Games Documentation - Tales Of Symphonia by Christopher Man by Christopher Man

Tales of Symphonia Design Documentation GameCube Version By Christopher Man

History 1.0 - Included Tables of Contents and imported logo of game onto the first page 1.1 – Changes including porting from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo GameCube mistake 1.2 – Finding clearer images for actors within the game 1.3 – Added console technical specification 1.4 – Added mini games section 1.5 – Added credits 1.6 – Added Timeline of Series

Table of Contents Game Concept......................................................................................................................................... 6 Storyline .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Genre .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Platform .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Specifications of Console .................................................................................................................... 7 GameCube....................................................................................................................................... 7 PlayStation 2 (Original) ................................................................................................................... 9 Games Mechanics ................................................................................................................................. 10 Core Game Play ................................................................................................................................. 10 Achieving the aim in battle ............................................................................................................... 10 How to fight ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Equipment ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Magic techniques .............................................................................................................................. 11 Escaping Battles ................................................................................................................................ 12 Actors ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Action / Control................................................................................................................................. 16 Button Control .................................................................................................................................. 16 Level Requirements .......................................................................................................................... 17 Moves................................................................................................................................................ 18 Standard Moves ............................................................................................................................ 18 Techniques ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Technical Types ................................................................................................................................. 19 Character Techniques ....................................................................................................................... 19 Combo Explanation ........................................................................................................................... 25 Techniques Linkage between technique levels ................................................................................ 25 EX-Skill ............................................................................................................................................... 25 Over Limits ........................................................................................................................................ 28 Unlocking techniques........................................................................................................................ 28 Visual of Moves ................................................................................................................................. 28 Unison Attacks .................................................................................................................................. 29 Unison Gauge .................................................................................................................................... 29 Schematic of controls........................................................................................................................ 30

Special Vehicles ................................................................................................................................. 30 Elemental Attribute .......................................................................................................................... 30 Costumes .......................................................................................................................................... 30 Other elements ................................................................................................................................. 31 Modes of Play ................................................................................................................................... 32 Story Mode ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Mini-Games ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Collectibles ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Recipes .............................................................................................................................................. 32 Titles .................................................................................................................................................. 33 Weapons, Shops and Customisation ................................................................................................ 34 Weapons ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Customisation ............................................................................................................................... 35 Life Management .............................................................................................................................. 36 Navigation ......................................................................................................................................... 38 Compass ........................................................................................................................................ 38 The Map ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Synopsis......................................................................................................................................... 39 Progression â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Game Flow ..................................................................................................................... 40 Town/Dungeon ................................................................................................................................. 40 Field ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Battle ................................................................................................................................................. 40 Behaviour - Player Analysis and Playing Tactics.................................................................................... 41 User Interface ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Main Menu........................................................................................................................................ 44 Technique Screen.............................................................................................................................. 44 Battle Control Type ........................................................................................................................... 45 Unison Attack Screen ........................................................................................................................ 45 Strategy Screen ................................................................................................................................. 45 Status Screen..................................................................................................................................... 46 Synopsis Screen................................................................................................................................. 46 Items Screen...................................................................................................................................... 46 EX-Skill Screen ................................................................................................................................... 47 Equipment Screen ............................................................................................................................. 47 4

Cooking Screen.................................................................................................................................. 47 System Screen ................................................................................................................................... 48 Battle Screen ..................................................................................................................................... 48 Battle Result ...................................................................................................................................... 48 Battle ................................................................................................................................................. 49 Overall Art Style and Design ................................................................................................................. 50 Style of the Game.............................................................................................................................. 50 Environment ..................................................................................................................................... 50 Character Style .................................................................................................................................. 50 AI Style .............................................................................................................................................. 51 Style of Spot Effects, Voice overâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Music ....................................................................................... 52 Music ................................................................................................................................................. 52 Skit..................................................................................................................................................... 52 Script Example................................................................................................................................... 52 Story Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 54 Level Overviews .................................................................................................................................... 55 Walkthrough ..................................................................................................................................... 55 Side Quest ......................................................................................................................................... 60 Multiplayer............................................................................................................................................ 62 Option feature ...................................................................................................................................... 62 Support Documentation ....................................................................................................................... 63 Marketing .............................................................................................................................................. 64 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 64 Marketing Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 65 Game History ........................................................................................................................................ 65 Franchising ............................................................................................................................................ 65 Anime ................................................................................................................................................ 65 Manga ............................................................................................................................................... 66 Limited Edition .................................................................................................................................. 66 Merchandises .................................................................................................................................... 66 Expansion .............................................................................................................................................. 66 Sequels .............................................................................................................................................. 66 Credits ................................................................................................................................................... 67 Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 68 5

Game Concept Storyline Tales of Symphonia is an adventure venture game which follows the storyline of a boy called Lloyd Irving protecting his friend, Colette Brunel on the journey of salvation. The objective is to stop the depletion of mana in the world they live in called Slyvarant. On their journey, they discover disco that there is another world called Tethe’alla which is connected together. As the story goes on, the aim changes as they discover that they need to form summon spirit pacts in order to separate the two worlds from each other so they do not takes mana away a from each other. Genre The genre of this game can be classified as a J-RPG J – Japanese Role Playing Game or a RPG – Role Playing Game, they are exactly the same in terms of classification but the “J” is used especially to describe the traditional of Japanese anese characters representations which have exaggerated features such as big eyes or long spiky hair. This game can be found similar to the other “Tales of” series as they are all role-playing role playing games with similar style, Tales of Symphonia can be found on its its own timeline in the Tales series. The battle system is in real-time time which gives the player a variety of strategies and plan to defeat the opponent. By defeating the enemies, the character will be able to level up and learn new hidden moves. Platform This game was available originally exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube in 2003, it was then ported over to the PlayStation 2 in 2004 due to its popularity. The game is spread over two discs for the GameCube, it uses a three inches wide disc, containing 1.5GB whereas the PS2 uses a DVD containing either 4.5 or 8.5 GB of data. Although the game play does not change, there are little graphics improvements on the PS2 version, version, although there are extra secret techniques that th can be learnt.. As this game is also translated over from Japanese to English,, they have changed the opening from Japanese vocal song to just a music video, video many gamers who watch the trailers was disappointed as the song, Day after Tomorrow by Misono, was very popular.

Specifications of Console GameCube Technical Details MPU ("Microprocessor Unit") Manufacturing Process Clock Frequency CPU Capacity Internal Data Precision External Bus

Custom IBM Power PC "Gekko" 0.18 micron IBM Copper Wire Technology 485 MHz 1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1) 32-bit Integer & 64-bit Floating-point 1.3GB/second peak bandwidth (32-bit address space, 64-bit data bus 162 MHz clock) L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way}, L2: 256KB (2 way) Custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper" 0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process 162 MHz Approx. 2MB, Sustainable Latency : 6.2ns (1TSRAM) Approx. 1MB, Sustainable Latency : 6.2ns (1TSRAM) 10.4GB/second (Peak) 2.6GB/second (Peak) 24-bit Colour, 24-bit Z Buffer Fog, Sub pixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multitexturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Anisotropic Filtering, Real-time Hardware Texture Decompression (S3TC), Realtime Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter

Internal Cache System LSI Manufacturing Process Clock Frequency Embedded Frame Buffer Embedded Texture Cache Texture Read Bandwidth Main Memory Bandwidth Pixel Depth Image Processing Functions

System LSI Sound Processor Instruction Memory Data Memory Clock Frequency Performance Sampling Frequency System Floating-point Arithmetic Capability

Custom Macronix 16-bit DSP 8KB RAM + 8KB ROM 8KB RAM + 4KB ROM 81 MHz 64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding 48KHz 10.5 GFLOPS (Peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total) 6 million to 12 million polygons/second (Peak) (Assuming actual game conditions with complex models, fully textured, fully lit, etc.) 40MB 24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM, Approx 10ns Sustainable Latency 16MB (81MHz DRAM)

Real-world polygon

System Memory Main Memory A-Memory 7

Disc Drive Average Access Time Data Transfer Speed Media

Power Supply

CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System 128ms 16Mbps to 25Mbps 3 inch Nintendo GameCube Disc based on Matsushita's Optical Disc Technology, approx 1.5GB Capacity Controller Port x4, Memory Card Slot x2, Analogue AV Output x1, Digital AV Output x1, High-Speed Serial Port x2, High-speed Parallel Port x1 AC Adapter DC12V x 3.25A

Main Unit Dimensions

11.4cm (Height) x 15cm (Width) x 16cm (Depth)

Input/output

PlayStation 2 (Original) Technical Detail Dimensions:

301mm (W) x 182mm (H) x 78mm (D) (12" x 7" x 3") 2.4 kg (5 lbs. 5 oz.) PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation CD-ROM, Audio CD, DVD-Video, Dolby Digital (AC-3) DTS

Weight: Media Formats Supported

Processor Features Central Processing Unit (CPU): System Clock Frequency Main Memory Memory Size Graphical Features Graphics Clock Frequency Embedded Cache VRAM Sound Feature Sound: Number of Voices: Sound Memory: Additional Technical Specifications IOP CPU Core Clock Frequency IOP Memory Disc Device Device Speed

128 Bit "Emotion Engine 294.912 MHz Direct RDRAM 32MB Graphics Synthesizer 147.456MHz 4MB SPU2 + CPU 48ch plus software 2MB I/O Processor PlayStation CPU+ 33.8688MHz or 36.864MHz (switchable) 2MB CD-ROM and DVD-ROM CD-ROM 24 times speed, DVD-ROM 4 times speed 147.456 MHz, 75 million polygons/sec.max Optical Digital Out connector Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector (2), i. S400 I-Link™ connector, Controller port (2), Memory Card slot (2), AV MULTIOUT connector Expansion bay (for 3.5" hard disc drive), Interface Unit (for network interface) Analog Controller (DUALSHOCK® 2), AV Cable (integrated audio/video), AC Power Cord Analog Controller (DUALSHOCK®2), Memory Card (8MB) (for PlayStation 2), Multitap (for PlayStation 2)

Graphics Synthesizer Interfaces

New features Peripherals included Other accessories available

Games Mechanics Core Game Play As a role-playing game, the player generally expects battles, puzzles and a compelling storyline within the game. The player starts off as the leading character Lloyd Irving, which will be the first onscreen character you control; this can be switched when you are able to access the main menu. By letting the player change characters, this enables them to have a freedom of choice in terms of playing with their suitable style. As the story line develops, the player could also get emotionally adapted towards any characters causing them to switch and use them for battle. As each character has its own array of standard moves and techniques, this will definitely affects the way the player plays the game as they will need to set up new strategies and changing tactics constantly throughout the game, according to the amount of Hit Points, Technical points and techniques. Similar to all role-playing games, a storyline can be found within this game. Plenty of cut-scenes involve voice-overs and animated motion, making it very movie-like and enjoyable to watch. Be able to communicate with the in-game characters (Bots) allows the players to interact with the in-game mechanics to find out valuable information, which is also an important yet natural element in all RPG. In Tales of Symphonia, by talking to some of the in-game characters, this will allow the activation of the next sequence in the game, or gain items and new unlockable events. Battling is one of the most important aspects of role-playing games. In this game, battles can be triggered in multiple ways, these are: Interacting with randomly generated enemies in the world map or dungeon, these enemies are displayed as a person or a monster. There are un-avoidable battles which have an animated scene in the beginning which starts the fight. There is an optional battle which can be skipped, this is done by either avoiding the monster directly or escape during battle. By having “Monsters” in the game, it will let the player themselves feel like heroes, as “Monsters” are known as the “Bad” elements in RPG’s, although this is not the same in all RolePlaying Games including this one. Achieving the aim in battle During battles, it involves two groups, one group will involve the player(s), which contains a maximum of four, and the other are the enemies that you will try to defeat. The deciding factor to win for the both groups are to make all their opponents Hit Points (HP) zero, this will end the fight instantly, with the results screen displayed afterwards if it was the players victory, by losing you will start again from the previous saved location. When battling random enemies in the world map or on a certain level, there is always a random generated amount of enemies in a party, this can range from one to five. By having more than five, this could put the player in a disadvantage, take up space on the screen, and cause bad camera angles; this could all make the game play not as entertaining as it was meant to be.

How to fight This game uses a type of Linear Motion Battle System called Multi-Line Motion Battle System. During a fight, you will be able to move your character freely within the given space. In order to defeat the opponent, you will be required to use your standard moves, aerial moves, and special techniques. Special techniques can be split into two types: Unique abilities and Unison Attacks. Unique abilities are the techniques that only a certain character can use or master. Unison Attacks is a combination of all members attacking one enemy. Equipment By equipping stronger weapons, armour, and accessories, you will be able to gain higher stats and become immune to certain effects. Each character has a certain set of weapons and accessories they can equip; this can be seen for all nine playable characters in the game. This is a table representing what type of weapon each character can only equip: Character Lloyd Irving Colette Brunel Genis Sage Raine Sage Sheena Fujibayashi Regal Bryant Zelos Wilder Kratos Aurion Presea Combatir

Type of Weapon they can equip Twin Swords Ring Kendama Staff Element Card Boots Sword Sword Axe

The main armour that can be equipped to the characters is split into two groups: male and female. This increases the amount of combination of how items can be equipped which is important to the game, as it allows players to customise their characters until they are happy. The accessories available in the game can be given to anyone to equip, some items are one-off’s making it a difficult decision for which character they should equip to as the ability they gain is very helpful. Magic techniques Spells/Magic is basically means the same, it’s just the difference in terms of European and American English as well as how the game spells it. Spells are can be used by everyone in the game but the two main spell casters are Genis and Raine. By having magic in the game, it adds to the “magical element” making this game a typical RPG like the others, it also gives the player a variety of options to choose from and not just sticking with one typical fighter. Using magic also makes the game much more in-depth as each independent magic has its own range, timing and elemental attribute, this tends to make the player set shortcuts to use each spells specifically, and adds more to the tactics of the game.

Escaping Battles ter by walking around it, or battless can be avoided in two ways: one is by either avoiding the monster run away when the battle is engaged, engaged this is done by selecting lecting escape from the battle menu, menu the escape gauge will appear and needs to be full before successfully ly escaping the battle, battle by having a escape mechanism in the game, it allows user to avoid unwanted battles and therefore saving time ti to move to the next location, making the flow of the game play much quicker.

Actors The actors in the game are all represented by a 3D rendered model, it also uses a cel-shaded graphic style to make it have a “cartoonish” theme; this allows it to blend in with the style of the environment itself as the same art style is used. The video animation shown in the introduction uses an anime style artwork which features realistic human sized character, this is made different from the game so that gives the player a variation of the different style being used. The characters in the game are all designed differently with unique clothing and accessories; I will give a brief description of all the nine playable characters in the game. Lloyd Irving Description and Analysis Lloyd is a male, aged 17, with height 5’ 8”, he was raised by a dwarf, on the journey of salvation with his friends Colette, Genis, and Raine, he starts to learn about the truth of the world he is living in. From looking at his clothes he wears a bright red jacket with black trousers which make him stand out in the party, during voice-overs, he is hard-headed and arrogant, making him an easy character to make angry. Colette Brunel

Description and Analysis Colette is female aged 16; she is 5’ 2”. She is Lloyd’s childhood friend; she is clumsy throughout the game making her a very insecure character. She is the Chosen One and has to set off on a journey for world regeneration. She wears a white coat and holds the Cruxis Crystal to show that she is the Chosen One. Later on, the more seals they open, the more angel like she becomes, and gaining a pair of wings that can disappear at will. Her blond/platinum hair with the white coat, along with the angel wings makes her stand out, and looks “Special”, this shows that she is an important character of the game.

Genis Sage

Description and Analysis Genis is a male ages 12, with a height of 4’ 8”. He is a half-elf and is one of Lloyd’s closest friends, he is smart and learns quickly in his studies making him very valuable in battle. He wears a blue shirt and trouser which is a very comfortable colour, it also suits him as he is a young boy.

Raine Sage Description and Analysis Raines is a female aged 23, with a height of 5’ 5”. She is a school teacher as well as being Genis’ older sister. She is an exceptional mage and is usually the first person in the group to grasp the situation very well. The clothes she wears is a brown/orange coat which covers her up to the knee, it makes a good combination with her white hair.

Sheena Fujibayashi Description and Analysis Sheena is a female aged 19, with a height of 5’ 5”. She is from Tethe'alla. She was sent to Slyvarant to kill the Chosen One, Colette. She wears a revealing indigo kimono/robe with a pink ribbon, which makes her look like a ninja. She is able to cast summons by forming pacts with summon spirits in the game.

Regal Bryant Description and Analysis Regal is a male aged 33, his height is 6’ 2”. He is a prisoner that was sent to kill Colette when they were in Tethe’alla. He is a quiet addition to the team and reveals later on that he killed Presea’s sister, he keeps the shackles on his hand to show his punishment for what he did, and this is why he fights with his foot. He has blue hair, wears a white shirt, and green trousers, which gives a feeling that he is a prisoner.

Zelos Wilder

Description and Analysis Zelos is a male aged 22, his height is 5’ 10”. He is the “comedian” of the group, this can be seen through his chat up lines when seeing pretty ladies, and this is also one of his main personalities in the game. Although he is funny, he is also skilled in magic and swordsmanship combat, allowing him to be reliable when needed. He is also the Chosen One in the world of Tethe’alla. He has red hair, wears a pink coat and white trousers, as he is a handsome fellow, he able to impress many woman.

Kratos Aurion Description and Analysis Kratos is a male aged 28, his height is 6’ 1”. He is a swordsman that is skilled in both swords and magic, he acts as a body guard protecting the Chosen One throughout the journey of world regeneration. He wears a navy coat and has dark brown hair which is spiky, which can also represent Japanese fashion. As the story develops, Lloyds soon finds out that he is his real father dad, not Dirk.

Presea Combatir Description and Analysis Presea is a female aged 12, her height is 4’ 6”. She is a small girl which has an incomplete Exsphere attached to her, giving super strength whilst suppressing her human emotions. She has pink hair, wearing a purple coat, with white gloves and boots. She is especially short within the group like Genis. She also has a very quiet personality even after the Exsphere was fixed, making her very similar to Regal’s personality.

Action / Control The actions within the game are controlled by using a controller. As I am talking about the GameCube version, I will use the GameCube controls. In the game, the controls will change depending on where and which location you are at in the game, these locations are: The Menu, The Field, Town/Dungeon, and During Battle. Button Control

Control Stick: Up, Down, Left, Right, Diagonal Up-Left, Diagonal Up-Right, Diagonal Down-Left, Diagonal Down-Right

Y X A Control Pad: Up, Down, Left, Right

Controls in Menu Control Stick / + Control Pad: Move cursor A Button: Confirm B Button: Cancel L Button / R Button: Change character (Tech, Status, Ex-Skill, Equip) / Change item type (Items) Start / Pause: Toggle item stats (Items, Equip)/Toggle character stats (Main Menu) C-Stick: Scroll Page

Controls in Field Control Stick: Move player-controlled character + Control Pad: Open map A Button: Enter towns and dungeons B Button: Cancel / Board Rheaird, Embark / Disembark EC X Button: Mount/Dismount Noishe (Activates Long-range Mode) Y Button: Open Main Menu Z Button: Start Skit L Button / R Button: Rotate the camera left/right Start/Pause: Toggle World Map

Controls in Town / Dungeon Control Stick: Move player-controlled character + Control Pad: Rotate player-controlled character 45 degrees (only while standing still) A Button: Action (Speak, Examine, etc.) X Button: Use Sorcerer's Ring Y Button: Open Main Menu Z Button: Start Skit

Controls in Battle Control Stick: Move player-controlled character/Item selection Control Pad: Select strategic Orders A Button: Attack B Button: Perform magic or technique X Button: Guard/Cancel magic and technique Y Button: Open Battle Menu Z Button: Initiate Unison Attack L Button: Delay magic or technique R Button: Change target (hold to select a target) C Stick: Magic and technique shortcut Start/Pause: Pause

Level Requirements As this is a role-playing game, levels are difficult to define as the whole game can be seen as one big level. But levels can be expressed as a certain stage in the game, such as the dungeons we have to play through and win in order to move onto the next dungeon. Throughout the game, you will have to overcome obstacles in order to progress through the rest of the storyline, if this is not completed, you will not be able to advance any further. In general, the whole game can be found to be a level which requires completing so that you can clear the story mode.

Moves Moves available to the player during battle Standard Moves Standard moves are the most basic types of attack that can be dealt to opponents. Button Forward + A Back + A Up + A Down + A Forward + A+A Back + A+A Up + A+A Down + A+A Forward + A+A+A Back + A+A+A Up + A+A+A Down + A+A+A X Aerial +A Aerial +X

Outcome Forward Strike Forward Strike (Will face forward as default location of targeted enemy) Upper Body Strike (Can follow with a jump) Lower Body Strike Forward 2-Hit Combo Forward 2-Hit Combo Upper Body 2-Hit Combo Lower Body 2-Hit Combo Forward 3-Hit Combo Forward 3-Hit Combo Upper Body 3-Hit Combo Lower Body 3-Hit Combo Block Forward Strike Recovers into battle position after being hit into air

L or R (Hold) + Control Stick

Select and Lock-On to enemies

This list can increase depending on the amount of EX-Gems equipped and what type of abilities you have chosen, by choosing the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Comboâ&#x20AC;? option; it will add one more combo towards your maximum limit. Techniques Each playable character in the game has their own unique techniques that they can master; this can be used during battles which cost Technical Points (TP). The amount of Technical Points each character has will defer from each other as each character has their own speciality, such as mages will have more Technical Points than a swordsman. Below is a table containing information about techniques that can be assigned to buttons, techniques need to be assigned to buttons as there is a variety to choose from, which is different from standard moves which have a limit and cannot be assigned.

Button Neutral + B Forward + B Back + B Up + B Down + B C-Stick Forward C-Stick Back C-Stick Up C-Stick Down Down +X Z

Outcome Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Assigned Technique Guardian (For Lloyd, Kratos, Zelos) Unison Attack

Technical Types Technical Types will greatly influence the character’s moves/spells that are learnt at a certain level. This is classified into two classes, either Technical (T) or Special (S). The “Technique Type” is influenced by the EX-Skill they have chosen from the EX-Gem equipped, the Technical Type of a character is displayed in a “Technical Type Gauge” with an arrow pointing in the direction of “T” or “S”. None of the characters can be fit in-between Technical and Special, as they will not be able to learn all the abilities on both sides of the “Technical Types”. Character Techniques Lloyd Irving Level Normal 1 Demon Fang 4 Sonic Thrust 7 Sword Rain 9 Tiger Blade 11 Tempest 14 Beast 16 18

24 27 30

Technical (T) Double Demon Fang Hurricane Thrust Sword Rain: Alpha Omega Tempest Tiger Rage Raging Beast

Special (S) Fierce Demon Fang

Requirements None None None None None None Use Demon Fang 50x

Fierce Demon Fang

Use Sonic Thrust 50x

Sonic Sword Rain

Use Sword Rain 50x

Psi Tempest Heavy Tiger Blade Hunting Beast

Use Tempest 50x Use Tiger Blade 50x Use Beast 50x

Demonic Thrust

Demonic Tiger Blade Tempest Thrust Rising Falcon Tempest Beast

38 40 41

Use all Demon Fang and Sonic Thrust Techs 50x Use all Demon Fang and Tiger Blade Techs 50x Use all Tempest and Sonic None Use all Tempest and Beast Techs

44 47 50 54 59 N/A

Raining Tiger Blade Beast Sword Rain

Twin Tiger Blade Sword Rain: Beta Guardian

Colette Brunel Level Normal 1 Ray Thrust 8 Pow Hammer 10 Item Thief 12 Ring Whirlwind 15 18 28 32

Item Rover Grand Chariot

Demonic Chaos -

Demonic Circle -

Technical (T) Dual Ray Thrust Pow Pow Hammer -

Special (S)

Triple Ray Satellite Ring Cyclone Hammer Rain

Triple Ray Satellite

Ray Satellite Para Ball

Requirements None None None None Use Ray Thrust 50x Use Pow Hammer 50x

Stardust Cross

N/A N/A N/A N/A

Angel Feathers Holy Song Sacrifice Judgment

Use Item Thief 50x Use all Pow Hammer and Ray Thrust Techs 50x Use Dual Ray Thrust/Ray Satellite Thrust 50x Use Ring Whirlwind 50x Use Pow Pow Hammer/Para Ball 50x Use all Pow Hammer and Ring Whirlwind Techs 50x Beat the Triet Ruins Beat Balacruf Mausoleum Beat the Tower of Mana Go to the Tower of Salvation

N/A

Damage Guard

Go to Triet Ruins with Kratos

40 44

Genis Sage Level Normal 1 Fire Ball 3 Stone Blast 5 Wind Blade 7 Aqua Edge 9 Lightning 11 Icicle 14 17 20 -

Technical (T) Stalagmite Spread Air Thrust

50x Use all Sword Rain and Tiger, Blade Techs 50x Use all Beast and Sword Raine Techs 50x Use Double/Fierce Demon Fang Use Heavy Tiger Blade 50x Use Sword Rain: Alpha 50x Go to Triet Ruins with Kratos

Whirlwind Rush Torrential Para Ball

Special (S) Grave Aqua Laser Air Blade 20

Requirements None None None None None None Use Stone Blast 50x Use Aqua Edge 50x Use Wind Blade 50x

23 26 29 32 35

Dreaded Wave

38 40 42

Tidal Wave Thunder Arrow Gravity Well

44 46 48 50 53 56 58

Absolute Ground Dasher Atlas Cyclone Earth Bite Explosion Prism Sword

60 N/A

Indignation Meteor Storm

N/A

Force Field

Raine Sage Level Normal 1 First Aid 8 Charge 10 Barrier 12 Recover 14 Sharpness 16 Dispel 18 Photon 26 29 32 35 38 42 46 50 N/A Resurrection N/A

Force Field

Eruption Thunder Blade Ice Tornado Raging Mist

Technical (T) Nurse Field Barrier Purify Acuteness Nullify Healing Circle Ray Revitalize -

Flame Lance Spark Wave Freeze Lancer Spiral Flare

Special (S) Heal Permaguard Restore Keenness Anti-Magic Cure Holy Lance Revive -

Use Fire Ball 50x Use Lightning 50x Use Icicle 50x None Learn Eruption and Spread or Flame Lance and Air Blade Use Spread 50x Learn Spark Wave and Flame Lance Learn Thunder Blade and Stalagmite Learn Freeze Lancer and Grave Use Stalagmite 50x Learn Air Blade and Aqua Laser Use Air Thrust 50x Learn Grave and Spark Wave Use Eruption 50x Learn Absolute and Atlas Use Thunder Blade 50x Talk with elves in east Heimdall after obtaining the Derris Emblem Go to Triet Ruins with Kratos

Requirements None None None None None None None Use First Aid 50x Use Barrier 50x Use Recover 50x Use Sharpness 50x Use Dispel 50x Use Nurse/Heal 50x Use Photon 50x Use Healing Circle/Cure 50x Go to Lake Umacy after making a pact with Undine Visit Triet Ruins with Kratos

Sheena Fujibayashi Level Normal 1 Power Seal 1 Pyre Seal 1 Summon: Corrine 22 Life Seal 26 Mirage Seal 30 Spirit Seal 34 Serpent Seal 37 -

Technical (T) -

Special (S)

Power Seal Pinion Mirage Seal Pinion Serpent Seal Pinion -

Power Seal Absolute

None None None None Use Power Seal 50x

Mirage Seal Absolute

None Use Mirage Seal 50x

Serpent Seal Absolute -

None Use Serpent Seal 50x

40 44

Force Seal -

48 52

Purgatory Seal -

56 60 N/A

Cyclone Seal Demon Seal Sylva/Tethe Seal

N/A

Summon

N/A

Guardian Seal

Regal Bryant Level Normal 1 Crescent Moon 1 Spin Kick 1 Eagle Dive 1 Healer 1 Mirage 31 Swallow Kick 34 Rising Dragon 38 Triple Kick 40 43 46 49 Heaven's Charge 52 55 Triple Rage Kick 57 60 N/A

Crescent Dark Moon Wolverine Bastion

Technical (T) Swallow Dance Eagle Rage Dragon Fury -

Special (S)

Chi Healer -

Grand Healer -

Dragon Dance Eagle Fall Dragon Rage -

Requirements None None None

None Use Pyre Seal 50x Gain as you make pacts with Summon Spirits Gain as you make pacts with Summon Spirits None

Requirements None None None None None None None Use Spin Kick 50x Use Swallow Kick 50x Use Eagle Dive 50x Use Rising Dragon 50x None

Use Healer 50x Use all Eagle Dive and Spin Kick Tech 50x None

Use Triple Kick 50x None

Zelos Wilder Level Normal 1 Demon Fang 1 Sonic Thrust 1 Fire Ball 1 First Aid 8 Wind Blade 10 Stone Blast 12 Lightning 15 18 21 23 26 28

Air Thrust Thunder Blade Light Spear Healing Wind -

31 34 37 40 43

Eruption Grave Lightning Blade Hell Pyre -

46 49

Healing Stream Demon Spear

Super Lightning Blade Guardian

N/A

Technical (T) Double Demon Fang Hurricane Thrust Victory Light Spear -

Special (S) Fierce Demon Fang

Requirements None None None None None None None Use Demon Fang 50x

Super Sonic Thrust

Use Wind Blade 50x Use Lightning 50x None Learn Air Thrust Use Sonic Thrust 50x

Light Spear Cannon

Use Fire Ball 50x Use Stone Blast 50x Learn Thunder Blade Learn Eruption Use Light Spear 50x

Learn Grave Use all Demon Fang and Light Spear Techs 50x Learn Thunder Blade and Air Thrust

None

Kratos Aurion Level Normal 1 Demon Fang 1 Sonic Thrust 1 Fire Ball 1 First Aid 8 Wind Blade 10 Stone Blast 12 Lightning 15 -

Technical (T) Double Demon Fang Hurricane Thrust Victory Light Spear -

Special (S) Fierce Demon Fang

Requirements None None None None None None None Use Demon Fang 50x

Super Sonic Thrust

Use Wind Blade 50x Use Lightning 50x None Learn Air Thrust Use Sonic Thrust 50x

Light Spear Cannon

Use Fire Ball 50x Use Stone Blast 50x Learn Thunder Blade Learn Eruption Use Light Spear 50x

18 21 23 26 28

Air Thrust Thunder Blade Light Spear Healing Wind -

31 34 37 40 43

Eruption Grave Lightning Blade Hell Pyre -

46 49

Healing Stream Demon Spear

N/A

Super Lightning Blade Judgment

N/A

Guardian

Kratos only-when he rejoins after forging of Material Blade None

Requirements None

Presea Combatir Level Normal 1 Destruction

Technical (T) -

Special (S)

Learn Grave Use all Demon Fang and Light Spear Techs 50x Learn Thunder Blade and Air Thrust

Infliction

None

Beast

None

Punishment

None

Devastation

None

33 36

Dual Infliction Dual Punishment Deadly Destruction

Resolute Infliction Finality Punishment

Use Infliction 50x Use Punishment 50x

Fiery Destruction

Use Destruction 50x

40 42 44 48 51 54 56 N/A

Endless Infliction Rising Punishment Fiery Infliction Eternal Damnation Eternal Devastation Infinite Destruction Earthly Protection

Finite Devastation -

Mass Devastation

Use Dual Infliction 50x Use Devastation 50x

Use Dual Punishment 50x

Use all Destruction and Infliction Techs 50x Use all Destruction and Devastation Techs 50x Use Mass Devastation 50x

Use Deadly Destruction 50x

None

Combo Explanation Like in most role-playing games, combos are the amount of hits dealt to the opponent in any amount of consecutive hits, this can reach pass 100 Hits if a combo is done correctly. A combo can be created by using a combination of standard moves, techniques, and unison attacks all linked together. Techniques Linkage between technique levels For each technique that the character learns, it is split into three levels: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. A Level 1 move is able to link with a Level 2 or Level 3. Level 2 is able to link with a Level 3 move, but a Level 3 move cannot be linked with the other levels. By limiting the amount of combos that can be linked together, this makes it more balanced because if all moves were able to be connected together, then a never ending combo can be created making battles too easy to win, repetitive spamming and not enjoyable. There are also limitations within moves of the same type, such as Lloyds Demon Fang cannot be linked with Double Demon Fang in order to create a combo. Linking four techniques are also possible depending on timing and the size of opponent, as each move will have its own specific range and the surface area it will hit. EX-Skill EX-Skills are abilities that come from EX-Gems which are found throughout the game, these can be located in chests, or they can also be bought from shops using Grade Points. A character can only equip a maximum of four EX-Gems, each EX-Gems comes in four levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4, the higher the level, there rarer they are within the game and more expensive. Each level then gives the player four choices of boosts to choose from, the name of boost and the boost effect will vary depending on the character. For each boost that is chosen, it will specifically fall towards one of the Technical Type groups, which are Technical and Special, this will affect the special techniques that the character will learn when they levels up. EX-Skills are available when you have equipped more than one EX-Gem, with the correct combination of boost; the player will be able to learn Compound EX-Skills during battle, this will assist them by doing additional damage which is 25

added towards the end of the Unison Attack. An EX-Gem Max has all the boosts of all the other gems but is much rarer to find within the game. I will now list out the EX-Skill and Compound EX-Skill for Lloyd Irving: Lloyd Irving â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Basic EX-Skills Level Technical or Special 1 Special Special Technical Technical 2

Boost Name Strong Tough Taunt Sharp-eyed

Special Special Technical

Vitality Personal Dodge

Technical Special Special Technical Technical Special Special Technical Technical

Dash Eternal Guard Plus Spirit Add Combo Immunity Ability Plus Sky Combo Follow Up

Effect Strength +5% Defence +5% Taunts opponents to increase Unison Attack Gauge Accuracy +10% (Increases damage to enemies with low evade) Max HP +5% Movement increases in towns and dungeons Evade +5% (Damage reduced from enemies with low accuracy) Movement increases in battle Combines with other Ex Skills Damage incurred while defending is reduced Max TP +5% One extra melee attack Fixed probability of avoiding Status Effects Can perform another special skill after one Can melee attack continuously while airborne Stun effect lasts longer for downed enemies (those who fall on the ground and get back up)

Lloyd Irving â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Compound EX-Skills Combination (Level - Skill) Name 1 - Strong EX Attack 1 - Tough

1 - Strong 1 - Taunt 1 - Strong 2 - Personal 1 - Tough 2 - Dash 1 - Taunt 2 - Dodge 1 - Taunt 2 - Dash 1 - Taunt 2 - Personal

T. Guard

1 - Sharp-eyed 2 - Dash

Back Guard

Effect Increases damage to guarding enemies (Do 40% normal damage instead of the usual 25%) Will not stagger if hit during a taunt (some exceptions) Critical Hit rate increases

Critical Up Quick Turn T. Cancel

No skidding when you stop running Can cancel taunt by guarding

Run away!

Escape faster

L. Unison

Fixed probability that a Uattack will not deplete the gauge Can't be made to stagger while back stepping (Back + Guard). Some exceptions. 26

2 - Dodge 2 - Vitality

EX Defend

2 - Dodge 3 - Spirits 2 - Personal 3 - Eternal

Relax

3 - Eternal 2 - Vitality 3 - Eternal 3 - Spirits 1 - Sharp-eyed 4 - Sky Combo 3 - Eternal 4 - Immunity 3 - Guard Plus 4 - Follow-up 4 - Sky Combo 4 - Ability Plus 1 - Taunt 2 - Personal 3 - Eternal 1 - Tough 2 - Vitality 4 - Immunity 1 - Sharp-eyed 3 - Add Combo 4 - Follow Up 3 - Spirit 3 - Add Combo 4 - Follow up 3 - Guard Plus 4 - Immunity 4 - Sky Combo 3 - Guard Plus 4 - Follow-up 4 - Ability Plus

Life Up

Fixed probability of not staggering when taking physical damage. Some exceptions During battle, gradually recover 1% TP while idling Over Limits imits time increased (from about 8 seconds to about 9.8 seconds) Low probability of max HP increasing at the end of battle Low probability of max TP increasing at the end of battle Attack in the air after being in a passive position No Physical status effects

Over Limit

Spirit Up R. Arts Phys. Status Counter

Press A in battle to avoid staggering and even attack back Can perform some special attacks in the air Exp + 5%. Combo bonus not affected

Sky Attack EXP Plus

Self Cure

Recover from status effects after a certain amount of time

Jump Combo

Possible to attack again after recovering from a jump attack

Technical

Skills now cost 90% of the normal TP amount

Aerial Guard

Can guard in the air

C. Combo

Can attack after performing a combo

Over Limits During battle, players will come across a feature called Over Limit; this is initiated once a character has gained a certain number of tension points. Tension points are gained through mainly hitting and getting hit from the opponent; it also increases when a cooked food has an ingredient that one of the characters likes. Players will need to keep in mind that dying will cause the tension points to reset, this makes the player battle more carefully to avoid the tension points from resetting. Over Limits gives the character and players a distinct advantage over the opponents as there will be less damage taken, stops staggering, unleashes spells faster, and become unstoppable, this is all for a period of time has having this for too long will make the game unbalanced. Over Limits also allow special techniques to be use such as summoning spirits, this is counted as a special requirement. All characters are able to go Over Limit as well as other enemies, which are mainly bosses. By allowing bosses to have Over Limits, it will make battle much more intriguing and challenging, as they would be caught off guard not knowing that they are also capable of Over Limit. Unlocking techniques New techniques are unlocked in two ways that needs both requirements to be met, but the order for both requirements to be met does not have to be in a specific order, you either need to be on the correct level and use a technique during battle to a minimum limit so that it can be unlocked, or have already used the minimum amount of technique allowing you to learn the required move after you have won the battle and levelled up. By learning a technique during battle, you will automatically unleash it straight away which will disrupt your combo. Visual of Moves Visual representations of moves are shown with an animated sequence of the character using the actual move; they tend to use sound to call out the move they will be using to make it sound effective and also catch the playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention when playing. By shouting out the name of the move, it also lets the player feel more involved and making them shout out the name of the move when playing as well. Looking at the battle screen to the left, when a technique is used, the names is display to the top, the amount of damage is also shown within one second to show how much damage is done. A little icon on the left will be displayed next to the move to show who is using the move. The icon on the right next to the name of the move shows what type of attack it is. By showing a sword, it is a sword strike, and by showing a sparkling star, it is a magic based attack. These additional information help players to see what they are doing very quickly without checking it in the technique screen.

Unison Attacks Unison attacks are a combination of all the members in the party which they all take part in doing one technique, this also has a possibility to initiate a fifth attack if the combination used was correct. This activated by pressing “Z” with your character doing a forward slash motion, if the character misses, the unison gauge will go back down to zero, with the activation failed, this also leaves you open to a free attack which could be deadly. Unison Gauge When battling, the Unison Gauge will start to fill up indicated by a light indigo colour; this gauge is filled up according to the amount of damage that has been dealt to the opponent. Once it is filled up, it will be bright red with the words “READY”. This makes it immediately stand out and can be activated by pressing “Z” on the controller

To use the Unison Gauge, you will need to assign techniques to each button, the four moves that are assigned to the buttons “A”, “B”, “X”, and “Y” can be controlled in any order you like by pressing it in any order. Setting the right techniques will allow you to use a Compound EX-Skill, which is a special technique, after all four moves has been used. The rhythm of a Unison Attack can be disrupted through timing the techniques wrong, this will result in a failure of activating the Compound EX-Skill and do fewer combos, and therefore leading to less damage dealt to the opponent. Only one Compound EX-Skill can be activated during a Unison Attack so that players will not be over powered by having two Compound EX-Skill in one Unison Attack. Here is an example to show how to use one of the Compound EX-Skill after the Unison Attack: Unison Attack Character Lloyd Irving Colette Brunel Genis Sage Raine Sage

Technique Demon Fang Angel Feathers Tidal Wave Ray

Special technique

Prism Stars

There are multiple combinations for two characters to use, in order to activate one of the special techniques; I will take the special technique, “Prism Stars”, as an example: Combination for Prism Stars Character – Genis and Raine Special Technique Character Prism Star Genis + Raine Genis + Raine Genis + Raine Genis + Raine Genis + Raine

Techniques Ray + Tidal Wave Ray + Explosion Ray + Cyclone Ray + Ground Dasher Ray + Indignation

Schematic of controls The controls for the game are user-friendly without any confusion; each button has its own function. By allowing players to assigning shortcuts to “B” and the “C-Stick” for different techniques including other characters, this has made it much more comfortable for the player to match their playing style, and can use techniques at the correct timing in order to pull out correct combos. The biggest advantage of allowing assigned techniques is that it increases playing tactics of how different combos can be linked, and how the player would use them. Special Vehicles The special vehicles in the game include the Boat and the Rheairds, these special vehicles play a crucial part because they help assist the players during travelling as well as being a core element of the game, without the vehicles you will not be able to reach new places which are required to complete the game. The Rheairds are a useful transport device as it travels through the sky, either from world to world, or town to town much quicker. You are also able to reach islands that were previously not available to you, this allows extra surprise element by finding something you do not expect. Elemental Attribute Some weapons in the game contain Elemental Attribute, this includes: Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, Ice, Lightning. As some enemies also have Elemental Attribute, this can be identified by using an item called “Magic Lens” which displays the opponent’s HP and Elemental Attribute, this item helps us to understand their weaknesses and deal more damage by using the opposite element. A characters current attribute can be seen on the status screen. Costumes Costumes are unlocked by completing certain side quests; this allows the payer to change the clothing of the character if they choose to do so. Each characters costumes are unique that can be unlocked. 30

Other elements There are also other mechanics included in the games, this included pressing the “A” button to enter a town / dungeon or to exit a field, this is added so that players will not enter or exit a location by accident and can cancel this automatic function by pressing “B”, the icon to leave or enter a location is situated in the bottom right hand side corner of the screen. These icons also appear when you are trying to grab a box or jump over a gap. When travelling through dungeons, you will face many traps whilst trying to solve a puzzle, these traps such as spikes can cause damage by stepping on it, which then gives a health penalty to the team, this will make the player pay more attention to the environment and focus on the traps a bit more. By finding Shifters in certain levels, it allows the function of the Sorcerer’s Ring to change, you will have a unique ability such as changing from the default fire to lightning, or you can become smaller to get through tight spaces, this can be activated by pressing “X” on the control pad when you are in a town or dungeon. On the results screen after battle, you will see a title called “GRADE”, the amount of “GRADE” you get depends on the difficulty of the level you are playing in, as well as how well you perform during battle, this includes the number of combo’s dealt to opponent, getting hit and dodging, as well as the amount of time it takes to finish the battle. By having more “GRADE”, you will be able to purchase upgrades during the game and after the game is completed. The upgrades after the clearing the game includes getting more experience points during battles, transferring items, and transferring level of the team, this makes the second play through of the game easier.

Modes of Play Story Mode There is only one main mode in the game, and that is the story mode. The game itself has three main difficulties: Normal, Hard, and Mania. Mania mode is unlocked by completing the game once. This adds re-playability value towards the game as most gamers thrive for a challenge and will attempt to collect all the collectibles within the game when playing through the second time. Mini-Games Mini-games can be found in specific locations by talking to in-game characters called Katz; this will activate a mini-game which allows players to try and achieve high scores as well as unlocking new items and special titles that can only be found by clearing the mini-game. Mini-games can also be found by talking to other in-game characters such as the mini-game for Colette in the restaurant. Mini-games in general allows a gamer to relax from the main story line and take a break, by adding high scores, this will attract them to play with someone else, so that they can compete and beat each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high scores. Collectibles In Tales of Symphonia, there are a range of collectables spread throughout the game, this includes: items, titles, recipe and costumes. By having collectables within the game, this acts as extra contents within the game allowing playing to do something outside the core storyline. Collectibles also allow satisfaction or make the player feel rewarded as there is a sense of accomplishment. Recipes Recipes are unlocked by finding the Wonder Chefs that are hidden throughout different towns. They allow players to cook food after battles and in the main menu, to recover Hit Points, Technical Points or both. They also add towards the players Tension Points to help them reach Over Limit. In order for food to be cooked, ingredients are needed that can be bought from shops. These are the locations of where the Wonder Chefs that is hidden in the towns: Recipe Sandwich Cabbage Rolls Rice ball Meat Stew Seafood Stew

Location Default 2nd floor of Inn in Triet Isoold House, Top of Roof Aishaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, 2nd floor, Asgard Ruins Inn at Luin

Risotto

Inn at Hima

Steak Fruit Cocktail

Meltokio Weapon Shop Meltokio, Zelos house, second floor The Research Academy Mizuho Inn at Ozette

Fried Rice Ramen Tenderloin

Effect Restores a small amount of HP Restores a small amount of TP Restores a small amount of HP/ TP Restores a small amount of HP. Temporarily increases attack Restores a small amount of TP. Temporarily increases defence. Restores a small amount of HP. Cures Paralysis for the party Restores a small amount of TP Restores a small amount of HP/ TP Restores a moderate amount of HP Restores a moderate amount of TP 32

Shortcake Curry

Inn at Exire Altessaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house

Restores a large amount of TP Restores moderate amount of HP/ TP

Titles Titles are earned through levelling up to a certain level, and by accomplishing goals during the game, each character has their own exclusive titles, which allow them to power up certain stats, giving them an advantage during battle. Even though by levelling up to the highest level which is Level 250, players will not be able to earn a title for this. This is a chart for the earnable title for Lloyd Irving: Lloyd Irving Title Swordsman Drifting Swordsman Eternal Swordsman Gourmet King Nobleman Arrgh, Me Hearties Beach Boy Gentle Idealist Peeping Tom Midlife Crisis Sword of Swords Tactical Leader Grand Swordsman Master Swordsman Holy Sword Combo Newbie Comboist Combo Expert Combo Master Tetra Slash Brave Soul Lone General Boorish General Gung Ho Eternal Apprentice Berserker

Requirement Default Banned from Iselia. Receiving Eternal Sword. Master all recipes, talk to the Wonder Chef at Altamira Cafeteria Costumes event Costumes event Costumes event Going Mizuho for first time Zelos in party, talk to pastor at Hot Spring. Choose 'Females' the second time around or later Clear Uncle game in Triet after returning to Sylvarant Base. Complete Advanced Single Mode at Coliseum using Lloyd. Complete Party mode at the Coliseum with Lloyd in party. Reach Level 20 Reach Level 40 Reach Level 100 Combo more than 10 hits (during battle) Combo more than 30 hits (during battle) Combo more than 60 hits (during battle) Combo more than 100 hits (during battle) Gets a combo using three different types of normal attacks and then a Lv. 1, Lv. 2, or Lv. 3 Special Attack. Clear battle with Yuan without running away from battles up to that point. Get this title when fighting alone (during battle). The party must contain minimum of two people. Use 10 shortcuts during battle. Defeat Rodyle with 4 characters whose total combined level is 145 or less. Clear Kilia battle by only using the Wooden Sword up Fight enemies 256 times in the hard or mania difficulty.

Weapons, Shops and Customisation A range of unique weapons are available for all the characters in the game, each weapon will provide the player with a power up in terms of strength. As you progress through the game more weapons will be unlocked in the shops and be found in the chest. The weapons found later on in the game will normally be a stronger weapon than the current weapon equipped; this allows players to not be over-powered by bosses. Weapons In a town, there are three types of shops, one for Weapon, Armour and Customisation of Weapons. Player will find that weapon and armour are sold in the same shop as it is easier to navigate from buying weapons to armour, as players will tend to check both when upgrading their characters. In order to buy weapons and armour, Gald is needed which is the equivalent to “money”, most RolePlaying Games have their own money managing system as well as using a different word to express money instead of using the actually term “Money”. I will list out the shops in Heimdall, which is one of the last shops in the game before the final boss fight (Luin can also be counted as the last shops as it needs to be rebuilt later on in the game): Shop Name: Twilight Arms Weapon Gald Wasier Rapier 6400 Solar Spinner 5980 Northern Lights 5400 Rune Staff 5000 Yaska 5900 Gladius 6400 Ether Sword 6000 War Hammer 6300 Crystall Shell 6200 Shop Name: Full house Item Gald Apple Gel 100 Lemon Gel 1000 Orange Gel 200 Pineapple Gel 1200 Melange Gel 500 Miracle Gel 3000 Panacea Bottle 150 Life Bottle 300 Miracle Bottle 3000 Anti-Magic Bottle 1000 Flare Bottle 1000 Guard Bottle 1000 Acuity Bottle 1000 Syrup Bottle 1000 Shell Bottle 1000 Holy Bottle 200 Dark Bottle 200

Shop Name: Twilight Armoury Armour Gald Rune Mail 5000 Rune Guard 4800 Rune Cloak 4800 Rune Robe 4400 | Rune Helm 4000 Rune Hat 3000 Rune Circlet 4600 Rune Shield 5000 Rune Gauntlet 3000 Rune Cape 5600 Rune Boots 6000 Shop Name: Twilight Arms Customised Item Equipment Wasier Rapier Saint Rapier + Magical Cloth + Mythril + Mermaid's Tear Solar Spinner Mythril Ring + Black Silver + White Silver + Brass Gladius Flame Dagger + Mythril + Magical Cloth + Metal Sphere Battle Pick Bardiche + Magical Cloth + Beast Hide + Mystic Herb Crystall Shell Mythril Greaves + Mythril + Beast Fang + White Silver Reflect Breastplate + Mythril + White Silver Solar Guard Silver Guard + Mythril Draupnir Lapis Bracelet + Metal Sphere + Beast Fang + Beast Hide

Customisation Customisation allows the combination of two or more items to form a new item; this is the newly formed item will have a new effect which could aid the character in battle; this could either make attacks stronger or become immune to certain status effecters. Inn is also counted as a shop, as you are required to pay, an inn helps the character to fully recover its Hit Points and Technical points at a small price, the Gald tends to increase in price as the game progress, as you will be fighting more difficult monsters and earning more Gald. This table represents the combination needed to form the new accessories on the left: Dirkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shop (Customisation) Item Created Required Item Stun Charm Stun Bracelet + Rune Bottle Amulet Stun Charm + Poison Charm + Drain Charm + Stone Charm +Paralysis Charm Blue Talisman Stun Charm + Defence Ring + Heal Bracelet + Rune Bottle Heal Bracelet Stun Bracelet + Mermaid's Tear Spirit Bangle Stun Bracelet + Mermaid's Tear Warrior Symbol Stun Bracelet + White Silver + Flare Bottle x10 +Rune Bottle Guardian Symbol Stun Bracelet + Black Silver + Guard Bottle x10 +Rune Bottle Rabbit's Foot Beast Hide + Rune Bottle Holy Symbol Holy Ring + Heal Bracelet + Black Onyx + Revive Ring Spirit Symbol Spirit Ring + Spirit Bangle + Moonstone + Revive Ring Dark Seal Rabbit's Foot + Dark Bottle x10 + Black Quartz x10 + Rune Bottle Demon Seal Dark Seal + Black Silver x10 + Dark Bottle x10 +Black Quartz Extreme Symbol Dark Seal + Demon's Seal x 3 Mystic Symbol Faerie Ring + Rune Bottle Krona Symbol Dark Seal + Amulet x8 + Rune Bottle Attack Symbol Attack Ring + Warrior Symbol Reverse Doll Revive Ring + Life Bottle + Elixir Sephira Reverse Doll + Rabbit's Foot x5 Blue Sephira Sephira + Rabbit's Foot x8 + Elixir

Life Management “Life” is an important aspect of Tales of Symphonia as it is a Role-Playing Game, as each character has different stats depending on their speciality. Physical based characters have a stronger Slash and Thrust stats, whereas Magic based characters will have more Technical Point and is more powerful when using magic. Whilst fighting enemies, their life gauge cannot be seen, this can be activated by using an item called “Magic Lens”. Items are also important in terms of life management as it can heal, cure status effects, and revive dead characters. The importance of items in this game is that it allows players to use items in battles and non-battles. This creates a management system within the game, as they could run low on Gald and save items until boss fights. Most Role-playing games doesn’t have a definite guideline of how much damage a certain move does, this is because it can vary even if you are at the highest level, the effecting factors includes: Equipped Weapon and Armour, chosen Title, EX-Skill, and the accessories equipped. But there is a system in which how much damage is done in relation with the stats of the character. Here is a table of the damage of Lloyds Irving’s techniques, the numbers below are multiplied to the stats: Lloyd Irving Normal Demon Fang Sonic Thrust Sword Rain Tiger Blade Tempest Beast Double Demon Fang Hurricane Thrust Sword Rain: Alpha Omega Tempest Tiger Rage Raging Beast Fierce Demon Fang Super Sonic Thrust Sonic Sword Rain Psi Tempest Heavy Tiger Blade Hunting Beast Demonic Thrust Demonic Tiger Blade Tempest Thrust Rising Falcon Tempest Beast Raining Tiger Blade Beast Sword Rain Demonic Chaos Demonic Circle

Damage 1.2 Slash Total 1 Hit 1.4 Thrust Total 1 Hit 0.25 x 4 Thrust, 0.5 Thrust/1.5 Total 5 Hits 0.8 x 2 Slash/1.6 Total 2 Hits 0.4 x 4 Slash/1.6 Total 4 Hits 1.0 Slash, 1.6 Slash/2.6 Total 2 Hits 1.05 x 2 Slash/2.1 Total 2 Hits 1.0 Thrust, 1.2 Wind Thrust/2.2 Total 2 Hits 0.2 x 8 Thrust, 0.6 Slash/2.2 Total 9 Hits 0.3 x 7 Slash, 0.4 Slash/2.5 Total 8 Hits 0.7 Slash, 0.5 x 2 Slash, 0.7 Slash/2.4 Total 4 Hits 0.6 x 2 Slash, 2.0 Slash/3.2 Total 3 Hits 0.6 x 4 Slash/2.4 Total 4 Hits 2.4 Thrust Total 1 Hit 0.5 x 2 Thrust, 0.15 x 3 Thrust, 0.4 Thrust, 1.05 Thrust/2.9 Total 7 Hits 0.4 x 6 Slash/2.4 Total 6 Hits 1.0 Slash, 1.5 Slash/2.5 Total 2 Hits 1.0 Slash, 1.2 Slash, 1.4 Slash/3.6 Total 3 Hits 0.6 x 2 Slash, 2.3 Thrust/3.5 Total 3 Hits 0.6 x 2 Slash, 1.2 x 2 Slash/3.6 Total 4 Hits 0.5 x 5 Slash, 1.6 Thrust/4.1 Total 6 Hits 3.2 Thrust Total 1 Hit 0.5 x 5 Slash, 1.8 Slash/4.3 Total 6 Hits 0.2 x 9 Thrust, 0.9 x 2 Slash/3.6 Total 11 Hits 0.25 x 8 Thrust, 2.0 Slash/4 Total 9 Hits 1.2 x 2 Slash, 0.5 x 3 Slash/3.9 Total 5 Hits 1.0 x 2 Slash, 2.5 Slash/4.5 Total 3 Hits 36

Twin Tiger Blade Sword Rain: Beta Guardian Lightning Thrust Lightning Tiger Grave Blade Rising Phoenix Falcons Crest

0.8 x 3 Slash, 1.6 Slash/4.0 Total 4 Hits 0.3 x 9 Thrust, 0.6 x 2 Slash/3.9 Total 11 Hits Self Defence 1.4 Thrust, 0.5 Lightning Thrust/1.9 damage Total 2 Hits 0.8 x 2 Slash, 0.8 Lightning Slash//2.4 Total 3 Hits 0.6, 0.7 x 5/4.1 Total 6 Hits 3.3 Fire Thrust Total 1 Hit 1.0 x 8, 2.5, 1.0 x 6, 5.0/21.5 Total 16 Hits

Navigation In order to help the game flow better when travelling between towns/dungeons on the field, navigation is very important, as it is used to support the player whilst playing the game. Navigation aids includes the: Synopsis, Mini Map and the Compass.

Compass

The compass is displayed on the top-left hand corner of the screen when you are on the field. The compass will move according to where the character is facing, basically the compass will face north when your character is facing forwards, this guides you to the correct path of where you should be heading.

The Map

There are two types of maps available when the player is on the field. This includes a small and an extended one displayed on the bottom right-hand side corner of the screen. The transitions of the two maps can be changed by pressing Start, this will fade out and bring in the new map. The small map gives a more detailed positioning of yourself as it is zoomed in so the player can see more clearly, whereas the extended map displays the whole world, this is especially useful when riding the Rheairds as the players will need to travel over the seas. The map is displayed at an adequate size which can be seen clearly, a faded colour is used so that the player can stay focus towards the middle of the screen where the character is. The yellow dot represents the current location of the character with an arrow showing the direction of where to go.

Synopsis

The Synopsis can be accessed from the option screens within the game. Although Synopsis can be defined as a non-navigational aid, this is an exception in Tales of Symphonia as the player can go to the Synopsis and see where they need to go next. The highlighted text in yellow shows what tasks that needs to be completed. By pressing on the title of the chapter, it will give you a brief summary of what previously happened and where to go next, this is accompanied by the map on the right along with the level location and the date displayed above it. This also acts as a log to help remember when the player last played and where they need to continue from. The two lines intersecting each other acts as a radar on the map showing the location of where the chapter happened, this helps players recognise and remember locations, so that they do not always have to refer to the world map. Being able to recognise places is an important aspect to game play, because by having locations that are memorable, players will not need to check back and forth the map and will be able to save valuable game play time, especially when trying complete the game using minimum time.

Progression â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Game Flow Town/Dungeon When inside a town or dungeon, the player will be able to roam freely around the environment. This allows the player to interact with characters and objects within the game such as houses or anything suspicious, such as the placement of non-fitting objects in a location usual means that there is a Wonder Chef that gives you a recipe. By talking to different characters within the game, you will be able to learn more about the history of the town, who they are, and what they think of you. There are restrictions to places you can travel as you need to follow the storyline in order for the place you visit to make sense. If the player was able to travel anywhere straight away from the start of the game, this will disrupt the storyline making it confusing and being over powered by monster as you will not be at a high level to beat them. Field On the field, you are free to travel to different location by either walking, sitting on Noishe, the Boat or using the Rheairds. On the field you are able to find treasures and Guild Post Monuments which allow items and long range to be unlocked. In order to make travelling across the field comfortably, designers must think about the space they have and the distance of each and every town, as having a big gap in between towns could get the player confused and get lost within the field. If the player actually gets lost, the map displayed in the bottom right hand side of the screen will be able to assist them. Battle I will give an example of a boss battle (default by controlling Lloyd). When the battle starts, it gives a small animation and voice-over taunting the in-game character, this makes the battle more enjoyable when you fight and beat the enemy. Once you start, the player rushes forward to deal damage, this then reflects on whether the character or the enemies moveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are faster, and determining who will get the first hit, but the enemy can either attack, run, or block. When the enemy blocks, the opponent will wait for your combo to end until unleashing their combo as you will be vulnerable for a split second. Whilst the boss tries to beat you, your party members will help by summoning monsters, spells, and use indirect damage to lower the enemies Hit Points so it gets closer to zero. As your opponent does a fast and heavy spell, the player will go all out to stop the attack from working, but as you are to slow to break the guard of the enemy, it unleashes a devastating attack and kills you whilst leaving the rest of the characters with little HP, the character with healing abilities will now try to heal everyone and revive you so that you can carry on the battle, characters with no healing spells will try to heal you by using items. After battling for awhile with both sides unleashing special techniques, you will be able to start a Unison Attack which does heavy damage, this lowers the enemies hit points, making them go into Over Limit, and making them literally unstoppable for a certain amount of time, whilst you take many hits, you also reach the Over limit causing both sides to fight close to their limits, but as you unleash a combo with the rest of team by linking standard moves with special techniques, the battle is won, letting the characters move onto the next part of the story. 40

Behaviour - Player Analysis and Playing Play Tactics Behaviour is a set of actions needed to complete a goal. In Tales of Symphonia, Symphonia, the battles that the player has to battle through will require you to win in order to advance; this is one of the main goals in order to progress through the game. On the field, players will be moving towards a town, which we define as a “Goal”, this is required by travelling across the field which the player will find many monsters around and will try to chase you if you get too close, this can be avoided by walking around them, avoiding their detecting range, or the player can trigger the battle by interacting interacting with them. On the field you also have the option to travel on Lloyd’s pet Noishe by pressing “X”, this lets you view the field in long range mode, but in order for long-range long range mode to activate, you need to find a Guide Post Monument that enables this this on the region/territory you are in (theses are rocks scattered throughout each region). When the player is in a level or dungeon, puzzles will be available to make it difficult for players to advance to the next room. Having puzzles enable the breakthrough breakthrough of linear game play, as it will require the player to think before they act, making puzzles difficult also help give the player a challenge along with satisfaction after solving it. As players produce mistakes for puzzles such as pushing the wrong blockss into the wrong gap, this can be restarted either by the design of the stage, such as blocks will reproduce once it is placed in wrong position, or simply exit and re-enter re the room with the puzzle in its original position. During battles, the characters will faint once their Hit Points reaches zero, this then makes the character unusable, as part of the mechanics, an item called “Life Bottle” is available for sale in shops, which help revive a fallen character, this adds much more playability during battle le as it gives the player more than one single life span and the chance to win the battle. With items being usable in battle, it assists the player such as being able to half all damage received, as well as stop time for a given period and deal damage. The use of item also lets the player feel “secure” as they will know that they are able to put themselves in an advantage and has a higher percentage to win.

User Interface I will now show how each screen is linked with each other by creating a flow diagram: Title Screen

New Game

Continue

Customise

Change game Settings

Load Screen

Customise Screen

Yes / Not right now

Last location saved

Main Menu

Tech

Technique Customisation screen

Items

Items Screen

U. Attack

U. Attack Customisation screen

EX Skill

EX Skill and EX Gem Customisation screen

Strat

Strategy Customisation screen

Equip

Equipment Screen

Character Status screen

Status

Synopsis

Character detail Screen

Synopsis Screen

Cooking

Cooking Screen

System

Customisation Screen of Game setting

Flow, function and control of the screens These screens are linked together from the Title Screen, they can be selected by pressing “A” on the control pad, you can return to the previous screen by pressing “B”. The transition used for switching between the different screens are very fast as it will bring the screen you want forward, this takes less than one second, this allows the different screens to flow smoothly without any lagging. When you are in the game, the menu is bought up by pressing “Y”, this is different from using the “Start” button which can cause confusion when you first start the game, as most people recognise “Start” to be the button that brings up the menu. 42

This is the flow charts for the Battle Menu during Battle: Battle Screen

Pause Game Screen

Tech

Technique Customisation screen

Battle Menu

U. Attack

U. Attack Customisation screen

Equip

Strat

Strategy Customisation screen

Equipment Screen

Items

Items Screen

Escape

Escape Gauge

Flow, function and control of the screens The Battle Menu can be activated by pressing “Y” on the control pad. The menus that pop-up will cause the battle to pause; this will give the player time to reconfigure their strategies. The transitions are the same between the screens making it fast and comfortable for the eyes. The battle menu has left out the following option: Status, Synopsis, EX Skill, Cooking and System, as these are not needed during battle, and can be considered as not realistic, as changing EX-Skills during battle will be difficult as you are in the course of battle. The Escape option has been added to let the player freely escape battles, but the escape gauge needs to be full before escaping. The escape gauge can be cancelled by selecting the escape option again. The whole battle can be paused by pressing “Start”, this will causes the battle to freeze, with the word “Pause” appearing in the middle of the screen written with a Sans Serif font, coloured in white and outlined using black so that it stands out. The word “Pause” flashes on the screen to let the player know that the screen is not frozen, as it is not flashing strongly, it is not irritating for the eyes to watch.

Main Menu

Character Window Red Flag – On-Screen Indicator

The Main Menu is where the player can access in order to change setting for the game and tactics used during battle. The first screen you come across when opening the Main Menu is the Character Status screen that allows you to view the status the characters, the details including: Icon of character, name of character, Hit Points, Technical Points, current level, Technical Type, and experience points for the next level-up. The red flag lets the player change the On-Screen character to their own preference; this also affects game play as certain characters have EX-Skills that allow them to move faster than others. The number next to the characters icon indicates the order as well as which character the player will control, as the corresponding number will relate to the control port. On the right hand side, you will see four pieces of extra information including the Gald the player has earned, the amount of time played, number of monsters encountered and the number of maximum combo(s), these are just extra detail to help the player if it is needed.

Technique Screen

Battle Control Type

On the Technique Screen, players are able to assign buttons to use special techniques, the direction of the small animation used to show the direction of the move is displayed on a window on the left hand side, you are limited to assigning four moves to the Control Stick and two to the C-Stick. The moves that can be selected to be assigned is displayed on a window on the right, an assigned move can be removed by pressing “X”. The description of the move is shown in a window at the bottom, along with the amount of time used shown in a small window at the bottom right corner.

Battle Control Type At the top right corner, you will see a window that contains Manual, Semi-auto and Auto, these are Battle Control Types that the player can choose to use depending on their preference and style, one of these have to be selected as you have to choose one of the options before de-selecting. The “Auto” battle control type, performs actions automatically by the strategy set by the player, if you do not want to use a certain magic or technique, you need to remove or turn it off. “Semi-auto” battle control type allows the player to control the character, although support features are automatic such as the guard, players can also used the magic they want by using the assigned buttons. “Manual” allows the player to have full control over the character, this means attacking, blocking and using magic will all be controlled by the player. Unison Attack Screen The Unison Attack Screen lets the players to assign four techniques to one button, for four characters. By mapping the four techniques to one button, they will be able to select the technique they want using the combination of Control Stick + “A”, “B”, “Y” or “X”. The buttons that can be assigned to are displayed on the top right hand side.

Strategy Screen On the Strategy Screen, players are able to set limits and constraints on themselves and the computer controlled characters. In the strategy options, the player can change the setting of battle tactics in four ways: Attacking style, limiting Technical Point usage, movement around space, and positioning of the character. Selecting any option will make a window with options appear on the right hand side, players can then select from the list by pressing “A”.

Status Screen The main use of the Status Screen is to see your stats and change the title of your character, which will boost some of your stats depending on the title itself. All the information will be shown on the left side of the screen, whereas the right side is used to show an icon of the character and an art styled picture. You are also able to see what equipment the character has equipped, which can be changed in the Equipment Screen.

Synopsis Screen The Synopsis is used to see the complete and uncompleted tasks. Uncompleted tasks are highlighted in yellow, whereas the completed tasks are shown in white, this can all be seen on the left side of the screen. The right side of the screen displays the level you are on when you completed the chapter, as well as a world map indicating the location of the chapter.

Items Screen Items can be used by selecting “A” when the cursor is over it, a character screen will pop-up allowing the player to choose who they want the item to be used on. A brief description of the item will be displayed in the window at the bottom of the screen. Items can be discarded by pressing “X” when the item is selected. Items are split into nine categories these are: Newly obtained items, Recovery/customization/battle item, Swords/axes etc, Armour equipped to body, Armour equipped to head, Armour equipped to arm, Special Attribute Item, Ingredient for Cooking, and Items required for your adventure, these are all displayed as icons below the discard button at the top right hand corner.

EX-Skill Screen Looking at the EX-Skill screen you will see the icon of the character you are customising next to the title. Ex-Gems can be used to equip onto the character to increase their stats, this is done by selecting a boost out of the four options, which will be displayed after equipping an EXGem. The stats being increased can be seen on the right side of the screen, highlighted in green. By having EXSkill’s in the game, it gives the player more options to customise their characters, as well as increasing the technical aspect of the game which gives the player an advantage over the opponent.

Equipment Screen The Equipment Screen allows the player to equip six different types of equipment; this includes a weapon, body, head and arm armour, and two additional accessories. A description of the weapon is given at the bottom of the screen giving information on the stats boosted, as well as a picture and the type of weapon it is. By pressing “A” on the desired selection, you will be given a list of equipments to choose from on the right hand side window, the player will then be able to browse through and change the weapon. The “Change Order” text at the top right corner allows players to change their Characters equipped item into a set of randomly generated equipment which is at optimal setting, making the character more balanced, this is done by pressing “Y”. Cooking Screen This screen will show you the icons of the characters and what they can cook. By cooking the same dish over and over again, they will be able to gain a ranking with a maximum of five stars, the better the ranking, the higher the effect of the dish which can cure your HP, TP, or both. Cooking a dish can be done by pressing “X”, you are also able to cook in battle but limited to once only and only after battles. It also helps increase Tension Points which allow Over Limits for the character.

System Screen Selecting the System option will bring up three other selectable options, these are: Save, Load, and Customize. The save option is only available in the field as you will not be able to find Memory Circles, which are only available in towns and dungeons to save the game. The customize option is available for access inside the story mode as it lets the user customise the settings easier without resetting the game and going to the Title Screen to do this.

Battle Screen Battle Menu

Combo Counter

Pause Enemy List

Skill or Item being used

Targeted Enemy

Orders

Unison Gauge

Battle Control Type

Party Members

On the Battle Screen you are able to bring up the battle menu, which lets the player change existing strategies, change the techniques assigned to the buttons, use items, or even escape from battle, although you cannot do this for all fights, as some of the fights are part of the story line and must be won. Battle Result Experience Points earned over the winning battle Bonus Points helps increase experience depending on comboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that are dealt

Gald Earned

Time Counter that records the amount of time taken to win the battle. Grade earned that can be spent in-game

Maximum Combo

Battle During a battle the main aim is winning, this is done by defeating every enemy on the screen. Being defeated will take you back to the Title Screen where you start from the last saved location. A Technical Smash happens when certain requirements are met when defeating an enemy. Here are the Technical Smashes that occur: Skill, Counter, no Damage, and 5 Hits. You are able to escape a battle by bringing up the Battle Menu and selecting the rightmost option which is “Escape”, this can also be cancelled by selecting the “Escape” option again. Stunning is caused when an opponent hits you, this will delay the character for a split second leaving them vulnerable. Over Limits are caused by the amount of Tension Point you get, this will make the character powerful for a period of time as they cannot be staggered or knocked down. Physical ailments are effects that harm the character; this includes being poisoned, deadly poisoned, Paralysis, Petrify, Curse and KO. Magical Ailments include Attack, Defence, Accuracy, and Magic Attack either being increased or decreased. Other effects include Holy Song Effect – attack and defence increased, Physical Ailment Immunity – prevents physical ailments, Magical Ailment Immunity – prevents magical ailments, and Weak – maximum Hit Points is reduced by half.

Overall Art Style and Design Style of the Game The overall style of the game is represented in a cartoon based style. The character models used in the game are all cartoon style, which works very well as its target audience as it is twelve and above. Some of the details are outlined by a fine black line making the bright colours stand out. The customisation features allows the window colour to be changed change so the players can choose their preference of colours and play more comfortably. The style of the text you read off the screen appears in a window similar to a speech bubble. The font style used is a serif font, although it is normally not suitable to be used, it works quite well as it is clear and comfortable to read. Environment The environment also follows the same style which is cartoon based. The buildings are three-dimensional making the whole environment a three-dimensional platform. The buildings all have a rendered texture such as the rocks and stairs, making it look realistic, and blend in naturally with the rest of the environment. When battling, the background scene will be automatically change to the environment the player is battling in, for example if the player was in a dark cave, the battle environment background would have a dark cave/rock background. As you are able to ride a Boat and Rheairds over the sky, you will be able to travel through both Slyvarant and Tethe’alla. When crossing the sea and flying over the sky, realistic elements are added when possible, this can be seen through the movement of water and the cloud, sound of the wind can also be heard. Lots of futuristic elements are put into the designs of the game such as the Rheairds, which are small flying technology that has not been created in real life. This game represents many aspects of what we want to see in the future in real life, but as we cannot experience them, we can have a “feel” of what it is like through playing the game. Character Style As the characters are all in cartoon style, most the game play elements follow a similar style so that it is consistent throughout. We can also see each characters style during conversations. Examples of this can be seen with characters like Zelos, as he mostly talks to the ladies first, becoming a ladies men in the eye of the player. Colette can be seen as “Clumsy” as she is always tripping over. Looking at Kratos, he will talk straight to the point and can be seen as a serious natured character.

During battle, there are always voice-overs when activating moves, and being taunted by the boss. These add to the style of the characters as we are able to develop the characters personality within the game. By having a deeper understanding of the characters, you will feel more involved with the game, and therefore making it more enjoyable. After winning the battle, there will be a screen showing the results of the battle which takes up a third of the top screen space. In this screen, a character will normally talk for a short period of time, humour is also added in these dialogues, here is an example from the game: Colette: “Dwarven Vow Number Seven, Justice and Love will always win” Lloyd: “Arg! I hate that saying”. By using these little speeches, it makes the game interesting and lets the player relax and enjoy the talk after the victory. There are multiple speeches that can occur depending on which character is on your team, and who deals the final blow, these are contributing factors to the different speeches they may say. AI Style The AI – Artificial intelligence includes monsters and humans, these acts as obstacles within the game, which needs to be eliminated in order to advance. As you progress through the game you will meet new monsters in different areas, this lets the player feel that they are in a new area and makes fighting new monsters a better experience instead of the same monsters, which can make it repetitive and boring. By having rematch with bosses, it will make the player want to beat them again and feel proud. The designs of AI characters (people in town) are similar to the main character design which is also cartoon based, a range of clothing styles are given to them so that they are different from the main characters of the game, allowing them to be differentiated.

Style of Spot Effects, Voice over’s and Music Music Voice over’s can be heard during important cut scenes, using voice over’s also help differentiate between major and minor scenes as the major scenes will have voice over’s. Having the voice over’s also make the players pay attention to the game, as well as make it easier to follow storyline instead of reading off the screen. There are a range of music used for all the locations in the world, this gives the impression to the player that each area is new and many places can be explored, it also influences the mood such as flying in the Rheairds will giving you a fast up-beat tempo soundtrack. The music also changes depending on which world you are in, by going to Tethe’alla for the first time, you will notice the difference in the music straight away as the field and battle music is different from Sylvarant’s. This is because the player got use to the compositions in Slyvarant as they started there since the beginning of the game. Music is also used in the beginning of the game along with an animated video. The Japanese version originally came with a vocal by Misono, as this game was imported to other countries; this had to be changed to a simple music piece due to regional policies. The video in the beginning is created in an animated style, like a Japanese cartoon known as anime, sword fights are entertaining and animated very well which allows them to show the player or audience that sword fights are in the game. Skit Skits are an additional element to Tales of Symphonia, these are extra storylines that are optional to be viewed by pressing “Z”, the player will know when to press “Z” when the icon is displayed at the bottom left corner of the screen along with the title of the skit. There are a total of 379 skits available to be watched, and will appear when you are either on the field, in a town or in a dungeon. These additional storyline helps the player to understand the characters more, and develop their individual qualities. As some of the skits can be long to read, most players can skip it by pressing “B”. Script Example This is a dialogue from Skit #356 – When you get older Lloyd: Wow! Snow! Whoa, it's cold! Colette: Lloyd! Look! Icicles! Lloyd: Oh, wow, you're right! They're huge! Sheena: Why are they so excited? Regal: Let us quickly forge the pact with the Summon Spirit and leave this place. Sheena: Seriously... Zelos: I guess when you get older; you hate cold or hot weather. I mean, I feel perfectly fine, you know? 52

Sheena: Hey! I'm only nineteen! Regal: I don't even feel like responding to that. Raine: I... I'm not cold.... I'm not cold. From the dialogue above, skits also add humour toward game play without trying to make an actual joke. As we can see from the dialogue above, Zelos is the comedian trying to make a joke whilst being neglected by the rest of the group.

Story Overview We have the main character Lloyd, which goes on the journey of world regeneration with his friends including Colette, Genis, Raine and Kratos. The journey of world regeneration was originally to open up the seals which helps recover Slyvarantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mana. Progressing through each dungeon and temple, they start to uncover the truth of the world they live in, and how there is another world where mana is being shared. Their objective then changes to separating the two worlds apart so mana can be started again. After completing all the dungeons and opening up the seals in Slyvarant, they will head over to the other world Tetheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;alla. Arriving to the new world, they find new members that join their group; this includes Presea, Regal, Sheena and Zelos. By opening up all the seals in Tetheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;alla, they have become a very powerful group. The hero, Mithos Yggdrasil, will try to stop them as by splitting the two worlds apart, his sister Martel will die as she is the power of mana that links both worlds together. In the end, Lloyd and their parties defeat Yggdrasil which causes the two worlds to be split. The two worlds are now separated and are supported by a new tree which will provide enough mana to support both worlds.

Level Overviews Walkthrough The Village of Oracles: Iselia – This is the beginning where you start off your journey. The player will start off as Lloyd, and go to the Temple of Martel for the oracle, on the way, several Desians will try to kill Colette, Kratos will assist and join your party. The puzzle in the Temple of Martel requires you to kill monsters which turn into a box, and then you push them into the gap, you will be rewarded with the Sorcerer’s Ring at the end. After opening up the path, you will head back to Iselia. Iselia Forest and Dirk – Lloyd heads home through Iselia Forest with Genis, on the way Genis stops by the Human Ranch to talk to a friend. A few soldiers notices and starts a battle, this triggers the next event when they heads back to Iselia, where the Desian’s wants revenge. They make you fight a monster, which we find out later that it is Genis’s friend, Marble. Lloyd is kicked out of town along with Genis, which they try to catch up with Colette and the others, who has left for the world regeneration. Their next stop is Triet Ruins. Triet and the Desian Prison – Lloyd gets caught whilst resting in Triet and ends up in prison. When he breaks out of his cell, he will try to escape. For the puzzle in this stage, you will need to use the shifter to change the effect of the Sorcerer’s Ring into lightning, and electrocute the robot guards when they are on top of electric panel, this will open the doors. Here you will fight Botta which is the boss of this level, after winning; Lloyd will escape back to the entrance of Triet, where you make your way to the Triet Ruins. Triet Ruins – Inside the ruins, there is a simple puzzle which requires you to light three unlit torches using the Sorcerer’s Ring. This then lets you enter the door to the oracle for Colette to open up the seal and gain her powers. There are two boss fights, the first is a fire monster called Ktugach, when defeated, Colette will gain her powers. You will then fight an Assassin which tries to kill Colette, the assassin’s identity is not revealed. After winning, you will travel to Isoold. Isoold, Palmacosta, Hakonesia Peak – In Isoold, you will go on a boat and sail to Palmacosta. Here, you will learn about a book called “Book of Regeneration” which is in the hands of the bad guys, head over to the Hakonesia Peak to get it back as it is an essential for the journey. You will then learn that a guy called Koton has bought the book, but will not give it to you unless you trade him the Statue in the House of Salvation. Learning that Palmacosta is under attack, you head back, but found that the attackers have already left, so you travel back to Hakonesia and infiltrate the Human Ranch nearby. Dorr, which tricks you going into the human ranch is actually working with the Desians, you can choose to battle him or not. Then head back to the basement of Palmacosta for a boss battle. After this battle you will learn that the Statue needed in the House of Salvation is actually in Thoda Island, but before that you will need to go to the Human Ranch in Palmacosta.

Palmacosta Ranch – You will head over to the ranch to free all the prisoners, on the way you will be able to change the effect of the Sorcerer’s Ring to a radar effect which lets you find hidden items. The radar also releases warps from the platform. Here you need to collect a red, blue and purple card in order to progress through the warp puzzle. The warp puzzle requires you to warp to the correct location, on the way you will find lots of hidden items that are in chests. Finding the correct path will take you to the control room, where you will need to defeat Magnius, in order to save a girl called Chocolat. Now you need to go to Thoda Island to collect the Spiritua Statue. Thoda Island, Water Temple, and Asgard – When you arrive to Thoda Island, you will discover that the water cavern is also the Water Temple. The shifter will change the Sorcerer’s Ring function to water. The puzzle requires the use of the ring to fill up the jugs with water, this will raise the platforms so that you can walk down the path and warp to the boss, Adulocia. After defeating it, you will be rewarded with the statue, which you take back to Hakonesia in exchange for the Book of Regeneration. You can now travel towards Asgard, where Raine will take up the role as a human sacrifice to lure the Windmaster, defeating it will reward you the Map of Balacruf, which is also your next destination. Luin and Balacruf Mausoleum – To your next destination, you will pass through Luin, where you will meet the assassin called Sheena. You then head of to the Balacruf Mausoleum. Here, your Sorcerer’s Ring will change to the element of wind, the puzzle in this location requires you to use the wind to start the windmill which will open up the door to the Seal of Wind. The boss is called Iapyx, which you need to defeat before fighting Sheena, the assassin. When you try to leave the Mausoleum, Sheena will join your party, as you head back to Luin, you will find out that it has been attacked, you then head over to the Asgard Human Ranch. Hima and Asgard Human Ranch – In Hima, the party finds out about how they will get to the Tower of Salvation. Heading into the Human Ranch, the party splits up into two groups. Here the simple puzzles involve using the Sorcerers Ring to hit six central pillars so that it stops the conveyer belts and making it possible to pass through. Using the party with Lloyd, you will fight Kvar. After the battle, you will head back to Asgard whilst finding the key to the Tower of Mana, as Dorr’s wife has dropped it when running away. Tower of Mana – Heading into the Tower of Mana, you will split into two groups. The puzzle is first activated by burning the red drape that is covering the beam of light. The light will beam across several mirrors, which opens the door; you also need to rearrange some of the mirrors so that the beam of light is reflected correctly and are all connected. The boss here is called Iubaris. Next you need to head back to the Water temple to defeat Undine, Sheena will then be able to form a pact and summon her. By finding Boltzman’s Book and healing Pietro and Clara, which has an illness, you will be able to ride the dragons to the Tower of Salvation.

Tower of Salvation, Tethe’alla, and Meltokio – After taking Colette to the Tower of Salvation, Kratos will disappear and you will fight the boss Remiel. Kratos will then appear and reveal his secrets, this then takes you into battle which does not have to be won in order to fight the next battle which is against Yggdrasil, this battle cannot be won as all attacks only cause’s one damage. They will now be outside the Renegade’s base, which they infiltrate it whilst solving a simple pushing blocks puzzles. You will then reach the lower levels where you gain control of the Rheairds and fly to the new world Tethe’alla. Soon the Rheairds will crash onto a mountain, walking around the new territories will make them find Meltokio, Sheena will leave telling you to hand a letter to the King who ordered the assassination of Colette. Here you will meet Presea and Zelos which joins your party as they are heading the same way as you, as well as keeping a good eye on you. Sybak, Meltokio Sewers, and Gaoracchia Forest – In Sybak, Genis and Raines gets arrested as they are half-elves. You will need to now go to Fooji Mountains to save them by defeating Pronyma. Next you head back to Meltokio, but as you cannot enter through the main entrance, you finding an alternative path through the sewers. This is another dungeon which requires solving; you need to change the Sorcerer’s Ring effect so that you can become small and walk through the small ledges. The puzzle here requires the use of boxes to fill in the gaps of the sewers, so you can walk through and get the hidden items. When leaving the sewers, a few prisoners will attack you. In Meltokio, you will be prepared a boat to cross the bridge as it has closed. You will now travel to Gaoracchia Forest so that you can get to Mizuho. By changing the Sorcerer’s Ring effect, you will be able to shoot a ray of light, this helps destroy the vines and open up new paths. When they reach the exit, one of the prisoners that you have seen will attack again, his name is Regal, and after defeating him you can head out the forest. Mizuho, Ozette, and Toize Valley Mine – In Mizuho, you will find Sheena which will rejoin your crew. Next stop is Ozette which is Presea’s destination and home town. You head over to Altessa’s House which explains why there is no human emotion in Presea, this can be fixed by finding the Inhibitor Ore for her Key Crest. You will head to Toize Valley Mine, which your boss fight will be against a security door system. The shifter here will make your Sorcerer’s Ring effect into a bomb, that blows up rocks or cracks that are blocking your path. After finding the ore, you will head back to Ozette where Presea assists a man in kidnapping Colette. You then head back to Mizuho to figure out what to do next, you also get to learn that Sheena is afraid of the Temple of Lighting as she couldn’t form a pact last time whi9ch resulted in the death of half the people in Mizuho. But your party still needs to head to the Temple of Lighting to save Colette. Temple of Lightning – The puzzle here requires you to use the generator to send the electricity up the correct path, this is done by destroying the blocks in the correct order. If done wrong, you can exit and re-enter the room to start again. The shifter will change your Sorcerer’s Ring into red lightning letting you find extra chests that could not be reached before. You now need to fight Volt and form a pact. After gaining this power, you will head to the Tethe’alla Base to save Colette.

Tethe’alla Base and the Dragon’s Nest – In the base, the Sorcerer’s Ring will change to shooting out electricity. Here the electricity is used make the circuits run properly so the machines can function. There are also beams of electricity coming from the walls which block paths; this can be stopped by moving a block in front of it and blocking its way. The main puzzle here requires you to push the blocks into gaps, as well as lifts, these lifts help transport the blocks allowing you to use the blocks in more locations. After clearing the puzzle you will have to fight both Yuan and Botta, and escape by using the Rheairds that they have kept captive. Next you will use the Rheairds to fly to the Dragon’s Nest, where you try to save Colette but turn out to be fighting Rodyle’s dragon. Temple of Earth, Flanoir, and the Temple of Ice – You will crash in front of the Temple of Earth after the fight with the dragons. In the Temple of Earth, you will be able to make your Sorcerer’s Ring cause earthquakes. The earthquakes will allow you to find treasures and open up new paths by stepping onto wooden platforms, and causing an earthquake which drops you down to a new path. You will now find Gnome which is the Earth Summon Spirit. In Flanoir, there are lots of upgrades for your party. Heading to the Temple of Ice, you can change the Sorcerer’s Ring effect so it can freeze water, by freezing water, you will be able to create an ice path to collect the Celsius Tear. A puzzle here requires you to slide across ice; you can only move in vertical or horizontal movements which limits the direction you can go to, trial and error will be the technique to solving this puzzle. Then you need to rotate the pillars to open the portal to the Celsius’ Chamber. The bosses here are Celsius and Fenrir, after defeating them you will be automatically taken to Ozette, where Raine disappears and you need to find her. Altamira, Otherworldy Gate, and Remote Island Human Range – In Altamira, you learn about Regal killing Presea’s sister, this was because she was turning into a monster. Next you will find Raine in the Otherworldy Gate, this is a place where there is a portal that links Slyvarant with Tethe’alla, this lets the party travel back and forth between the two worlds through a dimension. Heading to Remote Island Human Ranch, the puzzles here need you to walk past all the tiles once so they light up, the restriction of this puzzle is that you cannot travel backwards. The Sorcerer’s Ring here will allow you to control the platform to move to your desired location. The next puzzle allows you to use your ring to change the colour of platforms, by changing the colour of the platform you can get to the closest platform with the same colour by warping. Finding the correct path will lead you to a fight against Rodyle. You will then head over to the Temple of Darkness. Temple of Darkness – In the Temple of Darkness you can change the Sorcerer’s Ring so that it can cast shadows, this allows you to shut off lights and pull the blocks, which acts as triggers, to open up new paths that was originally blocked. You also need to have the shadow figures follow you in order to open up the door at the lower floor. Reaching the lower levels will initiate a fight against the boss Shadow. After creating a pact with Shadow, you will need to restore the Linkite Tree, to do this you need to fight Luna and Aska in the Tower of Mana so you can form a pact.

Iselia Human Ranch and Ymir Forest – In the ranch you will use your ring on the pedestals to unlock the prisoner from their cages. Defeat the boss here called Forcytus. Next head to Ymir Forest in Tethe’alla, which you need to collect seeds, this is done by using the Sorcerer’s Ring to summon monsters that aid you, this includes using a boar to smash into boulders and fishes to help you travel through water using lily pads. Heimdall and Latheon Gorge – You will need to head to Heimdall in order to activate the next storyline which lets you get into Latheon Gorge. In here you will travel around the level by using the wind generated from plants. The ring here will let you revive dead plants so that wind will be blowing out from them allowing you to get to further places. In this place you will fight Plantix. Tower of Salvation (Tethe’alla) and Welgaia – Here you will fight Kratos, which will turn out to be a pointless battle as you do not need to win, you will be captured, but you will break out of your cell and end up in Welgaia. In Welgaia, you will need to collect a fragment of mana and head towards the emergency warp so you can escape the Tower of Mana. In the tower, you will need to deactivate barriers as well as solving another sliding ice puzzles; this will lead you up to the boss fight Yggdrasil, which is the main boss of the game. After you have left the tower of salvation, you will be taken to Altessa’s House to learn that Altessa requires a doctor in Flanoir as he is sick, going there then activates a scene, where you can choose to talk to the charcters in the game of your party, here is a hidden secret that you can talk to Kratos and have him join your crew, making Zelos being excluded from the group. Healing Altessa, you will need to go back to the Tower of Salvation. Tower of Salvation (Tethe’alla) – You will fight either Zelos or a Gatekeeper depending on how your relationship has developed with him in the game. There are warps puzzles and paths for you to take before fighting Pronyma and then Yggdrasill. Torent Forest and Derris-Kharlan – A creature will guide you through the forest by using the Sorcerer’s Ring, and shooting fire at it, this will make the creature scared and run away in the correct direction. The fight here is against Kratos, after winning the battle he will release the Origin Seal so you can form a pact with it. Although this kills him, he is saved by Yuan as he gave a bit of his power (mana) to him. You can then defeat Origin and form a pact. After rescuing the Elven villager’s, you can fly back to Dirk’s house to get the Material Blade forged and the Eternal Ring. The Eternal Ring is a requirement to wield the Eternal Sword. In Derris-Kharlan there are many chest scattered throughout the level. Your party will be teleported away to Welgaia, which requires Lloyd to go save them. After finding everyone, you will find a warp near where you entered Welgaia, this will take you to Mithos’s Castle called Vinheim. Vinheim – The puzzle in this place requires you to push the blocks onto the warp platforms, in the correct order, so you can construct a bridge, pushing the blocks in at the wrong order will make the blocks disappear and start again. Solving this puzzle will reward you with the Sacred Stone, which enables you to warp the main hall of the Tower of Salvation, and then to the centre of Tethe’alla. You will fight Mithos twice as he gets much stronger.

Side Quest Exile From the Underworld This quest requires you to beat the Sword Dancer three times as he has three forms. Each form makes the Sword Dancer look different as well as being stronger. You have to defeat each one in order, so you can unlock the next form. You are able to make the Sword Dancer disappear once you have past a certain point in the game, this will make it irreversible causing the Sword Dancer to never to appear again. The reward of beating all three forms is the Kusanagi Blade. Luin Reconstruction As Luin was destroyed, it can be rebuilt by donating a certain amount of Gald each time. You can see the difference as you enter the town each time after donating the correct amount of Gald. The final upgrade will allow the town to be completely restored back to its normal state, with upgraded weapon and armour store. The Colosseum The Colosseum is in Meltokio, where each character can be involved in a series of single and group of three’s tournament. The reward will be items. As you progress through the game, different prizes will be unlocked; this makes the player want to play through the tournament to get all the prizes. The Devil’s Arm In order to activate this quest, you will need to first find the Evil Eye, and then talk to the Darkhaired man in Flanoir, which will give you a weapon in exchange for the Evil Eye, you can then begin your search for the other eight weapons. After collecting all nine weapons, you will be able to fight Abyssion, and gain a unique ability to power up your Devil Arm’s (Weapon), the effect is that the more enemies you kill the stronger the weapon gets. The Secret Summon By obtaining the Origin Summon Spirit, you can travel to Exire for a optional summon called Maxwell, this fight will be activated by equipping the accessories Aquamarine, Garnet, Opal and Ruby which are acquired from Slyvarant Summon Spirits. With this battle over, Sheen can add the title “Master Summoner” to her list. This will also allow you to summon Corinne. The Book of the Underworld Destroying the book of the underworld can be activated by going to Heimdall and talk to the elf near the Wandering Windmill. This will make you go to the library in Sybak and look at the Odd Book. This book sucks you into the Underworld where you have to clear fifteen levels to get out. Soul fire is an element added to this side quest which acts as a time restriction, the more soul fire you have, the more time you can stay in the Underworld.

Cook of Love By mastering the entire recipe in the game for each character, they will be able to earn a title by talking to the Wonder Chef in Altamira. There are four recipes that are not found by finding the Wonder Chef. These are found after getting the Origin Summon Spirit, and using Regal as the onscreen character, whilst visiting the locations: Both House of Guidance (Tethe’alla), Asgard and Meltokio. By doing this quest, Regal will earn a title called “God of the Kitchen”. Figurine Clearing the Asgard Human Ranch, return to Asgard and talk to Hayley for the Figurine book. Take the book to Dirk so he sets up a pellet station. Now you can use the pellets you find within the game to make figurines, there are a total of two hundred and eighty eight figurines to collect.

Multiplayer The multiplayer feature of this game is not specifically required in order to complete the game. With additional extra control pads, you will be able to have an extra player that can control one of the ingame characters during battle, the character they control will depend on which character is in which place according to where the pad is plugged in, for example if Genis is second and you plug in the controller to the second control port, you will be controlling Genis. By having a multiplayer option, players are able to make the battle easier as you will be able to take control and perform better than the computers. This also increases the amount of tactics that can be used as you will be able to set up new strategies, along with better timing with combos and techniques.

Option feature The option feature in this game can be accessed in two ways, either through the main menu by pressing on Customization or whilst you are in the game, by going to the Main Menu, System and then Customize. Looking at the customization screen it allows you to control most of the features in the game such as how fast the message appears on the screen, or the colour of the window that displays the text. Customisable controls can be changed once you have pressed “A”, this can be changed when the box appears at the bottom of the screen, the screen doesn’t change to a new one as there is enough space by doing this on the same screen. The battle controls can be changed but this does not mean you can assign button to button, what the game lets you do is to change to preset button configuration giving a set of button that can match your preference, this is not userfriendly at all, but by not letting the player assign buttons, it will help make sure that during battle, a button will not be missing. You can also adjust what you feature that you will see when you are in the game such as toggling on or off battle/event voiceovers. You can also adjust the screen display so that it fits your television perfectly, making it comfortable to watch.

Overall Users can change the follow features: • • • • • • • •

Message Speed Battle Rank Window Window Background Window Colour Volume Settings Battle Controls Battle voiceover

• • • • • •

Event voiceover Skit Title Movie Subtitle Battle Auto Zoom Rumble Feature Adjust Screen

Support Documentation For the Nintendo GameCube version, the box included the game on two discs, VIP Stars code, and an instruction booklet which talks through the basics of the game. The manual provides helpful information to the player, as it will cover through the basic features and the mechanics in the game. The manual is printed in full colour which creates it an attractive and professional document. It is in a small rectangular A5 size fitting perfectly inside the case of the game. Opening up the manual will provide the reader with information about problems that could occur involving: Seizures, Repetitive Motion Injuries, Electric Shock, Motion Sickness, and Brightness of TV Screen. It then has the Original Nintendo Seal of Quality logo representing that Nintendo has checked through the game before distributing. The number of control pad it supports and the space needed for the memory card (three blocks) is also shown. A Table of Contents is an essential to the manual as it helps the reader find the page they want, by looking at the page number. For the template of the instruction booklet, a blue coloured outline is used for the sides of the page. Inside the blue border template, another template is used which has a damaged paper effect to show that this game is like a treasure map, which represents adventure. The design of the border uses a rectangular box which has a fainted effect; this gives the document structure. Boxes are used to highlight the titles of the page, a range of colours and font styles are used so that contrasting colours make the information stand out and easy to read. The background image used is a map, along with a small compass towards the bottom left corner, this helps decorate page making it less plain and unattractive. A head and body shot of one of the main character is displayed in the top corner (depending on which side of the page you are on), which is wrapped round a small circle design, this helps the picture to stand out as there is mostly text and screenshots on the page.

Marketing The box art used for selling Tales of Symphonia is an important selling point of distributing the game, although not all gamers judge a game by its cover, the audience will use the cover and the blurb at the back, to judge whether the game is what they want to buy.

Analysis Looking at the front cover of the box art, we can identify the game as either an action/adventure game due to the swords and the battle stance they are in. With the words “Tales”, it gives the audience a feeling that this game will be like story, and therefore relating it to an adventure game. The white and sky blue colour used for the background makes the pictures and text stand out, as it causes the picture and text that is aligned to the centre to have a feeling like it is “Glowing”. Not all the main characters are shown on the front cover; this is because there is limited space as well as not letting the player know too much until they play the game. The art style used is cartoony and rendered to give a three dimensional feel. The parental concerns and license are placed at the bottom, as the important information is in the centre, where the eyes focus when seeing a product. The back cover shows a picture of a two-headed dragon, this only exist in fantasy; we can also let the player know that there are mystical beasts in the game. It also features Lloyd again as he also on the front cover, we can see the importance of Lloyd as he appears more than once, we can tell that he will be the protagonist of the story. The art style used for pictures here are all concept art, by using different styles to present the game, it will make it look much more professional and appealing.

The serif fonts used makes it a bit difficult to read, but it creates a story book effect that lets the player know that this will be a Role-Playing Game. It also stands out by providing screenshots of the game, so the audience can have a feeling of what they are paying for and how the battle system is. All the information needed about the game is positioned at the top, whereas the production information is positioned at the bottom, this is separated using a black coloured box. The spine contains the name of the game in capital letters. Marketing Analysis Kingdom Hearts which is a PlayStation 2 exclusive is another similar game to Tales of Symphonia with a real time battle system. It was released in 28/03/2003, which was one year early than Tales of Symphonia, following its success with the storyline of characters from Square Enix and Disney, it had made the game very popular with its smooth yet engaging battle systems. Magic, items, and summons can be used, although this game was based on playing alone, with only computer controlled characters to act as your support. It is also classified as an RPG.

Game History This game is part of the “Tale of” series. Although each “Tales of” game happens in a different time and year, Tales of Symphonia is part of the Aselian Timelime, which has story lines that are connected with the other “Tales of” games, these games include: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, and Tales of Phantasia: Summoner’s Lineage. Aselian Timeline Tales of Symphonia Prequel to Tales of Phantasia, starting 4000 years before

Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New Word Two years after Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Phantasia Three different periods of time, with the present being year 4304

Tales of Phantasia : Narikiri Dungeon 104 years after present time in Tales of Phantasia

Tales of Phantasia: Summoner’s Lineage 461 years after present time in Tales of Phantasia

Franchising Anime Tales of Symphonia has currently released four OVA episodes; this is a recreation of the game which allows non-gamers or anime lovers to understand the story line by watching it in an animated movie style. The first four episodes only summarise up to the part where they go to Tethe’alla, the later half will be released in 2010 .There are storylines that do not tie in with the game, this is because it is a shortened version, and cannot fit in most of the story line from the game. One of the nonexistence things was Dirks ability to fight with a hammer, this was never told in the game. With this we can see how a game can be different from the anime.

Manga The Tales of Symphonia manga was split into twenty-two chapters, the release of the manga allowed attraction towards gamer and fan to buy and read the book. Using manga also allows the developers to cater other audiences, which helps increase sales as well as popularity of the game. Limited Edition To increase the amount of sale as Tales of Symphonia was the first “Tales of” series to be released for the Nintendo GameCube, they have released a green version, that was available in Japan only, it came with a green Nintendo GameCube, Faceplate, a controller, a Game Boy Player and the copy of the game. This has attracted many collectors to buying this even though they already own a Nintendo GameCube. Merchandises Many types of merchandise were available in Japan regarding the release of Tales of Symphonia, this included an art book called “Tales of Symphonia Illustrations Kosuke Fujishima's Character Works”, the original soundtrack of the game was put onto CD’s for sale, strategy guides, figurines, and trading cards were also available. The use of these items helps advertise the game as well as keeping it “Alive”. By branding an item as “Limited Edition” it has a tremendous effect on why people will buy something, such as its value in the future, or for its purpose to be collected.

Expansion Sequels As Tales of Symphonia was very successful, they have released a sequel called Tales of Symphonia : Dawn of the New World. This will attract fans as well as gamers who enjoyed the previous game. As the sequel is released on a new platform for the Nintendo Wii, this includes using new control with the Wii Remote Pad. The graphics of the game has been improved, along with new characters in the game, as well as new games mechanics such as the Monster Capturing System.

Credits

Reference Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Logo. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-logo.html [Accessed: 19/11/09] Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Lloyd Irving. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-lloyd-irving-01.html [Accessed: 19/11/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Story. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/story.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Characters. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/characters.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Screens. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/screens.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] RPG Dreamers. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Character Profiles. [Online] Available from http://www.rpgdreamers.com/tos/toschar.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Images. [Online] Available from http://media.cube.ign.com/media/481/481670/imgs_1.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talesofsymphonia_043004_006.html [Accessed: 20/11/09] Neoseeker. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Screenshots. [Online] Available from http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/GC/tales_gcn/screens.html [Accessed: 22/11/09] Tales RPG. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Background Story. [Online] Available from http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/GC/tales_gcn/screens.html [Accessed: 22/11/09] Jeux Video. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Presea Image. [Online] Available from http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/gc/t/o/tofsgc417.jpg [Accessed: 22/11/09] Nintendo Europe. (2009) Nintendo GameCube Technical Detail. [Online] Available from http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/systems/technical_details_1072.html [Accessed: 23/11/09] Absolute PlayStation. (2009) PlayStation 2 Technical Detail. [Online] Available from http://www.absolute-playstation.com/ps2_hardware/system_playstation2_tech.htm [Accessed: 23/11/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Technique. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/32889 [Accessed: 25/11/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Forum. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Article Database. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23959 [Accessed: 25/11/09]

Tales of Cyllya. (2009) Tales of Symphonia EX Gems and EX Skills. [Online] Available from http://talesof.cyllya.com/tos/mhm/exskills/ex_lloyd.html [Accessed: 25/11/09] Neoseeker. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Recipe. [Online] Available from http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=82712&rid=76760 [Accessed: 26/11/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Skits. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/36516 [Accessed: 27/11/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Unison Attacks. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/31343 [Accessed: 27/11/09] Gamershell. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Box Art. [Online] Available from http://www.gamershell.com/static/boxart/large/uk/8292.jpg [Accessed: 27/11/09] Covers Hut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Box Art. [Online] Available from http://www.covershut.com/covers/Tales-Of-Symphonia-Deutsch-Pal-Front-Cover-164.jpg [Accessed: 27/11/09] One Manga. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Manga. [Online] Available from http://www.onemanga.com/Tales_of_Symphonia/ [Accessed: 29/11/09] Amazon. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Strategy Guide. [Online] Available from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Symphonia-Official-StrategyGuide/dp/0744004039/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260399557&sr=8-1-spell [Accessed: 29/11/09] Play-Asia. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Illustrations Kosuke Fuhjishimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Character Works. [Online] Available from http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-lt-49-en-70-m8i.html [Accessed: 29/11/09] Tales Wikia. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Tales Series. [Online] Available from http://aselia.wikia.com/wiki/Tales_Series [Accessed: 29/11/09] Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Genis Image. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-genis-sage-01.html [Accessed: 30/11/09] Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Colette Chibi Image. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-colette-chibi.html [Accessed: 30/11/09] RPG Gamer. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Slyvarant Map. [Online] Available from http://www.rpgamer.com/games/tales/tos/art/tos012.jpg [Accessed: 01/12/09] RPG Gamer. (2009) Tales of Symphonia EX-Gem Image. [Online] Available from http://www.rpgamer.com/games/tales/tos/screens/tos067.jpg [Accessed: 01/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Skit Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-of-symphonia/images/tales-of-symphonia20040512051237069.html [Accessed: 01/12/09]

IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Acquired Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talesofsymphonia_043004_001.html [Accessed: 01/12/09] Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Kratos Image. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-kratos-aurion-01.html [Accessed: 02/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Kratos Building Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talesofsymphonia_042004_005.html [Accessed: 02/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Talking Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talesofsymphonia_042004_000.html [Accessed: 02/12/09] Creative Uncut. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Raine Image. [Online] Available from http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-03/tos-raine-sage-01.html [Accessed: 03/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Zelos Picture. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talessymp_071403_x11.html [Accessed: 03/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Rheairds Image. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/images/0/27/ [Accessed: 04/12/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Colette Image. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/sshots.php?img=character/24_b.jpg [Accessed: 04/12/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Genis and Raine Image. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/sshots.php?img=character/screen5_b.jpg [Accessed: 04/12/09] Tales of Symphonia Official Website. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Lloyd and Raine Image. [Online] Available from http://tales.namco.com/symphonia/sshots.php?img=character/20_b.jpg [Accessed: 04/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Sheena Image. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/images/0/41/ [Accessed: 04/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Kratos Image. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/images/0/97/ [Accessed: 04/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Regal Image. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talessymph_071103_x4.html [Accessed: 05/12/09] IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Special Disc. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talessymph_071103_x12.html [Accessed: 05/12/09] 70

IGN. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Special Disc. [Online] Available from http://uk.cube.ign.com/dor/objects/481670/tales-ofsymphonia/images/talessymp_071403_x12.html [Accessed: 05/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Boat Image. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/images/0/22/ [Accessed: 06/12/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Item Collector. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/31627 [Accessed: 08/12/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Shop. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/42802 [Accessed: 08/12/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Combo. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/32750 [Accessed: 08/12/09] Game FAQs. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Skills Damage. [Online] Available from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/561316/31633 [Accessed: 08/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Walkthrough. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6104219/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gameguides&tag =gameguide;onlineguide;1 [Accessed: 09/12/09] GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Iselia Walkthrough. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6104219/p-8.html [Accessed: 09/12/09] (I have used the whole guide to help me, but as it is split into many pages, it will be tedious to reference the different web pages, so I have referenced the table of contents shown above) GameSpot. (2009) Tales of Symphonia Side Quest. [Online] Available from http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6104219/p-33.html [Accessed: 09/12/09] Nintendo. (2003) Tales of Symphonia Instruction Booklet.