I have something a little different today. Last year I was on a 'Tales of' series kick and was buying every game I could get my hands on. The 'Tales of' series is a collection of games for various consoles that are loosely related to each other storyline wise. The series is pretty popular in Japan while over here in the continent of America the fans are there but apparently not enough for Namco to release every single title they put out into English. Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X is one of those unreleased gems that America will most likely never EVER get because its a direct sequel to the overly remade Tales of Phantasia which came over here in Game boy Advance form in 2006 and didn't really go over well with the hardcore fans due to some translation problems here and there. I myself tried to get a copy of the GBA version of Tales of Phantasia but it was so glitchy it was unplayable(my bad luck I guess?). Anyways I got wind of Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X being released on the PSP with a bonus of the original Tales of Phantasia being bundled with the package. Score, I was finally going to be able to play Tales of Phantasia and its sequel. Today though I'm only reviewing Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X, I'll do plain old Tales of Phantasia another time.
Note: Yes this game is in compete Japanese but its storyline events are completely voice acted. I have a basic understanding of Japanese speech and the review is based of my knowledge. I apologize if I get storyline or names wrong.
Story:
Your given an introduction scene where a lone fairy is wandering a barren wasteland and is rescued by an angelic being calling herself Norn. The little fairy's name is Etos and when she come to Norn gives her two infants- twins a boy and a girl and a house. Norn basically tells Etos that in exchange for saving her life she must raise to two children as her own. Time skips a couple years and the infants are now in their tweens living with their adoptive mother Etos who has named them Mel and Dio. During this peaceful day they hear a large sound outside and investigate. They find......a talking dresser(i'm not kidding) named Albert who gives them the power of Narikiri which enables Mel and Dio to dress up in costumes and become whatever their dressed up as. They decide to go to the nearest town for some reason(I seriously don't know why they do) and OH MY GOODNESS monsters appear! Mel and Dio decide to teach the buggers a lesson but something goes wrong. Mel's magic goes haywire and causes a “prism ring” to envelop the city and put every inhabitant in danger. In order to fix this problem Mel and Dio must now seek the help of the summon spirits AND the whole original cast from Tales of Phantasia.
Points: 8 Yeah I'm enjoying this. Keep it coming
Characters:
Mel and Dio, being twins share a lot of the same personality. Their both pretty hotheaded and don't like being told what to do. This ensues many funny conversations between the two of them. Etos is the levelheaded one of the group who, in other words she doesn't do much. Albert is a dirty old man. I'm serious. All he ever does is fantasize about Mel and all the other characters that are remotely female. This is a common humour placement in Japanese cartoons and video games but I find it very inappropriate and unneeded. I get really sick of Albert in this game, its a good thing he's barely ever around. Later on we get Kuruuru who is a fat litte green bunny thing who is only there to make fun at . And the final original character in this game is Londoline who at first kind have annoyed me at first because it feels like she was there only because she was dressed like a whore but later on I began to like her because her relevance to the story was needed. The whole entire cast of Tales of Phantasia are also playable and are completely the same from the previous game except that Klarth is now an alcoholic slacker and Chester is no longer emo.
Points: 7 Minus one point because of some stereotypes thrown in at places
Graphics:
Very well done hand drawn sprites, Namco doesn't disappoint. The environments are 3D but the sprites look good on them. My only problem that is when i'm doing a “ Hi Ougi” (special move) the camera zooms in on the sprites and they become all blurry.
Points: 9 They fit the game's atmosphere well and their very pretty to look at
Sound:
99.9% of the music are remixes from the original Tales of Phantasia game which is very welcome because the soundtrack in Tales of Phantasia is great. I'd be bold enough to say that some of the remixes are better than the originals. Also the opening and the 2 credits theme are preformed by Oku Hanako who has a beautiful soothing voice. My only complaint is that some of the enemies make REALLY annoying sounds when you hit them. Especially the horse and bird like ones.
Points: 9 Yeah its that impressive
Mechanics:
You know i'd whine about the random battles but i'm going to. Why? Well in the 'Tales of' series there is an item called a Holy Bottle that prevents you from ever getting into a random battle unless your not using one. Simply to say I stocked up on these suckers and only battled when I thought I needed to. In addition to random battles their are strong enemies represented by blobs or birds that you can avoid if you choose to. Battles themselves are on a one line screen where you can move either back or forward to engage the enemies. Its simple but it works. Button mashing is your friend in this game. Also, when your not in battle occasionally you'll get little prompts to press the select button on the bottom left of your screen. Doing so pop up a conversation between your party members. Its a nice little touch.
Points: 10 I appreciate the Holy Bottle, I really do
Lasting appeal:
I played and played this game. It was in a simple word 'fun'. I think however people who are not familiar with this series/don't know a lick of Japanese might find this game confusing and boring. But I enjoyed it fully. You play it til the end of the first arc and then you have the choice to start over OR you can move onto the next story that dives into Mel and Dio's origins. It will keep you busy for awhile.
Points: 8
Overall:
Despite this being a spinoff game its obvious that quite a bit of effort was put into this game. Every thing is highly impressive and I played this game through twice because I enjoyed it so much. I'm not so much a 'Tale of' fan anymore but this game is still in my mental list of games I would recommend people to import because their missing out.
Points: 9 If only all the 'Tales of' games were as fun as this one was
TOTAL: 60/70
If you enjoy the 'Tales of' series don't let the Japanese label scare you away. This is one of their best spinoffs to date and passing on it is an unwise decision. I'll leave you guys with a game play video today.
-Anna
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