Tales' real-time combat system works surprisingly well for an early-2000s RPG, and its combo mechanics keep it just interesting enough to stop the battles from becoming stale.Д«ut Symphonia manages something that few others of its genre can claim - it cleanly integrates an excellent co-op mode. Most of the characters are kids, the number of belts on display is positively ridiculous and the melodrama dial has been set to 'High School Shakespeare production'. And on the face of it, Tales of Symphonia is just like every other major JRPG. The story is one we've all heard before - there's some world-ending thing and a small group of chosen people must go on some epic quest to keep the world-ending thing from happening. Now I've come back to the twin worlds of Sylverant and Tethe'alla, finding a truly remarkable experience partially hidden by camp and wholly fuelled by layers of mutually-reinforcing design choices. I've been struggling for years to explain why this game, above all of the Final Fantasies, Star Oceans and Lost Odysseys, shirked my hatred.

I can't ever shake the feeling that my participation is incidental to the story that the writers want for me.ДЄlmost 10 years ago, some friends sat me down and made me play what was probably the first JRPG outside of PokГ©mon that I actually enjoyed - Tales of Symphonia, now available in an HD reissue for PlayStation 3 which also includes its spin-off sequel Dawn of the New World. I don't like the melodrama, the stilted writing, the often turn-based menu-battles - and I don't like that I seem to spend more time watching the game than playing it.

Typically, I don't get on with Japanese RPGs. A fine HD reissue of the classic early 2000s RPG - and its deeply disappointing sequel.

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