Tales Of Symphonia | The Completionist

[Music] [Music] yes you hey everyone and welcome back to another brand new episode of the completionist five years ago today I uploaded Megaman X on our original channel that one video website at one video went viral that one video that one video gamer the whole idea of the channel is that even though I'm the completionist I'm a person on YouTube anyone can be that one video gamer that one artist that one musician by being a part of a community you can do anything and that's all I've wanted to do this entire time is foster an incredible positive community and in five years I started so many channels combined over half a million subscribers and I have the best people in my life working around me it's because you guys at home every single one of you that likes a video that comments that shares that tells the friends that thinks I suck that hates me thank you thank you for every single thing you guys have done you've given me a life a life that I will never give up for anything in this world and I cannot thank all of you enough but more importantly I can't thank my YouTube family enough normal boots the grumps matpat everyone who I've worked with you have changed my life for the better and I cannot begin to show you how much you mean to me so with that said five years of the show what's a game that I got to do well this game today is Tales of Symphonia one that has been requested by hundreds if not thousands of people for me to play personally I'm not a tales guy because I never owned the games before but every one of their mothers been telling me for years to play Tales some more specifically Tales of Symphonia this massive JRPG that came out on the Nintendo GameCube and what better way to celebrate five years of the show by playing what may be one of the most notorious Japanese of all time Tales of Symphonia [Music] look I like RPGs as much as the next guy but there's a big big difference between playing one and completing one it's unfortunate but these days if I'm not completing a game then I probably don't have time for it the video games have become work you can practically taste the irony the Tales series was just another casualty of my being too busy even though there's some of the most popular JRPGs of all time seriously all other JRPGs must answer to the holy triumvirate of final fantasy dragon quest and tales but now I'm making the time and I'm very motivated because I'm not a little [ __ ] I'm not stop judging haters Sonic fans 64 2x frost Sora don't judge me not a little [ __ ] set for off over 45 let's go I'll fight you every day I may not have ever played a Tales game but there are a few things I know about them I know that they have an active battle system they include lots of little character building side conversations and they usually feature plots that contain some social commentary and I know that Tales of Symphonia was the series breakout title in the West it was the first 3d Tales game and it was the first one to include an affection system in which your choices could influence how certain characters felt about one another possibly affecting the outcome of the story since its release on the Nintendo GameCube in the USA in 2004 Tales of Symphonia has gone on to be one of the most successful and influential of all the Tales games and apparently it's influenced a lot of you guys out there seeing as how many of you been asking me to complete it for so many goddamn months we'll get get it I'm here message received stop writing the letters stop sending the games I have so many copies of Tales of Symphonia but I use them as my coffee coasters just stop it's okay I've heard of the game I get it I've got it it's happening please stop sending the game please [ __ ] seriously [Music] once upon a time in a world called silver ant things are really chic the land is dried up and infertile and the people are struggling to survive all because there isn't enough mana to go around these days but there's hope once in every era a single individual known as the chosen has the opportunity to replenish silver anse mana by going on a perilous pilgrimage known as the journey of world regeneration the chosen must travel all across the world to visit five different shrines and release the seals that are located there no.not seals like barriers but for all I know there could be seals at one of these at least that would be awesome with each broken seal more mana will return to silver odds and the chosen will transform further and further into an angel and this time the chosen is a little schoolgirl she may not look like much but Colette here is destined to save the world for now she lives in a podunk village alongside her best friends there's genus a fledgling mage who majors in everything and Lloyd when we know is our main character because he solves every problem with swords now the Colette's turned sixteen she and her friends kick off her messianic mission by visiting their for a shrine but when they get there a group of soldiers known as the science intercept them these dudes are bad news they run human ranches where they work people to death plus their posture is horrible they're here to kill the chosen but somehow they're beaten by a group of small children that's God and make you question the legitimacy of your organization right the designs get desperate and bring in their heavy hitter but the kids are saved my mysterious mercenary named grottoes goddammit no-knock Kratos crotteaus but once again that would be pretty goddamn awesome once the party releases the seal they meet Remy Oh who congratulate Scaletta and reveals that he is her father no no it's okay dude angels are pretty tight but that being said it's really really apparent that this is the type of journey that is designed to ultimately kill the chosen at the end of the road and Colet not only seems like she's aware of this she totally seems jazzed about it which basically makes her Jesus I've seen some Christ analogues and stories before neo Superman Godzilla this one takes the cake after some plot development that ends up with Lloyd learning that his mom was killed by designs and with him and genus being banished from their hometown for angering the designs and getting their village destroyed they're left with nothing else to do but to catch up with Colette and her party and help them save silver on its a pretty standard setup for an RPG if I've ever seen one but its few unique elements are enough to keep me intrigued for example it's great how each main character has a clear and strong want Lloyd wants to destroy the designs to avenge his mom genius wants to make up for getting Lloyd and himself exiled and glad wants to kill herself a I mean save the world you think that strong wants for character to be a given in all stories but unfortunately that's not the way that it is but what's really alluring about Tales of Symphonia story is the writers clear fascination with judeo-christian mythology lots of JRPGs out there features semi misconstrued allusions to the Bible but this one lays it on pretty thick it's always fun to see the Japanese due to Western religions what we do to like Norse mythology I'm just waiting for the day when there is a manga but a superhero team made up of Moses Sampson and the snake from the Garden of Eden and gods like somewhere in there too [Music] grab some rice balls in your favorite body pillow because Tales of Symphonia is gonna tell you an old-fashioned animes story all JRPGs depend heavily on their narrative features to provide a worthwhile experience over the amount of care that symphonia put into building its characters and the amount of influence over the narrative that the game gives to the player it really makes it stand out from the rest originally I was worried man because when you've got a game with this many main characters they'll all usually end up with one-dimensional personalities and less development than a fresh roll of film but miraculously all the important players in symphonious story possess strong somewhat relatable desires that end up defining them but don't get me wrong here the characters may be compelling but they're not complex in the slightest these dudes ring the cliched trope Bell extremely hard adventurous male sword wielding main character that was once orphaned check diminutive fiercely loyal academically inclined sidekick double check reserved moody hyper capable mentor affirmative young hot-blooded female ninja with the youthful attitude that belies for mystical powers got him the archetypes may not be new but the way that Tales of Symphonia makes you feel about them is pretty fresh the game also offers up not one not two but more than two ways that it tells its story you've got your standard cutscenes both with and without voice acting you've got your occasional full animated anime sequence that must have eaten up a nice chunk of the budget and then there's these brief interactions called skits that feature just the portraits of the main characters as they chat with each other now there may be a whole lot of exposition and backstory to way through but a lot of it is actually optional you'll often get prompts to press a button and initiate one of these seeds but if you couldn't care less about the lecherous lothario becoming valedictorian of his class then feel free to ignore the hell of that prompt but if you're the type that simply cannot learn enough about these characters personal lives and the games got you covered there too fam even today tales of symphonia as colorful environments and cel-shaded style makes it easy on the eyes and while it can grow fairly repetitive the soundtrack has a retro sounding instrumentation that harkens back to the days of the super Ness RPGs and even though the subject matter can get a little dark the tone of the game manages to remain light-hearted this dude may be getting stabbed to death look how cute the models are feel the pain yeah feel the pain of being goddamn adorable a lot of work went into crafting the world of Tales of Symphonia and as a result it's really enjoyable but what's most impressive is that the developers had the foresight to know that some people will never care about that stuff no matter how good it is take my word for it being able to skip stuff is a blessing [Music] if this were 2004 and the only game console you owned was a Gamecube and you only had enough cash for one video game I might just recommend Tales of Symphonia this game offers a lot of bang for your buck because it is [ __ ] deep and pop go ahh symphonia runs place through the all-too-familiar RPG water cycle of visit a town survived a local dungeon visit the town again and then the exits of the overworld to start all over again in a new town but the game impresses with its careful balance between exploration puzzle solving and battling and of course there are plenty of stats weapons armor and skills with which you can micromanage to create your perfect version of this little pink haired girl I will make you perfect little robot voice girl whether you're traipsing about the overworld spelunking through dungeons or fighting bad guys you can always change which character you directly control at any time which give me really fun when you're on the field map because you can make anyone seem like a behemoth cower before my might villagers and compliment me am i perfectly perm dare complimentary dammit the dungeons range from natural formations with elemental vibes to technologically advanced laboratories and instead of housing gauntlets of enemies or encouraging exploring these dungeons are much more like a series of giant rooms each with its own giant puzzle that are linked by a single very simple mechanic we're talking pushing boulders and sliding on ice think of the caves from the Pokemon games only with IV to use repel every few steps in fact you don't need any repels at all in symphonia since the random battles are only activated when you run into these little representations of monsters they may look like shadowy bipedal beasts outside of the battle but they can turn out to be just about anything surprise giant mantis is koala [ __ ] some of the overworld monsters can be easily seen and avoided but others will rush you down like a desperate guy the house party girl let me get your number yo yo yo get your number you know you want some CDs this game opens up wide when you're actually battling the system is surprisingly deep and comparable to dare I say a fighting game you're in complete control of your lead character while the computer takes care of your three buddies and the control you have over your main characters techniques feels like something out of smash bros each direction you tilt your stick gives you a different attack when combined with either your basic button or your tech button your characters are constantly learning new techniques as they level up so you won't run out of new toys to play with anytime soon just because you're not in direct control of your squad doesn't mean that you can't influence your team you can set what default actions you want them each to perform based on your opponent's actions in the situation in battle and you can even set a couple of shortcut skills to manually call for specific abilities and your teammates in RPGs with active battles you usually have to sacrifice a bit of influence over your backline but not here the combos are what keep you coming back for more and more with the bread-and-butter chain being normal attack - level 1 skill the level 2 skill and finishing with level 3 skill you'll get bonus experience for your combos as well as the pleasure of watching your team wombo some poor sap until he takes his ball and goes home what are those air jordans Don this house is the elegir crew what's up performing combos will also fill up the gauge for yet another technique unison attacks in which time freezes and the members of your party take turns unleashing their skills onto a single enemy and on top of that if two of the skills within your unison attack are compatible with one another you'll get a bonus move known as a compound special that has two characters combining their power into one staying oriented during battle can be a bit tricky until you realize that things aren't actually really full 3d you're secured to a 2d plane with whatever enemy you're currently locked on to the rest the battle merely happens around you in the foreground and the background and just like the developers knew that some players wouldn't care about their story they also knew that some people wouldn't give a damn about fighting which is why they included an option that lets the computer take full control of your entire team during battles now personally I think the combat is the most engaging and deep aspect of the game so I would never choose this option but there are bound to be people out there that swear by this mode and to them I say you do you dude you do you [ __ ] one of the more unknown features of Tales of Symphonia is that it has multiplayer or player co-op in fact you can assign each player to control one person from your party and this alone builds a lot more depth to the overall experience of the game and that's what really Tales of Symphonia is all about it accommodates to all kinds of players by including so much content and so many damn options that everyone is bound to find something they can lose themselves in and if you like it all it'll still take you an attorney to get through it because this game is balls long in fact am I am I still playing the game no you're good don't you lie to me Brett thank you thank you little blond-haired Jesus girl I simply refused to recap every single plot twist that has happened since we last left off this story has more turns than [ __ ] Rainbow Road but here's the skinny on the stuff you need to know firstly Remy ol isn't actually Colette's father [Applause] however Kratos is Lloyd's father also it turns out that the angels who were supposed to be protecting silver ant have actually been in cahoots with the designs the whole time you see silver odds isn't quite as unique as we thought there's another world out there known as Tet a Allah and unlike silver rods there's more than enough mana to go around in Tassie Allah they all eat spaghetti shrimp and steak but today Allah hasn't always had it good for eons the two worlds have been competing for the same manner resources in a tragic mystical game of tug of war when one rum thrives the other suffers until that world's chosen completes the journey of world with generation restarting the cycle all over again this perfectly vicious little system was the brainchild of the leader of the Angels and the designs a powerful and agent being known as Methos you drasi oh wait a minute you drasi Oh as in the mythical world tree of Norse legend dude the Japanese are gonna try their hand at North anthology - damn get high the war's gonna have to juggle his life as the god of thunder with his life as a hopeless dirty high school student [ __ ] it let's put spider-man in there put a pit put a picture of spider-man for me [ __ ] it put spider-man I like spider-man put spider-man on screen pad after multiple trips back and forth between silver odds and tenth ayala our band of heroes decide to save both worlds from their oppressive system of mana deprivation by combining both realms into one that's right heal the world make it a better place in order to do so Lloyd wields the immensely powerful eternal sword because all problems can be solved with swords I said at the beginning of the episode it's called a callback after an epic struggle with Methos including several boss transformations Methos is destroyed and lloyd successfully merges silver rot and taffy ala with mana flowing freely the world is saved but this ending is bittersweet since Lloyd's group of friends all go their separate ways it's tough but no group of friends can stay together forever hey guys what's going on glad you can make it shouldn't it great so you're all fired I want to eat what I want to eat in my little [ __ ] okay great good bye can i Chris [ __ ] you man [Music] to [Music] this is it this is what you all wanted this is what the world wanted you want me to suffer here you go I'm suffering for you here we go first things first when you beat Tales of Symphonia for the very first time you'll unlock mania mode which increases the amount of damage you both take and dish out as well as giving enemies a bigger pool of help you'll also unlock the grave shop and when you can purchase all kinds of game breaking bonuses and extras for your subsequent playthroughs god bless the great shop because completing this game requires you to finish it no less than three times certain items are only obtainable after multiple playthroughs and there are two slightly different endings based on which characters affection for Lloyd is the highest towards the end of the game your choices throughout the game determine these affection levels and the ending you get depends on which character you choose to talk to you at the late-game in if you choose to go outside with Krause you get an item then zelos the ladies man of the group will eventually betray the party forcing them to kill him in battle that's rough man if you choose to go outside with anyone other than crotteaus Zelo still betrays you but this time it was just a ruse he was actually double-crossing the evil angels and eventually returns to save the day much much better choosing Colette will get you another item and choosing zealous will net you yet another right here is the reason for our three different playthroughs if you choose anyone else but these characters you get absolutely nothing I had to do that that would suck however in the ps3 version it would require a minimum of five playthroughs knowing who to choose but we didn't do the ps3 version because compared to this version it kind of sucks it runs in a 30fps yet this game is 60 on the Gamecube very very weird and from what I can tell the tales community really loves the GameCube version over the ps3 version and I wanted to do right by them there are also multiple costumes to unlock for each playable character they're usually rewards for completing side quests and talking to the right MPC's at the right time they may be purely cosmetic but they're fun and they sure make staring at the same characters for hours on end more tolerable but tales of symphonia becomes evil when it's time to start collecting things dear god this game will not end there are so many collectibles that it hurts and they all revolve around titles titles are these cute little labels that you can put on your characters that buff them in various ways the problem is is that in order to get them all you basically have to finish every single thing in the game they're collectibles hidden behind other collectibles I'll admit some tiles can be unlocked by doing simple things like leveling up and watching skits but too many of them are locked behind extremely tedious fetch quests you get some for finishing a very long cooking quest some are earned by completing runs in the Coliseum with each character and others aren't gotten by opening every single treasure chest encountering every enemy type of monster in the game and causing these little itty-bitty in-game figurines of which there are hundreds you even have to hit on every single female NPC in the game I am not kidding to top it all off you get nothing for completing the game at all this one actually surprised me since symphonious from an era where games usually rewarded players who put in the work Tales of Symphonia may allow you to play it however way you like but you can only complete it in one way with lots of time lots of patience a few online guides and just a little bit of self-loathing okay just a little [Music] Tales of Symphonia is yet another one of those games that can't really be described as difficult but has made tough on the player by the sheer amount of work required to complete it I never got stuck on a puzzle or there wasn't any sleep loss over trying to beat a particular bus but there's just so much goddamn stuff to do in this game that it can be pretty demanding with that being said the characters are memorable the world is colorful and the gameplay is very rich it's easy to see why it became so many people's favorite RPG back in the day but if you're planning on completing this game I'd advise you to cut off all ties with friends and family for the foreseeable future you've been warned in my playthrough of Tales of Symphonia there were three full completed campaign runs 255 hours of total playtime 156 titles earned 210 women hit on 251 enemy scanned into the monster book 276 treasure chests opened 288 figurines fabricated 523 different items collected 250 levels reached with all eight characters and one giant office just for me with no one else in it to bother me come on Gerard please can we have our jobs back No we'll get Wienerschnitzel I promise okay fine but it better be in and out in an ounce way better than Wienerschnitzel Tales of Symphonia is a game that challenges everything you know about JRPGs and puts on its head the fact that combat is so interactive is incredible the fact that you can have friends playing with you is awesome this game being on the Gamecube looks sounds and feels so unique yet at the same time it's very familiar the Tales series in general is a kind of franchise that people will be loyal to in the minute if it the first one up until they're probably old and still playing video games the core audience around Hills franchise is fascinating and while that may not be me I am now however for completionists out there I will add that a whole scope of completing not just this game but all of the Tales games yeah no no thank you just be different the endings do your stuff do not pass go and collect $200 don't complete this bad boy it'll haunt you unless you love the Tales game that's the thing tales fans complete this game tales fans do everyone else even normal completionists take a step back grab a margarita or a lemonade if you're younger and just enjoy the game that is Tales of Symphonia so with that in mind guys I give this game my completionist rating of finish it so the format of the show that you know now is one that we've been doing for five years and I love this show it is me every step of the way and I'll never change who I am for anything else however I have to be real for just a moment YouTube's changing and it is forcing concentrators everywhere to change and while I am a person who believes that if I want to play game about Cheetos or Pepsi man that I should be allowed to do that and still keep the livelihood of this a career going the reality is is that YouTube doesn't agree with that anymore and their algorithms are changing and so we kinda have to change with the times so while I'm saying the show is not done because we're definitely not done I am not done I never will be done until I am exhausted I haven't slept yet but I'm not sleeping anytime soon but I will say that this format of the show is going to evolve a lot from seasons to seasons we add new things we add more things more flashy animations while the intro assets gonna remain the same until January of next year we're gonna be changing the format and the format is gonna be different it's gonna have new labels new names new fields new styles but more importantly me I don't get to say what I really want to say on the show that sounds weird but I never get to do this I never get to tell you how I'm thinking and how I'm feeling in a way that is me and I feel that that's why everyone watches the show because of me and my love of games and what have you real of you I want to cry with you I want to get angry with you I want to show you just how hard being the completionist is and that's gonna be where the show is headed the struggle is going to be so apparent that you're going to get immersed in what this show really is about so that said thank you all for watching for five glorious years we're gonna keep pumping out the show defendants coming back a new surprise next Tuesday and so much more question of the day what can you want me to complete and why there you go that's always one that everyone loves to answer put that in the comments below follow me on Twitter and Reddit and Facebook and all that fun stuff and yeah I think that's all I've got for today now if you excuse me I go play a video game I'm gonna do that so see you tonight [Music]

Channel: The Completionist

Views: 692,758

Keywords: Tales Of Symphonia (Video Game), Tales (Video Game Series), Symphonia, Video Game (Industry), Gamecube, review, gameplay, JRPG, Tales of, normal boots, jontron, pbg, matpat, gametheory, thatonevideogamer, completionist

Id: 0Rfv-klqaHU

Length: 31min 57sec (1917 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Diztance]

Thank you so much Jirard. I hope this gets to you somehow but this episode had me in tears. I hope this five years has only been the beginning. I love ToS to death and right now im playing through it 4 player with some of my very best friends for the first time. It means so much to me that you would finally cover this game, and it means even more to me that there were people like you out there in the beginning playing games at a time where they (and love of them) weren't nearly as mainstream as they are today. I come from a really small town and it meant the world to me that there were others out there like me who had such a passion for the medium.

There is also the literal hundreds of hours of relate able, enjoyable content that you have provided for millions (?) of people through such a long period of time. Im not even kidding when I say that your videos seriously helped me get through university. Having a 20-30 minutes place to go during the long hours locked at the library was a blessing in the heat of things when I didn't know if I would make it out.

Im not afraid of the change, im with ThatOneVideoGamer till the end. Some of the changes you have made to the show so far have resulted in the cleanest, and most enjoyable format so far. I still enjoy every video you have made, but I can't tell you how much more I enjoy the show now that there have been some character cuts or transitional cleanups. Change is good, and im confident in what you have the ability to continue to create.

Don't worry - I think I speak for most of the fans when I say we are in it for the long haul.

Thank you for everything you have done.

[u/SpikeIkari]

Wow, 5 years already? Gah, I remember stumbling upon this show when the Star Fox 64 ep came out, can't believe how far it's come and changed. I'm looking forward to the continued evolution of the show!

[u/geargate]

Omg Jirard you actually did it, you madman

Edit: Also thank you Jirard for so many hours of entertainment be it on The Completionist channel or on SBB, I seriously can't wait everyday for the moment when I get home to chill out and watch some SBB or the new episode on the completionist every friday. Keep on the good work and keep being the most wonderful youtuber out there

[u/LordKramgo]

Valkyrie Profile(Valkyrie Profile:Silmeria was good too) for some Japanese on Nordic Mythology action!

[u/AkionRevlis]

Jirard, have you considered a Disgaea game?

[u/Throbulator36]

#WhyNotDarkSouls

[u/FalseDragon88]

How about playing more old school Kirby games? Kirby's Adventure or Dreamland 3? I've been on something of a Kirby binge lately and just Completed most of the older games from the series myself.
I'd never even played the gameboy titles before in my life.

[u/DownGoesTheKarma]

I know it's been said plenty of times before by plenty of people, but thanks for continuing to produce these reviews! Most, if not all, of your videos are filled with determination entertainment! Here's to another 5 years!!!

On the topic of games, I'd personally like to see some DS/3DS games (though I could see why they would be harder to review) like The World Ends With You , Kirby Canvas Curse , or the incredibly unlikely Animal Crossing: New Leaf (or even OG Animal Crossing ) OR another skating game, like Skate , seeing as it hasn't been done since the third/fourth episode (and we're on the, what, 190th episode?). Side note, why did the episode numbers leave?

Anyways, again, thank you Jirard, keep on keeping on!

[u/Glorious_Muskrat]

I'm planning on getting this game eventually on PC. I don't want to know what the Gamecube version costs.

Also it's insane that it has been five years. It seriously feels like it turned four not all that long ago, wow. I really hate how fast time flies the older you get.