Tales of Phantasia is a
Console RPG developed by
Namco. It is the first game in the Tales series (there are currently
three) released by Namco. Many consider it to be one of the greatest
RPGs released on the
Super Famicom. Unfortunately, it was never officially
translated into English and released on the
American
SNES.
One of the
game’s most distinctive features is it’s
linear motion battle system (LMB). In this system, the
player can actually move the characters from side to side, using button
combinations to do specific attacks with the
main character. The player can also issue
commands to other
party members, telling them whom they should attack and with how much
force.
The main
cast of the game consists of five
characters: Cless Alvein (
Fighter), Chester Barklight (
Archer), Mint Adanade (
Healer), Klarth F. Lester (
Summoner), and Arche Klaine (
Wizard). What game would be complete without a
Big Nasty? Dhaos, who was previously sealed away but was revived, is the main
enemy in this game. Cless and Mint are sent back 100 years into the
past in desperation to try to prevent this situation from happening.
Good news for non-Japanese speakers!
There is an unofficial
translation of this game now available as a
ROM patch. The translation was done by DeJap and can be played on an SNES
emulator. (Please see dejap.zsnes.com for the patch.)