Tales of Destiny-Retro Review

PlayStation

At the request of a friend, I recently played and completed Tales of Destiny. Having owned three other games in this series, I never expected this entry would be the first I’d finish. Tales of Destiny is certainly not without flaws, however, as big as they are, I do feel like this title received a lot of unfair judgement at the time of its release.

_{^{Video provided by YouTube user Carnivol}}

Facing Unnecessary Expectations

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Though opinions are subjective, I do think the reception for Tales of Destiny was harsh when it released, especially regarding its graphics. At best IGN stated that they were “somewhat disappointing”, while Gamespot delivered more scalding words, criticizing it for “looking and sounding far too much like an SNES game”. Tales of Destiny unfortunately came out at a point in the industry when franchises were making the jump to 3D, and were expected to do so.

Normally I wouldn’t address other critiques, but many games from this period were ether bashed or looked over entirely as a result of not succumbing to unnecessary expectations. Tales of Destiny isn’t a technical marvel, nor had soundtrack capable of winning any awards back then. Still the game looks and sounds beautiful, and considering just how bad other games from that era have aged, the decision to stick with the old style benefited this title in the long run.

A Story That’s Slow and Combat That Grows

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Tales of Destiny’s story resonates with me, but it follows tropes that have been seen before. The narrative centers around the morality of mankind, and the measures that must be taken in order to create a better world. Though cliche, what makes the story stand out is its characters. Both the main and supporting cast vary in personality and bring different archetypes and perspectives to the table.

It isn’t often that I can say that I care about every single character in an game and while Tales of Destiny achieves this, it doesn’t come without sacrifice. Character development takes time, and in this case the pacing of the plot often suffers in order to flesh everyone out. When compared to Chrono Trigger or Star Ocean, this adventure can feel a bit slow, though the setup ultimately does pay off.

Battle Fatigue

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I wasn’t really feeling Tales of Destiny’s battle mechanics until about halfway into my playthrough. At first the combat felt pretty stiff and bare bones since I only had access to the basic attacks, spells and techniques. Obtaining new abilities really made all the difference, and it wasn’t long until I was powering through mobs of enemies.

Surprisingly this didn’t throw off the game’s difficulty balance, and some bosses were still capable of putting up a challenge. As rewarding as becoming stronger was, I caught a case of battle fatigue, due to the incredibly high number of battles. Tales of Destiny, hands down, has the worst encounter rate of any JRPG I’ve ever played.

Literally every few feet I took resulted in an skirmish. It was so frequent that I when I left my controller idle to reply to a text, I realized that I never heard the game’s over world theme in its entirety due to it being interrupted so often.

Disputable Design

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The sole game mechanic that could’ve rectified the high encounter rate wasn’t executed well. Like many JRPGs of the era, Tales of Destiny does feature a form of air travel. However, its inclusion came so late in the adventure that I can’t understand why it was added at all besides furthering the plot.

To be specific there’s a point in the narrative where you’re given the choice to undertake one of two quest, one being, obtaining an airship named “Draconis”. I chose to pursue Draconis, since I was well over walking around on foot and fighting enemy after enemy. I also figured that finishing the following quest would be much quicker with access to air travel.

When I completed the quest I still couldn’t access Draconis since I had to wait for it to be repaired. To no surprise, I was pretty pissed. Frustratingly enough, the questionable design choices didn’t stop at Draconis, since I still had to overcome Tales of Destiny’s exhausting dungeons.

Lost In Labyrinths

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The dungeons in Tales of Destiny further amplified my problems. It was already taxing getting swarmed in the game’s over world, but that wasn’t comparable to fighting through caves and temples. Some of these locations are so vast that they feel like labyrinths especially in the final hours of the adventure.

It’s extremely easy to become lost and there are a few tedious puzzles that require solving in order to progress. These criticisms combined with high number of enemies make navigating most of the dungeons a chore.

Redeemed Through Replay Value

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In spite of its flaws, I still foresee myself returning to Tales of Destiny. Namco packed plenty of content into the game, a lot of which, is easy to miss. I stumbled across quite a few hidden weapons, techniques, and even have an inkling that there’s alternate outcomes for certain characters.

Through its cast, Tales of Destiny managed to circumvent my frustration. Their motives, personalities, and back stories radiate with charm, and kept me invested throughout the journey. Though it was rough to navigate, Namco managed to make the pilgrimage worth the trek.