I had this game sitting in my Steam library for about 9 years - not because I didn't care to play it, but because I didn't have a computer that could run it. Flash forward to today, having finished must be over a hundred games in the past 3 years with a much stronger PC, and I can now say the LONG due completion was VERY much worth it.
This is a very long game, boasting a story that will, at times, make you laugh and smile...but more often than not, the tale contained within is more dark than not. It's a story of vengeance, one that will have you rooting for the protagonist, even when the other characters within will be doing the opposite. Personally, there are times at work when I was still thinking about some of the most emotionally charged moments in the game...it's a powerful narrative with a lot of attention to detail.
The gameplay is a blend of traditional Tales Of elements (real-time combat across an expansive battlefield), with notable differences in the combat - the main ones being lack of TP for using artes, and artes themselves being the sole forms of attack, split into 3 categories: Martial, Hidden, and Malak (equivalent to spells from older games). Instead of TP, the Soul Gauge serves as a form of "limiter" to prevent you from just spamming attacks constantly, which can be frustrating compared to the older games, where all you needed to do was just make sure you had a steady supply of TP for artes as needed. Artes can be configured at any time in the menu, allowing you to set any learned arte to a specific button in a sequence of up to 4 (which reminds me of a very similar system in God Hand, a game I hold very near and dear to my heart). It can take some getting used to for both series vets and newcomers alike, but overall I think my nitpicks are outweighed by how well the devs managed the execution of the system overall, in my opinion.
I strongly recommend picking this one up and giving it a shot if you haven't already; there's a remaster coming out towards the end of the month, as you may already know, but Bandai Namco has a slight history of flubbing classic titles when remastering them, so give the remaster a bit to marinate and garner reviews first before diving right in. From what I can tell so far though, it looks like MUCH more bang for your buck, since it comes at a cheaper price(!!) with some of the DLC (especially character costumes) from the original release added in. Whatever way you can get your hands on this game though, whether it's this original release or the remaster coming soon, you don't wanna miss it - this is a tale to remember, and a lot of people HAVE remembered, quite fondly.
