Tales of Legendia

"Namco spins another Legendary Tale...."

Namco's 'Tales of' series just celebrated it's 10th anniversary (with the release of Tales of the Abyss, infact) but Tales of Legendia was released mere months ago as well, and is slated for a North American release. The reason why I point this out is because the Tales series is relatively unknown outside of the Asian region. Or rather, it was, until Symphonia was released on the Gamecube about a year ago. The system itself was RPG-starved, which likely added to the sales of a game that, like the previous installments, would probably have been overlooked if not for that fact. Since Symphonia, the other titles that had North American releases (Tales of Destiny and Eternia, which was renamed 'Destiny II' in the US) have become somewhat rare commodities, and titles that released after Symphonia had fans holding their breath, praying for US releases. Namco let fans down by not releasing Tales of Rebirth stateside (although the reasons were very understandable) but most fans were somewhat shocked when the next game, this game, Tales of Legendia, was announced for an NA release. Fans rejoiced at the fact that another Tales would see US shores, but all things considered, Legendia is a somewhat odd title, and a bit of an unusual choice, considering Abyss is more like Symphonia than ToL is. However, we'll get into that later, so let's get started, shall we?

Graphics - 8/10

Originally, I had my doubts about ToL's graphics. The characters seemed like they were a step BACK from Symphonia's nice-looking and fitting Cel-shading. Legendia first appeared to have clunky, chibi 3-D character models that looked really odd. Especially coupled with the fact that you'd be battling on a 2-D plane. And yet, somehow, it all fits together so well, and nothing really looks out of place. My only problem with character models is that often, enemies didn't appear to have much detail. However, you party members do, and the way the 3-D characters and skill animations flow during battle is pretty flawless. However, dispite all of that, some people may be turned off to the somewhat blocky looking characters after having played Symphonia. I, for one, think they look great.

Areas are gorgeous, and have a very soft, almost water-color or pastel look to them. There are lots of large, sprawling areas and rooms to find, so exploration is never really hard on the eyes, and there are no places that are flat-out ugly. Every area seems to be full of life, movement, and gentle colors.

For those of you who were initially turned off by the character artwork, (and there were apparently many) take note that the character sketches and preliminary artwork doesn't appear anywhere in the game, and the character portraits and skits all have great (if not somewhat generic) looking anime designs. One thing about the skits in the Tales games, is that they include wide arrays of emotions for the characters, and the character's expressions really help with the overall tone and mood and just the feel of what your characters are thinking. You know when they're happy, you know when they're sad, you know when they're angry, and Namco's artists really portray these well, which adds not only to the visuals of the game, but the overall experience.

Story - 8/10

Even Tales fans admit that the weak-points of the series generally are the stories. Legendia opens with Senel and Shirley on a boat, and they happen across what appears to be an island. Of course, we find out that this 'island' is actually a continent-sized ship--The Legacy--a ship that was mysteriously created in the past. Of course, things go arwy rather quickly, as Shirley is kidnapped almost immediately.

Although it may sound somewhat overdone, the fact about this game, and most of the tales games, is that the characters really pull the games together. Almost every charcter in the series has some likable quirk, and Legendia is no different. If you've read anything about the game, you'll probably know that the game is divided into two halves: The main quest, and the 'character quests.' The main quest is...well....the main quest. It's the story part of the game that introduces us to yet another lovable cast that Namco has assembled. The second half of the game was specifically designed to delve into each character's past, emotions, relationships, families, and a plethora of other defining attributes. Every character in the tales universe as a certain charm, or quirk as I previously stated, but Legendia's cast really shines, be it Will's relationship to his daughter, who doesn't think he cares about her, or Chloe, who is torn as to weither or not revenge is the best course of action she should take, or should she just let the past be the past...

Control - 9/10

Legendia's controls function very well both in and out of battle. Easy accessable menus and navigatable areas, and excellent camera angles really add to the gameplay. Battle is just like previous installments: Assign skills to a certain button, regular attacks are assigned to a button, you can block, pullup the battle menus, everything functions very easily.

Battles - 7/10

Legendia's battle system is more or less a double-edged sword. First of all, one thing that needs to be pointed out to people who have only played Symphonia and are anticipating this game; ToL is very unlike Symphonia, battle-wise. Symphonia had the 'Multi-line,' almost full-out 3-D real time action, battle system, whereas Legendia turns back to the earliest installments of the series such as Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, and Destiny 2. Battle takes place on a single line/plane, and your characters and enemies are lined up on this plain. It is not turn based, there is no waiting, or anything like that. You still fight in real-time, it's just that it's set up similar to a fighting game, or similar to a game like Super Smash Brothers.

As far as actual battle goes, everything is pretty much unchanged. You can use up to four characters in battle at any given time. You assign skills to a certain button, and execute them by inputting various commands with the D-pad, while throwing in a few regular attacks, and guards here and there. Skills can still be comboed up as well. Also, Senel, the main character, is a fist user rather than the game's sword-user. This adds a bit of a spin, as he has a number if interesting abilities, including 'throws' which, obviously, allow him to pick up enemies and throw them dealing a great deal of damage. These throw skills have weight requirements, and also you can only throw enemies of a certain type with each throw skill. It actually makes for some quite interesting attacks. There is also this new feature called the 'Climax gauge,' which functions somewhat like Symophonia's unison attacks. By successfully landing attacks, you build up the gauge. Once it's full, you can activate it. This freezes the enemy, and allows you to preform combos, uninterrupted. You can also press the Climax button again to do a huge team-attack resulting in massive damage.

Sadly, however, many of the features that make the Tales battles so great are missing. Such as the flashy Hi-ougis, and extensions. character break-ins when they unleash these massive attacks are missing (Aside from when you use a climax attack). Most skills look nice, but are somewhat bland, and everything can just seem kind of dull. You'll also run into these 'Chaos zones' that are placed in areas, where you fight dark versions of regular monsters. These battles sound interesting, but usually just last far too long, as the enemies have too much HP and Defense, but really aren't so powerful. The battles just tend to drag out, and Chaos Zones seem to have their own encounter rate (although they disappear after just one battle) so you may fight a monster in a chaos zone, and immediately get attacked again after the battle.

Overall, it's a fairly cut-'n-dry battle system, with a few new features, but nothing that really stands out all that much. If you were a fan of the early installments, you might feel at home. I did. But if you're used to running all over the place like in Symphonia, or in the Star Ocean titles, this won't be the same. battles are usually fast-pased, but somewhat monotinous.

Music - 7/10

The music actually sounds real nice in the game, but you won't really take it anywhere with you. Now, a couple months after playing the game, about the only thing I really remember was the world map theme. Also, some of the classic stuff, like the victory music are strangely absent.

Replay - 6/10

Don't take that score too badly. There's some replay to the game. The game has the grade shop like Symphonia and some of the other tales titles, but I'm not sure what the options in the shop were, as I got to the final area and never actually checked out the shop. There isn't any multiplayer, and titles function in this game a lot differently than in Symphonia. You don't have to bother collecting titles for alternate outfits or anything, because you buy the alternates in the grade shop, and there are only two of them, and one of the two sets looks goofy as hell. On top of that, you can't even change them, which is kind of another letdown. There are some things which are somewhat easy to miss, but it's more of a disappointment if you miss them, and it's kind of up to you wither or not they merit another playthrough, should you miss them. Not really a replay thing, but there is this sort of customization shop where you can create various weapons and items, and eventually some of the most powerful items can be created there. There is also an arena, which will unlock a few special battles (no cameos, however) and that will net you a few items, too. However, these things are more of extras than replay things, so you can really do most of everything in one playthrough. Again, it's kind of disappointing in that respect.

Overall - 8/10

Tales of Legendia actually wasn't developed by Namco's tales team. It was developed by their team that works on games like Soul Calibur and such. As such, it almost feels obvious in some respects, and not-so-obvious in others. The game feels like it's missing a few things that other games in the series have, and yet it still feels like a very solid tales title, in many ways it feels like the earlier games in the series, and it still has that feeling of great characters, strong exploration, and, interestingly enough, one of the most involved plots of any of the Tales to date. I'll say it again; the game plays very differently from Symphonia, but it is more than worth it, in those terms of great characters and the engaging plot. Infact, this game will somewhat show people how the battle system worked in some of the earlier games in the series. It's really a title worth picking up. it's a great addition to the series, and dispite it's flaws, it's really a very enjoyable title, second to very few.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/05