Though it’s by no means fairly had the recognition of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchises, the Tales collection has set a great status because the ‘other’ basic JRPG collection that’s constantly maintained an honest high quality for fairly a while now. Back in 2004, Namco (no Bandai but) was solely on the fifth iteration of the Tales collection, which made the daring transition to full 3D with the discharge of Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. Sporting a horny cel-shaded visible type and packing sufficient content material to final for lots of of hours, there was loads to like about this launch again when the pickings had been a lot slimmer for excellent RPGs on Nintendo consoles. Now, Tales of Symphonia Remastered–which relies on the 2013 PS3 rerelease, which in flip makes use of the PS2 Japan-exclusive model as a base–has introduced the basic expertise to fashionable {hardware} and whereas it nonetheless stays an enthralling journey, it’s positively displaying its age.
The story is ready within the land of Sylvarant, which is experiencing a bit of an ecological disaster. A important scarcity of mana attributable to the lingering results of a struggle from hundreds of years again signifies that the world is itself dying, and time is working out quick for the inhabitants. The solely hope is for the Regeneration to happen, during which an individual dubbed “The Chosen” opens numerous seals throughout the land to awaken the goddess and return life to all issues. You take the function of Lloyd, good pal of the present Chosen, Colette. Lloyd is the headstrong son of a dwarven smith, and after he inadvertently causes a horrible tragedy in his village, Lloyd units out together with his greatest pal Genis to accompany and shield their pal Colette on her journey to meet her Chosen duties and save the world from destruction.
Tales of Symphonia tells fairly a compelling story, at the very least within the broad strokes. What initially looks as if a run-of-the-mill train in drained tropes quickly offers option to a way more attention-grabbing journey that includes some surprising plot twists. Admittedly, a number of of these twists are telegraphed in superior, however we had been nonetheless impressed by the narrative ambition on show.. The draw back to all this, nonetheless, is that the writing itself is kind of stiff and sometimes unintentionally hilarious. Some of these cutscenes cowl a ridiculous vary of feelings in only a minute or two, and dialogue hardly ever feels pure—it’s the epitome of a ‘video game script’. In some methods, the unwieldy exchanges actually add to the allure of Tales of Symphonia, whereas in others they blunt it. Suffice to say the uneven writing holds again the general story from reaching its full potential. Still, it is an awesome experience all over, and we’d say that story is general Tales of Symphonia’s strongest go well with.
Gameplay follows the everyday JRPG conventions of exploring an enormous world map, visiting cities, and exploring dungeons close by to maintain the plot transferring. It’s nothing you haven’t seen earlier than, however we really feel that the pacing right here is sweet at pushing you thru content material earlier than something begins to overstay its welcome. Dungeons are a spotlight of the general gameplay loop, bringing to thoughts the likes of Golden Sun with the use of puzzles earlier than you attain the boss on the finish. None of these go a lot past the torch-lighting or block-pushing sorts of issues which were carried out to dying by now, however they assist break up the monster battles and provide you with just a little extra of a problem for reaching sure chests. Plus, every dungeon introduces some new concept or gimmick, which helps to distinguish them and create a extra concrete sense of progress as you progress on.
Combat in Tales of Symphonia is action-based and bears loads of similarities to 3D fighters like Tekken. Your character is all the time locked on to an enemy and is restricted to a 2D airplane the place they’ll run both in direction of or away from the enemy in a straight line, whereas assaults are designed to be chained collectively in brief combos based mostly on directional inputs paired with button presses. Once you construct up a pleasant assortment of abilities–called artes–for your characters, the combo system actually begins to return collectively, however by in the present day’s requirements, battles really feel awfully stiff. Compared to video games like Ys VIII or Kingdom Hearts II, which function comparable hack ‘n’ slash fight, Tales of Symphonia feels prefer it’s just a few steps behind.
For instance, it may be irritating attempting to dodge assaults from a number of enemies as a result of you’ll be able to solely transfer in two instructions whereas their assaults can come at you from numerous angles. Meanwhile, you’ll be able to’t cancel out of your personal assault animations when you provoke them, which incentivizes you to take it gradual and be selective with timing and ability utilization, but the general quick tempo of fight pushes you to combat reactively and recklessly. Bear in thoughts that Tales of Symphonia was the primary 3D launch within the collection, and whereas later video games improved on the drawbacks and iterated on the strengths right here, sadly it isn’t aged terribly properly on this entry. Combat is okay when you become familiar with it, however it all the time feels off.
Character development is dealt with through an attention-grabbing equipment-based system that determines stat and ability progress. Completing goals, ending aspect quests, and reaching sure milestones will unlock Titles that can both assist or hinder the expansion of particular stats when your character ranges up. The Drifting Swordsman title, for instance, offers a slight bump to your HP progress and a barely bigger improve to your progress in each power and protection. You’re not instructed specifics equivalent to numbers in-game, guides on-line showcase that there’s a good bit of technique underpinning Titles; not solely is getting the Title itself usually a problem, however which of them you equip and for the way lengthy you retain them outfitted will massively have an effect on a personality’s construct over time.
For abilities, crucial factor of constructing your social gathering is the EX Gem system, which impacts the sort of artes characters can be taught together with passive abilities. You get EX Gems by beating bosses and totally exploring dungeons, and every one will grant you little buffs to issues like accuracy or power. Each character can have as much as 4 outfitted, and relying on the mix of gems you employ, you’ll get distinctive results like with the ability to guard mid-air or mechanically recovering from standing results. We loved the main focus right here on experimentation, as there are a lot of completely different abilities you’ll be able to uncover by attempting completely different combos.
On the visible aspect of issues, Tales of Symphonia Remastered doesn’t do very a lot to noticeably enhance the visuals from the unique launch. The authentic cel-shaded look is downplayed right here, and whereas all the things has been introduced as much as an HD decision, it seems like just a little extra work may’ve been carried out to present this growing old launch extra of a facelift. The chunky character fashions and muddy, blurry textures look quite dated now. And whereas the anime type works properly sufficient right here, there’s a definite lack of creativity in setting design, relying closely on acquainted settings like ‘dry desert ruins’ and ‘quiet seaside town’ with out a lot distinctive visible aptitude.
We really feel it must be stated, too, that the porting job itself feels quite sloppy. While the unique GameCube launch ran at a easy 60fps, this model is capped at 30fps, and we famous cases in each dungeons and fight the place it appeared to slide to twenty or decrease. Couple this with the truth that Tales of Symphonia Remastered doesn’t include the sequel, Dawn of the New World, that got here bundled with Tales of Symphonia Chronicles on the PS3 in 2013 and it’s robust to see the worth proposition right here. In some methods, then, this new port is inferior to each the unique launch and the remaster that got here out a decade in the past. It does embody the additional content material (extra costumes, artes, and so on.) from the 2013 launch alongside some minor high quality of life updates like with the ability to skip some cutscenes, however it seems like not sufficient was carried out to take benefit of the chance of bringing this again on new {hardware}.
Conclusion
We’re admittedly just a little blended on Tales of Symphonia Remastered. Though the story is compelling, the character constructing is satisfying, and there’s heaps of content material to expertise, Bandai Namco’s near-nonexistent efforts to wash out the tough edges of this 20-ish yr outdated sport positively maintain it again from greatness. Things just like the stiff fight, dated visuals, and awkward writing restrict the attraction right here, which makes this remaster really feel like a missed alternative. It’s simpler to advocate this to those that have nostalgia for the unique and wish to relive these recollections, however it’s robust to say whether or not newcomers ought to decide it up. This is way from the most effective motion RPG on the Switch, and it’s arguably not even the most effective Tales sport on the Switch. We’d give this one a light-weight advice as its positives do outweigh its negatives, however with the caveat that it is best to in all probability watch for a deep sale or purchase it used. There are a lot better RPGs to play on the Switch in the present day, and this one doesn’t fairly deserve a spot close to the highest of your checklist.
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