Tales of Symphonia probably is where most fans of the Tales series first began their journey. Alongside the swordsman Llyod and his friends, Tales of Symphonia was—and still kind of is—considered a stellar JRPG that many would argue was the best even now after several other Tales of games have been released. Now in 2023, we here at Honey’s Anime alongside the rest of the fans of Tales of Symphonia get to relive this legendary adventure once again in a remastered version but here’s the one million dollar question. Does Tales of Symphonia Remastered deserve our cash or should we just boot up the original on our dusty GameCubes? Let us find out in our review of Tales of Symphonia Remastered for the Nintendo Switch!

What has always made the Tales of franchise so loveable is their unusual way of approaching JRPG tropes. Rather than always be about some upbeat spikey-haired protagonist or a passion-filled hero, Tales of games use clichés and intertwine them with real-world issues. Tales of Symphonia Remastered returns us to the world regeneration journey that a young woman named Colette must embark on to save a possibly dying planet. Followed by her childhood friends Llyod Irving and Genis Sage—plus several others introduced as the tale continues—the plot seems simple but begins to unfold like a tasty blooming onion. You’ll learn that this world has heavy segregation themes, plenty of people are put into horrible positions because of their birth and hatred just because they are of a particular breed. One can always walk away from Tales of Symphonia realizing just how lifelike its story really is. Tales of Symphonia Remastered doesn’t alter that narrative and ensures that players get to watch a grand tale unfold that goes across planets and various locations, which is one reason many will love this title.

Tales of Symphonia Remastered doesn’t change up the gameplay much either as it still has that classic 2D action the original Tales of Games had. Just like modern Tales titles, Tales of Symphonia Remastered has the player—or friends—take control of a character and lay the beatdown on the enemy using combos and artes. Unleashing special attacks can create special artes and as you progress further you’ll unleash even cooler special abilities. You can even set how the PC takes care of your characters with a pretty robust—even for today’s JRPG standards—strategy system that can make battles super easy or incredibly tough, requiring players to micromanage the flow of battle. Tales of Symphonia Remastered still has some fun combat, if a bit simple by comparison to the more recent Tales of Arise title but we love this classic experience and think fans/newcomers will too.

Despite being a 20-year-old game—yes, Tales of Symphonia came out in Japan in 2003 and 2004 in the US—we have to admit Tales of Symphonia Remastered looks pretty sharp. Yes, it has a really old classic feel and we do kind of miss the more modern full-sized heroes versus the chibi-like ones of yesteryear but Tales of Symphonia Remastered did a solid job taking a blurry JRPG and making it shine for modern consoles. In no way is this on the level of FF Crisis Core or FF7 Remake, but we can’t expect every title to have that same level of re-mastery…can we?

Our biggest gripe with Tales of Symphonia Remastered is that really…it feels like all we got was a few simple updates and just some minor polish which does make the price tag seem a bit outlandish. You can download a port version of Tales of Symphonia on Steam for ten dollars and that seems a fair price for such an older game. If Tales of Symphonia Remastered were $20 or less we’d admit that would feel understandable but at $39.99 you’re getting just some updated visuals, the ability to skip skits—why would you though—and some minor world fixes. If you’re like us and have played Tales of Symphonia many times before, it might be hard to recommend this remastered game for the price of admission. Yet, we know fans will want to support the Tales of franchise as we do so the price won’t completely hurt you either.