3/09/06 - Tales of Phantasia (GBA)

[schild]

Ya, the first in the series that spawned something like 37 other games. Gotta hand it to Namco. They know how to milk a franchise. This is probably the most disconnected yet consistant series in the history of RPGs, including the Final Fantasy series of games. But it's a GBA version. I've been having a hella good time playing RPGs on my micro, I can't see this being a bad addition to the library.

[Rasix]

Ya, the first in the series that spawned something like 37 other games. Gotta hand it to Namco. They know how to milk a franchise. This is probably the most disconnected yet consistant series in the history of RPGs, including the Final Fantasy series of games. But it's a GBA version. I've been having a hella good time playing RPGs on my micro, I can't see this being a bad addition to the library.

I played a translated version of this for the SNES on an emulator.  It sucks.  This game is simply fucking terrible.

[Yegolev]

If I played Super Metroid in an emulator, I'd think it sucked too.  You mean relative to other emulated games, right?

[Rasix]

It's a terrible game based on the shitty gameplay and suck-tastic story line. I've played worse RPGs but I can't name any at the moment.  Playing this on a handheld wouldn't make it magically better.

Edit: The graphics were kinda cute in an OMG ANIME way.

[schild]

Really? Hmmm. I didn't think Tales of Legendia and Tales of Symphonia were that bad. I figured Phantasia was just a miniature version. Maybe I won't get this.

[Yegolev]

I am just looking for context in just how it sucks.  I think Symphonia is ass, though, so it's already far from consideration.

[Rasix]

I am just looking for context in just how it sucks.  I think Symphonia is ass, though, so it's already far from consideration.

To be exact, I played it on my PSP using a SNES emulator for the 1.5 firmware.  Despite it being a beefier and more graphic intensive SNES game, there wasn't any graphical slowdown to speak of with only minor adjustments made for the emulator (sound quality reduced, 2 or 3 frames skipped, yadda yadda).  That being said, I didn't have a problem with the graphics or the sound.  Both were OK, cutesy, yet uninspired. 

The battle system was tepid, steaming yak ass. It was a departure from the norm in that it tried to combine some hack and slack side scroller elements with your standard equipment + level = damage equation. There were some decent tactical elements to it, but it just fell flat in execution.  If you had a weapon with + to piercing you just did stabby moves, if you had a slashing weapon, SLASH!  Note: bad hybrid battle systems make for extremely tedius trash fights/leveling.  Then there were the boss fights, which all sucked. The limitations of the AI combined with the sidescroller confines made them just incredibly fucking stupid. By the time I got cockblocked by a boss about 5-6 hours into the game, I was done.  It's not a good idea to have bosses that rely 100% on timing when only one person in your party is under human control and the methods of control that extend to your other party members are unresponsive at best.

The story was laughably bad too. The lack of imagination that went into it was almost humorous.  "Ok, I'm looking for a reason why magic exists.. hmm.. how about.. ELVES!!!".

I haven't played a lot of what I'd consider horrible rpgs.  This was one of them, however.  I'm trying to think of RPGs I didn't particularly like.  FFIX comes to mind, but that was only because trying to be derivative made the game insanely so and the last boss fight was pulled out of someone's ass. But.. at least it worked and could compel me to get past the bad parts to actually finish the game.  It's rare occurence when I don't finish an RPG.  Only one that comes to mind is Chrono Cross and for the life of me I can't fathom why I don't (*cough* WOW *cough*).

[schild]

Ok then, crossed off the list :P

[Glazius]

ToP can get pretty grindy, yeah. Stats > twitch. There's an interesting system where you cart around food to heal yourself up (hp and mp) between battles and that can help you survive in tougher areas, but stats will ultimately trump.

If it's a totally faithful port, you'll only have one guy whose control actually matters, since your other available party members are a healer, a mage, a summoner, and an archer. Unfortunately for your hero everybody else who has a special move generally freezes the action when it executes. I'm not talking FF7 camera-pan-whooshes here, but since you're supposed to be carving through yard trash at a stupid rate to grind levels it can get really annoying.

It took them until Tales of Eternia (J)/Tales of Destiny II (U) to be able to have a truly dynamic combat system - if they've backpatched that into ToP it won't be so bad, but with the grind and no system in place to reward you for, like, speed or combo counts, it's interesting only from a historical perspective.

--GF

who really enjoyed ToDII's combat even though the storyline had the consistency of damp tissue