First Look: Tales of Symphonia

[bahn]

<b>Tales of Symphonia</b> is shaping up quite nicely, as evidenced in the newest batch of screens released today by <a href="http://www.namco.com">Namco</a>. For those not in the know, the <i>Tales</i> series dates back to 1995, when <i>Tales of Destiny</i> was released on SNES. And despite the fact the adopts the typical "save the world" theme that so many RPGs have been known for, this is one adventure that you shouldn't pass up.

Retaining the traditional RPG format, <i>Tales of Symphonia</i> takes players into an epic, 3D world featuring over 80 hours of gameplay, awesome cel-shaded graphics, and a challenging real-time battle system. Adding a twist into the mix thanks to a fully customizable character growth system to suit your fighting style. There's also a ton of mini-games and side quests that can be tackled alone or up for added multiplayer fun. We'll be eager to see more of this game up close-and-personal at this years E3.

<i>Tales of Symphonia</i> is scheduled for release July 2004.

<center>
<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia1.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia1t.jpg" border="1"></a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia2.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia2t.jpg" border="1">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia3.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia3t.jpg" border="1">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia4.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia4t.jpg" border="1">

<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia5.jpg" border="1"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia5t.jpg"></a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia6.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia6t.jpg" border="1">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia7.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia7t.jpg" border="1">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia8.jpg"><img src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/news/0403/namco/tales-of-symphonia8t.jpg" border="1">
</center>

[Frogacuda]

For those not in the know, the <i>Tales</i> series dates back to 1995, when <i>Tales of Destiny</i> was released on SNES.

You mean Tales of Phantasia

featuring over 80 hours of gameplay

Beat it in 43 without a walkthrough on my first try and I don't even know japanese. First Tales game to take me more than 28 in fact.

You shouldn't be too hard on the premise either. The plot's pretty solid and does a good job of blurring the line between good and evil.

[bahn]

I am not being hard on the premise, Froggy..but I don't think it's a theme we haven't heard before.