This Tales of Symphonia Remastered assessment ought to include a disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia is, by fairly some margin, my favorite recreation of all time. It’s necessary to notice as a result of I went in with extremely excessive expectations, to not point out a robust emotional attachment. That will have skewed a few of my emotions when scripting this assessment,
Earlier than entering into the thick of it, the remaster is a very combined bag. The sport itself holds up remarkably, and that is one thing I used to be involved with moving into. Would the rose-tinted glasses come off enjoying the sport practically 20 years later? Happily, that’s not the case. Positive, many features of the gameplay are dated in design, however the story and, most notably, the characters nonetheless maintain up in spite of everything of this time.
Nonetheless, the remaster itself is, fairly frankly, an entire and utter mess. It’s baffling to me {that a} writer as large as Bandai Namco would enable one in every of its most treasured releases from yesteryear to launch in a state like this. It deserves higher.
Tales of Symphonia Remastered Evaluate
We’re going to interrupt our assessment down into plenty of totally different sections so you may skip to the bit you’re most concerned with if you’d like.
What Is Tales of Symphonia?
Tales of Symphonia is the fifth instalment within the Tales collection, and the primary to launch in totally 3D. It takes place in the identical universe as the primary entry, Tales of Phantasia, and centres round protagonist Lloyd Irving, who’s on a quest to regenerate the world along with his pal Colette, the Chosen one.
With out digging into spoilers, this takes you internationally, battling monsters, bosses, and taking up side-quests. You’ll discover an overworld and numerous dungeons and cities, taking part in side-quests and extra.
The actual spotlight is the battle system although, which is fast-paced and stuffed with motion. It’s generally known as the ‘Multi-Line Linear Movement Battle System’, and sees you and three celebration members pulling off mad combos to defeat the enemy.
Does The Remaster Function New Content material?
No new content material, no. It options AI-upscaled HD visuals, widescreen help, and the entire content material included within the PS2 model of the sport. For context, it initially launched on GameCube in 2003, then in 2004 a PS2 model arrived completely in Japan with new additions.
So, for those who’re enjoying this model for the primary time, there will likely be new content material for you. However there’s no content material in right here that’s unique to this remaster.
What’s Good?
Basically, regardless of the failings (which we’ll get onto quickly) that is nonetheless Tales of Symphonia. It’s an absolute masterpiece and one of many most interesting JRPGs of all time. Not solely that, that is the primary time it’s formally arrived in handheld format, and it lends itself very effectively to this.
For people who by no means had an opportunity to play the PS2 model, and that’s everybody who doesn’t dwell in Japan or owned the PS3 or PC remasters, will get to expertise model new content material. That features a HD model of the sport.
What’s Unhealthy?
Okay, so this isn’t an exaggeration: that is the worst model of Tales of Symphonia that at present exists. For a begin, it’s 30 fps, which is half the body price of the GameCube unique – and that’s when it hits the cap. It often options stuttering and body price drops.
It’s so dangerous, the truth is, that when sure particle results are on the display, the sport slows to a crawl. This occurs in lots of areas of the sport and, maybe most irritatingly, at any time when you’ve Colette within the celebration. At greatest it’s distracting, and at worst it might actually hurt the expertise.
It’s additionally the ugliest model of the sport. That is subjective, in fact, however when evaluating to the PC model – which I performed on Steam Deck – this model pales as compared. The AI upscaling appears to only apply a very ugly sharpening impact to the whole lot, which, in my opinion, is much less visually interesting than the unique visuals upscaled in HD.
It additionally appears to be lacking the cel-shaded impact from the unique, which gave the visuals a pleasant cartoony look. When you look actually intently, a really faint gray define is utilized to the characters, nevertheless it’s far much less efficient than the daring black define of the unique. Curiously, this impact is utilized now and again – notably on weapons and different objects.
The colors are additionally extremely washed out. Happily, for those who personal an OLED Change you may pop on ‘Vivid’ mode to mitigate this. Additionally, that is the one Change recreation that I’ve ever needed to flip off ‘computerized brightness’ so I can see components of the display. It’s actually darkish in locations.
Maybe the most important grievance although are the myriad lacking visible options. The screen-shattering impact whenever you enter battle within the unique is totally lacking, changed with a white display. Additionally, everytime you open a menu or watch a skit, reasonably than see a clear view of the gameplay display behind, it’s simply a wholly black display.
Neither of those are game-breaking, however additionally they weren’t an issue within the unique model, now nearly 20 years previous at this level. Additionally, what’s game-breaking is the lacking dialogue in quite a few scenes. That truly will get in the best way of story and character improvement.
Lastly, there are terribly lengthy loading screens between battle, transferring between new areas on the map, and launching and shutting skits. Mainly, any time there’s a loading display, it takes extremely lengthy.
Tales of Symphonia Remastered Evaluate: Verdict
Whenever you have a look at the variety of paragraphs in good in comparison with dangerous, it’s not wanting good, is it? Properly, you most likely realized that from the actual fact our solely actual optimistic was that it’s nonetheless Tales of Symphonia.
However, that’s the one actual upside of this remaster. It’s objectively the worst model of the sport. At greatest, it’s an terrible port. At worst, it’s a damaged mess. It runs poorly, it’s lacking a ton of options, and it’s the ugliest model of the sport. What kind of remaster is uglier than the unique?
I can solely advocate this model if, like me, you need to replay Tales of Symphonia on a handheld and also you don’t personal a Steam Deck. If this isn’t you, keep away from this – at the very least till a promised patch fixes the sport.
