You play as Cless, a young boy who has a mother and a father that lives in a small village with his friend, Chester. When you and your friend go hunting they discover the Mana Tree. The Mana Tree whispered to them, “You must save mana from disappearing from this world.” Then Cless hears the village alarm. When they rush to their village they find that an army searching for two necklaces has destroyed it. They killed both of his parents. Unaware what to do, Cless moves South while Chester morns because he lost his sister. Cless reaches a house and a man named Tornix D. Morrison, asks him what he is doing and who he is. Cless says Cless Alvein and Tornix gives him a strange face. Tornix says that he knew his parents. His parents were warriors with Tornix and his wife. Each family held a necklace that held the power of Dhaos. If the two necklaces joined together, Dhaos would be resurrected. Dhaos is obviously the bad guy that was at war with cities over 100 years ago. Since the soldiers had taken Cless’ parent’s necklace, they only had to take Cless’ necklace. Tornix tells him to go north with him. Chester comes with them as they move to a city in the North pass the cliffs. When they reach there they rest for a while and the soldiers capture Cless and take his necklace. Cless meets another captive named Mint. She has excellent healing abilities. They escape and meet up with Tornix in a port. Tornix say he is going after Dhaos. He forbids you to go but you go anyways. When you meet up with Tornix on Dhaos’ Island he yells at you. Since the soldiers gained both necklaces, they put it on a tomb and Dhaos comes back to life. Tornix then send Cless and Mint back in time 400 years ago. The last you see of Tornix and Chester is a pile of dust. Now you must fix the past to prevent stuff from happening in the present. Will they disturb the past too?
Graphics [10/10]:
These are probably the best graphics I’ve ever seen in a Super NES game. The sprites are full of detail and the backgrounds are colorful. Each city has a different landscape! The characters in battle look good and it even shows if you are equipped with a weapon. Cless has different weapons that change every time he equips a different type of weapon {Axe, Spear, and Sword}. The frame rate is very good and never suffers from high loading. Reflection effects and battle animations are spectacular. Seeing Klarth {Summoner} summon gods are visual treats. Arche {Elf} has a variety of spells that are very detailed. I think Namco’s side battle view is awesome and looks excellent.
Music and Sound [10/10]:
The music is extremely good! There are 64 different songs that are clear and very good. The music can be sad, happy, fast-paced, and weird. This game has a built in graphic equalizer that you can change and the sound test is the most comprehensive sound test I’ve ever seen. Another great thing is that THERE ARE ACTUAL VOICES FROM JAPANESE ACTORS IN IT! Whenever you cast a spell or some of the songs, you can hear the singers. It isn’t fuzzy and doesn’t have any static.
Game Play [10/10]:
The weird battle system it has makes it an excellent Action RPG. I believe it beats any Action RPG. It is a side view that is on a flat surface but changes with environments. Each button depends on your attack and how far away you are from your enemy. Cless can slice or stab. Cless also has an ability called Tech. There are a bunch of combo-like things you can earn. For example, Blade Storm is a cool tech that stabs the enemy 10 times. If you see the right person they can teach you Tech Combinations. It combines two techs to make it more deadly. Tempest is a combination technique that uses Blade Storm and Lightning Bolt together. He stabs the enemy 10 times then attacks with a powerful lightning bolt. The AI is very smart and they sometimes can outsmart you. Luckily the AI controlling your other 3 characters is excellent. You can make them aggressive, average or just make them do nothing. Experimenting with Arches spells can be cool along with Klarth’s gods. There are so many things to do, so little time.
Challenge/Replay [10/10]:
Tales of Phantasia is not a very easy game. It is easy to get used to the controls. Bosses can be very tricky like they can hover over your other characters and attack them at will and kill them all. It can be hard but never is frustrating. The game rides very smoothly making it fun to find people and complete events. This game is REALLY LONG. There are 3 acts in it. I’ve played the game for 20 hours and I am only on act 2. This game will last forever, but you will not get tired of playing this game. Replaying this game can be fun. You probably won’t remember half of the stuff you did so it is like it is brand new! (Well no but it is very close)
Conclusion/Overall [10/10]:
I love this game. It is my second favorite game (FF 3 being my first but not much better) and I will keep it forever. I have one thing to add though, don’t use a walkthrough. You will spoil the game. One little fact I found out was that this is the largest Super NES game very created. The biggest one that came to America was 32 Megabits and Tales of Phantasia is a 48 Megabit cartridge. There is one little catch to this game… it is in Japanese. This game was only released in Japan. There are two versions also. There is a Super NES version and a Playstation version. This is one game that the Japanese got that I wanted. Well you better brush up on your Japanese because this game you can’t buy in English.
