If might join this playthrough in a while.
I bought this game a while ago when it was on sale but still haven't played it.
And as of right now, I am playing Tales of Zestiria on ps/4 so need to complete that one first.

If I join the replay or not, it will be interesting to see your impressions from the playthrough (I will try to skip spoilers and stuff)

You should definitely join in and play, Symphonia is excellent! 

How are you enjoying Zestiria currently?

So far (a little more than 25 hours in) I'm liking Zestiria. Tales games often have fairly complex combat systems and Zestiria has one of the more complex ones IMO.  (Though I am not that fond of the equipment-bingo system)

I would say it is my 2nd favourite Tales game (Though here I need to put in the disclaimer that I have not completed many tales game, especially not the earlier ones).

Before the game was release I saw some reviews , and they were somewhat down on the game and since I was generally disappointed by Xillia 2 I planned to pass on Zestiria until I could get it for cheap.

Then the game was released, and I started seeing many players enjoying it so I started having 2nd thoughts.. and when I found a store that still had the CE in stock I bought it.

Re: symfonia maybe I can complete Zestiria in a week or a little more so maybe I can jump on the train a bit late.

Welp, I started mine as well and stopped at Dirk's House, where I prepare to leave for the journey...

As for me and this game, I played this long ago on the Gamecube, and like many early fans, it became my instant fav. I have played other Tales games, but this one remained on top. However, I only played it that one time, so I just accepted that it's great. So playing it again, I may change my mind on that.

My overall thoughts on it, so far it holds up pretty well for an old GC game. The models look good, the buildings look good, and everything runs great overall. Sometimes though in cutscenes, the game looks very blurry, like it hurts my eyes... Also, voice work is great : D

Gameplay, it plays like the Tales games, but this one shows its age. The combat feels a bit basic and quite flat, like 2D-ish. Characters only stick on a 2D plane and you have 1 special move. So many times I was just pressing A to kill the baddies. Felt a bit simple compared to the other Tales games, but I'm sure it will pick up.

The story is cute, 3 kids in a village, and one of them will start a journey to regenerate the world. You fight some monsters, some soldiers and have a good time. Small dialogues also chime in from time to time, but from playing other games, I really wish they were voiced...

So yeah... So far, so good. That's about it for me. Will continue soon.

Fallout four will most likely be taking up a few hours a day is the problem lol

Ugh right. Know that feeling all too well @_@

probably my best game of all time! all that epicness

I was gonna play with you guys, but unfortunately, the Steam version ain't even out yet...

Anyways, tagging.

Day 2: Cloud's Log.

I reached the end of the fire ruins. Playing more of it, I'm starting to see the charms of it that won me over as a kid. I enjoy the characters, such as Collete's clumsy, yet sweet polite manner, Rain being a crazy archeologist mania, and Lloyd being a heroic, but yet still dimwitted character.

Also, the game picks up quick, with some sweet and sad moments all in the beginning of the game. It really has that sense of adventure when you leave the first town and set out into the overworld. And, the game is just gives me a lot of chuckles.

Granted, I feel the battle system is still a little basic compared to future games. But that does it for my log. : )

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Road to Platina

Symphonic Adventure
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Chapter 1: Our Adventure Begins…!

 
I will be posting a LOT of spoilers so if you don’t want to be spoiled, turn away now and play the game!

Also, I am playing the GameCube version and I do use glitch exploits (2 of them) but to be fair, I didn’t use it on my original run as well as my 2nd run.


Introduction + Battle System
So we begin our grand adventure in the world of Symphonia! Beginning in Iselia, we meet Lloyd, our hero covered in red with suspenders. We get introduced to the battle system, which is one of the best I’ve ever played. Really simple and easy to learn, but at the same time, interesting and fun to play, so you won’t get bored. The biggest flaw, is that the camera only follows player 1 so when you are playing with other people, they cannot see what they are doing. Also, though frame rate is at 60 for the GameCube version, by casting a big spell that has huge amount of hits, (Cylcone, I’m looking at you!) the frame rate drops like crazy and lag is intense. But even for other big spells, it’s not a problem. Another issue, is that there isn't any free-run. This makes you have to move in a linear fashion, even though the battle area is 3D. Not a huge issue but it would be great to have a bit more freedom to dodge attacks rather than having to block it

 
Who listens to rules? We go where we want! To Martel Temple!
We meet this really suspicious mercenary.. and is it just me, or did I hear his voice before? Anyways, really straightforward first dungeon, where we push some blocks around and we get introduced to the Sorcerer’s Ring. This ring is used in most dungeons and can also change type, but I’ll talk about that some other time. Using the ring, we can get to the top and we are tasked to regenerate the world.

 
Well that about wraps up chapter one as we all need to go home after a hard day’s work..

Recap:

We meet up with Lloyd, Genis, Collet and Kratos to begin our quest to regenerate the world

Duration: ~30 minutes

Favourite Song: Hometown Scent of Iselia

Main Character Used: Lloyd

Button Binding:
B: Sword Rain
Side-B: Sword Rain Alpha
Down-B: Tiger Blade
Up-B: Sword Rain Beta
Up-C: Demon Fang
Down-C: Tempest

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