Tales of Symphonia Review

It’s not all about fighting, though. You’ll also be traversing through over a dozen dungeons, solving puzzles along the way using a special item you’ll find on your first mission: The Sorcerer’s Ring. This tool basically transforms every time you’re in a new environment, giving you a new power. You’ll start out with just being able to make small fireballs, but soon you’ll find areas where you can create anything from bombs to orbs of electricity. This integrates wonderfully into puzzles, where you’ll often need to use your powers to manipulate your surrounding.

Getting the hang of the controls is pretty simple. Each button corresponds to a different action during fights. A is used for physical attacks, B for special attacks, X for defend, and Y to bring up the menu. Reactions are spot-on, and everything is easy to manage after about a half hour of practice. Menus are perfectly accessible when you need your AI-controlled party members to perform certain spells or attacks. All in all, this title offers up a great gameplay package.

Sure, beauty may be skin-deep, but ugly is to the bone and a game with poor visuals just detracts from the experience, no matter how rich the gameplay is. Luckily, Tales of Symphonia is drop-dead gorgeous. Utilizing the ever-popular cel-shading technique, the world of Sylvarant takes on a look that can best be described as “straight out of anime.” This shouldn’t be a surprise, though, considering the Art Director is Kosuke Fujishima, the acclaimed anime artist who’s responsible for some of the best character models in the business. It definitely shows, as each character is fantastically detailed, no two characters looking alike. Even NPCs (characters who are often given less treatment than main characters) look great.

Environments are lush and alive with color, showing you one of the most diverse worlds I’ve ever seen. You’ll go anywhere from the steamy deserts to the frozen arctic regions, all within a relatively short period of time, each looking better and more impressive than the last. There’s been some criticism of the overworld, which displays a lot less detail than other areas in the game, but I still found it to have its own kind of simple beauty to enjoy.

My only complaint in this facet is the physics of contact, which just look pathetic. Hugs, handshakes, and really all forms of contact just don’t look right and just suck you right out of the experience. That said, it’s the only problem I can find with the visuals, which are otherwise fantastic. The opening and closing cutscenes are particularly gorgeous (they’re both displayed in high-quality anime sequences).

Music-wise, Tales delivers in spades, with a very diverse and enjoyable soundtrack. Battle themes take on a rock/speed-metal tone to get your blood pumping, while more drama-oriented segments take on a more orchestra-esque, epic attitude. Voice acting is great and really fits each character. Effects are also excellent in their execution. The audio portion was really taken care of here.

In the end, Tales of Symphonia was the RPG we’ve all been waiting for and I couldn’t be more thankful to Namco and the entire Tales studio. With unique and engaging gameplay, fantastic visuals, spot-on controls and an enjoyable soundtrack, we’ve got a stand-out title that demands your time. Get out and play it, already!