Tales of Symphonia

Okay. Even the diehard Nintendo enthusiast must admit that the Gamecube is sorely lacking in RPGs. Any Nintendo loyalist looking to sate an RPG fixation must pitifully look towards the Gamecube's younger brother, the Gameboy Advance. RPGs have been few and far between, with even the recently released Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles forsaking traditional RPG elements for a multiplayer action-oriented Role player. However, the RPG dearth should soon end, thanks to the effort of Namco, who seek to release both Baiten Kaitos, an RPG card battle game, and the more traditional Tales of Symphonia.

Tales of Symphonia will be the first next-gen iteration of the Tales of series, which included the much lauded and fan loved Tales of Destiny and Tales of Destiny II. The storyline is fairly interesting, presenting a dilemma rarely seen or enacted in video games. The story follows main character Lloyd, who, along with his friends, is looking to improve the quality of their world. However, they realize that their world is connected to another, and that they can only improve their world by effectively destroying the other, which sets the stage for a moral decision for the main character.

Tales of Symphonia is a beautiful game, blending a cel-shaded, anime, and water-colored look to a fantastic effect. The characters and backgrounds are all lovely, and should prove to be a very aesthetically pleasing complement to the gameplay.

Tales of Symphonia also brings a number of innovations to the RPG formula. One such novelty is the ability to interact with your party. Similar to the system of the well-received RPG Star Ocean 2, your party forms a relationship with the main character based on the decisions that he makes throughout the adventure. Your character can also have conversations with party members while on the world map. This, in turn, effects the party's decisions where the main character is concerned. There is even the potential for characters to leave your party when they feel neglected or dissatisfied.

Symphonia also has an action-based combat system that allows players to attack enemies in real-time. The player-controlled character can attack, dodge, create combos, and perform special moves while locked onto a specific enemy, and switch between enemies. Party members will be controlled by A.I., or can be controlled by another player, allowing up to four-players to participate in the battles.

Namco also states that the script in Tales of Symphonia will be much longer than the story for Tales of Destiny II, although the game will still be about the same size. This, of course, means that the story will be fleshed out, and much more integral to gameplay.