Tales of Symphonia

is an action role-playing game released for the Nintendo GameCube on August 29, 2003, in Japan. It was published by Namco and is the fifth core product of the ''Tales'' series. The game was localized and released in North America on July 13, 2004, and in Europe on November 19, 2004. In Japan, the game was ported for the PlayStation 2 with additional content and was released on September 22, 2004.

The game takes place in a fictional world called Sylvarant and follows Lloyd Irving. Lloyd accompanies his childhood friend, Colette Brunel, who is destined to go on a journey to save their world. As their journey progresses, they learn that saving Sylvarant endangers Tethe'alla, a world parallel to their own. The game's central theme is an .

The game's reception was generally positive. It received a Japan Game Awards in 2003 and had received re-releases under the Player's Choice and PlayStation 2 the Best labels. In the United States, over 100 thousand copies were sold during the first two weeks and has sold 2.4 million copies worldwide across all platforms, making it the best-selling title in the franchise. The game has been adapted into seven manga collections, two novel series, seven drama CDs, and an OVA anime series. A sequel entitled '' Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World'' was released for the Wii in 2008. ''Tales of Symphonia'' and its sequel were collected as a PlayStation 3 high definition release in ''Tales of Symphonia Chronicles'' in 2013. A Steam version was released on February 2, 2016. A remastered version is set to be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 17, 2023.

Gameplay

Like previous installments in the ''Tales'' series, ''Tales of Symphonia'' consists primarily of three major areas: an overworld field map, town and dungeon maps, and a battle screen. The overworld map is a 3D model, featuring a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world which the player travels through to reach the game's locations. As with preceding games in the series, the world map can be traversed by foot, on the party's quadrupedal pet Noishe, and on flying vehicles known as Rheairds. On field maps, characters are directed across realistically scaled environments. The battle screen is a 3D representation of an area, in which the player commands the characters in battles against CPU-controlled enemies.

On the overworld and field maps, various skits between the characters can be viewed. They involve animated character portraits, subtitles, and, in the Japanese version, full voice acting. Skits concern anything from character development to side details. Overworld map skits affect Lloyd's relationships with other party members. The player will be able to make certain decisions that imperceptibly affect how the other characters think of Lloyd. Some of these choices have minor ramifications for the game's storyline.

;Battle system
During battle sequences, the game uses the Multi-Line Linear Motion Battle System. Four characters from the party are chosen to battle; those not controlled by a player are guided by artificial intelligence with instructions set by the player beforehand. Damage dealt to the opponent fills a "Unison Gauge". When this is full, a "Unison Attack" can be triggered, allowing the party to use techniques simultaneously on a single enemy. When certain techniques are combined, a special attack results in additional damage.

After battle, a currency called Grade is awarded or subtracted based on specific criteria that are fulfilled in battle. It is used to purchase bonuses during New Game Plus. Players are also prompted to cook food after battles if they have the materials. Cooking recipes determine the benefits received such as health recovery. The degree of the benefit is determined by which character is chosen to cook.

''Tales of Symphonia''s skill system is built around the use of "EX Gems", which come in four ranks. Each character can equip up to four EX Gems and set abilities to those gems. The abilities determine if the characters will learn Strike or Technical techniques and spells. Combinations of EX Gem abilities can also grant additional abilities called "EX-Skills". The development of a character's attributes is determined by their equipped "Title". Titles are earned through story progression, side quests, or completion of miscellaneous criteria.

Plot

Lloyd Irving and his friend, Genis Sage accompany the chosen, Colette Brunel and her guardians, Raine Sage and Kratos Aurion on her journey of world regeneration. The purpose of the journey is to replenish Sylvarant with mana, a necessary energy to their survival.Raine: Today is the Day of Prophecy. It is a very important day, which the Chosen of Mana will receive an oracle from the Goddess Martel. Now, Chosen One...Colette. Tell us about the journey of world regeneration. /Colette: It is a journey to seal the Desians. Upon passing the trials of the Goddess Martel, the Summon Spirit that protect the world awaken, and mana is restored. The path of the journey consists of five temples which must be unsealed by Colette. On their journey, they meet Sheena Fujibayashi who comes from Tethe'alla, a world parallel to Sylvarant. She tells them about how the two worlds vie for each other's mana through the journey of regeneration.Sheena: My world is called Tethe’alla. ..The two worlds lie directly adjacent to each other. They just can’t see one another. Our scholars say they exist on shifted dimensions. Anyway, the two worlds can’t see or touch each other, but they do in fact exist next to and affect each other. ..They vie for the supply of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. As a result, one world is always flourishing, and the other waning. Sort of like an hourglass. ..Sylvarant’s mana is flowing to Tethe'alla. Therefore, Sylvarant is in decline. Without mana, crops won’t grow and magic becomes unusable. If there is no mana, the Summon Spirits that protect the world alongside the Goddess Martel can’t survive in Sylvarant either. As a result, the world slips even further down the path of destruction. /Raine: Then the Chosen’s world regeneration is actually the process of reversing the mana flow?/Sheena: Exactly. When the Chosen breaks the seal, the mana flow reverses, and the Summon Spirit that governs the seal awakens. Hoping to find answers from the angel Remiel, the party meets him at the final seal and are betrayed by Remiel and Kratos; both are revealed to be part of Cruxis, an evil organization led by Mithos Yggdrasill.

The party leaves for Tethe'alla to search for a way to save both worlds and are joined by Zelos Wilder, Presea Combatir, and Regal Bryant. The party learns that awakening the Summon Spirits in both worlds will sever the mana tie between them.Undine: Mana flows from the world in which the Summon Spirits sleep to the world in which the Summon Spirits are awake. This is the first time the Summon Spirits have been awakened in both worlds at the same time. Because of this, the mana connecting the two worlds has been eliminated. Believing that to be the answer, they successfully sever all mana ties between the two worlds.Lloyd: Does that mean that Sylvarant and Tethe’alla have stopped competing for each other’s mana?/Volt: .../Raine:I do not know. The only thing certain is that the flow of mana between the worlds has been severed./Undine: Yes. Eventually the worlds shall separate.../Genis: You mean the two worlds will split apart?/Zelos: That’s perfect! Then they’ll stop competing for each other’s mana! Their actions instead destabilize the Great Seed, the supplier of mana to both worlds, causing it to grow and engulf Sylvarant at an exponential rate.Kratos: Having lost the stability afforded by the protection of the Summon Spirits, the Great Seed has gone out of control. /Yuan: No! The purpose of the Summon Spirits was to isolate the Great Seed from the outside world and prevent it from growing! /Kratos: That was only half of it. The two worlds were forced out of phase by Yggdrasill. They should have drifted apart from each other and have been consumed by the void. But this was prevented from happening because the Great Seed was placed in the center between the two worlds. ..The Great Seed is constantly being pulled upon from both worlds as they try to separate from one another. It’s a miracle that this delicate balance held up for even this long. /Yuan: Wait! So the mana links served as a cage to contain the Great Seed in the space between the two worlds? Is that what you’re saying? /Kratos: Exactly. And because you provided the unstable Great Seed with mana, germinated in a twisted form and has gone out of control. It’s even engulfed Martel. /Lloyd: Who cares why this happened! I wanna know what’s gonna happen if we can’t stop this thing!/Yuan: If what Kratos says is true, then Sylvarant will be consumed and destroyed by the Great Seed. And if Sylvarant is destroyed, Tethe’alla will be destroyed as well, as it is linked by the Holy Ground of Kharlan and the Otherworldly Gate. After the party re-stabilizes the seed, they learn from Yuan Ka-Fai about the origins of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and how they used to be one world but was split by Mithos with the Eternal Sword; the party realizes they can save the world if they wield the Eternal Sword, merge the worlds, and germinate the Great Seed. They decide to confront and defeat Mithos before seeking the Eternal Sword.

Kratos is revealed to have been gathering materials to have Lloyd use the Eternal Sword. He succeeds but Mithos survives his apparent death and possesses a member from the party before fleeing to the comet Derris-Kharlan. Mithos attempts to take the Great Seed with him but is foiled and killed by Lloyd. Using the Eternal Sword, Lloyd merges Sylvarant and Tethe'alla together and germinates the Great Seed into a Giant Kharlan Tree to supply the world with mana.Origin: The world was originally separated into two in order to prevent its destruction. If it returns to its true form, the world lacks the mana to support itself. The land is dying. /Lloyd: I don’t need to know why it’s dying! What do we need to do to stop it?/Origin: Support the two worlds by linking them with the Giant Tree. That is the only way to stop the destruction of the land. ..Lloyd: This is my final wish. Eternal Sword ..Rise Giant Kharlan Tree!

Development and release

The game was first announced on May 8, 2002, by Namco to be one of the many titles it would be releasing on the Nintendo GameCube. Namco stated it would be a part of the ''Tales of Phantasia'' series and expected comics, animation, drama CDs and novels to be spun off from the game. Its name was revealed to be ''Tales of Symphonia'' in February 2003. An April 2003 edition of ''Famitsu'' revealed the game has been in development for two years, its developers are the same from ''Tales of Eternia'', the game will have the most main characters in the ''Tales'' series, and will be the first 3D game in the series. During Electronic Entertainment Expo 2003, a North American localization was confirmed. A conference by Namco on June 9, 2003, revealed the game will be on two disks and its theme song will be "Starry Heavens" by Day After Tomorrow, which is remixed as "Starry Heavens ver. 2013", based on the orchestra version, which is also performed by the band's lead singer, Misono, in the PS3 version in both the Japanese and Western releases, as well as the PC version. To celebrate its release in Japan, the game was bundled with a symphonic green Nintendo GameCube. For the North American version, the localization producer replaced Starry Heavens with an orchestral anthem and focused on hiring professional voice actors to dub the game in order to appeal to the Western audience. The game was released in Japan on August 29, 2003, and was localized in North America and Europe on July 13, 2004, and November 19, 2004, respectively. The game was re-released in North America under the Player's Choice label on July 19, 2004.

During the second week of April 2004, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' announced a PlayStation 2 port of ''Tales of Symphonia''. It received new in-game additions and its theme song is by Day After Tomorrow, which is also remixed as , which is also performed by the band's lead singer, Misono, in the PS3 version in both the Japanese and Western releases, as well as the PC version. It was released exclusively in Japan on September 22, 2004, and re-released under the PlayStation 2 the Best label on July 7, 2005.

Scenario

Takumi Miyajima, the game's writer, explained ''Tales of Symphonia'' was planned to create a "unique symphonia", dependent on the player's choices and the affection system. Miyajima wrote many scenarios, with the most significant events centered on Zelos Wilder. Originally, Zelos' death was supposed to be canon. His survival would have been dependent on the affection system: He would die early on if he was ranked the lowest in the affection system, would die at the end if he ranked in the middle, and would only survive if he ranked the top. However, the development staff suggested to have Kratos Aurion return to the party and the team discussed how it would work. The change in scenario had Miyajima rework Zelos' death into a non-canon path of the story. While generally a self-contained story, ''Symphonia'' apparently takes place within either the same or a similar timeline to the first ''Tales'' game, ''Tales of Phantasia''.

Sequel and ''Chronicles'' release

The sequel , localized in English as '' Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World'', was announced on July 20, 2007, for the Wii. It was released in Japan and North America in 2008 and in Europe a year after.

''Tales of Symphonia Chronicles'' was announced on June 1, 2013, for the PlayStation 3. It contains ''Tales of Symphonia'' and ''Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World'' with remastered graphics and additional content. It was released in Japan on October 10, 2013, and it was released in North America and Europe in February 2014 as both a retail version and download release, with the option to purchase ''Tales of Symphonia'' as a standalone release.

Adaptations

Comics

''Tales of Symphonia'' spawned seven manga adaptations after its release: six anthology collections and a traditional manga series.

The first anthology collection, , consists of five volumes which were released between November 25, 2003, and February 25, 2006, by Ichijinsha. The second anthology collection, , is a four-panel comic. It consists of five volumes released between November 25, 2003, and December 25, 2006, by Ichijinsha. A third anthology collection entitled had two volumes published by Mag Garden in February 2005 and 2007. The fourth anthology collection is and consisted of a single volume which was released by Mag Garden on October 10, 2007. The fifth anthology collection is . It consisted of two volumes which were released by Square Enix on May 27, 2005, and September 16, 2005. The sixth anthology collection is is a single volume released on June 5, 2010, by Ichijinsha.

The manga series by Hitoshi Ichimura was titled ''Tales of Symphonia'' and was an adaptation of the game's storyline. The first four chapters were serialized between the April and July 2005 editions of ''Monthly Comic Blade''. Future chapters were released in ''tankōbon'' volumes by Mag Garden thereafter. Six volumes were released: the first was released on August 10, 2005, and the last two were released on July 10, 2007.

Books

''Tales of Symphonia'' has spun off two novel series adaptions, four strategy guides, a character book, an official scenario book, and an art book. The first novel series is titled ''Tales of Symphonia'' and is written by Kiyoshi Yuki. It consisted of three novels released between November 21 and December 20, 2003, by Shueisha. The second novel series is titled and is written by Sera Yajima. It consists of four volumes released between December 20, 2003, and June 19, 2004, by Enterbrain. An after story by the same author was released on September 18, 2004.

Two strategy guides under the V Jump Books brand were published by Shueisha: the Gamecube guide was released on August 29, 2003, and the PS2 on September 22, 2004. Namco Bandai Games released two official strategy guides on October 1, 2003, and October 27, 2004, for the Gamecube and PS2 respectively. is a book by the game's designer, Kōsuke Fujishima, and was released on January 26, 2004, by Ichijinsha. It provides details on the characters' back story and how their design came to be. was released on June 26, 2008, by Namco Bandai. The book details the history of the world and characters. is an art book for the anime released on March 28, 2013, by ASCII Media Works.

Audio CDs

Seven drama CDs based on the game's plot were produced by Frontier Works. 1, 2, and 3 are stories preceding the game. They were released between July 23, 2004, and September 24, 2004. First Part and Second Part follow Sheena Fujibayashi and Zelos Wilder as they tour the world a year after the events of the main game. The two CDs were released on May 25, 2005, and June 24, 2005. and are side stories with guest characters from ''Tales of Vesperia'' and '' Tales of Graces'', respectively.

was published by DigiCube on October 1, 2003, and consists of 4 discs. It debuted at 98 on Oricon's charts. The soundtrack was re-released on October 27, 2004, by King Records (Japan) for the PS2 port of ''Tales of Symphonia''.

Animation

was an OVA series animated by Ufotable and produced by Geneon Universal Entertainment and Frontier Works. It consists of four episodes which were released direct-to-video on four separate DVDs on June 8, August 10, October 24, and December 21 of 2007. They were later released in a Blu-ray Disc collection on September 26, 2008. The series later rereleased on Universal Media Disc between June 25 and July 23, 2010. On May 8, 2010, the series were aired on AT-X as a promotion to the sequel of the series. The episodes used three pieces of theme music: The opening theme is "Almateria" by Eri Kawai and the two ending themes were by Kaori Hikita and by Nana Mizuki.Credits from

The sequel series, , was announced during Tales of Festival 2008. It consists of four episodes which were released on March 25, May 26, September 23, 2010, and February 25, 2011. All four episodes received an early screening: The first was screened on March 13, 2010, in Fukuoka and was hosted by Music Plaza Indo; The second on May 4, 2010, in Tokushima, Tokushima by Ufotable; the third on September 17, 2010, in Yokohama by Animate; and the fourth on February 20, 2011, in Roppongi by Toho. The first two episodes were later aired on September 12, 2010, on AT-X. The episodes used the opening theme by Nana Mizuki and the ending theme by Akiko Shikata. Ending theme of the 4th episode is by Akiko Shikata.

The second sequel, , concludes the anime's plot. It consists of three episodes released directly to DVD and Blu-ray on November 23, 2011, June 20, 2012, and October 24, 2012. All three episodes had early screenings: the first was screened between September 23 and September 25, 2011, by Cinema Sunshine in Ikebukuro; the second on May 3, 2012, in Tokushima by Ufotable; and the third is on September 29, 2012, by Cinema Sunshine in Ikebukuro. The episodes use four pieces of theme musics: an opening theme by Misono and three ending themes, , , and , all by Akiko Shikata.

A Blu-ray box set containing all three series was announced on June 1, 2013, and released on November 6, 2013.

Reception

''Tales of Symphonia'' garnered "generally favorable" reception from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics have praised the game for its cel-shaded art style and real-time battle system. GameSpy described the battle system as "wonderfully fast and to the point" while G4techTV noted its accessibility and potential to attract non- RPG gamers.

The settings were admired for their detail and variety, with some commenting that the background art transitioned well into a 3D format from the classic ''Tales'' titles. Jeremy Jastrzab of ''PALGN'' was stunned by the lack of slowdown during the game's chaotic action segments, and Benjamin Turner of '' GameSpy'' was also amazed by the consistently high framerate, which he regarded as "a great bonus in a time when most RPGs are content to chug at 30 fps.html" ;"title="Frames_per_second.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Frames per second">fps">Frames_per_second.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Frames per second">fps/nowiki>". Rob Fahey of ''Eurogamer'' and Jastrzab were disappointed by the game's lack of cutscenes in the vein of the traditionally-animated opening cinematic. The in-game cutscenes were described by the ''EGM'' reviewers and Jastrzab as "dull" and "a little underdone". Fahey and ''GameSpot''s Bethany Massimilla remarked that the game's attempt at depth of field effects in some scenes resulted in the characters appearing smeared rather than out-of-focus. The overworld's presentation was criticized as underwhelming; some compared its level of detail to titles from the previous generation of consoles, while Jastrzab argued that the quality would not have been passable even in that context. Massimilla additionally faulted the camera in these portions, explaining that it required frequent adjustment and sometimes obscured incoming enemies.

Reactions to the music were mixed; some regarded the score as unremarkable, which was a source of disappointment for Fahey, as he felt the "beautifully constructed" world deserved a more impressive soundtrack. Jastrzab deemed the music "exceptional" and "stellar", saying that it "captures the mood of the relevant scenarios with virtual perfection while avoiding the repetitious nature of anything related to anime". Massimilla observed that the soundtrack " eldtrue to the ''Tales'' norm of combining wind instruments and bells in pleasing ways for main themes". Turner and ''IGN''s Mary Jane Irwin respectively described Sakuraba's score as "a typically fine piece of work" and "pleasantly decent", though Irwin remarked that the musical variety was relegated to dialogue-oriented events, with the battle and overworld themes taking up most of the playtime.

The voice acting was commended, with David Smith of ''1UP.com'' remarking that the characters were "more fun to hear than they are to look at". He added that the repartee between Lloyd and Genis elevated them above their archetypes. Fahey noted that his praise of the voice acting was rare as he was not a fan of dubbing, and was slightly disappointed that the skits were not voiced as well, which he said resulted in them feeling drawn-out. Although Jastrzab approved of the voice acting's professional quality, he mentioned that some of the dialogue was not well-placed, explaining that "There is no building of feeling or creation of tension, it pretty much bursts onto the scene". However, Irwin considered the delivery to be flat and stilted, observing that "Emotion is often expressed at the wrong times (or not at all) and conversations rarely sound natural". Turner also deemed the voices to be "so-so", opining that while the characters' battle vocalizations were sufficient, the actors lacked the range needed for the more emotionally demanding scenes, which he said were held back by "generally inept" direction in the cutscenes.

Responses to the narrative were mixed, with some considering the story to be familiar and predictable. The reviewers of ''Nintendo Power'' said that the story was told with "wonderful craft", and were surprised that the player-controlled character does not carry the "chosen one" role. Jastrzab argued that the story held "never-ending depth" underneath its surface, though he warned of the script's excessive moralizing. Jonathan Metts of ''Planet GameCube'' agreed that the plot was standard, though he remarked that the set-up was "unusually blunt, in that you are told the implications of the quest right upfront". However, he proposed that the narrative could assuage GameCube owners desiring a traditional RPG, and described the ending sequence as "beautiful and powerful". Star Dingo of '' GamePro'' compared the story's combination of "heart, warmth, humor, sadness and peril" to the works of Rumiko Takahashi, and proclaimed the writing to be some of the best among console RPGs, elaborating that "the tragedies really strike home, and the characters all have distinct voices, speaking their lines with a welcome sense of subtle irony and self-awareness about RPG clichés". Fahry acknowledged that the premise was simple and cliché, he said that the plot twists were well-employed. Irwin was unengaged to the story, which she attributed to what she deemed a flawed localization; she explained that "The dialogue is often awkward and drawn out. Word choice ranges from overly formal to random slang -- the style is all over the linguistic map with little regard to who's speaking". The ''Nintendo Power'' reviewers and Metts were satisfied with the story's pace, while Turner remarked that the narrative meandered at times. The characters were said to be likable and well-developed. Metts compared the cast to that of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in that they "initially seem simple and stereotypical but almost feel like real people by the end of the story". Fahey singled out Lloyd's development and was thankful that the writers were "of the persuasion which says that dark revelations of the past are not a substitute for creating a proper personality for your characters".

Sales and awards

Over 100,000 copies were sold in the United States during the first two weeks after its release. In December 2007, Namco announced that the GameCube version had sold 953,000 copies worldwide, and the PlayStation 2 port had sold 486,000 copies in Japan. The bargain reissue for the PlayStation 2 in 2005 sold almost 50,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006. Its total worldwide sales for the GameCube and PS2 have reached 1.6 million units as of 2008, making it the best-selling ''Tales'' title to date. It was also the best-selling ''Tales'' title overseas, with more than half of its sales coming from outside Japan, having sold 600,000 units in North America and 250,000 in Europe . The 2016 PC release sold more than 250,000 copies on Steam, . The game is estimated to have sold 2.4 million copies worldwide across all platforms, making it the best-selling title in the franchise.

''GameSpot'' named it the best GameCube game of July 2004, and nominated it for the year-end "Best Role-playing Game" award across all platforms. The game has appeared on many top game rankings and received a Japan Game Awards in 2003 for excellence. The January 2009 issue of ''Game Informer'' listed it at #24 in its "Top 25 GameCube Games". Nintendo Power ranked ''Tales of Symphonia'' 107th in a list of "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever". IGN users placed it 75th in a Top 100 Games list, while GameFAQs users put it at 81st in a similar list.

Notes

References

Primary references

External links

Official website (archived)

Tales of Symphonia (PS2) Official website (JP)

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Official website (JP)
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