Tales of Legendia

This game in the Tale's game series is the weakest I have played so far. Not that it is bad as the characters were funny and well done and the story was pretty good the graphics are just a bit underdone here. Also, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss were so expansive and encompassing while this one seemed really bogged down at times. Granted you have the cute cooking stuff and skits the fighting is the same too for the most part. However, I will say this of this entry it has the easiest fighting of the trio I have played. I didn't die once in this one, not even during the hardest fights, my characters buzz sawed through everyone. The story a brother and sister are on a boat trying to avoid an enemy of some sort, however they end up landing on a massive vessel so large it has its own towns and lakes and it is here their journey takes place. What makes this one unique is also a bit of a limiter as all the action takes place on this vessel in the sea. You basically have one main city and a couple of really small towns you only go through once and you also progress through this game in chapters. The fighting has the same flaw as the other tales games as one feels compelled to use only the main character as it is the one I got used to in this case Senel. Still despite its rather small scope it still is interesting enough to keep your interest up and the fights in this one go by super fast.

After completing the superb Tales Of Symphonia on the Nintendo GameCube I was looking forward to another game from Namco in the series. Tales Of Legendia is the first appearance of the series on the PS2 (along with Tales Of Phantasia and Tales Of Eternia on the GBA SP and PSP respectfully). While this game isn't as great as ToS it's still very good in its own right.

ToL is about two siblings named Senel Coolidge and Shirley Fennes. They are on a marine ship looking for land. The ship crashes and the two are lucky to land on The Legacy; a huge ship that looks like the environment. Senel must find freshwater for Shirley as she is allergic to seawater. He finds the sheriff of Werites Beacon (Will Raynard) and asks him where he can find freshwater for her. When she's in the water she starts glowing and Will wants to know what's going on. Shirley is then kidnapped by a bandit named Moses. That's where the story starts and then we are on a wild ride filled with shocking revelations.

The game is a random-battle RPG game. You run around the world map until you get an encounter. The game's fighting engine was created by the developers of Soul Calibur III. You fight your opponents as if it is a 2D fighting game. You attack, block, and avoid the blows of the enemies. Up to three companions can fight alongside you and you can issue them orders. Most battles last about 15-30 seconds and most of them are pretty easy for a seasoned veteran. Some bosses can be pretty tough but as long as you have plenty of gels and potions you'll probably survive the war of attrition. The only problems are the slow movement on the world map and the 5 second pause after winning a battle and the map reloading (this doesn't happen in dungeons, though). The encounter rate is moderately high but it's worth it for the money, level upping, and items.

The game has some tremendous music; some of the best I've heard in an RPG in sometime. The voice acting is done by many of the top names in the genre. There are some entertaining characters such as Norma Beatty, a hyper-happy wunderkind treasure hunter who has nicknames for all the people in the party, Chloe Valens, who is a knight who has a very serious side and calls the male characters by their last names but wants to show her non-serious side and is embarrassed that she can't swim. Moses Sandor is the bandit with a Texas accent who is more charming and graceful than he looks. There's also the Oresoren, evolved otters who always say "Ors!".

The game clocks in at 30 hours but after beating it there is another 8-10 hours with character quests featuring your leveled up characters. Also, many of the same nuances from Tales Of Symphonia are here. You'll learn new recipes to cook up from all the food you find, the oldest character bonks the younger characters in the head when they say something offensive, the plentiful money and health gels and the voices during the battles. There's a lot of voice acting here; with very few cut-scenes offering silence.

This is another fine RPG for the PS2 and although it isn't in the class of ToS or Dragon Quest VIII it is worth getting. If you love the Tales series it's a must play. I can't wait for the next PS2 game in the series: Tales Of The Abyss.