Tales of Symphonia

[Adam Stone]

Ah the Summons. I'm like you Mr Pete, they can be very useful and powerful during certain boss encounters. I rarely use Sheena, but her summons do come in handy. I love the shadow spirit? the voice does it for me. The character design itself is slightly disappointing, however that is completely irreverent when he/she/it opens it's mouth to speak? ?fight? *shudders* love it

The earth spirit is damn annoying tho

I?ve just recently progressed onto disk 2. The events leading up to the swap were tense, gripping and very exciting indeed. I?ve really been pulled into the story, characters and i care about the outcome ? In which seems to have the potential to go either way. The story may have started out predictable, but it has become anything but that now. Really quite impressed by the script, dialogue and story in general.

There have been a number of laugh-out-loud moments now. Zelos is simply great. I?m loving this game ? don?t want it to end. Therefore, im going to put my story-progression on a hold for a little while and do some more side-quests etc and level up some more. Gotta re-build Lupin!!

Oh, i havent actually got the Regeneration Book. I know i need the statue for the guy who moans an awful lot, and i know where it is (near opening of the water temple) but how do i get it?

Oh, and some updated stats:

Time: 50hours 20mins
Level: 56
Encounters: 991 (almost reached the 1000 - yay)
Max Combo: 35

When can we expect the review Mr Pete Sir?

[EvilBoris]

are there actually any anited cutscenes? I've had a tiny one of the tower of salvation and a little one at the beggining, I was under the impression that there were lots, do they suddenly start to be used or something?

[JamesS]

There aren't many, no. There are more towards the end of the game than at the start, though.

[Loc]

Played the game for a few days, up to the geyser part, really nice to play, reminds me of SoA quite a lot. Pretty interesting story development recently;

SPOILER (and a guess which may/probably be found out late in the game)
Where that weird guy talks to Magnius, I'm guessing the angels are decieving everyone.

[Adam Stone]

Aww... utterly beautiful. The credits have finished rolling. The character's have recieved their conclusions. A truly (more so) satisfying ending? the last few sections of the game were incredibly emotive. As said as i am, one point i had a lump in my throat the entire time. heh.

Im off to sleep now. Definitely a surprise purchase. Loved every moment of it.

Final Stats: (keeping in mind i didnt do all the quests sadly)

Time: 68hours 10minutes
Encounters: 1178
Max Combo: 73
Level: 70
Max Gald: 180,570
Total Gald Used: 746,648
Saves: 229
Max Damage: 13034

Aww.... got a massive smile on me face now... tho feel equally sad its over. Ah well, roll on the 2nd play through!

[Sergeant Syphillis]

Atruely amazing game no doubt about it, the ending sequence is particuarly beautiful and provides a refreshing change the usual CGI FMV. I wouldn't say I was particularly moved by the conclusion however it was a satisfying end that also left me smiling.






*SPOILER*




Just out of curiosity how much grade did you get Adam stone and what are you going to spend it on in the grade shop when you restart your game?




*SPOILER*

[Adam Stone]

Sadly, i havent a clue yet buddy. A friend of mine is borrowing my Disk 1 so i'm unable to re-start my newly-saved-file. Its quite frustrating to say the least. heh. But it is giving another person a change to play this wonderful game so its all good really

How about you Mr? What did u spend your Grades on?

I think im going to go back to the last save before the final boss and complete all the mini-quests i failed to do, and try to fill more of the Collector's Book. I did most of the quests, but im sure there are more to do. Re-building Lupin is a must...

[Sergeant Syphillis]

Apparently if you plow enough money into rebuilding Lupin you can create one of the best cities in the game. As for my Grade points I haven't restarted yet, I'm tempte to simply earn enouhg grade for the 10x EXP upgrade however that costs 3000 Grade!!!

I probably do the same as you, concentrate on the sidequests I can complete now and just enjoy every minute of it really.

[Adam Stone]

Oh, that sounds interesting concerning Luin. Im going to have to do that now just to see

I'm currently going through the temple-area just before the final boss at the moment *is on pause* I was far too eager to see the end that i missed this section entirely previously. There are many items to find so it was an initial unwise decision. However, i dont tend to re-beat the final boss (on my first save) until much much later now. As you are, im going to concentrate on increasing my Grades and also generally try to level up as much as possible - (also it will help pass the time before i receive my disk 1 back. heh)

This is probably a silly Q - but i cant seem to remember if there is a way to view our grades? Also, any tips on how to get the statue near the water temple so i can finally get the Regeneration Book? Oh, and has anyone been able to get 100% of all items yet and filled the Collector's Book? The same guy who asks for the statue said he would "eat his words" if you could. Im attempting to do that also. Oh, and not forgetting the Figurine Book. heh. There are still dozens of hours left here

Spoiler Question - Ive just recently achieved the Past and Future Stones (in the Key Items) and was wondering if they have any significant use ?

[wazy15]

I wish my game would hurry up! I can't wait to play it after hearing all your praises about ToS.

Waz

[SuperBeatBoy]

i want to get this game bad but i dont have a gc chipped. i cant be bothered to go look through 16 pages of text to find out :P but does it work with the current version of freeloader?

[PeteJ]

Works fine apparently

Adam, rebuilding that place costs an awful lot, and you have to do it in 15 stages. You can't just throw several hundred thousand at it in one go unfortunately, do it in 10 thousand guld stages (leave and re-enter each time, and you'll see it slowly develop).

[Adam Stone]

Mr Pete, yeh, i was a bit cheeky and checked it out on Gamefaqs. Apparently this is how you do it in 15 stages:

Payment #01 - $5,000
Payment #02 - $12,000
Payment #03 - $21,500
Payment #04 - $15,000
Payment #05 - $20,000
Payment #06 - $25,000
Payment #07 - $35,000
Payment #08 - $40,000
Payment #09 - $45,000
Payment #10 - $50,000
Payment #11 - $75,000
Payment #12 - $100,000
Payment #13 - $5,000
Payment #14 - $5,000
Payment #15 - $5,000

Pete, do do you know how to get the statue near the water temple buddy? I never actually got the Regeneration Book the old man spoke of.

I've been absolutely amazed by the sheer number of sub-quests to do. They aren?t obvious either, many i randomly stumbled upon or looked up. Ive found few of the additional outfits and a number of special Key Items such as Raine's Mother's Dairy. There are a number of sections similar to this where a scene allows you to learn more about the characters and the general history - added a greater depth to the overall story. There was a scene concerning Lloyd's "Dog" which was particularly interesting.

Anyone found any sub-quests/mini plots which may be of interest which you stumbled upon?

Edit: oh, and i just remembered i saw a cameo of Pac-Man in the Flanoir which i thought was quite a nice touch

Edit No. 2 To answer my own question from the previous page...

Spoiler Question - Ive just recently achieved the Past and Future Stones (in the Key Items) and was wondering if they have any significant use ?

Yes they do have a significance which ive just found out... Quite an important one in fact: after completing the small puzzle it grants you the "Sacred Stone" which allows you to 'Quick Jump' back to the entrance of the Tower of Salvation and vise versa. This comes in handy indeed if you want to re-do main area events

[PeteJ]

At the water temple you have to complete a little mini-game, where Genis freezes the water and you have to follow his orders (walking Up, Left, Up etc). I thought you had to do that in order to get into the temple? You don't get to keep the book, but you do get a look at it (which is not very interesting after you've done all the tasks on it!).

Try the glaiator sub-quest, which you can do near the end of the game (the location is obvious). You can get some of the best weapons that way.

[Adam Stone]

I had one of those ?Gaming Rage? moments last night (well, 3am this morning?). Throughout the day I spent quite a bit of time doing many of the side quests etc I hadn?t got round to doing previously ? all good stuff. Then the evening I thought I would get some of the extras from the Coliseum, again, great stuff indeed (although Lloyd?s sword was disappointingly inferior to the one I already had equipped?) Anyhoo? then I discovered the optional last Summon Spirit and owned his arse.

Then I decided to re-try the non-compulsory Underworld Book side-quest (15 floors of enemies). I literally spent hours here. Leveled up to 83. Earned more then enough gald to re-build Luin and earned a few new titles? Come floor 14 (there are 15) I was all prepared to pawn the boss and burn the book but I stupidly choose an option so the computer randomly choices a character for me. One character. Needless to say, I died, frustrated I turned the Gamecube off knowing I lost over 300,000 Gald, 9 level ups and about 3-4hours of my life?

Ah well, least it gives me something to do today