Once again is time for the Anime-Game Comparison of the week (yeah I know I'm kinda late and all..)
For this week's Comparison the game is:
Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Phantasia(テイルズ オブ ファンタジア Teiruzu Obu Fantajia) is a JRPG originally developed by Telent Japan's "Wolf Team" as the first title of the Tales series, originally indented to be released for the Super Famicon(Super Nintendo or SNES as we know it) in December 1995 and later ported to several platforms.
Since this game has been ported to several consoles and the fact that I believe the GBA version while not the best look graphically, it still the one most of us have played (and the fact that I can't screenshot it with my psp...)
So in this game you take the role of Cless Albane, who is a descendant of a legendary warrior that fought against the "Demon King". He lives in a small Village with his best friend Chester Barklight, one day as they were hunting their village is attacked and burned to ashes by a group of mysterious black knights.
Later is revealed that they intent do release the seal that currently imprison the "Deamon King" Dhaos, which Cless father and several other heroes had imprisoned.
Then the "bad guy" is released and of course the whole black knights are betrayed and it's up to Cless Chester, Mint and a couple more (which I will mention later) to find a way ti stop Dhaos from bringing Havoc and oblivion to this world. Because we all known that the fate of the world will always depend on teenagers!
As you know I will be evaluation the game's:
- Graphics
- Gameplay
- Originality
And now is time to take a look at the game itself and see why this game had so many remakes and updates.
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| Fancy as most JRPGS~ |
Like many fantasy games we will start off by getting to known our character and their lives previous the "event" that sets them to start their epic journey, for Cless is a normal day in the Village of Toltus were he and Chester had decided to go hunting.
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| Yup a day like any other |
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| D'aww sister love~ |
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| Congrats!! |
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| Hope you enjoy the village pal |
So Cless and Chester go into the forest to hunt a wild boar.
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| The boar known what there will be for dinner |
The boar of course ran away and our heroes go after it, after a while of searching and kicking some..err..beast?...fur butt and having a very normal vision of a spirit...
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| High jump FTW~ |
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| There is nothing weird about this |
Cless and Chester finally find the wild boar and dinner is ready, suddenly the sound of a bell can be hear and the heroes know those are not good news.
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| A huge "!" is global signal for troubles |
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| That's definitely not good for tourism... |
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| No weeding..cake...*sobs* |
Graphics
Like many GBA games, graphics aren't as good and as I mention before this game was ported to several consoles including the PlayStation and the PSP (Play Station Portable) several remakes of the game have been released and each with improved graphics, still the graphics of the GBA give this game a charming chibi-like style in their sprites.
Capable of making the characters look adorable and cute and retain the seriousness of certain events.
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| Chibi Power! |
In comparison the Anime goes the extra mile doing a complete overhaul to the whole look of the series, no game so far can compare to the look the anime has.The whole effects, the ambiance and the colors the Anime use give this story a completely and well deserving improvement on the artistic department.
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| Dude you are in serious troubles |
Gameplay
In this game the battles are decided by random encounters (like in most RPGs), though unlike some in this game the battlers aren't fought by turns, instead a system called Linear Motion Battle System(LMBS) is used.
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| Characters appear at one side of the screen while enemies in the other |
This system allows the characters to move in a 2D scenario and scrolling either to the left or right side of the screen, it also allows the use of a menu, which pauses the game to let the player issue commands to either the A.I. controlled characters or use a specific skill or item.
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| In later versions, the menu no longer pauses the battle |
The combat in the game is somewhat fast paced and the general combat system might at some point turn repetitive, but thanks to the fact that you can change characters, the game becomes less of a button-smash type of game.
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| Button Mash, no pon-indented~ |
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| I have to say, I enjoy this type of combat |
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| maybe...just a bit...to much |
Following the tradition of most JRPGs characters can be equipped with several different armors and weapons, which can be bought or obtained during the game, also there is a difference when playing as a character capable of using magic and those that don't.
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| Characters without magic will have skills that can be allocated to a combination of the attack button and the move pad. |
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| Equipments, basic for any RPG~ |
With a really simple combat system, Tales of Phantasia is easy to play and each character has a unique style of fighting, giving the game several hours worth of replay and as simple to master that you can spend several hours of gameplay just fighting enemies ( well at least I do...Kyou loves to kill mobs~)
In comparison the anime does exceptionally well showing the enemies in higher detail and the fighting scenes on a level that is only possible in Anime, though sadly enough fighting scenes in the anime are quite rare and only last for a couple of seconds.
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| This things looked way less threatening in chibi form |
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| We start with a parry and then... |
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| We kick it in the face! |
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| Lastly we chop it in half |
Originality
While at first glance the game might have a pretty common and even cliche type of story, it actually is way more deeper than one could possible think at first.
This is empathized in the Anime were the whole conflict against Dhaos is a matter of which view point you consider and the eternal question that the Anime and game hints, is Dhaos a true villain?
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| Is that truly the face of a "Demon King"? |
If you all allow me to quote the synopsis of one of our incoming Manga, "According to who, is it justice? Conflicts maybe a necessity. Wars, a blessing. A hero...could be a villain. "
Or if you would like to hear it from the perspective of the game itself.
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| Words of true wisdom |
That concludes my comparison of this week, I hope all of you have enjoyed it and if you would like to suggest me a game or your thought don't forget to leave them in our comment section down below.
This is Kyou wishing you all a nice day and don't forget to check DMS for more Doujins and Games.
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