Tales of Destiny

"Yes, I'm a bit late in writing this review.....but this is one of my favorite games."

Ah, Tales of Destiny. One of my favorite games. I know I'm writing this review...4 years? Maybe more? After this game has been out. But, I love it, so, a new Tales of Destiny review goes up.

Any ways...this is the sequel (Pretty much in name only) to the game 'Tales of Phantasia' released for the Super Famicom in Japan. A pretty popular series there, but one that is over looked a bit in America.

So, on to the Review...

Graphics - 7/10: To me, graphics mean nothing, but I include this part for those people to whom graphics do matter. Well...this game was released after some of the games like Final Fantasy VII. Which, this game is graphically inferior to. So, it was kind of swept under the rug and ignored. Towns, cities, and characters, all look really good. Very 'old school' RPGish, which, is what I like. Everything is detailed, from the pictures on the castle walls, right down to the shadows that follow your characters when you get near a light source. The game looks like Tales of Phantasia, which, was as I said, an SNES game. So, of course there are people who may pass this game up simply because of that. The thing I have to mention is the world map looks quite.....bad. Yeah. It's not very good, and looks very pixilated in some areas...oh well. If you can look past graphics, you're in for a really great game.

Story - 9/10: The story of this game still holds up well in today's world of countless RPGs. You start out as Stahn, a country boy who is a cast away on an airship. He is found, and questioned as to why he is on the ship, and you quickly find out that this ship is carrying something extremely valuable. The ship is unexpectedly attacked, and Stahn is forced to use a sword he finds in one of the store rooms on the airship. But, this sword is special, it is a sentient sword, meaning......it is alive. The story flys from there, and you run into various characters who share the same destiny as Stahn. Some of the other characters also wield sentient swords, called 'Swordians' who were created in ancient times and used in a battle to save the world from destruction. But, the swordians have awakened, and it must mean the world is in danger once more...

Control - 9.5/10: Control is really easy in this game, both in, and out of battle. Out of battle, you can only move in four directions; Forward, backward, left, and right. Which, may be a little disappointing to people who like to have a full 100% over what direction they want to move. In battle, things are even more simple. One button to attack, one to defend, one pulls up the battle menu, and one is used with the directional button for use of 'special attacks.' It's real easy to understand. Also, you only control Stahn throughout the game, though, you can give commands to other characters like to use an item, or cast a spell, or use a special. One other thing, you can equip a certain item to another character and have other people control your other party members! And since you can have 4 people per battle, that means you can have up to 4 people playing the game at one time! Though, this can be difficult, as I'll explain in the next section...

Battles - 8/10: The battles are 2-D side-scrolling battles. They are real time battles, though. No turn based combat here. Like I said above, you control only Stahn, but, you can give some commands to the other characters as well. You can also give the other characters specific commands outside of battle, which, they will do during battle, such as; You can give a character a command to heal all the time, or part of the time, or hardly at all, you can give commands to a different character to use only the most powerful spells or skills, or to save their Technical Points (TP, the games equivalent to something like MP or AP) until they desperately need it....but, you'll figure all that out when you play. Unfortunately, battles require little skill, and more button mashing than I'd have liked it. You can pretty much use Stahn to keep all of the enemies at bay, by mashing the attack button, while your other characters pound away at them with spells and skills. One thing I do like, is that after you attack, there is a small 'recovery time' before you can attack again. I mean, after Stahn swings the sword, it may take him a second or two to recover and swing the sword again. This almost gives you some feeling that he is swinging a real sword around. Well....sort of, I guess. Now, on to the multiplayer part. Like I said, you can find certain items (Channeling rings, to be exact) and equip them to any of the other characters and have some friends join you in playing Tales of Destiny. Of course, this sounds better than it is. First off, the battlefields in this game are about 1 and 1/2 to 2 tv screens long, and the camera always focuses on Stahn, meaning, there are things happening off screen that you can't see. This is bad because you can't always tell if an enemy is charging up a spell until too late, and if you have multiple people playing sometimes their character will run off screen and they will have no clue as to what is going on. But, over all, in battle the characters and enemies look really good.

Music - 9/10: The music is probably one of the best parts of the game. Every song fits perfectly with the atmosphere. From the melodramatic tunes, to the upbeat music you'll hear in most of the towns. This is definitely, by far, one of the best soundtracks for game i've ever listened to.

Replay - 7/10: Really, once you beat the game, it's over. Nothing new really unlocks, (Except, something special as long as you use the last save point) but, there are tons of extras in this game that'll keep you playing for quite awhile. There are so many things to do, from beating the 60-floor Tower of Druaga (Yay!), to planting seeds and growing powerful items, to finding rooms full of people who will actually TELL you about other secrets in the game! There's a lot to do here!

Overall - 8/10: Personally, I love this game. In fact, about a year ago, I traded it in for another game, and hated myself for it. Then, I went back out, a few months later, and slapped down $50 for a brand new copy of the game, that's how much I love it. It's an excellent game, that, even in this day and age of the Next-gen systems where the RPGs are of colossal size, this one still sticks out as a good, strong, solid RPG that you probably won't be disappointed with. I would have easily given this one a 10 out of 10, but, I feel I have to be fair. Though this game is 4 or 5 years old, many RPGs have come and gone, Tales of Destiny still holds it's own. A great Old school RPG that has a uniqueness, and a hint of nostalgia, that makes you think, 'This is what RPGs are about.' If you can ever are lucky enough to run across this one, and you are an avid RPG collector, DO NOT miss the chance to add this great game to your collection. I mean it. Now, let's hope the sequel for the PS2 gets out soon enough...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/02, Updated 10/31/02