adventure

OK, this really isn't a review; it's a run-down of things that I've found out from various sources (Gamespot, Namco, etc.). First of all, you HAVE to see the graphics. Cel-shading is used for this game, but it's the best I've ever seen for the Gamecube (Budokai 2 for PS2 has AWESOME graphics, though). Go to Gamespot for movies and such and check out how beautiful it looks; I decided to preorder the game just by going through screenshots. You should also know that the game has anime cutscenes, which look really clean.

Anyway. This game promises a lot; it promises to be upwards of 80 hours in length (just for comparison, the Wind Waker was advertised as 40 hours) thanks to its two discs. It's an RPG, but only a few will recognize the name (the Tales series was never really big here in the US). Changing the standard, turn-based RPGs, the Tales series has stood out because of its real-time battle system. It adds a lot more depth to the battle system than normally possible (sorry, Final Fantasies), and with the presence of a huge number of spells and complex combos that are available, you will actually enjoy the battles even after a month of playing. Also, the enemies are actually visible (think Earthbound), and if you get near them, you go to the battle screen and fight. The last little thing about battles is cooking; it seems that this is a complex "little" idea that lets your party members make some kind of food with a variety of ingredients. It also serves as one of the MANY side quests in the game, for there are 24 recipes in all for different types of food (you can even add your own ingredients to the recipe!).

The game's voice acting is also pretty top-notch. While the lip synching isn't that great (mouth moves in some random way) and the motions look the same when a person's talking (some characters just stick their hands out in the same way every time they're talking), but the fact that the ENTIRE script is read out to you by top-notch actors is pretty amazing.

Another, pretty unique feature of the game is that your characters are customizable to the extreme; if you use a certain type of magic (healing, etc.) a number of times, you advance in that category alone. This lets your characters develop into specialized fighting machines.

Normally, I would talk about the story now, but since the game hasn't come out yet, (...) Thanks for reading, and you better get this awesome RPG if you know what's good for you.

This game is the finest RPG ive ever seen for gamecube. the battle system rocks, and the storyline kiks. if you dont have this game, buy it now!

i've heard about this game and i just hab to say i think it is going to be awesome. just look at the great graphics and hab u seen the screenshots? they looks totally awesome. and also four players can play at the same time in an adventure. i can play wit any of my one, two, or three friends!! i'm going to get this game in my birthday and woohoo im going to be so happy.