By The Stratos Group
Design by Marty Smith

It’s been a tough couple of years for Gamecube owners who are also RPG fans. Besides games like Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star Online, both ports of older Dreamcast games, or Zelda: The Wind Waker, which is debatably more an adventure game than an RPG, very few role-playing games of any stripe, let alone traditional party-based RPGs, have appeared on the Gamecube...until now. With the launch of Tales of Symphonia, a brand-new title in Namco’s well-established Tales series, RPG gamers finally have a game that justifies their Gamecube purchase.

In Tales, you take on the role of Lloyd Irving, a self-taught swordsman who attends school in a small village where nothing much seems to happen. Fate intervenes, however, as it is wont to do, and Lloyd and his friends are swept up into an adventure that will take them across the entire world...and beyond. Although the game moves along quickly, you can expect to spend at least 40 or 50 hours exploring the game world and experiencing the many twists and turns in the game’s plot.

GameSpot’s unofficial guide to Tales of Symphonia features a complete walk-through for the entire game, along with a host of other features, such as: a rundown of Compound Unison Attacks; a list of all of the recipes in the game and where to find them; hints on achieving that elusive 100-hit combo; and suggested AI settings for each of your nine party members. There’s also a chapter detailing some of the numerous optional side quests that you’ll encounter as you play. You’ve got more than one world to save, and hopefully this guide will bring you a successful journey.

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