Name: Tales of Destiny (76.67% in 9 votes)
Type: RPG
Platform: PSX
Company: Namco
Release date: 1997
Reviewed by: Great Teacher
From the creator of Tekken series, Soul Edge, Galaxian, Namco has once againbrought to us another top seller to Japanese market. This time with a Role Playing Game.Although many of you may used to know Namco as a superior company in making action andfighting games, many of you might not know that Namco is also excellent in RPG games.Namco has first produced their first RPG game for Super Famicom, formally called Tales ofPhantasia. Tales of Phantasia is the first game ever to have a theme song included withina game. Since the game has been such a success, Namco has released its second installmenton PlayStation with enhanced battling system, more secrete, and killer animations.
The game begins with you, Stan, aboard the Flying Dragon Shipillegally. Soon you were captured by the workers on the ship and being taken to theCaptain's Room for questioning. While you're being questioned, all the sudden monstersappeared and attack your ship. You ran out of the room and looked for weapon. When youcame upon to a storage room, you found a sword that can talk (you're surprised by thesword of course). You learned that the sword, named Dimulosu, is an intelligent swordcalled Swordian that is created by an ancient civilization. You also learned that only thepeople who the Swordian chooses can hear what the Swordian say. After you acquired theSwordian, you opened a route and successfully escaped.
After you have successful escaped from the Flying Dragon Ship throughthe escape pod, you crashed onto the land in the snow forest in Fandria and knockedunconscious. From here on, you'll begin to meet more characters that will join you now orlater in the game. You will first meet Woodrow (King of Fandaria) and Chelsea in theforest after you woke up from the crash. Then you will meet Mary at your first encounterof a town, Janos. You will find out Mary's friend, Rutee, is trapped in a shrine and thuswent to rescue her with Mary. After you saved Rutee (another Swordian user), you'll joinwith them. When you go to the second town (Harmenz) you'll encounter, your party will getcapture by the army in Sangard for stealing stuff. You will be taken to Darillshade andmeet the king. The king will make a deal with your party. If your party worked for him, hewill not charge your party with the crime. After accepting the deal, you will go toStraylize Shrine to check what happened to the people there. At the arrival to the shrine,you realized that the God's Eye has been stolen. And thus, your quest for restoring theGod's Eye begun.
The gameplay in Tales of Destiny is refreshing idea in RPG games.Instead of the usual menu command method used in battling, the game uses both menu andaction/combo control method [E-LMB]. The Enhanced-Linear Motion Battle [E-LMB] uses yourcontrol and buttons to perform moves. Just like a fighting game, you be able to hit theopponent with low, mid, or high hit and then perform a special to finish your combo.Although the game does not have a jab, mid, or fierce punch nor does it have a movecombination (ex. forward, down, down-forward), it does have more features than other RPG'sand other fun factor that lack in fighting games.
In Namco's tradition, there's always some secrete stuffs to be includedwithin the game and TOD will not break that tradition as well. When you're on the worldmap in the game, you will be able to hear dialogue of your party saying something aboutIfrit, Undine, Sylph, Nome, Volt, Shadow, Luna, Asga, Gremlin's Lair. These are thesummoned monsters from the original Tales and you can get them somewhere in the game. Insome town, there are some mini games that you can play as well. Also, there's hintdialogue (saying something like F20) that will lead you to some secrete in the game (justthat I don't know how to get it). If you like RPG, you should not miss this game to beincorporated into your collection.
Comments
Graphic-9/10 Great animation, nice drawings. Although Kosuke Fujishimadoes not do the character designs this time, I think Inomatamutsumi even did a better jobthan Fujishima. This game is filled with tons of frames. There are reflections of you frommirrors and water. When you walk on the shallow water, you will also get a splashingeffect. I think Namco really put a lot of efforts into this game.
Gameplay-9/10 Refreshing gameplay for RPG's. The E-LMB system reallyputs a lot of fun into battles. Unfortunately, you can only control your character'sspecial move and regular move. For the others, you can only control their magic andspecial moves using a menu.
Music-9/10 Great theme song by Deen (although his voice is kind offunny, reminds me of an old star in Taiwan). Midi's in the games are also pleasing tohear, especially the start midi after the animation. There's an option in the beginningthat you can listen to different midi in the game with different effects (hall, space,etc).
Story-8.5/10 Good story, but just not extraordinary exciting. You'rejust trying to save the God Eye twice. If they add in a little more love story in thegame, it should improve the story line.
Tale of Destiny, Galaxian, Tekken, Soul Edge and related images arecopyrighted by Namco Co., Japan.
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