The classic RPG Tales of Phantasia has long been revered by those in the know. Released for the Super Famicom in 1995, it boasted incredible graphics, a not particularly original but still entertaining story, and an innovative real-time battle system. Sadly, the original version never made it to the U.S.. Over time it built a following. In 2003 readers of the renowned Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu crowned it as the best Namco game of all time. Finally a port for the Game Boy Advance saw an American release in 2006. The port received mixed reviews.
Now the game has found its way onto the App Store – for free, no less, and longtime fans – and many such as myself who’ve never played it – were quite excited. But as it turns out, there’s nothing free about this game.
Before we get to ToP‘s many problems, let’s look at basic gameplay. This part isn’t all that bad, though it could be better. The controls are a little awkward on touchscreen. The virtual joystick is a tad unwieldy, which doesn’t bother me much, at least in theory; I’ve played several classic RPGs on my iPhone (Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy III among them) that use the same control scheme with no problems. However, the stick on this game is ridiculously sensitive and the characters move faster than in other versions of the game, resulting in a frustrating experience. Thankfully, you can also tap the screen where you want the characters to go.
The battle system has been completely retooled for touchscreen. There are no virtual controls. Instead, the play area is split into three zones corresponding with a basic attack. Special attacks are activated by swiping the screen. While a little different from other versions of the game, I feel this works fairly well. The visuals look great (the small screen does wonders for older games), there’s full Japanese voice acting and a new translation. So far, mostly good.
The problems, however, quickly become apparent. The biggest problem, the one that all the other problems tie into, is the insane amount of in-app purchases. The game has been redesigned to squeeze as much money out of the player as possible.
The original game offered several difficulty levels, but here the difficulty is set extremely high. You can make up for it by purchasing a level boost. Items don’t drop as often either, but you can make up for that too – just go the online store and buy a few items. Some save points have been removed from dungeons as well, which, when paired with the brutal difficulty, all but ensure that you will die. Often. But that’s okay. You can buy yourself back to life. The prices of items has also been doubled, and money does not come easily. The game makes up for this somewhat by offering daily bonuses (such an enemies dropping double money), but it’s too little, too late. I should note that you can play the game without buying a thing. It’s just a lot harder.
On top of all this, you must be online at all times if you want to play. If Namco’s servers are down, you’re out of luck. Let me reiterate that this is a single-player RPG from 1995. There is literally no reason to justify this decision, except there is: Namco wishes to ensure that you’re always able to keep buying things.
Therein lies the sad truth of this version of Tales of Phantasia: Literally any aspect of it that could be exploited to make money has been. Say what you will about Square-Enix charging $15-17 dollars a game, but at least they don’t cheat their customers like this. Namco could have easily released a solid port for $10 and fans would buy it. I gave it two hours before the money-grabbing tactics became intolerable.
There is a great game here, one I would love to play someday. Sadly – the saddest part of all of this – the easiest way to obtain it is on the App Store. Lucky for me I still have my GBA.