That being said, those who dare to explore Tales of Phantasia should be pleased with their experience. This isn't a token mainstream RPG, it's the real deal. If this doesn't sound like your cup-o-tea, suck it up or go buy "Mega Man Battle Network 87" instead. Some things are better left unchanged, and as long as that philosophy is embraced, Phantasia will offer a ton of great hours. In fact, I began the game by running directly to my death and couldn't help but laugh at my helplessness as a modern-day gamer. No tutorials were given in the days of Final Fantasy III, and Phantasia follows the old-school RPG formula in virtually every way. If you turn it on and start down the storyline, the game will assume you know what you're doing. There isn't an intro to teach players how to play the game, for example. Again, don't mistake differences for weaknesses it is simply the way the game has been delivered. The game is pretty dang hard, and its pace and style will group it with the likes of Sword of Mana, Riviera and Sigma Star Saga. Along with the combat engine, players will have to get used to the overall difficulty of Phantasia as well. Rather than simply porting one of the previous renditions, Tales of Phantasia feels like a "best of" version, offering a variety of design elements that have made the series great. There are also new quests to explore that weren't in either the SNES or Playstation versions, so even if you have gotten your hands on previous versions there are still new parts of the world to explore. Cooking has been included from Symphonia, as well as the title system, which contributes a ton to character development. While the gameplay and story follows an earlier age of design, Phantasia is aided by a ton of what has made the series great since the original debuted. It is a bit different from Symphonia, though it isn't necessarily worse. If players don't want their character to regroup with his allies, they simply need to keep attacking. Much of this control is done by the AI on the fly, though the actual moves are determined by the player. In the videos below you may notice that the character will return to his party members after delivering a blow, or leap into the air to attack flying characters. When attacking, the controlled player will automatically rush or leap at the targeted enemy, though the specific attack is still controlled by the player. Everything is a bit slower, though it makes the battles less of a mash-fest. One major change in the combat can be noticed right away, as players don't have total control of how their player moves. As a total package, Phantasia will remind players of the more recent additions to the series, though it has a feel all its own. Strategy can be set for the each player individually, however, so teamwork is still a huge necessity, especially during boss battles. Battles take place in real time, and players will control one of the characters while their comrades follow AI commands. However, Phantasia is actually set later in the future from the GameCube classic, so players who have given Symphonia some time will recognize many of the terms, places and events as they play. While it is difficult to break down the story without giving away spoilers, we can tell you that the game's structure is much like Symphonia. Tales of Phantasia for GBA isn't a port of the original SNES game or the PSX version, and while it takes pieces from both versions it is yet another new version of the classic. Extra quests and options were included, however, surpassing the original in almost every way. While this version wasn't a port of the SNES version, the core story and gameplay were taken almost directly. Luckily, the original ROM was translated and hit as a cult classic on emulators across the planet, and because of its future success (with Tales of Destiny) a new version of Phantasia was released worldwide for the original Playstation. Since Phantasia was released only in Japan, SNES gamers were forced to import and trudge trough the game with no language aid, or simply wait for a new version to be released. Since then, the series has become widely accepted as one of the top RPG franchises still in production, along with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest to name a few. In 1995, the original version was released in Japan only.
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