Tales of Phantasia

Namco's Tales series, even today, is known to stand out among other RPG franchises for its unique battle system and story element trademarks. Remarkably, not much has changed since the series' first inception: Tales of Phantasia, for the Super Famicom. Though later remade for the Playstation, it wasn't until a third rendition on the GBA that an official American release would be made (although the SFC version was popularly fan-translated by DeJap).

The introduction to Phantasia shows a group of four adventurers battling an evil king, Dhaos. Dhaos is critically wounded, and escapes at the last moment, through magic; but when he arrives at his destination, the adventurers are waiting for him, and seal Dhaos within a tomb protected by the power of two magical amulets. Here, it is hoped, he will rest for all eternity.

Flash forward several years, and we see the young hero of the story, Cless, going out on a hunt with his childhood friend Chester. But when they return, they find that their home town of Totus has been razed, the villagers murdered - including Cless's parents and Chester's sister. Through a series of events, a nefarious military commander being manipulated by the spirit of Dhaos takes back the two amulets that controlled his seal, and sets him free. In the hopes of finding a way to save the world, the researcher Morrison sends Cless back in time so that he might gain help from the long-lost powers of Magic and return to defeat Dhaos.

In all, the story spans three time periods, five main characters, and numerous cities and dungeons. The plot development never lets up, and is rarely bogged down with excessive dialogue, but portrays powerful situations and events with brilliance. The ending is also extremely poignant and makes the whole of the game seem even more significant in retrospect. Not to mention, the characterization of the protagonists and their relationships is very well-executed.

Good writing is futile if there isn't a great game to back it up, and even ten years later, the fast-paced action of Phantasia doesn't disappoint. Overworld and dungeon exploration is fairly typical; but here lies the first incarnation of the Linear-Motion Battle System, which remains largely unchanged due to the impeccable original design. Part menu-based RPG and part side-scrolling fighting game, the LMBS puts the player in direct control of the lead character, Cless. Move with the D-pad, and use directional controls in combination with the attack button to execute a few combat moves - a swiping attack, a stabbing attack, long-range jumping and lunging attacks, as well as special techniques that range from a series of rapid slices to transforming into a phoenix and crashing headlong into a foe. Controlling Cless is tight and intuitive, and getting in the enemy's face is a real rush.

At the same time, up to three other members of your party are on the battle screen, providing backup healing, attacks, or magic spells. You can manually select a spell to cast from an in-battle menu (that pauses the real-time combat to allow you to make decisions), when the situation requires a precise and immediate response, or set an AI characteristic for each ally to have them act on their own. Phantasia's AI choices aren't terribly sophisticated, but they still get the job done well enough that in a typical fight you won't even have to distract yourself from Cless's melee combat if you don't want to. Each character has unique sets of abilities - Chester will fire arrows from a distance to great effect; the healer, Mint, will keep the party alive and healthy; the summoner Klarth can beckon forth the power of spirits to perform magical attacks on the enemy; and the witch Arche can cast powerful destructive magic.

Some segments of Phantasia can be somewhat challenging, but for the most part the game is never too hard (and only sometimes too easy) if you don't flee from battle and always keep your experience up. The game does have a fairly frequent rate of random enemy encounters, but since battle is the best part of the game, it is seldom a chore. This can be irritating in very long dungeons, where the same enemies keep popping up again and again and the end of the dungeon remains elusive, but fortunately this only happens a couple of times; the majority of the game's dungeon areas are quick and to the point. And, there are cheaply-available items (Holy Bottles and Dark Bottles) that will reduce or increase encounter rates, respectively, to keep the game going at the pace you want it to.

Graphically, Tales of Phantasia is a real gem. The sprite-based Super Famicom graphics can even put some modern-generation games to shame in terms of design and attention to detail. The world is beautifully crafted, characters and enemies are drawn to be lively and animated, and in-combat events really stretch the limits of the hardware. There are even several portions of the game with Mode 7 faux-3D, including airship flight.

In terms of audio, Phantasia was years ahead of its time. The developers went to great lengths implementing highly sophisticated software hacks that delivered much better audio than anyone thought the Super Famicom could do. In addition to an excellent soundtrack and flawless sound execution, Tales of Phantasia has its own voice acting, both in the introduction of the game, and accompanying almost every special ability used in battle. The game as a whole is an amazingly pleasant experience to the ears.

Phantasia starts off fast and can fool a player into expecting a short jaunt through the game-world, but keeps going through an epic storyline and never lets up until the end. This reviewer spent a good 30 hours from start to finish, and that's neglecting a handful of end-game sidequest activities, not to mention the challenge of getting your characters to the maximum experience level. And for the true die-hard fan, there is a Hard Mode that will test even the most skilled players.

Tales of Phantasia is a brilliantly complete package of excellent story, gameplay, graphics, sound, and replay value. Truly, for its time, there was nothing else that could even come close. Ten years later, long and tedious dungeons can sometimes be a cause for distress, but otherwise the game is still a crowning achievement. Phantasia is without a doubt one of the greatest classic games of all-time, and provides a challenge even to its own descendants in exceeding it.

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