Tales of Phantasia
By Ian Wilson
Wednesday. Aug 11, 12:16 PM
The best SNES RPG you never played.

Ok, let's go back to when I first caught glimpse of this game… it was a long time ago, SNES was the big thing, and I was in love with Final Fantasy. While reading though a Nintendo Power (back when it was cool; remember the awesome covers that the really old ones had... and... wait, sidetracking, sorry) when I spotted a small article on games currently out in Japan. They were raving about some RPG by Namco that we, sadly, never got here in the States, even though it was popular enough to eventually end up re-done on the Playstation (and later Game Boy Advance as well). Sure, we got the sequels, but we never got this specific game.

The game I speak of is Tales of Phantasia, in my opinion the greatest RPG on the SNES that you never played. Well, maybe some of you have, but I'm sure that that number is quiet small, and I'm also sure that none of you have the actual cart since it'll cost you close to $80 on e-bay.

The game itself is your standard group-of-heroes-seal-away-powerful-badguy, badguy-breaks-out-years-later-and-new-heroes-must-now-reseal-him deal. Throw in some time traveling for a little variety and there you have it. But it's not the story that really shines in this game. Sure, the story is good, but the beauty is in the details of the gameplay.

At the very beginning, you are greeted by text, which doesn't sound like much, but the voice reading it is the cool part. Usually actual voices in a game eats up a lot of space, so when I tell you that the opening song is sung, you might wonder how much room is left on the cartridge. I don't know how they did it, but the game is pretty long with vibrant visuals and subtle touches like ripples in puddles and reflections on water. The music is so good that I own the two-disc soundtrack. That's A LOT of great tunage.

One thing that sets this game apart from other RPGs of its time is the battle system, which plays more like a side-scroller. Your characters fight on their own with setups that you choose, going all-out with magic, defend, or save magic. You yourself can defend, attack, or use spells/special skills. When you attack, your character dashes across the 2D screen and attacks the enemy before returning to his spot. You can move freely left or right as well. I don't remember, but I think you can plug in a controller so your friend can control one of your party members.

There weren't any side quests that I can remember, or anything added to the mix other than the sweet battle system, beautiful graphics, and sound. The game, like I said, was pretty straightforward, but awesome because of all the detail work put into it. In fact, the graphics are on par with some Playstation games. When it made its platform leap, all that was added were cut scenes. And come to think of it, not even the second game, Tales of Destiny, looked as pretty or stunning.

Well, if you can read Japanese, have a Super NES, and can spare the cash: BUY THIS GAME NOW! This is a game all RPG fans should play.
www.namco.com

Ian Wilson

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