If you enjoyed a quick pleasure of Chorno Trigger, Secret of Evermore and Final Fantasy VI then you'll.....(JP Imported)
Platform: SFC (SNES)
Developer: WolfTeam/Namco Tales Studio
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Fantasy Role Playing Game
Age Rating: N/A
Release Date: 15 December 1995
Fan Translated: Dejap (2001)
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Game Score: 8.5/10
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Summery:
If you enjoyed a quick pleasure of Chorno Trigger, Secret of Evermore and Final Fantasy VI then you'll might be want to import Tales of Phantasia. (JP Imported)
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It's come to the end of the 16 bit era and 3rd party developer Square still delivers fine quality RPG hits like Final Fantasy and and the amazing Chorno Trigger, somewhere along the Super Famicom library you've might have seen Namco's Tales of Phantasia which is their answer to Squares Final Fantasy series. It shows off the impressive capabilities of the 48-Bit chip plugged in to show off many impressive graphics and voice work. Does it's great fashion and well refined RPG experience make for an impressive tale.
At the beginning an evil wizard has been sealed and then the game flashes forward 10 years later when the game introduces Cress Albane (Cless Alvain on this fan translated version) along with his friend goes out on a hunting trip. Whence they return they see the their village burned up and their families killed by a servant who takes the pendents away to reawaken the sealed wizard known as Dhaos. Cress and his friends travel back in time in order to find a way in defeating Dhaos for good as well as meeting other characters along the way. Tales of Phantasia's story delivers well with it's cast of likable characters, but the story takes a little bit of time to develop along the way but afterwards it's begins to pick up more not to mention the humorous dialog the Fan Translated version has.
In Tales of Phantasia you will spend the majority of the game traveling from one town to the next across a massive over-world watching a few story sequences or stopping to heal up. Towns serve as resting points to restore your party, Cooking shops to learn new recipes and Equipment and Item shops to add to your arsenal. In the dungeons you'll face numerous monsters in random encounters, solve a few puzzles, collect various items in chests and fight a boss encounter at the end. Phantasia also has a set of different side-quests to do if you wish to have special items and advanced magic, Tales of Phantasia's difficulty is quite challenging for the most part but as the game progresses the encounters start to grow a bit thin. Encounters are fairly frequent and also it can be a problem when you're solving a puzzle. Make no mistake Tales of Phantasia does require some amount of grinding if you're ever going to survive any tougher encounters later on Bosses meanwhile provide a decent challenge and many become more harder later on. Bottomline Tales of Phantasia will take roughly from 30 to 40 hours of playtime to complete the main story and anyone who's interested in side-quests then you'll get more playtime out of it.
Unlike most RPG's which take place in a turn based format where characters took turns in attacking monsters, in Tales of Phantasia the battles engage in proper real time battles where you fight against monsters in a single plane. You control Cless during your battles as your allies are AI controlled. You press the A button and Cless does a stranded charge attack and then quickly retreats back to his position while doing the button with the up button does a stab attack. The B button allows Cless to use special moves depending on which range you are away from the enemy. Some attacks that Cless will learn will either go from short range to long range so it's best to choose the right skills needed for later battles. Your characters will learn new attacks and magic spells as you progress through the game, these can be acquired either by following the storyline or by talking to different NPCs which give Cless attacks which combine 2 special attacks into one. For the most part the battles are enjoyable and challenging but however some battles you end up facing many enemies which have different attributes which determine what spells and attacks the enemies are weak or strong against and sometimes many attacks you'll land on them turn out ineffective. This will mean you have to either change your strategy or by fleeing which you go to the edge of the battle screen and holding the L button. Regardless Tales of Phantasia's battle system is satisfying enough to impress many RPG fans looking for a deep and rewarding system for players to master.
If there's one thing already said about Tales of Phantasia's Graphics is that they are among the finest you'll ever see on the Super Famicom with rich character sprites and impressive environments and spells effects during battle. Although the character animations come of a little dull but there's no mistaking it's loveable graphics for any other RPG available on the Super Famicom. The music is astounding with beautiful beats and composition and you'll find yourself loving the music when you fight a summon spirit. What Tales of Phantasia accomplishes unlike most other Super Famicom game at the time is the ability to ultilise the 48-bit capabilities which pushes the consoles limit but the games runs quite well nevertheless.
When it comes to it Tales of Phantasia is a satisfying RPG that will impress you from start to finish. It's deep combat system, likable characters and it's outstanding presentation of it's 48 bit capabilities should make this one of the most memorable games on the Super Famicom that needs to be checked out. If you enjoyed a quick pleasure of Chorno Trigger, Secret of Evermore and Final Fantasy VI then you'll might be want to import Tales of Phantasia or get a fan translated download of the internet.
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The Pros:
1. Impressive storyline with a likeable cast of characters
2. Amazing amount of content to do
3. Impressive battle system that is satisfying to enjoy
4. Graphics and soundtrack are amazing and shows of the impressive 48 bit capabilities
The Bads:
1. Frequent Random encounters and sometimes Battles can be difficult
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
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