Tales of Destiny II

"Perfect in Every Way; The best RPG I have ever played"

I hardly ever hear Tales of Destiny II being mentioned by anyone. This RPG really isn't that popular, perhaps due to it's (IMO) mediocre predecessors, or maybe because people just weren't that interested. Either way, I finally got interested in this game, and I think more people should know about it. Hopefully my review will be able to persuade you into trying this great game.

GRAPHICS:

Everything in this game looks amazing. The pre-drawn backgrounds are full of vibrant colour and all sorts of tiny details. The text is soft and easy on the eyes. The map character sprites look amazing, almost 3D, while the in battle sprites are beautifully drawn, just like the backgrounds. The battle effects are amazing; after you seriously start getting magic spells, you'll surely be amazed by how great the spell animations are. In fewer words, the graphics are absolutely perfect.

SOUND:

Most games have incredible soundtracks, and Tales of Destiny II is among them. It has extremely well-themed music for certain points in the story, non-irritating, catchy battle music, and awesome boss music. As for the sound, some people have complained about the voice acting (the characters talk in battle, and during quite a few important points in the storyline) but I didn't mind it at all. The voices perfectly suited each character. The normal sound effects were great, and none of them sounded distinctly computerized; they were always more real. The acting isn't too shabby either. Not Hollywood level, but not noticeably bad at all.

STORYLINE:

If you've ever heard someone call this game cliched, ask what kind of games they're playing. I've played tons of RPGs, and none of them had a storyline anything like this. Many of the characters and situations in this game are entirely unique, and the characters interact very well. The ending isn't THAT good, but neither are the endings of any other RPGs either.

GAMEPLAY:

The battle system in this game is by FAR more fun than any kind of turn-based system. You fight in a 2D, side-scrolling screen, with your party starting at one side, and the enemies on the other. You control one character of your choice, and you can perform attacks and special combo technique or magic using the controller. You can set the rest of your parties AI, which you will find is very versatile. I found myself using it constantly, and I never had a problem with my characters doing anything I didn't want them to. The techniques certain characters use in battle can gain access to new skills by using them a certain number of times. Magic requires you to find magical beings called Craymels and giving them to one of your Craymel mages. The Craymels level up, and can be used by themselves, or in conjunction with other Craymel combinations, to provide different magic spells. The item system is good, and you'll notice how the healing items don't healing in numbers like ''50 HP'', but in things like ''50% HP''. All of the extremely good equipment must be earned, but you'll not find yourself killing an extremely powerful monster just to get a semi-useless item that would have helped you significantly, but is useless since you had to level up so much to beat it anyway. Many of the bosses in this game can be extremely challenging, but you can often figure out strategies to defeat them. No boss in this game ever took more than 2 tries for me, but they were exciting, tough, and very fun battles that I enjoyed.
This game also has an extremely large number of mini-games, and you'll find yourself wanting to play most of them. None of them are as frustrating as something like catching butterflies in FFX; they still manage to keep it fun, not tedious.

That pretty much covers it. If this hasn't convinced you to play this game, I still urge you to give it a try. It is a challenging, extremely fun, and utterly perfect RPG. You will not regret playing this game. Don't rent it, it probably doesn't even cost too much. Run out and buy this game. If you're an RPG fan, you'll be doing yourself a great favour.

OVERALL SCORE:

A perfect 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/02, Updated 12/02/02