Gameplay is solid but grows stale after a while. But the game is held together and well presented.
Gameplay: It's good but I think anyone would agree that the battle system tends to lag quite a bit and your going to need a lot of patience, because your going to be doing a LOT of fighting during the game. At first while the gameplay is still fresh while its still slow, can be quite entertaining and the real-time fighting makes you feel like you're playing a fighting game. My advice would be not to overwork the battle system at the start. If you moderate your fighting you can beat the game with the battle system still being quite fun and this even adds some replay value to the game.
8/10
Graphics: The graphics are amazing. Some of the best on the GBA, I could've sworn I was playing a DS game. Then of course there was the overworld which looked quite old and less detailed then for instance battle scenes or towns/dungeons. But if you manage to look past that, ToP offers some excellent graphics.
9/10
Sound: I think anyone would agree the voice acting in this game is pretty mediocre. Clearly the GBA is not capable of producing sounds that support voice acting but at least Namco tried, failed but tried. On another note all other music (including Battle Music, Boss Fights, Towns/Dungeons etc) are all up to scratch and provide good listening while playing the game.
8/10
Something that Tales of Phantasia manages to ace is its clever use of dialogue and characters. And exceptionally good for a SNES port, it brings out the full potential of a good, solid plot and this is the main reason it brings me back to play it. It also adds a few side quests that offer some exciting plot twists!
The GBA is home to many great RPGs and ports of RPGs if you haven't had a chance to play it yet. My advice for any RPG gamer would be to seriously take a good look at this game.