Tales of Destiny II

"Er... "You bet!""

I have to say, Tales of Destiny 2 just bowled me over. From the first, I was set on hating it and I dismissed it as a crappy attempt at a revival of a dying system. I tried it out, bored person that I am. As it turns out, I ended up loving this overly cliché’, done-too-many-times game. Let me elaborate on that.

GRAPHICS -- Right out of a storybook and amazingly smooth, TOD2 possesses the most beautiful 2D graphics I have ever seen on the Playstation console, reminding me an awful lot of Saga Frontier 2’s, only slightly better. The colors aren’t depressingly dull or even horrendously flashy; they’re done in that rare mix of “just right” – the type that makes the gamer never tire of absorbing everything in. The only very annoying flaw in the graphics department is the unsightly 3D world map. Really, shouldn’t Namco have at least tried to be consistent? This game’s world map is a fluke in innovation. Tsk, tsk.

STORYLINE – Reid and company help out a weird looking stranger to… well, save the world. Whoop de doo. What did you expect? It’s always the same thing with most RPG’s, over and over and over again. Only this time, our little band of heroes and heroines is out to save TWO worlds from crashing against each other.

Argh.

But anyway, all the characters, for me, are likeable, although their personalities have already been programmed into other video game characters long before them. I won’t spoil the story for you anymore, but it’s not like you need any more spoiling, ne? You can pretty much predict what’s going to happen next.

Still, I’ll give this game points for humor. I think the lines were very realistic and well thought out - not “seriousness and noble intentions” all the time.

GAMEPLAY – It’s real-time battle here, folks, and it’s great! A very fun battle system, and absolutely addictive. Button-mashing, combos, the like. You control a character while you assign the other characters their own strategies during battle, and the computer takes care of them for you. You use TP for spells or, in this case, Craymel Artes. One thing I don’t like, though, is that with everything that’s going around in battle, your character most of the time gets lost in the swirl of colors that your allies’ and enemies’ attacks generate. Everything seems to happen all at the same time, and the next thing you know, some character suddenly shouts “Victory!” or “You can’t beat me!” and the battle’s over. Sigh. Yes, the characters talk through battles. Or rather, the characters shout their skills while performing them, much like the Additions from Legend of Dragoon. You’d think their voices are gonna get hoarse sooner or later, but noooo. Their voices ALWAYS sound perfect, but what good will those do, anyway? Other than hoping to break their opponents’ eardrums?!

Weapons, armor, accessories, and ingredients for recipes are sold. (Ah, traditional RPG’s!) That means weapon upgrading and recipe hunts. You get recipes from “the” Wonder Chef who has a penchant for appearing as a piece of harmless furniture. So I guess if you have a mind to complete all recipes and all other secret goodies, you’re doomed to “search” every town thoroughly with the X button. Exhausting, isn’t it? Well, there’re always walkthroughs…

MUSIC: Nothing spectacular here. Some tunes stand out while some lie deep in slumber underneath the recesses of my memory. The voice acting for this game was pretty much okay, although there were some awkward moments. Compared to other games that use voice acting, I’d say this is the best you’ll ever come across – hey, at least the voice actors here don’t pronounce each sentence as if it were an exclamation!

Overall Rating: 9/10

Hmm… to buy or to rent? Buy, of course. I don’t think you can go wrong with this game, unless you’re looking for something revolutionary. ^ ^

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/02, Updated 10/09/02