Tales of Eternia

While i've only scratched the surface of this Role-playing game, i must admit i am having a ton of fun with it. It's in anime, the Story just sucks you right in, and the battling is different than Traditional RPGs.

First off, i would like to say that the main character is quite possibly the most Fairyish looking guy i've ever seen in a game. He wears a sports bra! no, i'm not kidding you...a Sports bra! a bright blue, tight to the skin sports bra. and it looks like he also wears short shorts as well, but the animators put a pair of flesh coloured pants on him too. i guess wearing midriff baring clothes is sexy for guys in japan now.

As for the rest of the characters, they all look good. it's a traditional anime cartoon, only you decide what happens.

Here's the Story so far. Reid and his best friend Farah live in a peace-loving village, where Reid spends his time hunting for food while Farah works part time on a farm. the 2 are inseparable friends. but while they're spending time together, a bright light hits the forest. When Reid and Farah go to investigate, they discover a mysterious girl who speaks a language they cannot understand. but really, she's come to warn them of incoming danger. Who is she? what language does she speak? what is the warning of danger she brings, and most importantly, How do you stop that danger from happening? What leads is quite possibly one of the most addicting RPGs for the Playstation.

As for the fighting, it's not like the style that Final Fantasy VII and Legend of Dragoon had, where you attack, Wait ten seconds, get attacked, and then attack again...this time you fight...fighting game style! You have the ability to run up to your enemies, and slash and hack at will. later in the game, you will earn special abilities, which will take your enemies out faster. you can also equip items, such as capes, shields, Armour, anything that will help you on your quest which has about 60 hours of gameplay. yes! thats 2 and a half days of game! spread out with hour long sessions, you'll spend a long, long time playing. and it's T rated, so don't freak out!

Now I don't know how the rest of the story goes, so i can't give it a solid out of ten rating. but from what i've seen so far, i can throw it a 9 out of ten. i suggest you order this off of Ebay. have fun!

After completing Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny on PS1 I expected the same, but better for Namco's next installment in the series. And I wasn't disappointed for the most part.

Isometric perspective was the best choice to showcase gorgeous hand drawn and pre-rendered backgrounds, which aged far better than most 3d prerenders from Final Fantasy and similar games. Character sprites are also more detailed and proportions are closer to anime characters.

Battle system feels the same, but also more difficult. Even though annoying pausing when someone is casting a spell is gone, it's still annoying that camera flies all over the place from main character to spell caster. Enemies often brake your attack chain, and can use spells with minimal delay, so you'll take a lot of damage in each battle. Also, combat became more chaotic with a lot of stuff flying on the screen. Often you won't be able to see your character in the crowd. Grinding is back, and leveling up between major dungeons is a must, because difficulty ramps up after each one.

Music is good, nothing got stuck in my memory, but if I'll hear it I'll recognize it instantly.

Plot moves slowly, and becomes interesting midgame. It also feels more childish compared to Tales of Phantasia. Characters motivation and development arks are quite shallow. I didn't feel any connection or compassion towards any of them. Most interesting character to me - Max would've been a much better protagonist in my opinion.

To summarize, I didn't get as much satisfaction from Tales of Eternia, as I got from previous installments. It has one of the best graphics in jrpgs on PS1, and if you master the battle system, gameplay becomes very addicting. But for a casual player, there are much better Tales games.