Tales of Symphonia Chronicles

It has to be said. The original Game Tales of Symphonia is still one of the Best JRPGs of all Time. This collection has such a large content for this price... ToS 2 is not quite so good, but not too bad either, but simply for the first game on this **** just unbelievable good. Played it now for nearly 10 hours, and the graphics are not that bad for a HD-Edition :)

First of all this game was made in 2004 and at that moment it would have been great but nowadays you really have to love old rpg to enjoy this game. It took me 62 hours to beat. The second part is Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World this game is from 2008 so graphics are better than the first game, the soundtrack is good and the plot is ok. A good think is that you see again the main characters although this time they are secondary characters. Most of the places are the same than in the last game but some rooms where you could access in the first game you cannot in this game and that felt odd. About the difficulty I only had to level up a little bit my team with the first or second boss. It took me 38 hours. My score for this one would be an 8. As I said the first game is an old rpg game and you notice this in every aspect of the game. I hated puzzles and I don't like to use guides because then you don't enjoy the game but, yes I used it and a lot (in the second there are puzzles but they are easy). Some people say that chiefs are very hard to beat in the first game. Well this is true if you don't use well your team. An advice: make sure you have Raine in healing mode in your Tactics. Plus, I think the first game is more for kids and young people. Plot is good but with some plot twists and a story that is getting more and more complicated to follow. One good thing is that you don't have to wait any time when you go inside a building (in Skyrim you feel you are wasting your time when you do that). i don't know, in my opinion you should play the games when they are released and not after more than 10 years. To sum up, if you love old rpgs you can buy it. If it's not the case you can choose among other good PS3 games. PS: I saw there is an OVA on youtube and I think is worthy to watch when you finish the game just because the fact that the voices are exactly the same than in the game (I think that even dialogues have been copied from the game!) Although I've only seen the first 4 episodes in English, the rest are in Japanese with English subtitles.

Tales of Symphonia is one of my favorite RPG's of all time but this version isn't what I would consider the definitive version it's decent but not great. The addition of the Japanese Voice track and the revamped graphics are worth the purchase. However there are some things you should know: This is a direct port of the Japanese PS2 Edition and some of it's problems (like decreased framerate) are still intact. This version runs at 30fps instead of the original 60fps this is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that the game runs without slowdown but the bad thing is that the game looks and feels less fluid than the Gamecube Version it is a bit disappointing especially considering the PS3's hardware. The next issue is the World Map if any of you replayed the Gamecube Version just recently you will notice the movement speed on the World Map is significantly slower than the original this sure to try your patience as it now takes longer to reach towns or dungeons. The new attacks and mystic artes are nice but they don't add up to much in the end. If any of you imported the PS2 Version back in the day one noticeable improvement you may notice is the loading times. The loading times are a lot faster compared to that version they still aren't as quick as they are on the Gamecube but it's a close enough match. the overall port is good for newcomers but if you already have the Gamecube Version then you will probably want to stick with the original game.

It's a bit hard to appreciate the original when it's graphics have ironically been worsened (framerate being cut in half, cel shaders missing), and some odd audio **** sequel survives the transition slightly better, but there are still some audio issues, and the second game isn't exactly a fan favorite anyways. I suppose this is passable if it's your first time with Symphonia, but the Gamecube version is the preferred option.

Don't believe any of the hype or fake reviews, ToS is one of the worst in the series by far - Its plagued with terrible A.I scripts, poor and bland plot points and awful combat that is very unbalanced and tedious. For "new players", they'll either give up really early in the game due to the poorly balanced combat, or the fact you'll get a "game over" a dozen times over until you get a certain "healer" join your party and even then, the gameplay is still extremely difficult until you can master the combat system to a point you can infinity stunlock enemies, without that - expect alot of frustration. If you can stomach the high difficulty and frustration factor and look beyond ToS major flaws then you could find somewhat of a solid JRPG but beware, this one isn't for the faint-hearted or newbie JRPG player. Expect lots of grinding to over-level boss encounters if you haven't mastered the infinite combos.