Support NeoGAF

[Bebpo]

I can't really speak of non-RPG fans, as if you hate RPG's in general, there's just nothing that will change some people. I'd definately reccomend it to any RPG fan. There's no annoying random battles, either. While tough to get a hang of at first, the battle system is fun, like Grandia 2. Leveling up isn't a chore, either, as it directly impacts how you progress in the game, building your character's relationships. The save point system is like in Final Fantasy, you have a save "hub" spinning disc to save at in towns, etc.

Actually I think the game trancends boundaries and will be playable to even non-rpg players.

I have a copy of the US game on pre-order as I'm giving it as a present to my younger brother who has never played an rpg besides FFVI/FFVII which he never finished either. I think the battle system is so good that even people who just play action games and people who just enjoy great games will fall in love with it, and maybe it'll even get people like my brother back into the rpg genre

 

[Rhage]

Was anyone else actually able to get it today?

 

[Mejilan]

I thought it merely shipped today.

 

[Wario64]

I could get it now if I wanted to, but I'm not plucking down $50. Especially when I know Fry's will have it on sale this weekend most likely

 

[Fongul]

I preordered this through Gamerush of all places. Yes I know I'm missing out on the art book or the anime cell (promo at Gamecrazy), but I wound up getting it for $30 and most of that was in trade in credit. I'm hoping Gamerush will be as prompt as either EB or Gamestop on getting new games in, but I doubt it. Knock on wood, I hope to have it by the weekend *crosses fingers*

 

[Brandon F]

Mine is currently shipping to me preorder swag in tow (artbook+lithograph). Should have it tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Senretsu]

Speaking of swag, does anyone have a picture of the gamecrazy anime cel for this game? I got the lithograph and artbook, but I'm interested in seeing it and the dimensions of it.

 

[explodet]

Does anyone have a full VA cast list?

I popped in the game, started playing, and was immediately greeted with Cam Clarke's voice once again.

Good game so far, battles are quick and engaging and it looks great.

 

[Dead]

EB just called, they got the game but didnt get in any artbooks

 

[Jupiter Jones]

Yeah, I just picked up my copy at Ebgames. They didn't have any artbooks or strategy guides in.

 

[Brandon F]

Copy came in this morning. Bad timing since I am all boxed up to move, but I did quickly unpack the system and some RCA cables to test the thing out. Unfortunately within 15 minutes of play(heading up to the temple) I lay slaughtered on the battlefield staring at the load screen again. Gotta learn to block...

Beautiful game though, surprising amount of detail in the environments, more than I had expected. I spent a good 10 minutes alone just weeding through all of the menus and features. Earned a new title for Collette built on non-aggression since I accidentally switched her to manual control so she just stood there blank in battle. Would have been REALLY nice to be able to freely switch control of characters in combat to fix that problem...

I LOVE the fact that this game includes a running journal to help remind you what your current tasks are.

 

[Orin GA]

I just got it too, and im trying to get a feel for the battle system. I may have to read the instuctions again.

 

[Soul4ger]

I got it, I'm about two and a half hours in. It's wonderful. Best title screen ever.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

What really impressed me when I was playing the JP version is how beautiful the backgrounds were. Even though they're 3D they still have a watercolour look to them. It's quite amazing especially with the great cell shading.

The only thing I'm a bit apprehensive about is the ENG VA. After the JP, I don't know if I can take "good but not great". At least you can turn off voices altogether in the menu, unless Namco decided to remove that option.

Also, I'm incredibly surprised that Namco miraculously did not cut out the extra skits. I'm baffled. Does this mean that we have a minute chance of the Phantasia for AGB?

Knowing Namco, probably not.

 

[Brandon F]

Yea, I wasn't all that impressed with what I saw of the visuals in preview vids, and granted I have only seen the first town and temple so far, but they are strikingly well rendered. Really caught me off guard how wrong I was. The texturing does give a sort of watercolor look as you had mentioned.

So are skits like Easter eggs now to be found? I noticed that the few I have seen so far require a certain location to activate. I haven't tried them on the overworld though yet... They aren't voiced either, but you do get the option to turn voices on and off in battle, cutscenes, etc... (I find the acting rather suitable given the material so far)

Oh and Phantasia GBA would be very nice to have.

 

[Soul4ger]

I agree with the backgrounds. They're really well done.

[spoilers]When the first town gets lit on the fire, the buildings look amazing. Great, great stuff.[/spoilers]

I'm loving the music, too.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

Well not exactly Easter eggs. They're irrelevent plot points, usualyl humourous in nature, and sometimes has the characters recount parts of the plot amongst themselves, if I recall correctly.

Spoiler

The one where Refill smacks Genius around is absolutely classic.

It's just too bad that they're talking heads. (I remember Fenneku complaining about it being a bad flash animation.) I'm just glad they didn't take them out like they did in Destiny.

 

[kiryogi]

What really impressed me when I was playing the JP version is how beautiful the backgrounds were. Even though they're 3D they still have a watercolour look to them. It's quite amazing especially with the great cell shading.

The only thing I'm a bit apprehensive about is the ENG VA. After the JP, I don't know if I can take "good but not great". At least you can turn off voices altogether in the menu, unless Namco decided to remove that option.

Also, I'm incredibly surprised that Namco miraculously did not cut out the extra skits. I'm baffled. Does this mean that we have a minute chance of the Phantasia for AGB?

Knowing Namco, probably not.

No, they're not voiced ;_; On note, Phantasia Advance isn't the best title to be yearning :/ As nice as that it's the most recent one, it's still a bit of a butchering.

 

[Brandon F]

Yea, I know what they are, but as I recall in Phantasia PSX and Eternia, you could activate them at anytime pretty much(well at least the overworld). Maybe you can do the same in SYmphonia, but I already repacked my GC so I can't check.

One complaint about them is the lack of a text-skip feature. Since I assume they were all spoken in the import, it is kinda awkward to sit and watch completely silent dialogue scroll somewhat slowly...

Phantasia GBA butchered? Wasn't it a port of the PSX version sans FMV? Still, I'd like a Tales game for the portable very much.

 

[Soul4ger]

Phantasia GBA butchered? Wasn't it a port of the PSX version sans FMV? Still, I'd like a Tales game for the portable very much.

There's a lot of slowdown and missing animation. It's not the greatest port.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

Er what I can recall in the JP version you COULD speed up the text in the extra skits. And yes they were voiced in the JP version. Did you try holding A? I'm sure you could skip ahead, because I remember doing it.

 

[dark10x]

There's a lot of slowdown and missing animation. It's not the greatest port.

Yep, not a good port at all. The sound was altered for the worse as well...

 

[Brandon F]

You could be right...I may have been too afraid to touch A so as not to accidenatally quit the skit outright. I'll try that next time.

Sucks about Phantasia GBA...

 

[kiryogi]

Narikiri Dungeon 2 is the best option for GBA, but god forbid that comes over. Maybe ToE PSP....

Yep, not a good port at all. The sound was altered for the worse as well...

Well, it's good and bad. The only good would be that it's based off the rearranged PSX ost at least.

 

[NotMSRP]

Big ad on homepage of Gamefaqs.com.

 

[kiryogi]

Actually wait, Phantasia advance would be nice so that folks can connect Symphonia's storyline....

 

[IAmtheFMan]

This game so far rocks. The VA doesn't really bother me, although it does seem weird that conversation ceases until you press the 'A' button. I think, at least in the cut scenes, something ala Xenosaga or FFX would've worked better, and seemed more natural.

Other than that, I love the battle system, I love the challenge that it seems to gonna give me, and it's a beautiful, beautiful game.

 

[The Interrobanger]

Come on people, I need more impressions!

 

[BobbyRobby]

Its really good.

 

[Orin GA]

This game rox.. The battle system is not at complicated at all once you play for a while.

I wish there was a practice mode where you could try different attacks to see which ones pull off the most combos

Heh, right at the intro when the mentioned the mana tree, im like wtf, is this game related to secret of mana

 

[BobbyRobby]

I started leveling up outside the first town, but got a little discouraged that no one but Lloyd has an additional title. Genis and Collette are gaining levels without any stat boosts.

Is there a way to take control of either of them in battle?

 

[explodet]

I was wondering about that too - I believe you have to advance the story before getting more titles.

Is there a way to take control of either of them in battle?

Plug in another controller? Other than that, I'm not sure. I've only played a few hours.

 

[ferricide]

I started leveling up outside the first town, but got a little discouraged that no one but Lloyd has an additional title. Genis and Collette are gaining levels without any stat boosts.

i never really paid attention, but i inferred that the boost you get based on titles is just an extra bonus; you don't get *nothing* for raising levels without a title. if i'd ever run into problems, i would have paid better attention... ergo...

 

[Brandon F]

I mentioned a super easy way to at least get Collette a bonus title above. Just turn off her AI completely for a single battle. Assuming she just stands there brain-dead, you will earn a new title for her at the conclusion of that one fight. (Title gives her a Def. stat boost on leveling IIRC? May work for Genus as well...but I didn't try)

 

[BobbyRobby]

i never really paid attention, but i inferred that the boost you get based on titles is just an extra bonus; you don't get *nothing* for raising levels without a title. if i'd ever run into problems, i would have paid better attention... ergo...

I know you get somehting for leveling up without the titles, but I'd like to make the most out of every level I gain.

I mentioned a super easy way to at least get Collette a bonus title above. Just turn off her AI completely for a single battle. Assuming she just stands there brain-dead, you will earn a new title for her at the conclusion of that one fight. (Title gives her a Def. stat boost on leveling IIRC? May work for Genus as well...but I didn't try)

Thanks for the tip.

 

[iapetus]

I ordered my copy @ EVIL LYING STEALING FOOLS via DHL so I hope it will arrive on Friday

Fixed.

Fortunately videogamesplus.ca have it in as well.

 

[Deku Tree]

Big ad on homepage of Gamefaqs.com.

Why don't I see it? Where is it? All I see is a big IE ad.

EDIT: Saw it by expanding my browser out very wide.

 

[speedpop]

I'm thinking of rushing through ToP before I play ToS (won't get copy for a few more days) just to bring back that nice "Tales" feel.

Everyone seems happy and content with the game though which is always good to hear

 

[belgurdo]

Heh, right at the intro when the mentioned the mana tree, im like wtf, is this game related to secret of mana

It's a reference to the first game

 

[Hero]

Some of you should read the instruction booklet.

To change which character you control during battle, press the Y button to pause the battle and bring up item/tech/formation/etc menu, then press 'Z'. At the bottom where it shows the character portraits will rotate, pushing the leftmost character to the right, and you will control whoever is in the leftmost position. Continue pressing Z to scroll through the characters.

 

[signet]

how is the multiplayer?

I just have one GC controller so I can't try it. Is it only during the battle each character is controlled by a different player?

 

[BobbyRobby]

I haven't actually tried it out myself, but judging from past Tales games, I'll say that the multiplayer is in-battle only.

 

[Culex]

It's nice to be able to play the game again with English now

I am disappointed that the skits weren't voiced like in the Japanese version, but the very fact they made it through localization should be a plus regardless.

The boss battles don't seem as hard as I remembered, but maybe that was the language barrier deterring me...

5 hours in, I give this an A+. Just as beautiful as the import, some minor changes, but nothing to kill it. I'm actually surprised how good the VA is considering how people were coming down on it.

GET THIS GAME, even if you own the import.

 

[kiryogi]

I'll get it when it's 10-15$ <_<

 

[NotMSRP]

some minor changes

What are they?

 

[etiolate]

w00t been playing for an hour! Fun battles, story seems copy and pasted from other pages, music is good, but I am still figuring out what everything means. I have gotten a few titles and I see they affect stats somehow. I suppose I will have to do some bathroom reading of the instruction booklet. Combo Newbie!

 

[Bobety]

Does anyone have a full VA cast list?

Found this at planet gamecube:

Lloyd - Scott Menville (Teen Titans)
Colette - Heather Hogan (Land Before Time)
Genis - Colleen O'Shaughnessy (Digimon, Danny Phantom)
Raine - Kari Wahlgren (Witch Hunter Robin)
Kratos - Cam Clarke (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)
Sheena - Jennifer Hale (Totally Spies)
Presea - Tara Strong (Power Puff Girls, Fairly OddParents, Teen Titans)
Zelos - Shiloh Strong (The Mommies, Dinotopia)
Regal - Crispin Freeman (Witch Hunter Robin, Big-O)
Mithos - Brianne Siddall (.hack//SIGN)

 

[Eric-GCA]

Ah, Cam Clarke and Jennifer Hale from Eternal Darkness and MGS. They're always a great asset for any VA in a game.

 

[IJoel]

I played about 2 hours of this last night. It's a pretty good game and I fully recommend it so far. I'm a bit apprehensive about the battle system and how it will hold up through out the many hours, but the different moves and how you can equip them have me somewhat convinced it'll be good.

r0x!

 

[ruffles]

How many memory blocks does ToS use?