I wanted to love him. My whole being was prepared to relive this fantastic and epic adventure. Unfortunately, the abundance of bugs, freezes and the laziness of novelties prevents me from recommending this Tales of Symphonia Remastered. Worse, its original version has the luxury of being more stable and fluid than its modern counterpart. Despite all my love for this game, proposing a remaster of this poor quality intended above all for fans of the first hour is despicable. No standard is set, laziness and the lure of quick money have taken over the respect that the license deserves. A shame sold for €40, closer to a demake than a remaster. Go your way if you want to preserve your childhood memories and your wallet.
A diamond that only needed polishing
The episode Tales of Symphony has a special place in the hearts of fans of the series. First opus to be released on the European market, many players including me discovered the franchise thanks to it. An opus that shone with adventure that he proposed and even earned him the title of Best Gamecube JRPG. Addressing themes such as class struggle, education and racism, the game has more depth than its appearance suggests. The characters are all colorful, some endearing, others annoying, but each with their own personality. The gameplay does not demerit, at least in its time. Particularly dynamic, it offered real-time battles with control of each character, something rare for when it was released in 2003. Enjoying a good lifespan on the main frame, a lot of ancillary and secret content to discover, all the material is there to offer a new version that will allow new players to discover the title. So what happened to get to this point to break the facets and create new inclusions?
Choosing the wrong starting material
You see, one of the first problems comes from the choice of the original version to lead to the remaster. Tales of Symphony was first released on PS2 and Gamecube and then a few years later on PS3. Unfortunately, it was this last version that was selected to create the game we have today. If it had additional content compared to its sister at Nintendo, it relied mainly on the PS2 version running at 30 frames per second. A heresy knowing that the Gamecube version reached 60 FPS without any problem. In order to offer all the ultimate skills, cutscenes, skins and additional quests present in the Sony versions, Bandai Namco has thus chosen to go with the latter. For anyone who has experienced the game on Gamecube, this is heresy as the comfort provided by a higher frame rate on a game of this duration is undeniable. Especially since it is easier to add content than to modify a frame rate on an entire title. Unfortunately, the drama does not end with this aspect alone.
When disgust and bitterness replace nostalgia
The frame rate is not the only problem encountered on the title. The character animation is abysmal with jerks repeatedly, out and in combat. Of many freezes going up to three seconds before crossing a door, facing an opponent, changing scenes, have finished burying my hopes. The coup de grace came from the graphic rendering on the screen. It’s smoother, but aliasing is present all the way on a 4K screen. We end up with a minimum service of a stupid and nasty upscale. Some texts even have this sad “staircase effect” in the menus. The Gamecube released a 480p image in its day for smaller TV sizes. At the time, the game was superb and the loading times minimal. The same cannot be said for this Tales of Symphonia Remastered, tested on an external hard drive and the console’s internal SSD. Admittedly, the game is not Xbox Series X|S optimized, but it will not remain not in the annals of the most beautiful and fluid remaster. All these concerns are not limited to the Xbox version of this test. Comparing with other players on Switch, the game also suffers the same treatment with some similar issues (visual quality) and some completely different ones (too deep black in cutscenes, FPS drop). Bandai Namco has apologized for the Switch version and is preparing an undated patch announced. However, still no word regarding other versions of the game two weeks following its release…
Conclusion
It is impossible for me to recommend this port. Despite all my love for this game, proposing a remaster of this poor quality intended above all for fans of the first hour is despicable. No standard is set, laziness and the lure of quick money have taken over the respect that the license deserves. A shame sold 40€, closer to a downgrade than a remaster. Go your way if you want to preserve your childhood memories and your wallet.
I appreciated :
- Find endearing characters
- The soundtrack
I least liked :
- Les bugs
- catastrophic animation
- Loading longer than on Gamecube
- To be taken for a pigeon
Accessibility criteria
| Visual Impairment | Hearing impairment | |
| ✔ High contrast (aiming reticle) | ✘ Subtitles with mood hints | |
| ✔ Font color size | ✔ Identification of the person speaking | |
| ✔ Marking enemies | ✘ Customizable font | |
| ✘ Interface personnalisable | ✘ Customizable font color | |
| ✘ Customizable minimap color | ✘ Alternative alert options (vibration, flash…) | |
| ✘ Color blindness option | ✔ Reported ambient sounds (notifies regarding presence) | |
| ✘ Option Text to speech | ||
| ✘ Game Slowdown |
Test conditions
| TV details | 4K | Game provided by the publisher | Oui | |
| Console | Xbox Series X | Time spent in game | 22 hours of ordeal | |
| Difficulty level | NC | Game over | Non |
