I am sure there are some people out there that don't believe it was the best on the system... but go ahead and do a net search. There were not many RPG's on the Gamecube and yes, TOS was the best one that they ever had and I personally, really liked it.
It's considered a JRPG and while i only recently found out what that means i think that this label is misappropriated. I mean, unless Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star are bot JRPG's also. Maybe i am jumping off the horse at the wrong point here. I'll just leave that be. It can be an easter egg to check if anyone actually reads these things.
Tales of Symphonia is the highest ranked RPG on the Gamecube system. This could have a lot to do with the fact that not many RPG's were ever released on the system but let's not be mean. I have played tons of RPG's on multiple platforms and TOS is one of my favorites of all time.
The gameplay was not really terribly different from all the other games such as Final Fantasy and Phatasy Star, the only difference is that to a certain EXTREMELY LIMITED degree, your choices with the controller in real time had some impact on the battles that were taking place. For the most part, the roaming camera was purely for visuals, but it was still nice.
the game functioned in a very similar manor to all RPG's at the time in that it was turn-based. I found it to be a more visually appealing version of other games that had previously been released rather than a title on its own. This is not to say that the story was not good in it, I just think that it wasn't anything new but to be fair that might not be possible anymore.
This video is actually for the PC version because well, Gamecube stuff in video format isn't terribly available these days.
Basically, i found this game to be incredible. I have it right next to me right now and if it weren't for the 110 / 220 Voltage problems that exist between where this console originated and where it currently sits. I would plug it in and play it right now.
Damn I loved this game! Still remember the pink hair girl saying "I wanna go home" after each battle :)
lol yeah, all the various characters had some sort of slogan after battles. I remember one of the girls that said "That was beautiful you guys!"
I never had the chance to play this one; I did play Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door and I loved it. I might give this one a try on emulator sometime soon!