Tales of Legendia

"A Legacy Continued"

An amazing and successful series continues its legacy with Tales of Legendia. This game put its characters before anything else, and it really shows. The characters and character development are amazingly stunning, while everything else is not nearly as good.

Graphics: 7/10
The graphics are done very well for what the design that the developers desired. Instead of its predecessor Tales of Symphonia's cel-shaded graphics, Tales of Legendia aims for a chibi anime look. The game pulls it off very nicely; however, there are moments when you will wish the graphics were more realistic so that you can view what is occurring in each scene more clearly.
The game has twenty-one anime cut scenes, but most are extremely short. They have one cut scene when you start the Playstation 2, one when you begin the game, one when you complete the Main Quest, one after each Character Quest, one after completing the entire game, and a few more scattered throughout the rest of the game. The cut scenes are clear, crisp, well voice acted, and make you think you are really watching an anime.
Overall the graphics accomplish the task that they were created for, but they fall short when attempting to convey the emotional entirety of the game.

Gameplay: 6/10
The most important aspect of a game is the gameplay because no matter how good the sound and graphics are, they do not matter at all if the game is not fun. Tales of Legendia's gameplay is average. Any task your party decides to undertake, no matter how small, leads to a long and tedious dungeon filled with random battles just waiting to annoy you.

The battle system is bland and quickly becomes a tedious chore of dispatching your enemies just so you can continue with the story. In battle many times only pressing the “X” button for a basic attack combo will suffice, as mot special attacks do about the same amount of damage as a regular attack; however, by combining your eres, or special abilities, with regular attack you can create large combo attacks that keep your enemy from moving., thus dishing out large amounts of pain to your opponent.

The AI in this game is among the worst. The battles are generally very easy, but the AI can complicate things extremely quickly. Your Crystal Erens' (Spellcasters) actions are absolutely asinine. The will very rarely heal you unless you command them to do so, so you must spend most of your time in boss fights repeatedly pressing the shortcut button on your controller in order to heal your party. If an enemy closes in on them, instead of running away like hey should always do, especially if you set their AI action to do so, they still do not. They attempt to attack the enemies with their frail physical attacks, taking damage in the process, before running to the opposite side of the screen. Sometimes they will continuously attempt to cast the same spell over and over even though the enemy is constantly hitting them causing them to be interrupted. The game also lacks a character with a full set of restorative magic, making healing even more of a pain. Possibly the worst part about the AI is the fact that they have no sense about what the enemy is strong to and what it is weak to, even though if they use an attack that the enemy resists they will say something to let you know, but they do nothing to fix it themselves. You end up finishing a battle with a low grade (points you receive based on how well you perform in the battle) because the AI takes too much damage, does not heal, attacks the enemy when it is resistant to their eres, or just stands there.

Story: 9/10
This is Tales of Legendia's saving grace. The story is split into two sections: the Main Quest and the Character Quests. The Main Quest focuses on the game's main plot, and on the two main characters Senel and Shirley. The Character Quests are chapters that give character development on every other character.

The Main Quest has a good, but clichéd, storyline. Senel and his sister Shirley are on a boat when a moving island quickly approaches them, and they crash into it. When they awaken, Shirley is kidnapped, and thus begins Senel's quest to save his sister. As the story progresses, Senel meets numerous people who join to help him save his sister from her captors.

The Character Quests are the most enjoyable section of the games, but the also lack variety. The character development that occurs here is absolutely amazing and extremely emotional. Each character besides Senel and Shirley get a chapter in the character quests devoted to their own development. During the quests you will see sides of the characters you never saw during the Main Quest, and you will grow attached to every member in your party as the quests progress. On the other hand, only one new location is revealed during the character quests, and even it is not a very impressive area. You will travel through the exact same scenery as you traversed in the first half of the game, and boredom will inevitably set in. Since the Character Quests add about an extra 30 hours to the game, seeing the same scenery is not a good thing.

A large downfall in both sets of the story is the fact that when a plot twist, or major event is revealed the characters never dwell on it; they barely spend any time discussing it, if any. It makes you wonder if it was even worth revealing, as you may be shocked, but any questions the event raises will almost always remain unanswered.

The best aspect of Tales of Legendia is its humor; it is one of the funniest games that can be played. The story is filled with numerous humorous lines, and you will often find yourself laughing out loud, or writing them down for future reference. The characters interact with each other amazingly for scenes that have elite comedic value. There are plenty of non-playable characters that add to the humor of the game, and they will appear randomly throughout the game to give the gift of laughter.

Characters: 10/10
Normally, a review would not have a character section, but for a game such as this, where characters play such an integral role in the final product, it is really needed. Every character has a distinct personality that you will come to love in one way or another, either from the very first time you see them, or by the end of their character quest, you ill love each character in some aspect. The character designs are extremely well done, as is each character's personality. The party interacts with each other all the time, even during battle, where they yell out to each other.

The weapon diversity is also a welcomed change: many characters use weapons differently than they would normally be wielded, or they wield unsuspected weapons. The Crystal Erens, for example, wield a hammer, an urn, a pen, and a straw. All of those are weapons that you would not normally come across as being used in battle at all, yet they are wielded. The hammer wielding Crystal Eren, Will, can do surprising amounts of damage with his gigantic hammer, as well as with his crystal eres. The main character in this game does not wield a sword; he instead fights with his fists using Iron Eres (Melee attacker). The sword wielder is a female knight, a young girl with a tough attitude, but a soft inner side. The knife user, Jay, is the ninja-type of the game. However, he also fights with his feet, using a spectacular flurry of kicks, as well as elemental attacks to damage those who oppose him. There is even a ranged Iron Eren, Moses, who fights with spears. He is extremely useful as he can fight from the backline, giving support to the rest of your characters.

The development team did a spectacular job with the characters in this game, they are some of the best to come around in awhile.

Sound: 6/10
The music in Tales of Legendia is good, but not the best. Each song is a catchy tune that can easily get stuck in your head, but the game recycles the same song in numerous areas throughout the game that listening to the songs begins to grain on your nerves. After constantly hearing the same tune while playing the game and in your head out of the game, you can easily begin to dislike the music. The music is not something the average person would listen would listen to in their everyday life, as it lacks a dramatic climax or ending; each song just repeats itself in an infinite loop of eventual annoyance.

The voice acting in this game is executed very well, but only for the Main Quest. During the Character Quests, there is no voice acting, which is an extreme let down. Due to the lack of voices in the Character Quests, the emotion conveyed is not nearly as powerful as it should be. The second half of the game is all about the story, and the voice acting would add some much needed zest to the emotionally powerful story.

Overall: 8/10
Overall this game is a good game, but not the best game out there. The characters are well thought out, and their development is stunning. The battle system is fun to play, but can get boring quickly if that is all you spend your time doing. The game some replay value as you can play through a New Game +, but since there is no multiplayer in this game, you will basically be playing the same game over again. If you are a fan of the “Tales Of…” series then you definitely want to pick this title up. If you like real time battle RPGs, with a strong story, and great characters then buy it. However, the game is not for everyone. If you are a hardcore graphics freak then please do not buy this game. If you dislike anime you will also dislike this game. The game is long, about 60-70 hours, and it has a good story to keep you entertained, with a decent battle system to keep you happy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/06