Alright, so I finished playing this yesterday. I might as well review it.
Gameplay
The gameplay is definitely Tales of Symphonia's greatest point, as with any Tales game. The battle design and control is basically flawless, and the out-of-battle puzzles, etc. are as well. However, there are a few poorly-designed puzzles in the game, especially the block puzzle in Vinheim and the shadows at the Shadow Temple. I'll give this a 9.5/10.
Music
To be honest, I didn't really like the music at all when I started playing. I was just playing Star Ocean 3, and I was really expecting a different style from Sakuraba than the one he used in this game. However, over time, the music grew on me. I like the style now... it's basically SNES style with updated synths. There's also a lot of returning music from ToP, which made me very happy. All in all, the music is good, but there are a lot of meh tracks. The event music, in particular, is not always that great. I'll give it an 8.5/10.
Graphics
No complaints here. The cel-shaded style worked perfectly. 10/10.
Story
Alright, this is Tales of Symphonia's main flaw. For the first part of the game, the story is incredibly cliched. You have to help "The Chosen" "revive the world" by releasing the elemental seals and whatnot. Incredibly, incredibly cliched. However, after you do this, the story has a major plottwist, and becomes fairly interesting. The character development, in particular, is very good. However, the story also has some notable holes in it, such as what's up with Lloyd's Ex-Sphere, or how Tabatha was made. The game really isn't very good at giving backstory, either; it never explains how Yggdrasill and co. saved the world, or got the Eternal Sword, or even how they managed to live for like 4000 years. I'll give this a 7/10.
Overall
ToS is a great game, but the storyline has serious flaws. I'll give it a 9/10 overall, because it is very fun; but it could have scored a 9.5 or a 10/10 if the story hadn't been flawed.
Recommended playing.
Gameplay
The gameplay is definitely Tales of Symphonia's greatest point, as with any Tales game. The battle design and control is basically flawless, and the out-of-battle puzzles, etc. are as well. However, there are a few poorly-designed puzzles in the game, especially the block puzzle in Vinheim and the shadows at the Shadow Temple. I'll give this a 9.5/10.
Music
To be honest, I didn't really like the music at all when I started playing. I was just playing Star Ocean 3, and I was really expecting a different style from Sakuraba than the one he used in this game. However, over time, the music grew on me. I like the style now... it's basically SNES style with updated synths. There's also a lot of returning music from ToP, which made me very happy. All in all, the music is good, but there are a lot of meh tracks. The event music, in particular, is not always that great. I'll give it an 8.5/10.
Graphics
No complaints here. The cel-shaded style worked perfectly. 10/10.
Story
Alright, this is Tales of Symphonia's main flaw. For the first part of the game, the story is incredibly cliched. You have to help "The Chosen" "revive the world" by releasing the elemental seals and whatnot. Incredibly, incredibly cliched. However, after you do this, the story has a major plottwist, and becomes fairly interesting. The character development, in particular, is very good. However, the story also has some notable holes in it, such as what's up with Lloyd's Ex-Sphere, or how Tabatha was made. The game really isn't very good at giving backstory, either; it never explains how Yggdrasill and co. saved the world, or got the Eternal Sword, or even how they managed to live for like 4000 years. I'll give this a 7/10.
Overall
ToS is a great game, but the storyline has serious flaws. I'll give it a 9/10 overall, because it is very fun; but it could have scored a 9.5 or a 10/10 if the story hadn't been flawed.
Recommended playing.
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