#7: Tales of Eternia (2001)
#7: Tales of Eternia
Platform: Sony PlayStation
Release Date: 2001 (North American release)
Genre: Role-Playing Game (RPG)
If you asked me which video game had the worst dubbing, I’d definitely answer Tales of Eternia.
Eternia is, without doubt, one of the hardest RPGs I’ve ever played. When I played it back in 2004, it was the most difficult RPG I ever played. The real-time battle system took a while to get used to, and at some point (I think it was after getting lost some forest) I gave up and consulted a walkthrough lol. Even so, the game was still brutally hard, and the only thing that kept me going was the incredible storyline.
Yes, even though the storyline is your average save-the-world story, it still has charms of its own. First, the feeling that you’re the only one who can prevent the great disaster up ahead. The Church thinks you’re spreading lies, the Academy thinks you’re crazy, and the King even thinks its a conspiracy by a race of people known as the Celestians (who live on another world across the sky) and promptly declares war on them. You know that only you can make a difference when the whole world is quite literally against you.
Second, the feeling of adventure. Eternia features a VAST map. As if one world wasn’t enough, you’re given TWO worlds to explore, each having its own culture, climate and setting. While Inferia resembles your typical medieval world, Celestia is dark, gloomy and highly advanced. This is apparently due to the different Craymels (elemental summons) that inhabit each world. There are TONNES of hidden dungeons and quests to explore, and some quests even require transcending worlds to complete.
Third, the characters. Although somewhat ruined by the bad dubbing, it doesn’t take long for one to grow attached to them. This is due to a very well-conceived script, which manages to keep most of the jokes and references intact. The character development in this game is AMAZING. Each of the four main characters end up maturing and changing by the end of the game. I used to hate Keele when I first got him, but I soon grew to like him as the story progressed. I thought Farah was annoying at the start – until I discovered her circumstances and began to sympathize her. No one beats Reid, though, he’s my favorite character by a mile. This is probably the only game where I prefer a guy character over a girl lol
Fourth, the addictive and challenging battle system. It takes time to get used to it, but once you do it plays out like a cross between an RPG and a fighting game. When you reach the end of the game, expect to see awesome spells flying around every few seconds, both by your allies and your enemies. The spells are eye-catching and the Hi-ougis (hidden ultimate skills) are INCREDIBLE. Aside from having very strict requirements (like using a certain skill >250 times etc) some of them are also ridiculously hard to perform, so when you finally pull one off and amazing animation flares across the screen, you feel an odd sense of satisfaction that’s hard to describe.
Finally, the extra content and replayability. I’ve played this game 3 times now from start to finish. There’s just so much to do, so much to unlock; hidden items, towns, characters, bosses, ultimates, summons, spells, titles – you name it. When you finish the game on normal mode, you gain the option to play on Hardcore mode. As the name suggests, this is NOT for the faint-hearted. The first boss you face in the game will throw mid-tier spells (which you don’t normally see till level 30+) at you as soon as the battle begins. The hidden boss, Sekundes, is notorious for being near invincible in Hardcore, unless you spam auto-resurrection items.
The only qualm I have about this game (besides the dubbing) is how they removed the skits from the original. Any Tales of fan worth his or her salt should know how important skits are to the series, as they provide interesting insights into some characters. Removing them was a very bad call and I was especially annoyed when they didn’t restore them for the PSP port.
The PSP port is essentially what it is – a port. No extras, no option to change between vocal chats, no skits, same bad dubbing – the only reason you’d want to get it is for the nostalgia factor if you enjoyed this game as much as I do.
A great game that built on the foundation laid by Tales of Destiny, this game is still one of the best RPGs out there despite being released for almost a decade now. If you haven’t played this game yet, do yourself a favor and please do. You won’t regret it, trust me.
Next up: A cliched game that most people will never understand!
