Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Review - Work Together for Peace

[Candidus]

I think you mostly have a bias against a language that you CAN understand verses a language you can't so it sounds more appealing.

I tried to cut this off in my post, but you went there anyway, and you're wrong in my opinion.

I've picked up enough over a decade of consumption and a bit of dabbling with Rosetta Stone: Japanese to get the gist of a conversation without subtitles at all, actually. Because I follow the words, can tell dialects apart and usually pick up on characterful nuances and inflections without having them pointed out, I *do* notice and get turned off by bad JP voice acting.

I preferred Ghost in the Shell in English, I preferred Enchanted Arms in English (although it was by no means good, the JP voice-work in that game was abysmal).

But in general, English voice acting is atrocious. Yuri Lowenthal was pointed out to me as a "veteran of anime voice-overs who does a fine job [in ToA and Suiko V]". I think his work is a disaster. That's just one example, but name anybody and I'd likely tell you the same thing.

It's not some unthinking bias. It's my considered opinion that these actors and actresses are (in general) legitimately horrible and untalented. I think that JP voice actors (in general) bring a level of dedication, craft and sincerity to their roles that often, sadly, doesn't get matched by their western counterparts.

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

I think you mostly have a bias against a language that you CAN understand verses a language you can't so it sounds more appealing.

I tried to cut this off in my post, but you went there anyway, and you're wrong in my opinion.

I've picked up enough over a decade of consumption and a bit of dabbling with Rosetta Stone: Japanese to get the gist of a conversation without subtitles at all, actually. Because I follow the words, can tell dialects apart and usually pick up on characterful nuances and inflections without having them pointed out, I *do* notice and get turned off by bad JP voice acting.

I preferred Ghost in the Shell in English, I preferred Enchanted Arms in English (although it was by no means good, the JP voice-work in that game was abysmal).

But in general, English voice acting is atrocious. Yuri Lowenthal was pointed out to me as a "veteran of anime voice-overs who does a fine job [in ToA and Suiko V]". I think his work is a disaster. That's just one example, but name anybody and I'd likely tell you the same thing.

It's not some unthinking bias. It's my considered opinion that these actors and actresses are (in general) legitimately horrible and untalented. I think that JP voice actors (in general) bring a level of dedication, craft and sincerity to their roles that often, sadly, doesn't get matched by their western counterparts.

then almost all american voice acting is bad, because they are some of best when it comes to video games and voice acting in general. hell most of these voice actors do more than just japanese games and anime, but american games and cartoons. (i am speaking specifically the Tales games) one of my favorite voice actors is in Tales of Symphonia, who before Symphonia, played phenomenally as Robin in the Teen Titans anime/cartoon thing? (the show was made in Japan by a Japanese company, WITH a Japanese opening with alternated between english and Japanese every other episode, but is technically a cartoon simply because of the subject matter, as american super hero stuff are automatically cartoons even if Hayao and studio Ghibli made the show). also since i don't know a lick of Japanese, playing a game or watching an anime in Japanese and trying to say that it is better than english dubs is rather pointless as i don't know enough japanese to really say, but i do think that english voice acting has come a very long way, and some are really good, and have always been really good. (in the case of Emile, he sounds terrible because the voice actor was directed that way, not that the voice actor is terrible, you should give Trigun in english a watch, as it is fantastic.

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

the only real problem i have with the game, is that i can tell where the replaced the old textures in the over world. around each town you can see a dark seam where the new texture is. there is also a stark difference in quality, but the seam is much more distracting.

 

[Naeras]

Tales of Symphonia probably is my favorite game of all time. The combat system is still miles ahead of non-Tales-JRPGs, and while the story is chock-full of clichés, it also has some pretty good characters(if you ignore the two boring leads of Lloyd and Collette, that is), a story that is actually about something, and one of the most complex main villains I've ever seen. The soundtrack is also amazing.

However, the game has aged. And it has done so poorly. The english voice acting is subpar at best, and as good as the combat system is, other games in the series has surpassed it. The same goes for the characters and the story. Still, ToS will always have a very special place in my heart.

 

[Haru17]

I enjoyed the review, but the sentence below needs a second 'be' before 'vigilant'.

"The battle system requires the player not only to be active but also to vigilant."

 

[Haru17]

By the way Tales of Xillia has much worse characters than either of the Symphonia games. They're all either poorly done tropes, too cheesy to care about drama queens, or blank slates.

 

[themilo504]

Didn?t know this game was getting rereleased, it?s very convenient for me since I?ve wanted to play this game for a while but I don?t want to buy a GameCube