Tales of Phantasia out in March

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 January, 2006

Yes, in Europe and everything!

Nintendo has announced that Tales of Phantasia for GBA will be released in Europe at the end of March.

ToP, which first appeared on the SNES more than a decade ago, tells the story of two youngsters called Cress and Chester. Their village, Totus, is wiped out by a band of mysterious Dark Knights who are looking for two magical pendants which have the power to resurrect an evil sorceror. Wouldn't you know it, C&C just happen to have the pendants in their possession, and set out to avenge their village and do over the knights in the process.

So, yes, it's an RPG, with a battle system that requires "both strategy and reaction speed," according to Nintendo. You are able to position and command a troop of up to three characters before taking direct control of Cress, pulling off attacks and casting spells while your AI opponents do the same.

As the game progresses, you'll earn experience points which cause your character to level up, improve their abilities and learn new skills. Plus there are lots of weapons and special items to collect, unsurprisingly.

ToP also features "a unique cooking system" - as you travel around you can pick up rare and unusual ingredients, and combine them to create food or potions which come in very handy during battles.

Environments include villages, caves, forests and fortresses, and the whole thing plays out on "a huge multi-directional field map" which you guide your characters around.

Tales of Phantasia is out on March 31st.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Abscido #1 6 years ago

    Such a pretty game for its time. DeJap or someone attempted a nice translation of this back in the day, can't remember how far they got in the end.

  • Thamuhacha #2 6 years ago

    /awaits stampeding Blerk

  • Blerk #3 6 years ago

    GBA game so I'm not bothered. :-)

    Now talk to me about a European release of Tales of Legendia and you might see some activity.

    Edit: GBA, not DS. Curse those typing fingers / overloaded brain.
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/06 @ 16:01

  • smelly #4 6 years ago

    I didnt like tales of symphonia on the cube.

    So this isnt something that gets me remotely bothered.

    (japanese rpg's are hellish overrated IMHO anyhows.. apart from FF7).

  • MadMirko #5 6 years ago

    /loves his GBMs

    Incredible how strong the GB still is, can't wait for this one!

  • Rociel #6 6 years ago

    Well, that certainly shut my Namco-hating self up.

    But to REALLY gain my lovin' they will have to bring out 'Tales of the Abyss'.

  • Eraysor #7 6 years ago

    Wow, this game sounds so original. (And yes, I know it was a SNES game and came long before Golden Sun, but still, no point bringing out endless clone RPGs).

  • Kon #8 6 years ago

    "But to REALLY gain my lovin' they will have to bring out 'Tales of the Abyss'."

    My thoughts exactly. I don't even care if they leave Legendia out of these parts.

    Symphonia was one of the best RPGs i've ever played, and followed by Rogue Galaxy and DQ8, Abyss is the one RPG i want to play the most. Go team Symphonia!!

  • Enki #9 6 years ago

    DeJap managed a full translation (I know, I played it all the way through :D) and I must say i'm quite looking forward to this...

    I'm also curious what ACTUALLY went on on the boat, because in the DeJap translation they made it into one long porno esque piece of character interaction, I suspect that it might be the missing back story ¬_¬

    *patiently awaits Chrono Trigger*

  • RabidMonkey #10 6 years ago

    I didnt like tales of symphonia on the cube.

    I didn't like it either but I'm still strangely excited about this and Eternia.

    Funny that.

  • twinbee #11 6 years ago

    The DeJap translation was pretty bad from what I remember.

    I wonder why Nintendo are releasing this old game, so late in the GBA's life? Anyway, I'm really looking forward to playing the sequel to Symphonia again. :)

  • jack_klugman #12 6 years ago

    My mother employs a unique cooking system and all... o_O

  • Killerbee #13 6 years ago

    I've had Tales of Symphonia sitting on my To Play pile for a few months now... really must get around to it. I'll keep an eye out for this one though...

  • aine #14 6 years ago

    Well, that certainly shut my Namco-hating self up.

    Keep hating if you like, this release is entirely Nintendo's doing.

  • Nikanoru #15 6 years ago

    Such a pretty game for its time. DeJap or someone attempted a nice translation of this back in the day, can't remember how far they got in the end.

    "Attempted?" Try "released a fully completed and polished professional quality translation, much, much better than most official ones."

    In fact, while I haven't played the american GBA version with the official translation, I can hardly imagine it would be as good as the Dejap one.

  • MadMirko #16 6 years ago

    In fact, while I haven't played the american GBA version with the official translation

    That might be because the American version isn't released yet. I think they get it in March, same as we do. One could be glad that the release gap between US and Europe is so small this time (a trend?), but why the hell did it take 3 years to emerge from Japan?!

  • Firewine #17 6 years ago

    Just to clarify, Symphonia and Phantasia are the only games available in the US/UK, right?

    For the hell of it, I've compiled a list (from here - including forthcoming releases) :)

    US:
    [PS1] Tales of Destiny
    [PS1] Tales of Eternia (as Tales of Destiny II)
    [GC] Tales of Symphonia
    [GBA] Tales of Phantasia
    [PS2] Tales of Legendia

    Europe:
    [GC] Tales of Symphonia
    [GBA] Tales of Phantasia
    [PSP] Tales of Eternia

    Japan:
    [SFC] Tales of Phantasia
    [PS1] Tales of Destiny
    [PS1] Tales of Phantasia
    [GB] Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon
    [PS1] Tales of Eternia
    [PS1] Tales of Fandom vol.1
    [GBA] Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2
    [PS2] Tales of Destiny 2
    [GBA] Tales of the World: Summoner's Lineage
    [GBA] Tales of Phantasia
    [GC] Tales of Symphonia
    [PS2] Tales of Symphonia
    [PS2] Tales of Rebirth
    [GBA] Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
    [PSP] Tales of Eternia
    [PS2] Tales of Legendia
    [PS2] Tales of the Abyss
    [NDS] Tales of the Tempest
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/06 @ 21:39

  • Rociel #18 6 years ago

    "but why the hell did it take 3 years to emerge from Japan?!"

    Triple that number.

    "released a fully completed and polished professional quality translation, much, much better than most official ones."

    The DeJap translation was indeed very good, but it suffers from a common problem that used to arise in fansubbed anime. The translators make the language and some situations seem more 'mature' than they actually are. Other than that it was a superb translation.

    "Keep hating if you like, this release is entirely Nintendo's doing."

    GOD DAMMIT.

    I try to love you, Namco, I really do. But you give me nothing but contempt in return.

  • MadMirko #19 6 years ago

    "but why the hell did it take 3 years to emerge from Japan?!"

    Triple that number.

    You're right, of course, for the SFC version, but I was blabbering about the GBA version.

  • Rociel #20 6 years ago

    "Is Tales of Legendia already out in the US?! "

    It's out in mid February.

    Apparently, the battle system is over-simplyfied and they aren't as fun as they were in Symphonia. Also, there are no Hi-Ougis or multiplayer.

  • Nikanoru #21 6 years ago

    The DeJap translation was indeed very good, but it suffers from a common problem that used to arise in fansubbed anime. The translators make the language and some situations seem more 'mature' than they actually are. Other than that it was a superb translation.


    Their ToP translation was near perfect. I know it's not what some wapanese kids want to see (namely extremely literal translations of everything) but I'll give you an example. Remember the boat scene, with Arche? Where she talks in her sleep? In the original japanese it went something like "Oh no, Cless, don't" while in Dejap's translation she was being extremely horny. They should have translated that better, right?

    Wrong.

    What Dejap knew, and what you and some others fail to see, is that "no, don't do it, stop it" when said by a girl, has MAJOR sexual connotations to the japanese, more than us westerners could ever imagine. So what the writer originally meant to convey with that scene was something very sexual, yet had they translated that literally and went with what sounds to us westerners as "mild", like you suggested, the intention that the original writer had by that scene would be lost.

    This is just one example of a subtle cultural difference between us and the japanese, that a translator just has to take into account.

    Ever wonder why a lot of oficially translated games from Japan have a script that, well, sounds plainly awkward? That's the reason why, people translate what they think is "correct" while they're actually doing it completely wrong and don't understand the japanese mindset at all, which is something any translator should.


    Now, don't ever make me type so much again, you hear?