Tales of Symphonia

[PeteJ]

Did you get lucky today Adam\ Wazy? I assume from your lack of posting that you did

The strange thing about this game, is that I keep thinking "there is no way this game can be 80 hours long, I'm almost near the end!". And then, a lovely twist in the plot will give me hours more to do. I know there have been loads of games of this size before, but this really does feel...epic. 30 hours in, still on first disc!

Still struggling to get particular characters to learn skils they are apparently close to learning :/ Lloyd has eight skills in blue, and another has ten. God damnit...

[Adam Stone]

I am a very happy bunny indeed Mr Pete

Been playing for a couple hours ? and although being initially completely overwhelmed, im slowly beginning to understand how it all works. This is my first ToS game and my first proper go at a RPG in general actually (ive never liked the turn based battle)

I?m really loving the music, so soothing and yet hits all the right spots. The style and character designs are charming, and the overall presentation is striking ? tho not overly ambiguous. It doesn?t look as impressive, as, say Wind Waker? and the restricting movement took a bit of conforming to (little things like having to keep to a set path) ? though that is simply because I wasn?t used to it. Now though it feels perfectly fine.

The voice acting is surprisingly good imo, nicely done indeed. I like the humour a lot and the dialogue in genera is impressive. Im sure it will only get better

The little extra scenes where u must press Z are a delight too. I like things like that, allowing the player to gain an extra layer of depth and interest towards the characters if they wish to. The artwork during these scenes, expressing their emotions, can be very amusing.

I?ve been enjoying playing around with all the battle techniques, positions, skills etc and am really intrigued to see how these progress and im definitely finding my battle techniques improve? Im pretty pants at the battle at the moment, although trying to link moves and use strategy.

All in all, ive only played for just under 2 hours but im finding this very intriguing indeed. It is a new experience for me? a new genre I haven?t really had a chance to explore fully before? and im really enjoying it.

Righty then, I plan to spend the remainder of the day playing this day.

U get ur copy Mr Wazy?

[JamesS]

I finally got onto disk 2 this weekend at around 45 hours.

The plot, at first, was a little too close to Final Fantasy X for comfort, but after the first 15 hours or so it starts branching off into more interesting directions. The synopsis feature is handy, as I must admit I've lost track of what's going on a few times now.

The disk swap works fine on Freeloader, by the way, in case anybody's worried.

[wazy15]

Hey Adam, I got a package this morning, thought it was ToS, but after coming back from work it was not ToS. Anyway, I have mine up for sale as soon as it arrives, as I need every penny for my PC, but then I might keep it as you lot make it sound THAT good. BTW Adam, when did your copy get sent out?

Waz

[Syngyne]

So who do you recommend getting rid of? The Chosen one has some really neat attacks and Genus is pretty handy too...
I'll try losing Genus and adding in Raine, see if that makes things easier.

Actually, I got rid of Colette most of the time, unless the battle required her. I kept Genis around for raw damage.

Fought my first really tough battle this weekend, at the water seal:

Went back to the water seal a second time with Sheena to get Undine. Holy crap was that a tough fight. I had to use an all-divide to keep my party from getting wiped out so quickly.

The Sylph battle was way easy, though, because Raine had Nurse by then.

[Adam Stone]

Mr Wazy, ah, shame dude. Sorry to hear that... both that it didn?t arrive and you're having to possibly sell. shame indeed...

Mine was sent out last Tuesday... I would think your get urs tomorrow. Here's hoping eh?

I'm really getting into the swing of things now. Battle-wise, im still an amateur, but am slowly seeing myself improve. Im outside with Lloyd's father, Dirk, at the moment (outside his mother's grave). Im finding the whole 'Chosen' story interesting and intriguing (it isnt all that familar to me due to not having played anything like this before) but im finding the slightly more personal story of Lioyed far more appealing. His believes of personal identity and what makes family, 'family'. In some sense i can relate to this because my brother and sister (both left home) aren?t blood, but they are still my brother and sister nonetheless...

I've been getting the feeling that Lloyd is going to play a significant part to the overall story. Little things like his impressive jump, the guy from the start (the dude dressed in purple.. and is playable for the first dungeon area - forget his name sorry) how he responses to his name.... and obviously what Dirk says about his mother trying to protect him. I get the feeling it is hinting at something... the will to continue playing to find out is strong. heh

The only negatives i have thus far are the movement and camera hesitations - they're a bit dissapointing if anything, but apart from that, this is one refreshing experience that ive only just touched upon.

Right, back at the village now. Continue to play i must

[a_c_saunders]

My party usually consists of Lloyd/Regal, Raine, Genis and Sheena. With that you have a nice balance of melee combat and magic backup.

Still struggling to get particular characters to learn skils they are apparently close to learning :/ Lloyd has eight skills in blue, and another has ten. God damnit...

I still can't properly figure out the technique for learning new moves either apart from using the base skills they derive from (for example Lloyds raining tiger blade uses sword rain and tiger blade) but then sometimes you learn a new move just by slashing with A. I think it may have something to do with the % you get for performing technical smashes although it says in the training manual thats just the odds of getting items...

[taurusnipple]

You learn new skills by using tech skills lots of times, example: Tiger Blade used loads will give you Super Tiger Blade. Stuff in blue means your about to learn that new technique, right now I've a blue Fierce Demon Fang so I've got to use a few more Double Demon Fang to get it.

[Adam Stone]

I recently witnessed my first ?over a hours play since last save and dying? incident. A bit frustrating would be a slight understatement. Heh. It's my thought completely ? it was just after the part with the monster-treasure chest thing. I was required to use the save gem to unlock the save function, but I walked over it into the portal. Only to be welcomed by 3 fire-tiger things? which killed me.

heh. Shall re-do that tomorrow?

[PeteJ]

You learn new skills by using tech skills lots of times, example: Tiger Blade used loads will give you Super Tiger Blade. Stuff in blue means your about to learn that new technique, right now I've a blue Fierce Demon Fang so I've got to use a few more Double Demon Fang to get it.

Usually yes, but my characters such as Lloyd has used Psi Tempest hundreds of times, yet isn't unlocking the next level.

Genis is unlocking stuff left right and center, as is Raine (apart from Dispel, which has been blue for yonks).

Adam - a little tip for the mega-tough battles - stick all the characters on Auto and just spend your time managing the items and healing party members. I find that controlling Lloyd and managing other characters is extremely difficult on the boss battles.
Sucks that you lost an hour of play, the memory gems you need to unlock the save points are a pain, but can always be found on one of the enemies in an area.

That Fake box gives you an item called All Divide, which can also be helpful. It halves the damage done by enemy and all your characters - makes the battle last a lot longer, but can make things a little easier. That Tiger thing is pretty tough, so good luck

[wazy15]

Well, I have decided to keep ToS after hearing all these wonderful thoughts, just a shame it still hasn't arrived

Waz

[dug]

The disk swap works fine on Freeloader, by the way, in case anybody's worried.

Excellent. The one thing that was making me hesitate to buy has now crumbled into nothing.

[PeteJ]

Hurray, disk 2. I'm really storming through this game now

[pace]

I recently witnessed my first ?over a hours play since last save and dying? incident. A bit frustrating would be a slight understatement. Heh. It's my thought completely ? it was just after the part with the monster-treasure chest thing. I was required to use the save gem to unlock the save function, but I walked over it into the portal. Only to be welcomed by 3 fire-tiger things? which killed me.

heh. Shall re-do that tomorrow?

Be a coward and run off.

This game is seriously good though so far, one of the few games that i've have played in the last few years that can hold my attention for hours at a time.

[taurusnipple]

Usually yes, but my characters such as Lloyd has used Psi Tempest hundreds of times, yet isn't unlocking the next level

Yeah I think I'm right, I've used Beast 304 times and am about to learn the new one.