I love the game. The Tales games actually like to explore tropes and then kind of examine them in a different way. Like in Tales of the Abyss they take the trope of "Fate" in RPG's and turn it on its face, and in Symphonia, they take the trope of the "Chosen one" and examine it in a way a lot of games don't. I actually find it to be incredibly similar to Final Fantasy X, but told differently, and, in my opinion, better.

I like how bright and cheery it all seems with the themes themselves being darker. Mildly spoiler-yLike what happens to a certain main character, and when you think they're saved and its good to go, something else happens. I like the whole ExSphere storyline. I like finding out what's really going on with the chosen and the whole ritual.

I wasn't expecting to like the game as much as I did, but so far its my favourite Tales game. It's one of the few games I've played recently that makes me just want to keep going and seeing what happens next. I hated grinding in this game (mostly for money, not levels) not because the battle system was bad (although it wasn't as good as later games in the series) but because I just wanted to see what happens next darn it. Absolutely loved the game