Tales of Phantasia

"One of the unique game ever made."

*Overall Graphics 10/10
The Graphics of Tales of Phantasia is what I called "Unique".Why? If you pay some attention to graphics of SNES games,most of them use colorful, bright, eye-piercing color palette, but not in ToP. In contrast, this game feature not so colorful color palette, which make graphics a bit dull and look grayish in some place (like in dungeon or the large city like Midgard). The green of trees and the blue of water is look stylish and very unique, because they didn't use the "hue" bright color which many games used (For example, Final Fantasy 6's grass is very greenish and playful-looking or in Seiken Densetsu3, which the tree is very ,very colorful ,but in ToP, they're just look simply "Classic" because of the this dull-looking color they use. ToP's graphics also have some nice gimmick like the cool reflection in the mirror or on the water (when player walk across the water, it's even have the trail of water)!
Although color are shaded very beautiful, sometimes it's repetitive (like in dungeon, it's all the same!) and sometimes lack of detail (like city wall in Euclid, it's weird). But, in conclusion, one factor that makes ToP becomes one of unique game on SNES is its graphics.

*Character/Monster Design 10/10
ToP features hard on Anime style-character design, and even have their Anime portrait ,which make these character more lively and be "real" than other RPGs (even Final Fantasy). I can feels their presence and their feeling, through the "bubble" that pop out in Anime style of character (for example, sweat icon when character feels "uhhhh...What the ..?"). Anime style can be found in various section, like in Inventory screen.This game even have all the pictures of ALL items in inventory! and they all beautifully drawn! (It's a little shame that th sprite of weapon didn't change on the battle screen, but all of these are plain great compare to other, lack of detail, RPGs).

While Final Fantasy features "Dark" stylish-art from Yoshitaka Amano (Monsters are very dreadful), all the characters and monster and also summon spirits in ToP are in contrast, they're cute! even the baddest in the game, Dhaos. They can be cute and effective but not destroy the seriousness of the game because of...

*Sound/Music 10/10
Yes! Sound effect make this game to the top! The ambient effect is sometimes bad, like the sound of sword slashing the enemy.It sounds "Ishhh!!", very strange, not like any real sword slash, but skip this part to other thing that make this game cool, the "Voice" sample. The Four main characters(+Dhaos=5) even have their own voice! Yes, they can speak!! (Although only in the battle:) ) and every
When Arche cast "Tidal Wave", she shout "Tidal Wave" (a bit of Japanese accent), but it's still cool! Not many game in SNES feature voice system like ToP.

Music! What can I say, Excellent!! Most of musics in ToP is great. It have various town theme from peaceful Miguel Town to lively Olive village to the city of Midgard. Every tune is fit their place perfectly.Sometimes I play this game just to want to listen to their "The Mystic Forest" song in Sound Menu, So great, so beautiful.

*Gameplay 10/10
The Linear Motion Battle System once again give the unique style to ToP. Battle monsters in Street Fighter style is very strange,What the hell is this!?, you think, But after a little time for adjust, you think, "This is so great!, very fun and exciting!!" The menu driven battle system in most RPGs are very lack of interactive from player, just select the command and wait..., select command and wait..., continue forever till the enemy die. While in ToP, even its battle like platform game or fighting game, it's not just a simple "smash button and win", no one can win because of the speed of button smashing. In contrast, players must be cautious every move they make, waiting for the right time to strike enemy, because if you attack at the wrong time (like when the enemy attack back) You'll be the one who was strike.

Other than Battle system, another unique is "Food system". Player has a foodsack which can fill the food stuff that can bought from every town. This Food will restore your health while you're walking, a little plain gimmick but interesting.(oh..and there are so many type of food to choose :d)

*Story 8/10
The plot about "the adventure of Teenage hero/heroine" nothing special, but not boring either. Even it's the adventure of teenagers, ToP has very dense and serious plot sometimes, like the death of hero's parents(Almost main character lost their family in the attack of Dhaos's Troop). The plot is straight forward and rather linear but solid enough. The most interesting thing about plot is "the true intention of the bad guy". In FF6, Kefka is very stereotypical evil character that always "bad" from beginning to the end of the game, and always think about "Destroy the world". But for Dhaos, player didn't know much about his motive to did evil deeds (until near the end). I think this make Dhaos become the mysterious one and maybe someone even think" Um...maybe he's not just that bad" (But in the end, all the answer will reveal! :o) This help add some deep into the game's character and make them not to flat.

*Replay Value 7/10
The replay lifespan is shortened because of the very linear storyline and gameplay. But for me, it's still a most beautiful game I've ever play and it will be always!

*Overall 9/10
This is a must play game for every RPGs gamers! In my opinion, ToP is the only game that can match Final Fantasy series, so, just play it!

...and you'll love it, like I did.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07