Tales of Symphonia

[a_c_saunders]

Liking this alot, been waiting for a decent Gamecube RPG for a while now. As everyone else has said the combat feels a bit manic to start with but once you figure out what everything does its quite Intuitive. Some of the litte cheers after the battle are quite cool and its good to see the game doesn't take itself too seriously (Dwarven rule #7....hehe).

Just got one problem atm though, whichever character is in my second slot just seems to stand around doing nothing no matter what combination of strats I choose...anyone else getting this too or am I missing something really obvious?

[PeteJ]

Do you have them set on Manual? They may be holding back using long range attacks and you aren't noticing, of course

[a_c_saunders]

Ah, it was set to manual Ta for the help!

[Adam Stone]

I?ve been suddenly intrigued by this? strangely so. It has never really caught my interest due to my ignorance believing it was just another turn-based RPG like the Final Fantasy series. I?ve always dismissed it before any sort of chance of gaining an understanding of it? my bad.

I appreciate the brilliance and the incredible scale of majority of the FF series, however I?ve always been turn off by the turn (heh) based battles? which has been frustrating because I really wanted to like them?

Tho, from what I?ve seen and read, TOS isn?t turn-based is it? And all of a sudden my interest and need for this title has sky-rocketed?

It is the perfect summer game. I have over 7weeks of free time (aside time for training of course) so it?s the perfect opportunity for such a game as this?

Who?s writing the review out of interest and when can we expect it up?

Also, are there many characters to interact with and situations/mini games/places to explore for those times when wandering aimlessly is ahand?

*Edit* Yay. Just bought from videogameplus (along with the 4disk E3 DVDs heh - i couldnt help myself...) I havent a clue what to expect tbh, my first TOS. But am nonetheless looking forward to it.

[a_c_saunders]

I bought it for that exact same reason, 7 weeks of not alot to do!

Really getting into it now, just started to execute unison attacks (like dual attacks in Chrono Trigger such as 'delta strike' but with far more scope for customisation) which is making life a little easier in battles. I also like the way that you're under pressure in every battle to finish your enemies off quickly and lose as little health as possible to get a higher amount of grade points as it gives battles more meaning than just fighting for exp/moneyz. Oh and the constant quest for getting higher and higher combo's is very addictive (19's my highest so far)

As far as mini games go so far they haven't been too brilliant, as they've (so far) been memory games. The waitressing one was quite entertaining though

I'm getting on with most of the characters now apart from Colette who's voice is starting to grate a little but it doesn't really detract from the game much. Is it just me or are quite a few of the voice actors from Dark Chronicle/Dark cloud 2?

[Keith]

Pretty sure that Lloyd is Max from Dark Cloud 2, yeah. Who else seems to be in there?

[PeteJ]

How do you pull off Unison Attacks? I've been trying but the option is greyed out - do my characters have to learn them first?

Also, occasionally during a battle a character will suddenly learn a new skill (magic attack) - what do you need to actually do in order to learn a skill? I'd have thought it just comes with experience, but at one point a party member learnt my Sonic-Blast attack just as I used it - did they learn from my useage? If so, how on earth do I learn skills from other characters, I could really do with Heal!

Adam, I think you'll really enjoy this game. It arguably has the most eye-catching and pleasing game-world since Zelda Wind Waker. It's just nice 'being' in it.

Back to it!

[Keith]

You'll be given a tutorial on Unison Attacks in a little while, and can use them after that.

Not sure on the skills yet though...

[JamesS]

Also, occasionally during a battle a character will suddenly learn a new skill (magic attack)

I think it's to do with usage. If you look on the tech page, it'll show you how many times you've used each skill. Once a skill goes over a certain number, you'll learn the next level version of it. Skills you're close to learning will be shown in blue in the skill list.

So, for example, if you have Double Demon Fang listed in blue, then keep using Demon Fang (the level 1 version), and after a while it'll come out as a Double Demon Fang and you'll learn the skill.

But it's also something to do with the S and T types, and I don't really understand that.

[wazy15]

I presume everyone orders from Video Games Plus? How long do they take to deliver?

Waz

[PeteJ]

Three or four days usually. If you order it today you'll have it for Friday, I'd have thought

Anyone else finding this game really hard? I just got killed by a friggin wasp, rabbit and badger. God damn, A BADGER! They are usually really easy, but they suddenly combo'd me and my health just completely went!

I had to spend about half an hour just picking fights with average forest creatures in order to level up my characters, because whenever I go near my next destination I get slaugtered by...snakes, and stuff...

But anyway, this game is still great. The characters are quite charming, and it actually feels like you are setting off on a big adventure - complete with naive party members (including the main character) who believe it'll be quite an easy task. It's almost like The Fellowship of the Ring, except without the fellowship or a ring.

[fearbat]

I think the real-time nature of the fights adds a lot of difficulty, as you don't know somethings going the wrong way until you're getting your arse handed to you on a plate. With chips.

I'm only around 7 hours in, but it has definitely won me over with its charm. It's a beautifull game with a light adventurous story you just want to go along on. Taking a break from far too much EB right now, but as soon as I've recovered I'll be straight back on to it.

[pace]

Just started playing this last night and am just interested if the 80 hours of game play stated on the box is a realistic number, anyone read about the lenght from other sources?

[wazy15]

Thanks Pete, just ordered it, came to just above ?31 which was good, got to use them again in the future. It has been sometime since I have played a good RPG. I am usually a fan of the FF series, as Square (now Square-Enix) know how to tell a good story and they create an epic world which feels big, not just looks it. I am not too sure what to expect from this, however Skies of Arcadia never clicked for me, so I wonder if this will..........

Regards,

Waz

[PeteJ]

Just started playing this last night and am just interested if the 80 hours of game play stated on the box is a realistic number, anyone read about the lenght from other sources?

I think that is stretching it, I've heard it takes between 40 and 60 hours if you do everything. 60 hours is still a long time!

I'm five hours in and the adventure only really started an hour ago. The game has suddenly opened up and I have a choice of different adventures I can go on, either follow the plot or go off on a sub-quest (though I can't actually find the place they want me to go...). I think the sub-quest I'm trying to do is actually meant to be done later, because I keep getting my arsed kicked by this big bird...thing.

I'm understanding most of the game now, but these things still puzzle me...

On the main character screen, next to each face there is a T and an S, with an arrow pointing towards one of the two. My main character is fully over on the S, while two other characters are way off on the T. I know T stands for Technical and S for Strike, but what does it do, and how do you effect it? I'm assuming you unlock EX-Skills depending on which way your character has been developed, but I'm surprised that after using magic almost entirely my character is over on the Strike side...

But anyway...
A few stats for main-bud Lloyd, cos they are fun!
He is level 12
He has had 106 encounters
Highest combo is 16

Oh, and I've never actually used Raine, apart to heal my team after difficult battles. Shes pretty useless, especially as Kratos can heal during battles.

Any pointless tips would be very useful right now

-Bit gutted the cutscenes use the ingame engine and not the lovely hand drawn style from the intro. Booooo.