'Tales of...' series is Namco's/Bandai-Namco's Action RPG that's
quite famous. Its main specialty is in the battle system that takes place in 2
dimensional field and you control 1 swordsman type guy while the rest of your
party are A.I but you can issue order to them. If that's not the case in more
recent/modern series, then it's entirely my fault as i only have played one of
the series: Tales of Destiny on
Playstation 1. Thus i try to broaden my knowledge by playing Tales of Phantasia (2003) on Gameboy
Advance.
Not much i can tell from the
title screen. The background can be good green scenery if not for black side
that dominating the screen here, giving dark mystery vibe on it. As for the
title itself, well. It's dull at least in font aspect. Although, Phantasia
reminds me of Walt Disney's Fantasia a bit. Before the title there's quote by Edward
D. Morrison (complete with voiceover): "If there's evil in this world, it
lurks in the hearts of man." I have no idea who's this guy is but his word
is quite a wisdom.
As i hit New Game option, the
game starts with this battle. Hey! It's in 2D. It's match with my description.
The swordsman charge but immediately get slashed away by the tall chap on the
right. Then the bloke with blue bandana/turban incants some spell then blue
spark orbs surround the rightside guy then they're explode!
He turns into shinny orb travel
through sky then he ends up in this chamber where he immediately get sealed by
this group. He's sealed within that coffin while a pendant flying.
A dozen
years later or so...
Miguel called his son named Cress
to talk about the pendant that he gave at Cress's 15th birthday but Chester
call Cress for hunting in forest so Miguel delays the talk until dinner time. If
you look closely, Miguel is on the same group that sealed the overlord back
there. So the pendant is most likely the one that seal him. Coincidence? I think
not!
Then i control Cress and as
cliché rules of JRPG, Chester get "inside" me. Oh my, that sounds
revolting! Anyway, first thing i do is: tease a couple in this bridge. The girl
said that they will marry next month. Yeah, good luck with that!
I check general store to see if
we can buy any use item although Cress's mother gave me some apple gel which is
healing item. The shopkeeper won't sell us anything but he gave apple me to
deliver to Chester's young sister, Ami. As i make deliver, Ami immediately gobs
it down without washing it first or any proper cleaning treatment to edible
fruit. Then Chester is bestowed with "Kind Brother" title. Well, good
for you. C=
As we approach the exit, Tristan
who we meet in Cress's house ask us where are we going. Chester then
immediately says that we're going to hunt in south forest. Thanks for recap,
buddy! Tristan looks like some old man who's once veteran warrior as Cress and
his father regards him high. I assume he's like Obi Wan Kenobi in this story.
As we get inside the forest, the
group spot a boar and give a chase. Suddenly, random encounter happens! And as
i have mentioned before that the battle takes place in 2 dimension field and i
only control Cress. Pressing 'A' button will make him attack up to 2 strikes.
Pressing 'B' button will cast his skill but he doesn't have it yet. Left and
right button to make him move. Combining up or down button with attack button
will produce different attack than in neutral stance. Up+attack button for
jumping stab. Down+attack button for thrust attack then upward slash. While
neutral attack button for overhead slash then stab attack. Giant Bees aren't
problem while the bug bears and the owls can be big problem what's with their
relatively high attack and hitpoint at least for Cress who's still in level 1.
By the way, Tales of Phantasia originally released in Super Nintendo but it
never get official translation. The most noticeable different to me: you can't
run in non-combat section in SNES version by holding 'B' button, walking alone takes
quite forever to go anywhere. So i prefer the GBA version beside i like more
the chunkier sprite on battle mode from the original ones.
After the party search the forest
for the boar (and chest), they lose it in front of this dead tree. Chester
decide to split then a spirit of the dead tree give Cress a warning "Do
not defile the tree!" before it disappears. I believe Cress is looking for
game not pissing on the tree, you clueless sod! Shortly after that Chester is
back then the boar too. But with its mother that is huge.
It's first boss fight, then. For
some reason the huge boar is in the middle of the party, so Cress and Chester
can beat it senselessly while stunlocking it. We got huge meat for dinner and
Cress got level up along with his first skill "Demon Fang" which is a
slash that can emit some blue energy wave. While in SNES version, he also got
level up but gain no skill. Another reason why i prefer the GBA version.
I thought we're going to have
wonderful feast like in Asterix comic with wild boar roast and such but alas! Toltus
village has been attacked by some bad guys that search for Cress's pendant and
there's no survivor. Maria, Cress's mother told Cress to go to his uncle in
Euclid town.
Turns out, the woman who's one of
the couple in bridge is Cress's sister. Speaking of sister, Chester is still
mourning over his dead sister. Cress told him to go with him to Euclid but he
refuses since he wants to give everyone here proper burial. You might also want
to bury "Kind Brother" title as you're no longer someone's brother
since your sister passes away, buddy!
Between Toltus (the first
village) and Euclid, there's this passage. Here, i learn to push or pull statue
by holding 'A' button and direction button. Peddler over there should be
grateful that i make way for him.
He don't have much item to sell
except -your usual- restoration item and Panacea that somehow in sake bottle. Yep! That sake bottle alright, not medicine bottle unless you consider some liquor is
medicine.
Certainly, things get rougher if
you're just in one man party in a RPG. But at least, i get a gist of how to
deal with enemy safely. For example these owls only attack diagonally so i'll
be safe under their origin spot. They also can't back once they're down so i
can jab them over and over if they're fallen. Sometime i retreat automatically
if i have finished my combo and i can utilize to perform some kind of
"hit-and-run" tactic only in some occasion. There's
"evasion" status that determines how often i can take reduced damage
automatically. It should be "block" status, that's more appropriate. No
manual guard or defense command, sadly.
After passing that valley and
some overworld field, Cress arrives at Euclid. That's funny. I spot Cress's
sister on right while her boyfriend behind that clown. I know that Namco re-use
the sprites. But i like to pretend that Cress's depression of losing his family,
get the best of him. =P
I happen to find a
cooking-ingredient store and there's chef there that teach me how to make
Cabbage Roll. Cooking in JRPG? That reminds me of Sora no Kiseki/The Legend of
Heroes - Trails in the Sky and that means good to me. Cooking multiple time
will improve character's cooking skill so you're encouraged to use this feature
as many as possible. Besides, cooking food item is replacing resting item like
tent or cottage like in Final Fantasy series.
I decide to grind for money and
experience. As you can guess that it's not an easy feats because i'm alone. I
find bugbears are no longer big trouble but now it's the wolfs are. Luckily
using healing item is quite easy, first you have to bring the menu by pressing
'Select' button then you choose item option. Just remember that 'Select' button
is for menu not 'Start' button. It will sets Cress to auto-battle.
After buying shield (to boost
evasion) and saber, i go to Cress's uncle home in northwest part of Euclid. His
uncle and aunt offer me to stay. Why not?
In the middle of the night,
soldiers barge into this room and capture me. The uncle said that if he doesn't
cooperate they will raze the town like Toltus village. Strangely, the villain
keep their promise not to destroy this town. It's common that villains won't
keep their promise so this case is astounding me. Also uncle's treachery,
shocks me too. You supposed to be trustworthy, old bastard!
I got dragged into someone who's
the leader of this evil soldiers. He
took the pendant give it to Grim Reaper! Then he have me thrown into a jail.
Guess what? They also confiscated my newly bought saber and shield. This is the
first time i feel that grinding in RPG is worthless. At least i keep my level.
After quite some time wandering
in my cell, a whisper come from a rat hole. It told me to reach hand inside the
hole and i got earring. The it tells me to throw it to the wall and Boom! A
hole made to next cell. Not really my ticket to freedom but i shouldn't judge
to soon.
On next cell i found this poor
lady. It seems she's already dead and her hands tied so that was her ghost,
perhaps. I take the sword there and use it to pry cell doors. I'm interested
with any jailbreak scene in games. I give this one 6.3/10. Prying cell door
with sword is cool but get assisted by deceased lady and her explosive earring
seems quite a stretch.
I pry other cell door to get item
that i can take. Then there's one cell that contain this lass. As i can pry
cell doors, she asks me to free her mother and point out where she's supposed
to be. Turns out, she refer to that dead lady. Not wanting to make unnecessary
drama, i tell her that there's no one there. Then she joins me to escape this
prison.
The game instructs me to examine
Mint's skill. Well, she's healer. I can tell her to turn off/on her skill and/or
put it in shortcut. If i turn on her healing magic, i worry that she will heal
me whenever i get only a scratch. That's TP wasting. By the way, TP is energy
unit for casting skills, much like MP or mana. It's refill a bit after a battle.
Like in every JRPG, there's
magical thing that allow you to save your progress (besides in overworld map).
In this case, it's this Memory Glyph. If you step on it, it will shine and
there's sparkle around kind of like UFO's tractor beam.
After venturing in this sewer
(mainly searching for chest), i encounter next boss fight. "None shall
pass" he said. It should be "You shall not pass", fool!
The devil has slugs as his
bodyguard but they're really pushover. Overall the battle is rougher than
common encounters but still manageable. That's because Cress is in level 6. It
will be nice if Mint isn't just standing doing nothing, as if she's being "carried"
by Cress. It's partially my fault as I'm busy controlling Cress that i forget
to tell Mint to heal manually, and also i still can't figure out how this
shortcut command ('L' button) works. I can set her A.I to heal but i predict
that she will just waste her TP too much.
As soon as we free from sewer, i
got touched by another giant slug, protecting Mint from harm. Then i'm knocked
out cold and Mint carries me to safety. I have to admit she got some remarkable strength for healer.
Luckily, i'm treated to healthy
in Morrison's residence. I assume he's the Morrison who give us that wise word.
Mint gives me Quiche and i eat it then i learn recipe to cook it. It's all good
for now. Morrison tells me to go outside for fresh air. Hmm. Okay!
Then i get reunited with Chester
after he almost shoot my head! Not funny, buddy. He tells that Morrison helped him
bury the villagers back there. So he's quite nice.
After i tell Morrison about the
pendant, he goes after the evil guys that will use it to unseal the evil lord.
But he tells us not to come with him. After sitting a while and some pestering from
Chester about getting revenge, Master Tristan comes and permits us to go. The
place where the villains are Catacomb in a cave that's southeast from here. He
also tells us to get more prepared by purchasing anything from door-to-door
merchant that happens in front door. Should i need free HP and TP restoration,
i can just sleep on a bed in this house.
In the cave, i found the reaper
that collaborate with evil guy who destroy our village! I will get you! And
chest that you're guarding.
Turns out it was just a skeleton
and a ghoul. They're another pushover. Not even their flanking formation can
beat us. Also, now i know how to use shortcut command. You have to hold 'L'
button then press 'A' button for shortcut #1 or press 'B' button for shortcut
#2. This way, i can swiftly order Mint to heal anyone who need healing most.
After salvaging that chest, we
meet with Master Tristan. He tells us that Morrison should be on the catacomb,
on the north. Also he teaches me another skill that i can't cast. Turns out as
it's the combination of 2 skills that i have learned, i have to master them
first before using that one. Executing a skill once will rise related skill's
experience by 1 %. To master it, you have to -of course- increasing said
experience to 100%. So there's another initiative to spam skills besides TP
restoration after battle.
If you still think i'm nice
person. Here's something to convince you that you're wrong: i -without thinking
twice- rob sarcophagus several times. As there's no morality unlike in Fallout
2, i'm free to do so. Well, except i have to fight zombie who inhabits the
sarcophagus.
Our grave robbing is paid-off.
One of item that we found is this ring that can negate physical damage with 10
% chance but the item alone not boost any stats and that can be confusing. To
bring this description, you press 'start' button while highlight the item and
you can scroll the description by pressing 'select' button. This is useful to
inspect especially accessory item.
I thought i have to serve any
random encounters that we meet. Actually, i can escape from them like in any
JRPGs though there's no menu for escaping. Instead you have to walk past the
battlefield's corner until escape gauge is filled completely, then you can
escape. Quite tedious procedure but i can take it.
What if there's object-pushing
puzzle that the object comes to alive so you have to defeat it first before you
can use it? That's what happens here. The golem here is a boss but not so hard
to beat besides memory glyph is near it.
Then we got teleported to
platforming section with lava ocean and switches! Thankfully, you can't drop
down to lava and die. It only hamper your way. When i get on some flying
platform, i drop the ruby which is important key item. I mean item that unlock
door, literally.
Then i drop the ruby again to
lower floor where the floor damages you if you step on it. Fortunately i
activate some glyph that makes me
flying. With red cape and arms in front, i look like Superman! Well played,
Namco!
Beyond second door that need Ruby
to unlock, there's other Golems. 3-on-2 seems more fair fight than 3-on-1 but
there's kind of big problem: the one who's suitable to be "tank" is
only me! Chester the archer and Mint the healer are fragile. So we're weak to
any enemies on flanking formation. After some defeat, i figure i put Mint on
mid because healing is the most crucial then i tell her to stun the left golem using her
"Pow Hammer" magic while i keep slashing the right ones. When it's
goner, i told our party to switch formation's order then we can deal with the
last one without much problem. You can change formation from the menu or you
can use 'R' button like what i did. Holding 'R' button than press up will
change party's order to left or right. Holding 'R' button than press down will
make A.I party member's to stand still. While holding 'R' button than press
left/right will change target. 'R' button function is quite complicated but
handy to use.
We're too late! Dhaos, the evil
lord has been released from his seal by the evil guy whose name is
Mars something. Mars tell Dhaos to obey him but Dhaos immediately eradicates Mars's lackeys with blue Kamehameha and soon he meet the same fate as his
underling. Everyone knows that, you can't make an overlord obey you to show
gratitude by freeing him, you stupid villain! So our revenge is fulfilled. Yay!
Well, not entirely yay as we have to deal with the big bad guy now.
Then Morrison teleports us to
some place so we can fight Dhaos another time. By doing so, he sacrifices
himself. Also Chester is dead too! At least, he can be together with his young
sister in afterlife. Meanwhile me and Mint is burdened with very heavy task
which is defeating Dhaos. Our parents can do it so maybe we can too, perhaps. Right.
I forgot to tell you that Mint's mother is also in the party who sealed Dhaos
along with Morrison and my father and mother if you look carefully the screenshoot. Anyway, i end the playthrough
here.
R.I.P Morrison, your wise words
live forever in my soul even though we have met only for several minutes. -_-
Namco's Tales of Phantasia (2003) is the remake of early 'Tales of...' RPG that is better than the
origin though keep the core intact. The gameplay can be difficult and rough
especially when you start new game. You and your party can stunlock enemies but
so they can. And later on there's offensive-damaging magic that can't be
avoided or blocked. Cress can link his normal attack to his skill seamlessly
which is great. As i have mentioned before that so far the party's tank only 1
and it's quite often enemies are on left and right so you have to force one of
your backliner to take damage. Casting magic need time before the effect occur
while using item has significant less delay time although there's limit on how
many item you can carry per type. The shortcut buttons to quick-order your
group are good and responsive though need practice to utilize it well. If someone's hp drops to zero, he/she will turn into cute white ghost. How adorable! The
story is quite typical: bloke who adepts with sword must fight against overlord
that has been unsealed and such. The music are not catchy but can be considered
quite good. The voice over aren't so clear and muffled. The graphic is paler
than in the SNES version. Shopping menu has feature that allow you to see who
can use an equipment and whether it's better or worse than what the character
currently equipped. Cooking is useful but i don't need to use it often so far,
sadly. Because resting is easier to do and you need specific cooking ingredient
while not every shop sell all variety of ingredient unlike in Sora no Kiseki/The Legend of Heroes - Trails
in the Sky.
