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Worth playing for RPG fans... 3.5 Overall

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

RPG fans can be a little picky when it comes to their games. Some play for the story, some play for the gameplay. Overall, Tales of Legendia is good. Its not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it the best Tales game. But is it fun? Thats really the bottom line when it comes to games. Are they fun? Well....

...the answer is yes. It is fun. I don't have time to play every game on the market, so I'm somewhat picky with what I choose to spend time playing, and I have numerous games in my closet that are unfinished. Yet I spent about 64 hours on ToL. So that certainly speaks for something. Honestly, the game gets off to a rocky start. Its boring and the pacing is not very good. But don't worry, it gets better.

The gameplay of ToL is very engaging, deep, and compelling. You will fight alot of battles, but they typically don't last long, so this doesn't bother me. You control only one character at a time, but you can switch around and each character is diverse and unique in its combat style, so this adds alot of diversity. The only complaint that could be levered against it for me is that most of the game is quite easy. I died maybe twice the whole 60+ hours.

Let me also say that the overall story is pretty weak. Nothing great. The real strength is in the characters. The characters really really grow on you. 3 characters in the game are easily some of the most memerable and unique characters in all of gaming, for me anyways. The dialogue can be cheesy, but for the most part, I found it compelling. The interactions between your group is great, and very funny. I laughed alot during this game, and its a real draw in having you coming back, so this imo offsets a poor story. However, after the main portion of the game, you get the character quests, and these add alot to each of the characters and this part of the game which starts about 30 hours in is much better than the first 30 hours. When the credits roll, don't stop playing, save your game and play the characer quests, they really define each person more fully.

Well, thats about it. If this sounds like your game, go for it, I enjoyed it.

OK sequel, but doesn't have the spirit of earlier games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Tales of Legendia is one of numerous sequels in the Tales series. First hitting stores in 1995, Tales of Phantasia debuted on the SNES setting the stage for one of the most popular RPG series. As the years followed, more sequels found their way to different systems. Some of the games were pretty successful, and yet others crashed and burned. Sadly, North America has only received a few of these and the majority of the PS1 releases were far inferior compared to their Japanese counterparts.

The story of Tales of Legendia is a great one to say the least. The story follows a young Eres Master named Senel Coolidge and his sister Shirley as they drift lost at sea. Eventually, their food and water supply depletes and the couple must quickly find land. When they stumble upon and island, they soon find out that the island is a ship named "Legacy" and they must unravel the mystery that surrounds it.

Following the great story that most Tales games have is a very unique gameplay that will probably leave most hardcore RPG gamers playing for hours. The gameplay of Legendia has went back to the roots of the early Tales series. For one, the game is moving away from the force gauge and it's multiple line of combat and now using just a single line of battle that makes the game a lot easier to follow and understand.

Now there are a lot more changes in the gameplay from Tales of Symphonia than that. A huge point in the gameplay is the Climax System. In this, throwing out and receiving some damage can fill a meter. Once the meter is full, a simple push of the L1 button will activate the Climax System which leaves the enemies frozen in their tracks and will allow you to unleash some major damage on them. Now if you push the button twice, a special signature or special move will be preformed and dish out some major pain to the enemy.

Another new feature in the game is the ability to sneak around enemies and avoid battles with them. This is great if you're low on health or just don't feel like fighting. Now this feature is completely based on timing and not as much as skill. Another nifty feature is called "throwing". Throwing allows you to shoot out some long-range shots and do some major damage from a far distance.

Tales of Legendia also offers some amazing graphics. As you can see, the anime like styles bring a great feel to the game. The characters are also very well drawn out bringing every little detail there is to offer. Now if this wasn't enough for you, he areas and land designs are sheer amazing. You can clearly see everything there's to offer in great design and great detail. Also the 3D designs in most views are pretty sweet. For the most part, Namco did a great job designing the graphics.

However, the gameplay has take a back seat to the very disjointed story. I feel as though the game were thrown together by different teams (or team members), and was never properly organized to have a true purpose. The storyline feels quite stunted. For instance, in the opening sequence we see that Shirley is harmed when she comes into contact with seawater. OK...well then why does she go outside? *spoiler Shirley is kidnapped, and it seems none of the characters can save her let alone saw the kidnapper coming. This smacks of sillyness & it makes the story a bit hard to believe. The dialogue also seems out of place at times...I won't spoil the game but I hope you can twist your head to understand some of the character interactions.

Tales of Legendia tries very hard to make sense, looks pretty, and has a good theme but ultimately fails to satisfy. I look forward to Namco bringing out another Tales game and making things right. TOL doesn't accomplish the same high level of quality of previous games. I give it 3/5 stars.

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game was my favortie ever. I've played through it many times, I never get sick of it. I only have a little video game time every night so it feels like living with the characters when you hear them a bit every day. It's funny thats how it was with my first play through. Their personalities were so beleivable. The only one that really got to me was Shirley. She's a pain in my behind.
All the characters are lovable though and crack me up. You gotta grin listening to Moses and Jay fighting and then look and you see that they're ALWAYS standing enxt to each other. That was always cute to me. My friends and I do that sometimes.
The battle system was nothing like I've ever seen before! It's AWESOME. It's like a fighting game, and a musashi games fighting mixed lol. The battles are actually FUN! I hate them usually. It's a good fact that most of the game is storyline and not just figting. The games story is good, and still leaves just enough room for the fangirls to throw their fics in there in the time gaps. It really is a good fanfic game.
The voice acting was great, I wish the character quest voiceover thing wasn't so pricet, else I'd buy it. Only half the game has voicing... that was disapointing. When I save up enough, though I'm buying those CDs. My friend and I got together and made our own "dub" of the second half of the game... I swear she looked truly frightened when I was "doing the Solon voice". That... man...
The graphics are cute, and fun to draw if your into fanart too. And I LOVE the sountrack. Awesome. And very suiting. And the Sunny-Side-Up monster. I draw him on stuff. XD

A Good Spirited RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

So I know there has already been reviews from user like Michelle that point out a lot of the flaws in the game, but they also compare it directly to other Tales games. What I wanted to do was point out how great the game is as stand alone title instead of focusing on the fact it has "Tales" in it's title.

I honestly must say that some gameplay in the game is shallow, like the cooking which I never actually used. The game though has a lot to offer which I want to sum up in my short review.

The graphics are extremely inviting and colorful. I love this in Role Playing Games. Exploring towns was a real treat especially with an outstanding soundtrack to follow it. The composer really created the perfect combination of techno and orchestra music together to make a vibrant and excellent soundtrack. The composer even threw in a good deal of Jazz which really compliments the situations it's used in. I personally have a large interest in Anime and get really relaxed when I get to sit down and watch a great one like Trigun, CowBoy Bebop, etc, so exploring the towns, environments and the great humor of this game was a real treat.

I don't have a lot of time in my day. I am married and I have a 3-month-old son. Sitting down and demanding an RPG that requires me to invest hours and hours into it with a slow evolving story just doesn't work for me anymore. This game moved fast and kept my interest for the 5 minutes to the 2 hours I could afford to play it during my weekdays. My Wife even loves to sit down and play it. I think the fact that it is has a bit shallower gameplay than the average or above average RPG fanatic enjoys makes this game really appeal to people with a full schedule. I enjoyed the perfect mix of gameplay, customization and story development and would recommend it for ANYONE that is looking for a great way to pass the time and put a smile on their face.

With the great graphics and graphic style, the excellent soundtrack (btw the customer submitted picture that mentions that the music is cool in that area; that song is called "The Bird Chirps, I Sing" by an artist named: Kanon) and fun and funny (despite being a bit generic, which is sometimes half the fun) story I cant really say that these reviews that point out the bad are doing the good any justice.

Go pick it up, it's cheap and you can't go wrong with quality.

Interesting Story - Nothing Spectacular

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game was decent. It is definitely worth playing through once but after you've done that there really is no need to play it again.

Unlike most of the Tales series this one revolves specifically around one floating island. There is one main town which sits at the center of the island but like most tales games there isn't much besides the main storyline in terms of what to do. I did enjoy learning new recipes to bake food (you can use baked food outside of combat for healing) but besides that there wasn't much else.

The combat system is the same as with other Tales games where its a side scroller fighting based battle system. This has its own advantages and disadvantages but the system here seems just about the same as the other games. One thing to note though is the bonus you get for the fight is dependent upon if you meet certain criteria while fighting (avoiding the user of skills for example or beating it under a certain period of time). These side little bonuses are fun to strive for but get old fast.

I have to admit though that the story began to pick up towards the end of the game. You'll see once you play, not going to spoil anything.

Decent RPG but one of the lesser gems in the series. Play it for the story though even if it's just once, it's worth at least trying.

Good story, but repetitive combat

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am about 10 hours into this game and doubt I am going finish it. So what is the problem? Why is it boring for me? The combat. I was extremely excited when I found out that there is a combo system within the combat. When I learned how to do the combos I realized that there is no depth in it at all. You connect 3 different moves and that's it? Why can't I connect 5? Why can't I mash moves together and accidentaly discover a great 6 hit combo? No, you use your regular attack, then any base skill, then any higher level skill. I was siked! It's boring and it has no depth. Besides the weak "combo system", combat is nothing more than button mashing. When you are not using your skills with the main character, Senel, you are doing nothing more than hitting the same basic 3 hit combo by pressing your attack button 3 times. Boring and repetitive! Sure it is nice to have real time hack and slash battles in an RPG, but at least make it fun and innovative! I saw the same thing already in Tales of Phantasia and I was not pleased with that game either. Sigh. The story is interesting and may be the only reason for me to play this game. The combat does not impress! I will try to finish this game, but doubt I will. It's becoming a chore to play, but at the same time I can understand why other people may like it. I am just not as patient and forgiving as other players. It's a cheap buy, so buy it if you want; you may like it.

Emotionally great!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game's story is easily the best story of all JRPGs. I tear'd up during each of the game's chapters!

I actually picked up the JP version of this game because there's more voice acting. (one of the pitfalls of the NA version is that they only voiced the first story arc)

-Classic tales gameplay
-Great story
-Great music

Buy this game!

Give it another chance

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Yes, this games has a lot against it: crap graphics, a 2D battle system that consists of little more than button mashing, character outfits so weird looking that I was convinced the main character would turn out to be a robot, no voice acting for half the game, and its the only main tales game not made by the tales team. On the other hand, this is one of the few games that really pushes character development. Unlike most RPGs, which add tons of characters to the group of heros and then ignores them for the rest of the game, you get to know all the characters and watch relationships develop between them, pushing you to finish the game just to see what happens next. The only exception to this is Shirley, who is boring, has an annoying voice, and is scarily obsessed with the main character to the point of trying to kill ALL humans just because he says he doesn't like her.

Good Re-release.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Good product. No Problems. Originally for dreamcast. I noticed some slowdowns in places where there was a lot going on. But that is to be expected for ports to the playstation. Also some slowdowns between menus and whatnot.

Good Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: February 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Honestly this game is good. Okay but um... let's see uh.... IT'S NOT GAME OF THE YEAR MATERIAL AS OTHERS MAKE IT SEEM!People say it is better than Symphonia NAHA! NO FREAKIN, WAY! Reason 1 Norma uses a STRAW! Grune uses an URN and Shirley which ya don't really use at all uses a PEN!!!!!! But now for the positive. It's very humorful for kids but not adults. And remember the Wonder Chef he had a sex change into the Wonder Baker who constantly trips after being made fun of. The graphics I guess are actually pretty good. The combat is fun of course.But you know every about 12 steps you are in a battle What a pokemon! I think it's educational because Shirley uses a pen LOL!
We have beatiful Anime cutscenes too. We have Senel the main character who punches and kicks,Shirley his sister who always gets kidnapped. We got Will who is the smart one with a hammer and the voice of Kratos Aurion.Moses the bandit who jokes and has a spear.Chloe who seems to crush on Senel and wiels a sword as a knight. Norma who is funny and makes up nicknames.Grune uses an urn kisses Senel all the time and lost her memory. Jay the info dealer who is my favorite and wields a dagger.The envirements are cool. But before you play let me tell you that map navigation is hell!!!!!

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