STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: GAME - “Tales of Symphonia”

Magic, monsters, and parallel worlds. No, this isn’t a repeat a post about another Kingdom Hearts game, but it is about another JRPG.

Directed by Yoshito Higuchi, Kiyoshi Nagai, and Eiji Kikuchi, and scenario written by Takumi Miyajima, Tales of Symphonia is the fifth game in the Tales series. It tells the story of teenagers Lloyd Irving and his elf friend Genis Sage who take it upon themselves to accompany their childhood friend and the Chosen of Sylvarant, Colette Brunel, on her journey of world regeneration in order to restore Sylvarant’s mana, the energy essential to their survival. They are accompanied by their teacher and Genis sister, Raine Sage, and mercenary Kratos Aurion.

During their journey, they are hunted by Sheena Fujibayashi, an assassin sent to kill Colette.

The Chosen journey consists of visiting temples where Colette must unseal by defeating its guardian, Summon Spirits, each having their own element, such as water and fire. For each unsealing, Colette is slowly being turned into an angel, thus regenerating the world. However, this is also at the cost of her humanity.

The Chosen group then discovers through Sheena that there is a world she comes from, parallel but invisible to Sylvarant, Tethe'alla. Tethe’alla also has their own Chosen and journey of world regeneration. It turns out that both worlds vie for mana, and that the journey of regeneration is meant to take the mana from the other world. For one world to live, the other must be drained.

The Chosen group’s new purpose is to find a way to end this cycle so that both worlds can prosper without either of them having to suffer.

Being a video game, there is so much I left out, such as the importance of half-elves and their persecution by humans and pure-blood elves, and the characters from Tethe’alla that join Colette’s group, each of whom has their own tragic backstory that all resulted from a common enemy.

Do not let the cute character designs fool you; it’s a very heavy story that pulls off some legitimate drama when it reaches that plot point. It’s rated T for Teen for a reason. Without giving away the tragic backstories, each character is explored in how they all have a common goal and their chosen voice actors (focusing on English version) fit each character very well.

Even some of the main villains are well written; they are the kind of people that you know they are capable of good, but when pushed too far, everyone suffers, and there is no turning back.

Tales of Symphonia has a tone that I love in (specifically) anime: An epic story with mature themes and elements, but also remembers to be humorous when it’s appropriate. I mention anime because when I bought the game, I did so based only on the cover alone. It has beautiful anime cut scenes, but I had no idea what the story was or even the kind of game I was in for.

The battle system has a combination of real time and RPG elements; while on the field, you can see silhouettes of monsters or other bad guys, and if your character touches them, the battle is initiated. The battle itself is like an action game where you control your character’s actions and abilities in real time. The A.I. controls your allies, but you can control the battle strategy beforehand.

Tales of Symphonia is the only game in the Tales series I have played, and even though it is the fifth in the series, I never felt lost because the story felt so self-contained. It's a beautiful, exciting, and sometimes heartbreaking journey.