![]() It could be they’re breaking down several things in a lot of small ways. Everyone’s sure they’re deconstructing something, but nobody’s sure what that is. More minor estimations I’ve seen include breaking down racism, the goodness of humanity, heroism, and dudes in speedos. Others have guessed it breaks down the traditional stubborn moron lead, but I haven’t seen those that posit that offer much in the way of evidence towards that hypothesis. Also, spoilers, I guess, but come on, seriously, it’s a religious institution that plays a major part of the plot in a modern day video game. The idea of the chosen one seems to be the most common guess, but Tales of the Abyss hit those notes a lot better, and besides, the way Symphonia handled it, having a member of the church find out the church kind of sucks, is way common in its own right. And most oddly, nobody can agree on just what, exactly, Symphonia’s supposed to be deconstructing. Cliched! The game’s often accused of being the very thing the Tales series is founded on circumventing. Its plot, on the other hand, is generally regarded as unoriginal, rote, and cliched. However, that quality has all been carried by the strength of its characters and the quality of its gameplay. It is a game that definitely earns its place as one of the best of the series. In terms of gameplay and characterization, Symphonia moved the series so far into the modern age, and is probably the reason most gamers in the west even know of the franchise today. Tales of Symphonia is probably one of the most important games in the Tales series. ![]() Even as far back as the Super NES era, they broke new ground by giving their obviously evil genocidal villain sympathetic motivations in Tales of Phantasia, then followed it up by breaking down the traditional damsel in distress love interest in Tales of Legendia, the chosen one in Tales of the Abyss, the anti-hero in Tales of Vesperia, and used Tales of Symphonia to take down the commonly held idea of…. Every game takes something so overrun in modern fantasy storytelling that it makes most people try to scoop their own brains out with a spoon and runs it through a unique lens, analyzing how that trope would work in situations far removed from its typical element. That they do this so reliably is really a testament to their strength as creators. It’s really interesting to me, both as a writer and as a video games consumer, to watch them build towards a really rote story then twist it around completely, providing a fresh and new take on familiar material. What I usually appreciate most after I turn off the game, however, is the way they make a point of deconstructing a fantasy storytelling trope or cliché with every game they make. There’s the relatively unique combat system, the fantastic way they integrate your character’s random conversations, and their balls-out methods of world-building. The Tales series of video games intrigues me in a variety of ways. ![]() Hey, just a warning, we’re going weapons-free on spoilers here.
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