Tales of Symphonia

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Tales of Symphonia (テイルズ オブ シンフォニア ,Teiruzu obu Shinfonia) is a video game first released for the Nintendo GameCube and later for the PlayStation 2. It debuted in Japan on August 29, 2003, in Canada and the United States on July 13, 2004, and in Europe on November 19, 2004. The game received a Japanese-only PlayStation 2 release on September 22, 2004. It is the fifth mothership title in the Tales RPG series, and was the third game in the series to be officially released in the U.S., and the first to be released in Europe. Tales of Symphonia's characteristic genre name is To Resonate With You RPG (君と響きあうRPG ,Kimi to hibiki au RPG). Tales of Symphonia takes place long before Tales of Phantasia (hence a distant prequel). The game sold 118,000 copies during its first two weeks of sales in the U.S. and went on to sell over 1.2 million copies worldwide.

The game was produced by Akira Yoshizumi, a producer from Namco. One notable characteristic of the game is its art direction by Kosuke Fujishima, a renowned Japanese mangaka (comic-book artist).

In June 2007, Ufotable released an OVA in Japan based on the events of Symphonia. A spin-off titled Tales of Symphonia:Dawn of the New World for the Nintendo Wii was released in Japan on June 26, 2008 and in America on November 11, 2008 and TBA 2009 for Europe.

STORY

The game begins in the world of Sylvarant, a land that is dying due to a steady loss of mana, the energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself. As crops begin to wither and hardship sets in, the people turn their hopes to the Chosen, a servant and messiah of the Goddess Martel, who can reverse the ills of the world by completing the Journey of World Regeneration. In order to regenerate the world, the Chosen must travel from continent to continent, awakening the Summon Spirits that sleep at ancient shrines known as "seals." With every seal released, the Chosen comes closer and closer to becoming an angel. Once the Chosen fully transforms into an angel, the world will be regenerated.

As the game progresses, many revelations are made about World Regeneration and the hidden plots that complicate the scenario. One of the earliest revelations is that becoming an angel forces the Chosen to give up the aspects that make him or her human.With the release of the first seal, the Chosen loses the need to eat; with the second, the ability to sleep; with the third, the ability to feel physical sensations; and after releasing the fourth seal, the Chosen can no longer speak. The fifth and final seal requires the Chosen to give up his or her heart, memory, and life. When this process has been completed, the Chosen's body will become one with the goddess Martel.

The party also learns of a second world, known as Tethe'alla, which lies parallel to Sylvarant. Replenishing Sylvarant's supply of mana changes the flow of mana, thereby draining it away from Tethe'alla - much like the sand in an hourglass. The reverse also holds true. As the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla must compete for a limited amount of mana to survive, whenever one of these two worlds is regenerated, the other falls into a state of mana deprivation.

The party succeeds in releasing all the seals, and Colette becomes Martel's vessel. However, they learn that the angels that they are trying to serve have been using them. The party is betrayed by one of its own members, Kratos, who is then revealed to be an angel. The remaining party then goes to Tethe'alla to find answers, where their goal ultimately changes to saving the two worlds. In order to do this, they decide that they must sever the ties between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla to separate the worlds, thus ending the competition for mana. When they have completed breaking the seals connecting the two worlds, this causes the Great Seed, the giver of mana to the world, to go out of control. In the end, the party revives an ancient tree of ever-flowing mana, which, with the aid of the Eternal Sword, merges the two worlds once more.