====================================== Tales of Phantasia SFC/PSX differences v .4 Created by Cless (tetsuya@crosswinds.net) http://starocean.zophar.net ====================================== I have recently obtained a copy of Tales of Phantasia's remake for the Sony PlayStation. It's really good and I _HIGHLY_ recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the original Super Famicom version. I wrote up this guide up to cover as many big differences as I can possibly find. I also throw in a few comparisons to Tales of Destiny's general engine as well. Since it's a true remake, it's bound to have all the essentials of one. Enhanced graphics, sounds, music, etc. But that's not all. Not only is it a remake, it's also a remix, there are new features, quests, and a lot more. If you've ever played Tales of Destiny (the sequel), the remake of Tales of Phantasia has inherited many of the engine enhancements from it. It seems to me that the remake may have actually been ported to a slightly modified version of the Tales of Destiny engine. What's new? 04/08/00 -Initial release. There are a number of differences that I don't think I've gotten around to inputting here. Hopefully there will be an update soon. Table of Contents ----------------- 1) Magic/ability related stuff 2) Items 3) General gameplay -New food system -The "Job" system -Battle system -Difficulty modes -The "New Game save" 4) Changes throughout the game 5) Misc changes and additions Part 1: Magic/ability related stuff Quite a few things have changed here. Some characters have new spells, some characters have had spells changed or removed. Cless: He now has two new 'secret' techiques. Both of these special techniques are NOT performed the same way normal techs are performed! They are also not gotten in the traditional fashion. - One is a desperation attack. When the word "Power" (I THINK) flashes by his HP or TP. While it does that, hit all 3 attack buttons, [], X and O at the same time! - The other one is Stahn Aileron's Ougi "Assassin" (US name... I'm not sure what the original was). You must have a SPECIAL SWORD (it's kind of a spoiler, albeit an optional one) and I believe it requires the use a certain combination of buttons to execute it. I've not gotten this yet, I found out about this in a technique FAQ. Chester: Chester has had major overhaul in this department. In the original, he had no techniques. In this remake, he does. 9 of them to be exact. He's all powerful now. :) Mint: Mint has had several changes to her spells. -She has a new spell called "Charge." IMHO, it's kinda useless. It's used to restore 5 TP to another member, at a cost of 10 TP for her. -Her attack up spell in the original was called "Valkyrie" which calls forth a valkyrie to raise attack power. In the remake, the attack up spell is called "Sharpness" with a new effect. -The Nurse and Resurrection spells now affects characters that aren't in the same screen from where it's being cast. -I remember her gaining a spell called "Time Stop" in my last playthrough. This wasn't in the SFC version and I believe it (surprise!) stopped the time temporarily. Not sure if it worked on bosses. Better description coming when I get it again in my second playthrough (should be getting that spell any time now) Changes to Klarth's summons: -Maxwell no longer does 'random' damage with each hit. All damage done is pretty much in the same range. -Luna is now a mulit-hit summon. Each ray that drops down does damage to a monster if it hits one. -The Chameleon summon from the original was replaced with "Pluto." I don't know much more about it cause I haven't gotten it yet. Changes to Arche's Magic: -Black hole is not a death spell in this version. Instead, it does damage and is about as powerful as the SFC version's Meteor Swarm. -Meteor Swarm is multi hit. There are five large meteors that come crashing down. Each one does 1500-2000 damage to an enemy in range. -The Extension spell (the THIRD death spell) in the original has been replaced with "Big Bang." Instead of being another ho hum death spell, it has been changed into a very powerful damage spell. Quite a bit more powerful than the SFC version's Meteor Swarm. ============= PART 2: ITEMS ============= There are a lot of new items in the remake. Mostly food items and a few new weapons/armors. There are a couple of new 'major' items added to increase replay value. These are: -Monster Book. This will display the stats of monsters you've fought during your play. It will also display the items they will drop as well (if they've dropped it before... if not it just says "????"). Using 'Spectacles' on a monster will reveal even more stats. The 'Monster Book' data in your current playthrough will be retained in your "New Game save" you are given the option to make after beating the game. Changing the difficulty of the game in custom menu will cause the book to show the stats of monster in that difficulty rank. -Collector Book. This will display all the items you've ever found. The object of this one is to collect all of the items. Once you have found an item you didn't previously have, it'll be uncovered. Items you haven't found will be noted with "????????." If you lose an item, it'll still be listed as a found item. The data for this book is also stored in a "New Game save" to increase replay value. -World Map. Not exactly a 'replay value' item. When you use it, it'll display (surprise!) the world map. It'll also point at your current location, and show you the location of towns and show the shop contents of shops you've been to. -Addition of Tales of Destiny's Technical Ring. It enables Manual character control during battle. -The Combo Command enables Manual character control as well. Also, while it's equipped, you can view the required motions to do the moves during battle by pressing Triangle and viewing the character's skills/magic menu. This item is equippable by Cless, Chester, and Suzu. So there are 3 characters for you to master. Most people consider this a novelty item, but I think it adds tons of depth. Especially great if you use it with Manual, as it will make the battles 'emulate' a true old school 2D fighting game! ======================== PART 3: GENERAL GAMEPLAY ======================== There've been more things done to this game as far as general gameplay than just slight hacks of old features. The NEW food system ------------------- I'm still actually in the dark on this one. I don't know much Japanese, so I'm not sure how it works yet. What I can tell you is that, the entire food sack system has been stuck in the ditch. It no longer exists. Food has a couple of new purposes: -Recovery items. I guess this is true successor 'feature' to the loss of the food sack system. Food items will restore a very small amount of HP and/or TP. The recovery amount is so small, that it might not be worth it unless you are absolutely healing-item starved. -Cooking. A new feature added to the game. You use individual food items as ingredients to make other foods or something. I don't know how it works entirely. After 'making' a new food, the character regains some HP and/or TP. That's about it, I guess. For some reason it seems like you can only use it once, and then to use it again, you have to battle first. The "Job" system ---------------- Again, I have little knowledge of this system. As you go up levels, or meet certain requirements, you get new "Job" options for a character. No, it's not a job system like Final Fantasy 5, Tactics, Dragon Quest VI, etc where you go from a mage to a fighter, but rather a job system that ups your "rank" or something. You can change it whenever you wish, but I have no idea of the significance. When I change, I see no differences in performance or anything any of kind during battle. I guess these are just things to collect and see if you can find them all. Adds replay value... Battle system ------------- If you've ever played Tales of Destiny-- it's pretty much the same engine. The battles feel quite alike between the two. But this is a GOOD thing. Tales of Destiny's battle system is vastly improved over the original Tales of Phantasia. Improvments consist of: -MUCH easier handling and control of the character you're controlling. In the original Tales of Phantasia, it was quite tricky. Sometimes it seemed that the normal moves that Cless did were almost random. Not so anymore. It's hard to explain, but your character is just SO much easier to control. -Your character will go into a "Defend" status if you press the Square button. -Up to 4 human players can play the battles with a multitap. Requires you to find the Channel Rings, though. Who says RPGs can't be fun multiplayer games? Star Ocean needs this feature! NOTE: You'll usually get a new Channel Ring right after getting a new character. A big plus, since they can be difficult to find in Tales in Destiny. -Special attacks are performed like Tales of Destiny. You assign four attacks in the hissatsuwaza menu, and are executed with the d-pad in conjunction with the X button. -Like in Tales of Destiny, there are now "control options" for controlled characters. They are "Auto", "Semi-Auto", and "Manual." These are NOT to be confused with the Targetting option in the SFC version's customize mode. These are how they are: -Auto: Character is completely controlled by the AI. You can also set the character in the #1 slot on Auto, so your party is 100% controlled by the AI. The only input you'll have though is item and special attack usage with the Triangle button... -Semi-Auto: Some character movements are controlled by the player. This option is only available to the character in the first slot. It is also available to characters who have a Channel Ring equipped. This must be set on for the character to be controllable, on the corrosponding controller. -Manual: Only available if you have a "Technical Ring" or the "Combo Command" accessories equipped to a controllable character. ALL the movements of your character are completely manually controlled. You'll have to run on your own, jump on your own, etc. It makes the fights more dramatic and interesting, IMO. I like it more than Semi-Auto. The only downside is that you have to wait until about 10 or 15 hours into the game to finally obtain a Technical Ring (That's in the Morlia Gallery around floor 4 or 5 or so... if you know of any others earlier on, let me know! Manual is the BEST!) Use the Combo Command accessory and combine it with Manual control to emulate a true old school 2-D fighting game! Difficulty modes ---------------- The original Tales of Phantasia actually had two difficulty modes. One was normal, and the other was much harder. The harder mode was a hidden feature in the original. (to access it, hit ABXY at the same time while "New Game" is highlighted on the title screen, and if you hear "Yatta" being said by everyone in the party, then you've got it. Monsters will attain a lot more power, but their HP levels the same). In the remake, there are THREE difficulty modes that I know of: Normal - Normal difficulty. Fairly easy and very beatable. Hard - Not quite as hard as the SFC version's "Hard Mode" from what I've experimented with. Monsters obtain a significant increase in attack power, and HP twice that of the Normal mode. Seems very beatable, but you may run into a few rough spots. Mania - Insanity. Monsters obtain a higher significant increase in strength and recieve THREE times as much HP as the Normal mode. This mode seems virtually impossible. In the earlier parts of the game, unless you run into G.Bee's, you're in for a massive, brutal beating. Super expert players who know how to maneuver themselves well through battles and can avoid getting hit should be the only ones warranted to play this death trap! By the way, this mode very easily gets the title "Hardest hard difficulty in ANY RPG." Yes, it even kills Star Ocean: The Second Story's Universe mode with EASE. NOTE: This mode is not accessible until you beat the game, and use the "New Game save" that you are given to make at the end of the game. One more thing to note is that, these difficulty modes are adjustable during the middle of out of battle play. So if you're playing in Normal, and getting bored becase it's really easy, you could simply highlight "hard" or something. The "New Game save" ------------------- To some people, it might sound like something such as "New Game +" from Chrono Trigger. But it's actually quite different. After the credits when you beat the game, you'll be given the option to save. If you save, it'll create a file with a green star at 0 Hours and 0 minutes (0:00). It retains some special data that was in your last game, such as the Monster book data and Collector Book data. It also enables the "Mania" difficulty level. It may do more than that, but I haven't played to the point to noticing anything. This is great for the replay value. =================================== PART 4: CHANGES THROUGHOUT THE GAME =================================== This part will be kind of like a walkthrough of changes in events during the game. I haven't really devoted a real playthrough to write this part yet in completion, but here are a few earlier game changes that I can remember: There are remake SPOILERS in here, obviously! Even spoilers for you who've played through the SFC version. There are new scenes and stuff that reveal more. Not everything is major, but anything major is not specially marked, so read at your own risk. S P O I L E R S P A C E -Amy (Chester's sister) will have some dialogue with Cless if you go and talk to her before going in the forest. She'll give you the rare item called the "Mascot" which is a model of Cless. -When you get back from the forest, instead of being completely out of it, Miguel will mutter a couple of sentences to you before dying. -To break the gate in the sewer, you need to use the Battle Axe found in the treasure box. The Long Sword you pulled out of Meryl won't work here. The Battle Axe breaks too, so you can't use it for the coming battles. S P O I L E R S P A C E ================================== PART 5: MISC CHANGES AND ADDITIONS ================================== The stuff in here is for singular things or things that aren't big enough to warrant its own section. 1) The inclusion of a new character! Her name is Suzu Fujibayashi. She's an optional/hidden character. She's a Ninja who is pretty agile in battle. She's a fighter type character and learns her moves similar to Arche (you find them). They also added a new song to the game, which is her theme song. 2) A New subquest which involves the Forest of the Treant. To get to it, you must have gotten Origin. Go back to Origin's post and "talk" to it. Dialogue will engage and soon after a Yes/No option will come up. Select yes and you'll be warped to some new forest in another dimension. You search for a certain item here. This forest is a maze, because the map wraps around. 3) Chester's later bows have been weakened quite a bit. The Berserk Arrow does NOT shoot two arrows anymore, either. I think this is because of his new techniques. Heh. After all, he does have a couple of techniques that shoot out mulitiple arrows anyway. 4) The ending credits song in the Super Famicom version is NOT present in the remake. The credits was replaced by a movie, and a new vocal song plays. 5) I can't really confirm it myself, but from what I've read from a review, most of the dialogue in the game has been completely rewritten, to match the 'quality' of current games or something. Same meaning, just better written or something. 6) The Indignation spell isn't anywhere NEAR as a effective on Dhaos in the Past/Present! Remember how it did like 5000-6000 damage, and then how he screams at you for using it? In the PSX version, it only does about as much as a common enemy (about 2000 at the time) and he doesn't scream at you. The fact that he doesn't get pissy about you using it will be missed. :( 7) Dhaos in the present is MUCH more difficult! You thought he was difficult via SFC... wait till you fight him now! Remember how he was stronger than Dhaos in the past, but had like 15000/45000 HP? Well, guess what now? He's even stronger than that, and has a FULL 45000/45000 HP! Good waza use with Cless should pronounce you the victor, though. END ============================= If you wish to use this file on your homepage give me an email (email address at the top). Do not modify or sell this document in any way. Thanks to Namco Japan for producing this excellent remake. Square could learn a thing or two from it... No thanks to Namco US for ignoring it's fans and not releasing an english version. Also, no thanks to them for not permitting other companies to port it over instead. (I.E. Working Designs)