Fly away on this unicorn with a-meee-heeeee...
Tales games are a long running series that, three out of four times, does not get ported to out beautiful state of America. So we gamers have to play the mediocre, Japanese anime crap that does get a nice makeover. Well, the ball has been dropped as they beg for forgiveness by giving us Tales of Phantasia, a Action RPG hybrid that does most of the game right, but the age of the game might be showing at points.
The story is basic but well done. Twas the day of hunting, and as Cress discovered, there was a secret in the forest, not so uncovered. A strange voice appeared, and from that very day, Cress' life changed in a most peculiar way. His hometown was attacked, evildoers beware, and for Cress the hero will be right there. All rhymes aside, the story in Phantasia is pretty good, though there's certainly not enough of it: the opening few minutes are very emotional, while the rest of the game follows some interesting but pretty simple storylines. Rarely will there ever be a gasp moment, though the characters are very well done with some easy-to-understand dialogue. There are a few very interesting moments in the opening that I dare not spoil for you.
What is interesting is that the game really has many subplots you can take care of as the game progresses, like the story of two young elopers where you get to meet their family in the past and future, among other little fun flourishes in the game. No spoilers here: you get to travel through time to battle the evil bad guy who is threatening the…blah blah…it's all pretty standard stuff, but at least it's a good average that they did put here. The localization is polished, so the first time we see this game in the US, it's in prime time. The story isn't bad at all, it's just a little overdone, and even so it adds quite a bit to the overall feel of the game.
But what isn't so stereotypical is the interesting and functional gameplay. The moving from town to town stuff is just like they always were, but the Tales games have always been known for their battle systems. It's more like a very watered-down fighting game: you and your opponents trade hacks, slashes, and magic as you fight for domination. There are combos in the game as well, and while the characters aren't the most responsive things in the world Cress will still fight his way with aplomb.
The only problems are your dumb-butt friends who took stupid pills that morning. Both the enemy and the friend AI isn't the best, and in fact, they are practically non existent. The friends in the party have pre-set commands to attack and how, and they'll do it, but there's very little control over their movements. If Mint is set to heal, she'll heal until her face turns blue, but when it comes to running several pixels out of the way of a nasty attack she fails at life. The enemies are also predictable, lurching back and forth with their moves and hopefully contacting anybody. If you are hoping for epic 2D battles, you are sadly mistaken.
But thankfully the game is saved with an increase in difficulty. With that easy-to-get enemy movement system comes a nasty whack if you are hit, and this usually involves some heavy level boosting over a few hours to soften up. It won't happen a lot, but when there's a particularly hard and powerful boss ahead, sharpening his axe, you better hope that your batteries are both charged and big enough. But enough worries: the battle system is a very good setup, and although players of recent Tales games will feel alienated by its simplicity, it's great for newcomers.
The rest of the game has that sort of difficult but not impossible mentality where you know where to go, just getting there might take you a little while. The world the game serves is pretty large in scope, comparable to modern-day Final Fantasy universes, and there are three versions of it as well as Cress travels through time. The only issue with that lies in the fact that the game has little of the awesome secrets you might find in such a big world in like, say, Morrowind for the PC. The land is dull and usually has very little as exploration value goes, where the Djinn system in Golden Sun suddenly shows its brilliant value. There are a few special skills here or there, but they are pretty obvious, and there aren't that many places to hide in a town.
Enough about that, however; the game is a fun play, and although it has some old-school elements and a slight raise in difficulty, RPG gamers will be thoroughly pleased. The aging portable generation needs nice, well done games like this every now and again to keep it alive. Fans of the new-fangled RPG might skip over it, but anybody who likes classics with a few twists will be pleasantly rewarded.
Well, the graphics are good. (Can I just come out and say that? The gods of reviewing say I can.) The graphics are like Golden Sun with a watering-down effect, and while they don't look particularly nasty they are a lacking art. The problem with the GBA is that it is slowly dying off, and the graphics are becoming antiquated with the screenshots of Tales games for DS. There's no room to move anymore for the near-dead Game Boy. It was a tough battle.
The overhead maps look fine, with a few added touches (like the double-helix ray of light from save-points) that give it character. Nothing looks quite as fantastic as any other game out there, but it all comes together very nicely in a neat package the GBA can handle. There are even some rare Mode-7, pseudo-3D, effects that throw off the monotony, and the battle sequences--while simple--also retain that nice, full fledged package that the visuals are. While nobody will be overly impressed by the graphics they don't detract from the game at all. It certainly looks better than those things they call "ports" for Final Fantasy, and feel free to shudder.
The sound is also a fine package, no matter how uninviting it may seem. Once again the SNES era shows its age through the portable market, and this is no exception. Following the roots of Nobou Uematsu, the game is moderately well written in terms of music, but the hardware holds it back. Don't forget to catch yourself, however, because the inevitable Golden Sun comparisons will come back: they did it with an amazing, console quality soundtrack to prove what the GBA could do. Phantasia never matches this point, but it's a fine, average listen when playing the game.
The sound effects, on a totally different tangent, are quite good. Plentiful voiceovers compliment a smattering of very nice clangs and whacking noises, plus a few in-between. The first thing the game assaults you with is a very neat quote, full voiced in clear English, and in a solemn tone. The rest of the game is peppered with these types of gems, though some awkward. A spirit near the beginning yells: "Do not dist-" while her text says "Do not disturb the tree!" The cutoff there was a little odd, though there are few of those cases and the rest of the game sounds very nice. The scream of the evil lord or the chants of your magicians just bring the game alive, and the short snippets are done with quality.
Thankfully, the whole game is nowhere near being short. A simple playthrough can net from twenty to forty hours, depending on your skill and what things you leveled to unlock. Cress has a nice variety of combos he can pull off, and only through mastering the ones he has will net him more. There are also some cooking skills that will entertain a bored gamer. The playthrough is long enough, and while it wouldn't merit an immediate second run there's enough incentive to go back. If only there was some replay value: the game is fairly linear in terms of method of play (as stated above), regardless, the game is nice and juicy and there is money's worth.
So, in conclusion, the game is fun if you can handle some aging hardware and an old RPG mentality, and anybody craving a good RPG these days can't afford to let this one slip away. It sure isn't perfect, but it's darn fun to just sit back and level for a while. Even in an average game. Nuff said.