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| Source // Moby Games |
What was the last JRPG we saw on this 1001 list? The last that comes to mind is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, and to say it wasn't my cup of tea would be accurate, but still somehow misleading.
Let's hope a more traditional approach from Tales of Symphonia lands where Crystal Chronicles didn't. The lands of Sylvarant are losing mana, and it's up to the Chosen One to restore order once more. Who is the Chosen One? What challenges will they face? How many clichés will we manage to cross off the bingo card before the dust settles?
Fun Times
I called Tales of Symphonia a more traditional RPG in the sense that we're not travelling across the world in a caravan. We'll be having the kind of adventures that players are used to, on foot. Sword swinging, party managing, townspeople helping adventures.
It's also more traditional in that it, like other RPGs of this era, has an anime introduction that flashes unnamed characters in mysterious circumstances. We're on a boat! We're fighting skeletons!
We're all moody and concerned, but we're all confident, and we're together, and it'll be alright after all!
Frustrations
It told us nothing and in truth, got me less interested in playing than when I first hit 'play' on the emulation. I know nothing of Tales of Symphonia going into it, and after this video, I almost want to know even less.
I've said it before, some anime looks are ok, but others that just get in my way. This is close to getting in my way. Some characters are alright, whoever they are, but our main characters are not doing it for me at all.
But how close does the game itself get to these animations?
Deformed cel-shading, great. I joke a little - the characters in Dark Chronicle looked a little like this, but they were never shown to be anything else. By having two different looks for everyone, you're just asking me to compare the two, find the differences and get put off by the inconsistencies.
But that's just me. Let's ignore the animations, let's focus on the game itself. These characters are voiced, and we play as Lloyd, who for some inexplicable reason has fallen asleep in class while carrying two buckets of water.
The teacher was in the middle of dumping the backstory upon us. The land was once full of mana, but circumstances have changed, and the people await the Chosen One to bring back the good times.
Today just so happens to be one of the most important days in this entire country, the day when the ball gets rolling, I guess. Just who is the Chosen One we're putting our faith into?
Uhhhhh... what?
We're kids. The Chosen One is a kid. Happens to be in the same class. I bet she's the student who gets top marks and we're the one who thinks he's too cool for school and won't learn anything until he life teaches him a lesson the hard way.
If I wasn't thoroughly on board before, I'm contemplating stepping off thanks to this writing. It's just so... bleh... it's generic, it's mana trees and chosen ones and prophecies...
Like Lloyd, I'm drifting off at the thought of it all. Wait, is Lloyd carrying swords into school? What the hell kind of place is this?
A flash of light distracts the class from answering that particular question, and Tales of Symphonia seems ready to kick off.
We're given control and, to be fair, this game doesn't look too bad at all here. I think it's the lighting that does it. Talking to the other kids reveals little of note, so I head for the door (too cool for school, remember?) and get going.
If I said I was stepping off before, this interaction between Lloyd and Genis saw my second foot hit the station platform as the Tales of Symphonia train was ready to depart. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's kids in RPGs.
If there's another thing I can't stand, it's the way kids are written in RPGs. I sadly didn't capture all the dialogue here, but when the Chosen One was asked if she wanted to come with us, she eventually replied with:
You'll be curious about it too? A flash of light that signals the start of the prophecy of which you are absolutely vital to, and you'll 'be curious' about it? You're probably about to be marched out of school by a bunch of religious folks, or maybe even military types so that you can fulfil your destiny as the Chosen One, leaving the rest of us peasants to sit and watch it unfold. You're happy to wait for the that to happen until one of us asked if you were curious, but are only curious if we are curious ourselves already? Give me a break.
If I had two feet on the station platform before, I am now running towards the nearest exit, furiously looking up the bus timetables on my phone.
Final Word
That's as far as I got in Tales of Symphonia. It has to be a record for earliest exit from a game. Crystal Chronicles is the closest in recent memory, but at least I tried the gameplay in that. Walking forward and talking to two kids is not playing a game. I have not played Tales of Symphonia.
I read that battles take place in a kind of real-time, sort of 3D arena way. That might be interesting. I learned that some stat boosts are dependent on you meeting a specific condition and then keeping consistent, otherwise, you'll lose that bonus. That sounds different. There is even the elimination of random battles, as you can see monsters on the map before you interact with them, or run around and ignore them. Always lovely, but then grinding is still going to be necessary to get anywhere.
All of these things in any other RPG I would be sinking my teeth into. Slowly, and no doubt not understanding everything, but I'd be trying them out. I just can't get passed bloody kids being the bloody Chosen Ones and saving the bloody Mana tree so that peace can return to this bloody place. I don't care.
To be absolutely fair to Tales of Symphonia, it could throw umpteen curveballs and turn the entire plot on its head, and make for the best telling of a 'save the mana tree' story there has ever been, but I'm unlikely to find out.
Graphically, it does well. The voice-acting comes from some familiar voice artists. I imagine the gameplay is solid too. But that story. Those words that these people have to speak. It does nothing for me (in the five minutes I've given it), and surely that's the whole point of an RPG.
I cannot say what Tales of Symphonia will offer you until I've pushed through my problems with it and actually played it. I doubt I'll watch it to see what I'm missing, either. I think it's best to spend time on something I will enjoy doing, rather than something I will find fault with, whether there is any real fault there to begin with or whether it's me bringing it upon the game.
But at least we don't have to go far to find the Chosen One. She's right here, guys. Let's save the world. Should be a doddle, eh?
Fun Facts
If you don't like playing games but want more of this world, you could read an awful lot of manga, a bunch of novels, or listen to audio dramas and even watch some animated series to get your fix of Symphonia.
Tales of Symphonia, developed by Namco Tales Studio, first released in 2003.
Version 'played': GameCube, 2004, via emulation.