Tales of Phantasia [Playstation the Best]

Tales of Phantasia is a Super Nintendo game in the role-playing video game genre published by Namco and released in Japan in 1995, selling 212,000 copies. It is the first mothership title in the Tales RPG series and was later remade/re-released on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable.

This game was originally developed by Wolf Team. It was written and programmed by Yoshiharu Gotanda, designed by Masaki Norimoto and scored by Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura. The character designs were created by manga artist Kosuke Fujishima. An anime series based on the game has also been created.

STORY:
Tales of Phantasia begins by showing a heroic battle between four unknown warriors against an evil sorcerer and king, Dhaos, the outcome of which changed the fate of the world. The warriors were victorious, but Dhaos escaped through time. However, four different heroes are awaiting him: they seal the weakened Dhaos away using the power of two pendants, thus returning peace to the world.

Twelve years after Dhaos had been sealed away, a young swordsman named Cress Albane (Also romanized 'Cless Alvein') and his best friend, Chester Burklight, live in the town of Toltus. One day, while Cress and Chester are out hunting in the forest, the town is destroyed by a dark knight named Mars and his soldiers. Every villager is killed in the attack, including Chester’s sister and both of Cress’s parents. While Chester mourns, Cress vows for revenge. He decides he should flee to the town of Euclid, where his uncle lives; however, Chester refuses because he wants to stay behind and bury the dead first, and Cress finally decides to go by himself.

Upon his arrival in Euclid, Cress heads to the northwestern house, where his uncle lives. However, on Cress's first night there, his uncle betrays him, and he is thrown in jail by Mars. The heirloom pendant entrusted to Cress by his father, Miguel, is taken away from him, but Cress does not know of its significance in holding Dhaos sealed, nor that his father was one of the four who sealed him away.

In prison, Cress hears a voice, and the person it belongs to gives him a pair of earrings, which he uses to break down the wall of his cell. As he goes to thank the person, however, Cress sees that the individual has been impaled by a sword; he takes the blade and uses it to open the prison doors. In one of the cells, he meets a woman named Mint Adnade. She thanks Cress for freeing her and asks him to also free the person in the cell across from hers, who she says is her mother. At this point, Cress realizes that Mint's mother was the person who had helped him to escape his own cell. Not wanting Mint to learn of her death, he says that he saw no one in that cell and insists that they must escape immediately, which they achieve by traveling through the prison's aqueducts.

GAMEPLAY:
“Tales of Phantasia” presents a unique combat system: The battles have a lot in common with fighting games: you fight on a platform that slowly scrolls forward and have to attack your enemy in real time. Other party members are controlled by AI. You can pause the game at any time and use magic, items, or choose an overall strategy for your allies.

The playstation version is more a remix than a remake, since it features different character techniques, character voices, fmv sequences, new quests and enhanced graphics and music.

Manufacturer's description:

For young swordsman Cress Albane, it wasn't a typical day out hunting in the nearby woods. He had no hint of the tragedy unfolding back home.

Features:
Battle in real time! The Linear Motion Battle System puts the emphasis on action as you attack your enemies without the use of menus.
New game events, dialogue sequences, and other features enhance the adventure on this release!
Crack open the Monster Dictionary to view the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies you've met in battle. Players will want to collect data on them all.
Use the innovative Cooking System to collect ingredients and recipes to brew up meals that restore your health and magic!

Features:
Third person perspective.
2D graphics
Cartoon graphics
Medieval Fantasy theme.

Source: TheGamesDB