I am a huge fan of RPGs (Role playing games)…and I can say (with pride) that I’ve played most of the good RPG titles for the GBA, games like “Golden sun”, “Breath of Fire” and “Tactics Ogre”. But there is a game which all of us sets apart, be it for the story or game-play or the entire experience, the so called “best game” we’ve played.
If one googles “best RPG games for the GBA” , thousands of pages consisting of blogs and forums discussing the “best game” for the GBA appears within milliseconds…well this blog is kind of like that but I’m mentioning a game which I enjoyed more than the ones described in the forums/blogs. It would not do the game justice if I didn’t let people know, so that they can enjoy playing a great title on the GBA.
The game I am referring to as the “best RPG game on the GBA” (in my opinion that is) happens to be “Tales of Phantasia”
Most forums and blogs will mention games like “Golden Sun” series, “Breath of Fire” series, “Final Fantasy “series (FF4 is a great game for the DS btw),Fire emblem, Tactics Ogre…and the list goes on and on. The fore mentioned games are all great games (trust me I’ve played em all) but in my opinion none deserves the title of the greatest RPG on the GBA.
Side note: Many blogs also include the Pokémon series as a RPG, but I do not consider it an RPG. Besides you’re either a Pokémon fan or you’re not.
There are several reasons as to why I believe that “Tales of Phantasia” is the best game for the GBA. The game has an enthralling plot. The characters are well thought out. The graphics of this game is better than the likes of the “Golden Sun” or “Breath of fire”. There is also an innovative combat system. The combat system differs from the combat systems of “Golden Sun”, “Breath of Fire” which are turn based .The combat system here is simultaneous. What I mean when I say simultaneous is that you can control one main character (the one who walks in the over world {switchable}) and tell the other characters what to do. There is no fixed turn, so the enemy can attack while you’re busy engineering a strategy. It also makes the game challenging. The other aspect of this game which I love is the music. In most games GBA the music is so bad most of us mute it out in our emulator. In the case of “Tales of Phantasia” I found the music to be quite good.
==Tales of Phantasia Walkthrough V 2.01==
==Luke Drelick (ldrelick@acsu.buffalo.edu)==
This is the walkthrough I followed to complete the game…I started following this walkthrough only after I got stuck in Dhaoss’ castle (a blessing in disguise my characters leveled up heavily whilst they were searching for a way forward).
The reason I’m including this is because the above mentioned walkthrough is incomplete and I would like to complete it….
“After you beat the first form, he calls on his true evil power, and attacks. This is it, the final battle! Good luck!
-In this battle, you’ll be battling against both Dhaos and his arm. Go for the arm first, attacking with all your techniques. When the screen turns light blue, you’re unable to attack Dhaos but he can still do damage to you. Use all your Hourglasses and Chronoglasses and pound Dhaos with every spell, technique, ougi, and attack that you’ve got! You can do it”……………
Here’s where I take over
After defeating Dhaos’s 2nd form he gets up again to reveal his third form “Plume Dhaos”. This guy has a deadly array of attacks and can easily KO the team. The only thing one can do is to use the ultimate attacks of Archie(meteor) and Claus(Origin).Since Plume Dhaos can easily cast his deadly spells one has to constantly keep him busy using “Cress”. The most effective method I found while tackling Dhaos was to use Fire beer(name I can’t say for sure, it increases attack)and then constantly using sword rain. That way u can attack a lot of times as sword rain uses minimal MP and also doesn’t allow Dhaos to cast his spells.(FYI Dhaos is one of the toughest bosses EVER.)
After the game finishes there is just one thing left to do (Archie’s quest)...In this, all you have to do is to perform 2 tasks (try telling the kids a story) and one other you pick. The ending depends on whether you can finish the tasks or not.
If u saw both endings you’d realize why, it’s stupid.
Conclusion:
Don’t get me wrong, Golden Sun 2 is also a great game (allowing 16 playable characters to take part in a single battle!).Breath of Fire 2 is also a great game allowing players to be customized (they’re looks change significantly after “shamans” are introduced into them).
For me Tales of Phantasia is the best GBA RPG game. I hope that u will enjoy playing it as much as I have…..Thus I end with the beginning…
"If there is evil in this world, it exists only in the hearts of men..."
-Edward D. Morrison
