This should be required gaming for all JRPG fans.
The story is about a boy named Lloyd, who is set to leave on a journey with the "Chosen" (someone who is supposed to save their world) and a couple of friends. As they embark on their quest, their adventure begins to take a lot of interesting turns. The story starts off pretty slowly and is somewhat predictable, but it picks up after the first ten or so hours. When it gets to this point, a lot of depth is added to the story, and it becomes less predictable. This game does feature your typical JRPG cheese and sappiness, but veterans of the genre won't have a problem with this.
The graphics look fairly good for their time, and they still hold up decently today. The biggest issue I have with the visuals, however, is the characters show hardly any expression when they're speaking. But the voice acting is superb, so that helps mask that problem.
The soundtrack isn't entirely memorable, but there are a few good tunes. The battle themes are energetic, and the town songs are perfectly fitting. You will grow tired of the dungeon theme after a while, though. It always makes me sleepy. A little bit of variety in the dungeon themes wouldn't have been such a bad idea, but it's still not too much of a problem.
The battle system differs a bit from most RPGs. Rather than your typical turn-based style, it plays out more like a fighting game. It's actually a really nice change of pace. In the beginning, battling mostly consists of button mashing. However, once you're able to string together combos with different special attacks, battling becomes much more fun. Boss battles aren't terribly difficult, but some will put up quite a fight if you're not properly leveled.
Aside from battling, you'll spend your time exploring towns and dungeons. Towns are always fun to explore, and the whole world this game takes place in has an interesting history. Dungeons are fun to explore, too, and they include some light puzzle solving, which prevents the dungeons from becoming tedious.
Tales of Symphonia is overall a fantastic game. If you're a JRPG fan, then you need to play it. Add the superb dungeon and town exploration with the fun, frantic battle system and the compelling story, you've got yourself an amazing role-playing experience. This is game is by no means cheap, nor is it easy to find. I'd suggest ordering it from Amazon. It's a bit pricey, but it's well worth it.