good, but not great.

Verdict: A very good ARPG for its time: Recommended. It's a little hard to really give one of my more traditional "verdicts" on the series given that I'm essentially playing them in no particular order and therefore have no grasp of the progression of the series on a technical level. However, though this seems to be one of the most popular ones, I still wouldn't say it's a fantastic entry point to the series, nor would I call it the "best" one. It's one of the best Gamecube RPG's I've played (my 2nd favorite under Paper Mario), but I'd still probably say that Vesperia or Abyss would be a better first entry in the Tales series specifically.

Muito bom, divertido, tempo passa que tu nem percebe.

Ponto mais positivo é a party, faz um bom tempo que não vejo uma party que exala o quanto se importa um com o outro. Até os personagens que entram depois conseguem criar um vinculo muito grande com o resto do grupo e com quem tá jogando.

Combate é muito gostoso, a progressão instiga, dungeons desafiadoras... Enfim, é um Tales of que recomendo a todos que queiram conhecer a franquia, representa bem demais a série.

The first fully-3D Tales game took the series to a new level of popularity thanks to its memorable main cast and fully active combat, where you can move characters around and assign special techniques to different buttons, even allowing for multi-player (but in-battle only). The lengthy story falls into a lot of typical cliches, but is buoyed by the characters and some unexpected moral choices/twists. It also has tons of extra content and a massive game world consisting of two alternate dimensions. A great introduction to the Tales series and a very solid JRPG on its own.

The JP-only PS2 port features some extra content. There was a direct sequel on the Wii, but it wasn't exactly well-received. This game and the sequel were ported to the PS3 with some additional content and Japanese and English dialogue.

Tales of Symphonia (2003): Too much relleno. Alguna perla entre 40 horas de mediocridad y paseos vacíos. El Vesperia me dio ganas de conocer toda la saga, y este me las ha quitado. Veremos en qué queda la cosa, pero por el momento esta ha sido una gran decepción (4,95)

Edit: Finalmente jugué a casi toda a salga (A falta de Abyss y Grace) y ha pasado a ser una de mis favoritas en el JRPG. Respecto a este juego, en mi cabeza oscila constantemente entre aprobado y suspenso, porque aunque aprecio su influencia y desarrolló la fórmula de una saga que me encanta, me parece una castaña injugable.

This is the first Tales game I ever played. I rented it when it came out on the Gamecube back in the day but didn't really have time to dedicate to it. Many, many years later when the pandemic hit and I was stuck at home doing nothing, I decided I was going to finally crack open Tales of Symphonia and see what's up. And holy shit am I glad I did.

As a fighting game nerd I just wanna shake hands with whoever came up with the concept of an RPG where the combat is just a 2D fighter. It was a bit daunting the first few times but once I figured it out I find myself actively anticipating combat, especially boss battles. Unfortunately not every character feels equally fun to play, but they're all unique and interesting and I can definitely imagine every player finding something to love. Predictably I found myself liking Lloyd the most, but also had a lot of fun with Kratos, Regal, Colette and Zelos. Wish I could have enjoyed the others more, but they're a bit more awkward and gimmicky. They probably take some time to adjust to.

Even outside of the combat this game is just a joy to explore. Finding a new location and seeing what's up with it, making notes of where to come back to later, hitting up all these vibrant towns with their own cultures and aesthetics and designs all made for a world that felt exciting to get to know. And having such a great cast to do it with definitely helps, seriously I love all of these guys. I'm pretty picky with RPG casts, but the way the whole party bounces off each other and has actual relationships with each other (and NOT just with the protag) was lovely. All of them were very easy to get behind and sympathize with, you just wanna learn more about them and you wanna see them succeed. I think Lloyd might be one of my favorite RPG protagonists of all time, actually.

Yeah there are some rough edges, and it can definitely show its age at times. But I never experienced anything that severely hindered my enjoyment. By the time I was finished I felt like I experienced something truly special and memorable. I may have arrived decades late to the party, but it's one I'm glad I stopped by for.

Gameplay: Great
Story: Great. I liked it more than Arise.
Controls: Great
Graphics: Great for its time
Length: Great
Characters: Amazing

Best Girl: Sheena!

My first Tales game and I don't have the GC 2003 nostalgia since I played this recently. I don't like abandoning games, but this was an absolute bore to play. Characters and story are animu and mango cliche land 101, the combat is mind numbing repetitive. The story is slugish too and at some point the game decided to stop being clear about what to do next. I will try Tales of the Abyss next to see if it was just me or this franchise is just something I can live my life without really diving into it.

I get it. I really do. It’s got a really nice early 2000s charm to it and some interesting themes. However, it has taken me 3 years to get to its final act and I don’t see the game turning out better. The story has gone on for about 20 hours longer than it should have with a lot of repeated plot contrivances and weak plot twists.
I usually don’t knock games for old/bad graphics if the devs work well with what they have but here I think it actively HURTS the experience. For the scale of the story, it really needed better visuals. If it had just a bit better art direction, I could see the aged graphics making it out ok, but a lot of the world here feels bland and boring and the characters are expressionless.
The game is also really easy. It has a lot of systems and mechanics that you can jump into but the enemy/boss design never required too deep of a dive in, making it all pointless. Kind of disappointed as this is my first Tales Game. I really liked the characters and some thematic threads but the game never tied its components together well enough to do them justice. I just hope the next Tales game I try is better.

Gameplay: Good
Story: It has an excellent story
Music: Quite good
Replayable: Yes
Streamed: Nope