Tales of Phantasia (PSX) - Part 1

My first Tales run! Where better to start than the original, right? Truth be told, as much as I were hyped to play this, time has not been kind to the first entry into Namco’s very prolific series. You see, for better or for worse, Tales of Phantasia feels less like you are playing a game deep in strategy and tactical thinking and more like you are experiencing a fighting game. Combat in the Tales games has always been about timing and effective use of combos and even in the original this was a prominent feature during play. In this playthrough, there are times I really struggle with the fighting game mechanics as the finer elements of this style, such as through the technical ring or even the combo control, go beyond me almost entirely. A couple points I need to make before fanboys will inevitably jump on the way I played during these videos: -I played this on Normal Difficulty. No way do I need to stress myself out on harder settings, Tales of Phantasia offers plenty of