Review: Tales of Symphonia [GC] -work in progress post-

Ok ok I know I’m a little behind on reviewing this one [behind by a few years >.>; ], but I had my reasons:

1- I used to not know it existed

2- When I finally heard about ToS [a few years ago ] I didn’t have the extra cash because I had just bought ToP and returned from a trip to D.C [and after that other things came up]… of course I didn’t have an anime/manga review blog back then.

3- I was busy beating the game and reviewing a few animes/mangas.

 

So forgive me for being late, and I’ll post a quick review for it, including short character bios and pictures.

 

 By the time I finally got to play ToS, I had all ready played it’s predecessor ToP so I was pretty excited to hear about the more advanced storyline, and the music for the game is pretty fantastic. The timeline is [or seems to be... I could be wrong] set before Tales of Phantasia’s timeline in Asyria/Iselia begins… which is something I could appreciate since I like stories that work together like that. The action in the game was pretty good, and I assume the sidequests are ok too. . . although I’ll update you if I find out otherwise [I've just had time to run through the game once really fast without sidequests so I have no idea how they are]. The only thing that people could say the game could do without would be Lloyd’s use of language; I mean, not that the language seriously bothers me to the extreme but I think the game creators had a little too much fun inserting random cusswords wherever there was a blank spot in a dramatic cutscene XD. So if you don’t like hearing a moderate amount of such language in a videogame, then you can spare yourself and not play ToS but I’m telling you you’d be missing out on a really great storyline.

 

ToS Storyline:  [According to the namco tales of symphonia site]

“Two worlds exist, unaware of each other. Mana, or life force, is shared by both worlds and while one world thrives, the other suffers.

Lloyd Irving lives on Sylvarant, a dying world where nothing is as it seems – a fact he hasn’t yet realized. With a strong set of justice, incredible bravery, and a particular loyalty to his friends, he joins them in a very important quest: a journey to save their world.

Lloyd’s close friend, Colette Brunel, is the Chosen One, destined to save the dying world as a descendant of the Mana bloodline. At the age of 16, the weight of the world hangs on her shoulders.

Genis Sage, the village intellectual, is a talented magician with a personality to die – or kill – for. Most likely, you’ll grow to love him.

Together, they set on this dangerous journey together – to unlock the seals of the world and bring the balance back to their dying town on Sylvarant.”

Characters:

-Lloyd Irving: With his mother dead and his father as an unknown [spoiler lovers shut up *teehee ^-^* ], Lloyd was raised by the dwarf Dirk since the age of three; when his mother, his pet Noiishe and he were found at the bottom of a cliff below the Iselia human ranch. The only thing Lloyd has left of his mom’s is her exsphere: a strange stone created by the desians that brings out and enhances the wearer’s power. Since being raised by a dwarf and having no known-to-be-alive human parents made him somewhat of an outsider in their village – Iselia – he only has two best friends; Genis Sage and Collette Brunel. Although he can be a little hot headed when it comes to protecting those he cares about and though he slacks off at school, Lloyd is a kind person who wants the world to be regenerated without the constant cycle of mana give-and-take, and wants the world to be without the discrimination between the elves, humans, and the half elves.

 

 

-Collette Brunel: Collette is the Chosen of Regeneration of the world of Sylvarant; in other words, she is the one chosen by the oracle to take the World Regeneration Journey to release the mana flow, defeat the Desians, and thereby save Sylvarant. She has known since she was a very young child the true nature of the end of the journey and has thus had [literally] the weight of the world on her shoulders, making her a very determined person despite her nuturing – if clumsy – nature. Aside from her family, the person that matters the most to her in the world is her best friend Lloyd Irving (once or twice either in the game or the anime or both she says that if he weren’t there she would “lose her reason” for going on the journey), and his friendship has meant more to her than perhaps he knows. Although she is a very slender and care-free person she can fight for herself or to protect a friend when the time calls for it.

 

 

-Genis Sage: Genis is one of Lloyd’s best friends, ridiculously smart for his age, and a magic user. He and his sister Raine came to the village of Iselia – after trying to live in several other villages where they were not welcomed because they are halfelves – where they were finally able to start a peaceful life. Although at first Genis and raine lie to the village about being halfelves (saying instead that they are elves), when Lloyd and the group travelling on the World Regeneration Journey find out they hold no discrimination against them for it. However, since Genis has dealt with the unfair prejudice against half-elves all his life by elves and humans alike, he has developed a disgusted attitude toward anyone who chooses to discriminate against his kind solely for the sake of being halfelven, though he still fights against the Desians.

 

 

-Raine Sage: Raine is Genis’ older sister as well as Iselia’s teacher and local archaeological know-it-all, as well as an accomplished mage-healer. Although sometimes she can get a bit overly scholarly in her speech, has somewhat of a quick temper, and goes crazy when she comes across acheological finds, she is a kind natured person and has watched her brother, collette, and lloyd grow up together. She is one of the more logical members of the World regeneration group, and will put the safety of Lloyd, Genis, and the Chosen above her own.

 

 

-Kratos Aurion: Kratos is, to quote the official namco ToS site, is “a mercenary, hired to accompany the Chosen on her journey of regeneration.” In the beginning of the game, he mysteriously shows up to help Lloyd, Genis, and Collette out of a sticky situation with Desians and tells the elders that he will accompany/protect Collette on the Journey of Regeneration if they’ll pay him… to which they agree due to his mage-skills and excellent swordsmanship (of which Lloyd is somewhat jealous XD). Although he is somewhat of an aloof person, he seems to have a caring nature hidden underneath his rough exterior. He takes an unusual ammount of time explaining swordsmanship to as well as critiquing Lloyd, developing an odd almost paternal relationship with him. He may not seem like much but he is in fact one of the most useful and versatile members of the group.

 

(I’ll digress here a bit)

~~I will admit that Kratos is my favorite ToS character but it’s not without cause. I mean, sure some people think he’s cute or w/e, but as for me he’s my fav b/c of his versatility, his usefulness (he is a swordsman, a mage, and a healer… heck yes!), and because he got me out of a really sticky spot in the game. As I told you somewhere above, I was trying to run through the game the first time really fast, which meant I had to level up like crazy… so I travelled away from the next town I was supposed to go to WITHOUT restocking anything (yep, I was an idiot travelling without more than 4 life bottles and a few gels), crossed a bridge, and got into a fight far above my character’s level ability ^_^;;. In the end, everyone but Kratos was dead and I had no life bottles left. Somehow (I’m still not quite sure), Kratos made it out of there not only alive, but the victor *chyeah!*… and got me all the way back to where I was supposed to be without dying. Hence I’ve played favorites ever since XD. ~~

 

If you want to know about the Tethe’alla group, or more about the game, or even the spoilers, just leave me a comment about it and I’ll post it; if I don’t get any comments on it then I’ll think no ones cares to hear any more and so I’ll be saving myself some time by not posting the rest. 

 

mm’kay this is all ready a massive post but I’ll post a youtube video for you just for being so patient with waiting for a new post (it’s ToS themed obv.) It’s cute, and the music is from the Lion King 2… which under other circumstances would have no signifigance right? Well in this case, the song’s vocals are done by the american voice actor Cam Clarke, who was the voice actor for Kratos in the ToS game. Oh, and random fact #2, if you ever thought you’d heard Lloyd’s voice [on the game] before btu couldn’t quite place it… just think of one rather outspoken leader on the show Teen Titans and you’ve got yourself the voice  actor.
Ok, so there are 2 random facts for you, and now to the amv!

“We Are One”

 

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Update after a long absence

~ by hayatekaze on May 23, 2008.