Tales of Symphonia

[Adam Stone]

I?m loving the sense of urgency, fear and tension throughout so far. Every place I?ve visited, all the people you meet ? im never too sure what their fate entails. Will they be condemned to death, chucked into the human ranch, have their homes and villagers destroyed? The story has definitely been keeping me on my toes and is always providing slight hints that keep me interested. Really enjoying the relationships of the character also. Its been mentioned before, but I definitely agree it is like Namco?s version of the fellowship of the ring, just without the ring of course?

The humour is surprisingly effective and refreshing. Genis and Lloyed constantly getting slapped by Raine. Heh. She rules? Oh, and Lloyed score in the test was priceless.

Im 22hour 24minutes in now. Have 455 encounters and on level 27. I haven?t got the unicorn?s horn yet. Im in the Palmacosta area after Magnius?

Right, time to play more!

[NeoBahamut]

Messege text glitch?

Hiya

Everyone seems very pleased with their TOS game, but I?m a little unsure whether I?ve got problems or not..

You see, a few times the message text boxes have skipped automatically - even before I had the chance to read all the way through. In the very beginning (for example) Raine is mentioning that the class has been discussing some topic, but the first time I played that scene through I only got to "We?ve been discussing this in cla..." (or something like that). This means that one or more text lines skipped as the text box closed.

Most of the time everything seems alright, but I think I?ve encountered the same problem three or four times after that. To add to the confusion I can mention that the scene described above worked absolutely fine the second tiem I tried..

Well, glitch? Ask for a return? Anyone had the same problems?

[PeteJ]

There are a few times where you are unable to speed up the speach or prevent it from moving onto the next line, but these usually happen at vital moments where timing is needed to help with the power of the scene. I guess that somewhere along the line you've changed an option for the text speed - check out the System\ Settings menu when ingame. There shouldn't be anywhere in the game where you miss out on text due to the speed it goes, other than perhaps the Skits, which go along at their own speed.

I'll try and get the review done by tomorrow, which means it'll probably go online early next week. Camps handed over the review to me as I was in a better position to cover it (I've finished it, he has not ).

[Adam Stone]

Just got onto the 2nd world ? still on first disk.

First impression as you walk into the town/castle area?. impressively overwhelming. I?ve been playing this all day (literally) so giving myself a little break before I continue the area(s) that wait.

I wasn?t expecting much, if truth be told, when I ordered this. Just something to enjoy during the summer at best. But its turned out to something I haven?t been able to turn myself away from - Ive been totally engrossed. This is my first ?proper? RPG game and it has intrigued me full-heartedly.

Absolutely sublime.

A question: Is there a way or an opportunity to go back to the first set of areas after u've reached the 2nd world? Still on first disk..

[scarredbyvideogames]

^^
Yes there is.

Im loving the humour - It's not often a game makes me laugh out loud as much as this has - though Raines habit of slapping everyone - funny at first,but got old fast.At first I was skipping many of the skits,until I realised how funny many of them were and also how much more of an insight they give me into the characters and the relationships between them.Although they can test vmy patience when they pop up one after another as they sometimes do.It's a shame perhaps that they couldn't have voiced them as they did in the JP version.

[taurusnipple]

Yeah don't ignore those 'skits' you get on the map world or what not, sometimes your title changes - you know, like Lloyd is/was a swordsman.

[Adam Stone]

I?ve reached the stage now where I firmly believe this ranks proudly inside my top 5 favorite games within the past few years. I?ve been witnessing so many different levels of enjoyment; it?s the sort of feelings I get from playing a new Zelda game. That alone is praiseworthy.

I?ve recently visited Ozette, the Quiescent Village. The music is lovely throughout but has definitely become even nicer as I?ve progressed. The game is currently on pause in Mizuho, the Mystical Village, while the soothing music plays in the background. Lovely stuff. These environments are truly beautiful.

It has to be stressed how utterly adorable all the village/town areas are. So much attention to detail ? it really does feel quite believable. My first impressions, graphically, were that the cell shading was nice, but Wind Waker?s were far superior. Now tho, I apologize for making such a statement. These two games should not be compared graphically and I was wrong to do so. Both are in a league of their own and both are utterly breathtaking in places. However, if a comparison would be made, the villages in ToS make Wind Waker?s islands look bland and, most noticeably, empty?

Last night (well, morning ? about 3am heh) I was wandering through the University Town and was completely taken back by the sheer depth within every room? it really took me by surprise. Every person has so much to say and it isn?t like it?s random boring stuff either. Many a time I?ve smiled to myself at their comments ? both humorous and intellectually sound.

As described in a previous posts, I love the skits and wouldn?t dream of skipping them tbh. The level of character displayed within the main characters is one of the things I love the most about this game. It?s a shame non-playable characters don?t display the same about of personality, but that?s only a small complaint. Zelos, is a legend.

Few updated stats: still on the first disk.

Time: 33hours.
Level: 36.
Encounters:644
Highest Combo: 26

Looking forward to reading the review Mr Pete. Time to discover some more U.Attacks

[darkangel]

Damm!

I just got completly floored by that fake box in the 2nd dungon, any tips?

[scarredbyvideogames]

^^
What I do is: 3 magic users set to auto/At Once/L-Range Magic (physical attacks do little or no damage) then take control of a melee (Lloyd probably) use him to draw attention away from the casters - attack only as much as you need to though - block a lot/use items to stay alive.It will be over sooner if you turn Raines healing spells off (just use items) and disable all lower level spells.It has no particular magical element weakness.

[darkangel]

Cheers! ^_^

[EvilBoris]

I'm really loving it so far, although collettes voice does grate at times. I was rather imused to find liquid snakes voice to appear 3 times during first 30 minutes of play. it really reminds me of skies of arcadia, especiall yhte way the framerate halves when you go oonto a field, any reason for this? the graphics are so lovely, its like a 3d legend of mana

[taurusnipple]

Yeah, smooth as a baby's bottom is TOS

I've a question, the summoner Sheena(?), how do I get her to use those summon's she has? I've only managed to summon the fire element once, well ard' too. From what I figured out myself, your Unison gauge has to be full right? No matter what commands I have her set up as though and what magic/skills I disable, I can't get seem to rely on her. Any help?

[scarredbyvideogames]

^^
Sheena can only use her summons when in 'overlimit' mode - nothing to do with the Unison thang I beleive.And unfortunately - Sheenas overdrive doesn't happen too often.And of course if she's on auto she may not use the most appropriate summon - water to heal party for example.But if say you wanted to use a particular summon for a particular boss battle you knew was coming up you'd need to make sure she took enough damage first in battles beforehand and then hope she goes into overdrive when you need her too - and give her the command before she summons herself if she's on auto - bit of a fuss really.

Summons are a pretty useless I think in TOS - underpowered and difficult to use when you want to - and the animations are underwhelming compared to say Yunas in FFX.

EDIT:I should have said that if she is on auto turn off her summon skills in the Tech menu so she doesn't use them without your command - then keep an eye on her to see when she overlimits

[taurusnipple]

Thanks mate. Damn shame that, I saw the fire summon like I say and I was impressed, nothing like a 10 minute ordeal in FF though (not a bad thing at all)

[PeteJ]

I've found all the Summons to be extremely powerful if used correctly - you can do around ten thousand damage if she is powered up enough. About all she is useful for, of course