very wahoo, the Klonoa fan in me approves, wahoo

I remember playing this a bit on the Gamecube, but I never finished it. It was nice to play it on stream from start to finish and in spite of a few things I didn't finish before completing the game and my lack of using the EX Gems I collected, it wasn't too difficult and very rewarding.

I think it goes without saying that the people that know and played Tales of Symphonia have known about it from its ports as far back as the Gamecube in the early 2000s. It's a pilgrimage journey that goes way off kilter by the first act, and after you do a routine trip trying to save the world, you go for another globetrotting trip to do things off script.

It is a big JRPG adventure where you can control each character with their own movesets. Lloyd, the main character, does fast combo damage with his dual swords, while Genis has no attack skills aside from the spells he uses. The eight or so characters you can play are not all accessible (as standard for a JRPG back then) and there will be times you are forced back to Lloyd, but it IS possible to play on co-op with other players in the same room. Then again, this game's AI is so surprisingly intuitive that even on their default settings you can probably trust them to do right by you.

I don't talk a lot about music or sound in my reviews, but that's because I take it for granted and don't usually have to say something if it's pleasing. Games with good sound should be a feature they all have rather than some rare oddity. The music theme is very faith/catholic, with the religious choirs and pianos, and even the more general JRPG tunes of fighting monsters or epic boss fights. It truly is a game synonymous to "symphony".

Tales of Symphonia is a relic that is showing its age. One of the first games to transition to 3D in the series, and they wouldn't implement a free-run feature until Tales of the Abyss onward. So when you lock on an enemy, you can only move back and forth on their access. You'll have to lock on to another enemy to move another direction, and from there its like picking points on a graph chart. This version gives you access to super finishing artes but they are not as accessible because Overlimit is randomly triggered by a gauge you can't see. And the Exsphere upgrade is finicky in that you can apply power-ups but only based on what four features on the ExGem you have at a time. There's no skill tree or growth to alter, and unless using a certain glitch trick, your characters can only use half of their total movesets based on what type of skills they have their gems set: Technical or Strike.

And yet, Tales of Symphonia remains a cult favorite because of its presentation and quality work. A story that grips you with questions and sort of heavy themes but not too preachy to shatter suspension of disbelief. Battles are so snappy and fast that I get surprised when my characters level up suddenly. There are difficulty markers for those that want an easier time or really challenge themselves. This game is packed with sidequests and treasure chests galore and you can travel TWO overworld maps with ships and air scooters! Even Tales games after Hearts don't do those anymore!

But seriously, if you never played this before or have been on the fence, pick this game up even at the full $20 (which is a lot cheaper than when it made retail for $50). It's a great piece of history that holds up even today with a love for what made long epic journeys to save the world so enchanting in the first place.