Tales of Phantasia
March 13,2006 - The GBA had been used and abused, for the most part, as a bit of Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery. This is the place where classic games of a bygone (read: 16-bit) era go to live on forever as ghoulish versions of their original selves. True, the GBA has successfully resurrected interest in franchises past their prime or roots, like Final Fantasy and Lunar, where old school gamers can relive past glories. Freshly buried in this once-fertile ground, Tales of Phantasia emerges from a separate section of the cemetery reserved for games “never released stateside.” But what chance does a dated gameplay style and a mostly-ignored franchise stand in this “shotgun-to-the-face, people-kill-zombie-cat” world of gaming? More chance than another successful Pet Cemetery metaphor, anyway.

It is hard to dislike Tales of Phantasia, though the game provides ample opportunity for the cynical gamer to dig in with bitter prongs. Before picking up this GBA title, it is important to note that this is yet another remake of a classic SNES title, and as such will be rife with clichéd characters and storylines, cutesy sprites and inexplicable item useage, and not-quite-ready-for-American-Idol tracks and vocals. But putting those things aside as “Given,” Tales of Phantasia presents a deeper story than most, complex and colorful RPG battle mechanics, and enough resonance of the time when this kind of game was classic to make a player say “why didn’t this come out in the states in the first place?”

The story of Tales of Phantasia follows hero Cress, a swordsman-in-training whose father and mother are heroes of the last generation. Out hunting one day, Cress returns home to find his entire village destroyed and his parents murdered. Thus begins another standard adventure, this time involving time travel, mana spirits and the waning existence of magic in the world. And while the character archetypes are all present (clueless young hero, innocent love interest with a secret, spunky young mage girl, studious mage male), the thematic arches and character interactions present something more honest and enjoyable than the standard fare. Sure, sweat drops appear above Cress’ head when he and priestess Mint share a sentimental moment. But the real consequences of actions, the deaths of major and minor characters, the themes of ancestral destiny and nature versus technology ring as true in this title as any before it. Somehow Tales of Phantasia emerges seeming refreshing and inspired instead of pieced together and poorly translated.

Gameplay is the real strength of Tales of Phantasia, and presents a style that perhaps American publishers did not feel we were ready for back in the day. Typical of any RPG, Tales is an overhead viewed game of towns, world maps and dungeons. Each are traversed in cardinal directions, and towns and dungeons provide people and objects to interact with using the single action button. Characters are viewed in menus, where items can be used or equipped, skills set or changed, and statuses monitored. So far, so normal.

But enter into a battle and see what makes this title truly shine in its undead rebirth. Instead of a menu driven system, Tales of Phantasia utilizes a real-time action system. Secondary characters are controlled by set AI styles, though they can be prompted to take any specific action by pressing a button to pause the battle and bring up the battle menu. But for the most part, battles are fought using a basic combo system. For starters, pressing the attack button causes Cress to perform a basic attack. Up and the attack button does an upward thrust, and down and attack causes Cress to lunge forward at an enemy. These basic attacks can be pressed in certain two and three move combos strung together for maximized damage. In addition, characters learn new skills throughout the game, which can be mapped to one of four active locations in battle and used by pressing a direction and the skill button. Basic attacks and skills can be strung together for combos and juggling, a strategy that becomes more and more necessary as the game progresses forward with steadily increasing difficulty. In Tales, gaining levels is never enough to ensure victory over a boss, and learning how to effectively string together a new combo becomes a necessity.

The game allows for improving in skills, so the more Cress uses a skill the better he gets at it until he masters it. Mastering skills opens up pathways to new skills as well. In addition to skill mastery, the game also provides unlockable titles for character classes, such as “Swordmaster” or “Summoner” (or the less popular “Snob”), which provide different abilities or growth rates for skills.

Another enjoyable quirk to the game is the cooking system. By collecting ingredients, one time after each battle the party can cook a meal, ranging from hamburgers to sushi. Meals each have different effects, and the more times a meal is cooked, the better the effects of the meal up to its mastered level. Certain characters are better cooks than others, though, so the amount of prepared meals to mastery differs by character. If nothing else, the cooking provides an interesting new approach to field items and allows for one more stat to pump up, always a deal-breaker for RPG enthusiasts.

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