"Just another Tales game?"

I have never enjoyed the Tales series. Maybe it isn't my cup of tea. I love a good RPG. It's perhaps my favorite genre. How does the first ever Tales game on the PS2 (state side) hold up? Read on!

Well, let me start with the story. It's different than the usual Tales game as it isn't as formulaic. The story is about a brother and sister. The brother is very over protective. They end up stranded on this island and she is taken. He sets out to save her and makes some friends along the way. The problem here is that the character development (besides the bro and sis) is very weak. There background is accessible post game which doesn't really help. My biggest problem with the story is that it can carry on for 20 minutes of long boring text and nothing has really happened except I've probably fallen asleep (which I did 3 times in this game).

The graphics in the game are cell shaded and almost seem super deformed. It doesn't look horrible but it's a bit squat like and under detailed. Enemies look really good though except there really seems to be a lack of variety in them.

Sound in the game is very "eh". Voice work is very questionable at times and some just don't fit the characters at all. The sound effects are okay though. Music was very bleh and the fact that there are many times where the cast breaks out into musical numbers I just wanted to mute the game.

Control in the game is simple. Dungeons are easy to navigate as is the world. No problems with interacting with objects and the battle system is just a button mashing marathon.

Tales fans should kind of feel at home with this game. The game takes place on this really big island. It has a central city which you use for grabbing items and stuff. At every dungeon and town is a portal. You use this to hop around. It's nice because it makes backtracking less of a pain but you never really need to backtrack much.

The battle system isn't your typical Tales system. It's on a 2d plane. You just keep hitting circle and your guy will attack. The computer controls the other characters and most guys will just die. It's very bland since it's nothing more than button mashing.

The dungeons are fairly short themselves and almost as linear as the world map. Later in the game you may have to hit buttons to open ways but it's so easy that it almost made my head hurt. Inside each dungeon is a portal. This portal takes you to the lone puzzle of the dungeon. Most are push blocks but some spice it up and have you pushing blocks and hitting crystals. Yes.....

You can still get titles and recipes but I couldn't figure out any use for the titles and I never used any of the recipes. The game took me a little over 12 hours which is kind of average for me. Most likely it will take other games a bit longer. Once you beat the game a lot of bonus content opens but I personally couldn't find the need to find out the back stories of these characters since their tale was already over.

It's not that Tales of Legendia is a terrible game. It's just bland in every aspect and while I enjoyed it at first it quickly dawned on me that it really doesn't do any single thing very well. The plot is perhaps the best part of the game and out of the two Tales games I've finished now it's my favorite plot.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 10/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 6/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/30/07

Game Release: Tales of Legendia (US, 02/07/06)