Tales of Phantasia

"What a punch in the gut."

We have all read the hyped reviews of the little known RPG by Namco ''Tales of Phantasia''. Apparently this game is more than praised for it's uniqueness and quality. However I have to say that this game was a major disappointment, while I expected a game better than Chrono Trigger, like many say, I got a swift punch in the kidneys.

Graphics you could die for!

Personally, I think these graphics are a hundred times better than Star Ocean's. The game has lots and lots of color and a whole lot of frames of animation. What impresses people the most about this game is the little stuff I really didn't care much for, like reflections in the water and your characters sweating. What I found most impressive were the spell animations and the graphics overall, beautiful!

Eat your heart out Nabuo!

Ah, the sweet, sweet soundtrack of Tales of Phantasia is one that is truly unforgettable. Much of the music in this game is better than anything you'd hear in a Final Fantasy game. There is one song in this game that is actually sung, there are actually lyrics! Albeit it's an annoying little tune sung by what sounds like a 5 years old Japanese girl, but it still shows the sheer power of the Super Nintendo's sound card. That's not all! There are tons of sound effects and voice overs which actually sound like something out of a Playstation game, there are entire lines spoken out in some parts of the game! This is something that has to be seen to be believed.

Originality up the Wazoo!

What really caught my interest in Tales of Phantasia is the amount of originality. It's really hard to describe what Tales of Phantasia is. It's seems half menu based and half action with very strange battles fought out via Street Fighter. It is truly the most original battle system I have ever seen since Star Ocean.

Control! We don't need to stinking control!

Here is where Tales of Phantasia begins to plummet. The control in Tales of Phantasia, without exaggeration, is even worse than Rise of the Robot's. You press the attack button and rather than swinging his sword like you'd expect, he dashes towards the enemy and hits him, then dashes back. This wouldn't be so bad, but during battle you go back and forth and back and forth at a dizzying speed, this will get on your nerves within a simple 5 seconds of play and trying to use a spell or select an enemy during this ritual is nearly impossible. Jumping is a pain in the butt, you must press the attack button twice and your character will automatically fly without aim towards the enemy in a leap of faith. The control is as unresponsive as Heroes of the Lance, your character doesn't seem to attack press the button, I bet if you mash the attack button with your palm Cless will turn around and say ''Forget it pal! I ain't moving!''.

Is this an RPG or cheap pornography!?

I have read in another review and heard from a few of my friends that this game is extremely dirty. I thought they were exaggerating, but when I played this game I discovered that this game WAS actually that bad. The game is full of perverted references to hentai and swearing that would make Richard Prior blush. This is also the first game I know of where the F word was used, and frequently at that. However under all the porn and swearing there is a decent plot, a plot which was actually rather impressive, with tons of character development and twists as well.

The result

Personally, I thought this game was a major disappointment. Perhaps they should've put an effort to make the control better and possibly scrap a lot of the filthy stuff. If Namco would've only doctored this game up a little, this game would've been greater than Chrono Trigger.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/15/02, Updated 05/15/02