Tales of Legendia
7
10
6
6
A Solid Entry in the Tales Series
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Before we begin I must admit that I haven’t played through all of the post game content. This will have the most impact on my discussion of the characters since the post game content is composed of character quests.
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Story
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Brief Story Overview: The story of Tales of Legendia follows the journey of Senel as he tries of protect his sister Shirley who is the target of powerful army for her special abilities. The game quickly generates into a rescue mission as Shirley is quickly kidnapped by a bandit leader and repeatedly changes hands over the course of the game. Along the way to rescue her many characters join Senel on his adventure. As these characters fight and gain experience they also develop as people as they are thrust into new situations and forced to learn to trust one another.
Weakness: The game uses the kidnapped plot twist repeatedly throughout the game. So much so that it starts to become an expected turn of events and greatly lessens their impact. The game seems to rely too much on this plot thread and I think it hurts the game overall.
Strengths: The game does manage to get in a plot twist or two that will catch you off guard. I’ll give the game credit for managing to change things up a bit. The game also allows for character development as well which is always a good sign in any game.\
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Characters
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Senel: The main protagonist and a fierce defender of his sister Shirley. Senel is a character that doesn’t trust others and will desert a group without a second thought if he believes that they are holding him back. As a fighter Senel relies on his fists and his special attacks are no different.
Will: A responsible older man with a thirst for knowledge. He acts as sheriff for the legacy, but refuses to accept the title. Regardless Will’s mature and responsible nature will be an asset to you as play through the game. As a fighter Will uses a massive hammer and has some powerful healing abilities as well.
Chloe: A young knight from a once respected family. Her family was butchered years ago by a single man and she has come to the Legacy in search of him. She is driven by her desire to avenge her family to the point of obsession at times and will even act recklessly enough to the point of endangering the group as a whole. As a fighter Chloe is a close ranger sword user.
Norma: A young treasure hunter that is self driven and entirely self-serving to the point of delusion at times. All that is learned about Norma during the main game is that she ran away from home years ago and desires to finish her mentors work. As a fighter Norma relies on powerful magical attacks and healing abilities to support the group.
Moses: A bandit and leader of the group that initially kidnaps Shirley. Moses deeply cares for his men and kidnaps Shirley in the hopes that she can grant him a sacred eres the source of magical abilities in the game. As a fighter Moses relies on throwing spears and fights at mid-range.
Jay: A mysterious young man that is obsessed with the gathering of information. Jay cares deeply for his close friends that belong to a race of otter like people. Jay even goes out of his way to protect them and will fight on their behalf.
Grune: A mysterious older woman that possess the talent to put the group as a whole at ease. She does appear to be far older then she appears though and often times possess knowledge from times long ago. As a fighter Grune uses various magical abilities.
Shirley: The games damsel in distress and Senel’s sister. Shirley becomes a playable character in the post game and is powerful spell caster with powerful healing abilities.
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Sound
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The game does possess several powerful tracks, but it feels like the game only makes use of about three or four songs or so throughout the game. This lack of variety in the soundtrack hurts the game to a degree due to the length of the main story.
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Graphics
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The game feels a bit dated graphics wise to say the least. The in game graphics are small polygonal designed characters to feel as technically advanced as the graphics from Threads of Fate a PS1 game. On the other hand this look does add a retro feel to the game which may be an advantage as well since it adds to the simplistic feel of the game.
On the other hand the game also features a few animated cut-scenes as well. Though these scenes are few in nature and separated by long lengths of time. Most of the cut-scenes in the game use the in-game graphics and character portraits to provide dialogue and plot information.
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Gameplay
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The combat system in Tales of Legendia is real-time and makes use of a few buttons for basic attacks and special attacks and magical attacks.
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Level Design
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The Legacy is a massive ship and is largely open to exploration from the start of the game. The game reveals itself to be huge and a bit of a maze to explore. TO be honest I didn’t realize that the R3 button drew up the map for the longest length of time. The compass is sort of useful in the game, but it only gives a general direction and won’t help you navigate around objects to reach new areas.
The dungeons themselves are rather linear in nature though. They offer little in terms of puzzles besides a mid-stage teleport usually that needs to be sorted out. These block puzzles though tend to fall along the line of a gaming quiz though since it does little to test your skills or patience.
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Boss Battles
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Tales of Legendia is a disappointment on this score as well. None of the bosses come across as a real challenge. In fact, even on the hardest difficulty I only had a game over one time and that was in a fight with regular enemies. There is a definite problem if your regular enemies can be more of a challenge then the bosses themselves.
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Scores
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Story: 7
Characters: 9
Sound: 8
Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 7
Level Design: 5
Boss Battles: 5
Overall: 6.86
6/2/12
Not a very balanced game.
I've been playing the Tales games for years and I had high hopes for this one but was left disappointed. This game doesn't follow the traditions set by the other Tales games: There weren't any really big plot twists and the character development wasn't as defined as in previous games. I felt like many of the characters were recycled versions of other characters; I felt like they were very stereotypical without as much thought put into them as there has been in previous games. As a whole, the story felt out of balance to me: The main quest slipped by very quickly with the characters running right in, rescuing the girl, beating the bad guy, and going home. After the credits there were character quests that answered a lot of questions we were left with but this also felt out of balance--this time because the focus shifted so drastically from one character to another. I feel like the game would have been much better if the character quests had been integrated into the main story although then the plot would have had to have been changed somewhat. The one plus about this game is the soundtrack: Of all the Tales games, this one has the best music. Although this doesn't make up for the less-than-pleasing graphics (during gameplay, you really can't see the characters' faces) and the lacking story, it is a positive.
2/11/11
It was pretty good, but not all that much
Tales of Legendia wasn't as good as the other Tales series, but still, it does keep you entertained. The game had a typically average plot, not very exciting, but it's one of those stories where you need to know what will happen in the end. There were many differences between Legendia and all the other games, for example, the 2D battle system and the fact that you can't even see the character's face except for when your watching skits. The sound was a bit fuzzy, but it had good music.
10/9/10
Not as good as Symphonia but pretty good
The first Tales game I had ever played was Symphonia on the Gamecube and it left me wanting more Tales. And when Tales of Legendia came out I of course made the purchase. The main difference is the combat systems and in Legendia its a 2d plane which is similar to a old school fighting game. Normally I would of been against this move but Namco pulled it off quite nicely and left me with little to complain about. My biggest complaint is there is a lot of pointless dialogue which is very typical of a Tales game. And like your typical Tales game you have your annoying characters, your quite funny character and the hero type. With the few gripes I have with this game its still quite good it borders on very good and great. If your a fan of the Tales games as I am this is a worthy purchase because you will enjoy it! All in all this games story is not the greatest its pretty average but it gets the job done. Sound was well done in this game also. Well typing these words into this box had made me want to go play this game all over again. Its a good game and you should at least give it a chance.
5/20/09
Legendia
Tales of Legendia is one of the most memorable games from the Tales series. Like all Tales games the voice acting in it is questionable, but it makes up for it with one of the best stories that I have ever heard. You really do feel a sense of loss in some scenes. The battle system stays true to prior Tales games. The graphics are admittedly not the best in the world, but it doesn't matter because none of the Tales games have ever been about the graphics, they were always about the story, it kind of like playing a giant anime. The best part about this game is right when you think you are done you realize that you still have a lot more to do not including all of the optional stuff. I will admit that most of it is just trying to rescue a girl because she cant go 5 minutes without being captured, but eventually you forget that completely once you get into the deep character stories. Of you like RPGs that are fun and have a good story, and dont really mind the graphic, then this is the game for you.
11/22/08
Legend or Legendia?
I played this game through and through a couple of times just to make sure I didn't miss anything, and to be honest, I was disappointed. Graphics-wise I thought the game was immaculate, besides the fact that it skips from awesome anime cut scenes to rather painfully blockish in-game character graphics. The battle system wasn't too great, I personally like to get up in a boss's face and take them out, but this game makes it to where you just don't even want to fight monsters. An automatic fighting feature? That would be for the lazy gamer, and god forbid if the battle lasts longer than 10 seconds. I found myself actually cursing at a boss fight that lasted almost a minute. On a whole, I wouldn't get this game again, even if I only played it one time, after the main game ends it kind of just sucks. The main story line is rather short, I got through that part in about 3 days, with getting every last item/title. So, either way, listen to me or not, it was a mediocre game.
5/18/08