I felt proud of defeating bosses, though sometimes it was more relief than anything – dying often meant repeating a cutscene before I could restart the battle. I mainly used Lloyd in combat and found his attacks to be the most satisfying, but I also loved strategizing and directing the rest of my party. I really enjoyed battle nonetheless - it’s deep, it takes a bit of strategy, and it never got boring. Symphonia’s fixed camera and linear lock-on do feel a little old, especially when compared with the “free run” mode added in Dawn, which allows you to move out of the 2D plane. The highlight of both Symphonia and Dawn of the New World is their real-time battle system, which is still as fun as ever. It’s a decade old and certainly feels that way at times, but it has a charm that extends beyond nostalgia. (Dawn of the New World, meanwhile, could have used a less insufferable protagonist.) Symphonia, however, is not hurt by the lack of change. The translations still have errors ranging from simple grammar problems to stilted, confusing dialogue, and Symphonia is begging for a Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD-esque fix to its lengthy overworld travel. Some aspects of both games could have used some change, of course. It was a welcome change, especially when I got tired of hearing my party announce their attacks over and over in battle - it’s much easier to tolerate in Japanese and a big reason to get Chronicles instead of replaying the original GameCube version. I was never a fan of the cheesy English voice acting, so I was probably more excited about getting to play it in Japanese than I was for the new graphics. The only major change aside from the visual updates is the option in both Symphonia and Dawn to use the Japanese voiceover. The few anime scenes are where the HD really stands out, and they are absolutely stunning. Considering the amount of time you can spend exploring in the field, and the many long, often-tedious walks from place to place, that’s disappointing. For Tales of Symphonia Chronicles on the PlayStation 3, a GameFAQs message board topic titled 'Would you buy a tales of game if it had no english voice acting but was subbed'. The monster sprites are the same weird blobs they’ve always been, and edges and textures look their age. However, going out to the overworld field (which never looked all that great to begin with) is now jarring. In Symphonia, detailed locations like Ossa Trail, Lake Umacy and the Fooji Mountains look gorgeous in HD.

The graphics upgrade, however, is inconsistent.

Chronicles is an HD port, not a remake, meaning not much has changed - a good thing for fans of the original Symphonia, which remains a great game.

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