Tales of Symphonia [GC]

Namco has finally woken up to the GameCube. This year, the company is poised to release not one, but a pair of full-fledged RPGs for the console. The first is the card-based Baten Kaitos, and the other is Tales of Symphonia, which advances the company's Tales series, last seen on the PlayStation in 2001.

Tales of Fantasia opened the franchise on the Super Nintendo, then two Tales of Destiny releases came for Sony' first console. All three are known for strong, complex stories and characters. The linear battle system also caught players' attention, as it presented battles in real time, with more than a shadow of fighting game overtones. Symphonia preserves these characteristics and adds a very impressive new cel-shading aesthetic that puts the game on par with high-class anime.

Our hero is a kid with the unlikely name of Lloyd Irving. He's a headstrong, relatively inattentive lad who fancies himself a warrior. His classmates include Collet Brunel, aka "The Chosen One." This demure girl has been chosen to repair the mana imbalance that plagues their world, and awaken a slumbering goddess in the process. Of course, Lloyd tags along, becoming a young protector to the lass. The setup is pretty typical for the genre, but quite a few plots are rooted in the first few scenes, hinting at a much more interesting second and third act.

From a visual standpoint, Symphonia looks great. Each character, from hero to lowly one-line NPC, has been drawn with great care and attention to detail. The result marries cel-shaded anime style with a traditionalist sense of RPG design for characters and place settings that are at once familiar and fresh. The huge game world is equally accessible, thanks to a mixture of explorer-ready towns and overarching world map that fully adheres to convention.

Where Symphonia breaks from convention is in its battle system. For one, no encounter is random; rather, players will see monsters coming from far enough away that avoidance can become a viable tactic. This holds true whether in the overworld or in a dungeon. Once in combat, which takes place on separate screens, this edition of Tales presents a refinement of the series' unique approach to battle.

As in the past, the linear battle system simulates a fully 3D playing field by allowing each character to lock onto an enemy, and then control their distance from the target on a 2D plane. The tactic seems a lot like the two-and-a-half dimensional fighting games that first hit next-generation consoles. Once locked on, each fighter gets busy in real time, dodging blows, rushing in to deal damage, and even engaging in some rudimentary combos. The attack and spell effects are much better than in past games, and keep up with Symphonia's new look.

Once again, party characters are handled by a sympathetic AI. Basic guidelines can be set out for each character, along the familiar attack/defend/heal patterns. The AI seems much more sharp than in the past, and heading into a dangerous situation whilst relying on the CPU assist doesn't mean instant death.

The best development, however, is that extra players can jump into any battle scene by plugging in a controller and selecting a character. So a group of four can run riot through swaths of monsters, teaming up, and intelligently deploying combos and spells to rack up serious bonuses. Symphonia rewards skillful battles with a variety of valuable items and grades, so the performance boost that comes with a group should be worth the effort every time.

Dungeons are also a solid feature. From what we've seen so far, they're not expansive, but each bears a complex design that uses beasts, physical puzzles, and intelligent layouts to make the most of the square footage. One early dungeon links a puzzle to combat -- large rock monsters turn into stone blocks when defeated, which can then be pushed into place to make solid walkways giving access to new areas of the temple. That's pretty straightforward, but also points to a design sense that could result in some spectacular areas deeper in the game's two-disc story.

With the English translation coming along so well, there's little to worry about in Symphonia. The overworld could use better textures and fewer collision issues, but that's the only place the game seems to falter. With a full suite of voice actors performing the localization, Tales of Symphonia should make a welcome addition to the GameCube RPG library when it premiers later this summer.