Reviews for the Nintendo Switch version of Bandai Namco’s Tales of Symphonia Remastered started rolling in this afternoon, and the ones that have come in aren’t that great with Meta score of 69 based on six critical reviews (7.10pm UK time). Let’s start with Noisy pixel who stated at the beginning that it was “probably the worst version to date, primarily due to bizarre technical issues and design choices” which is not a good start. Issues found include a harsh blinding white light before the start of a battle instead of a glass-shattering effect, which the site says is “harsh when playing in low light,” as well as a troublesome software crash that Noisy Pixel says happens “a good deal of the time ” Hardcore player they also mentioned this issue in their review saying that “during review play, Symphonia crashed during every single play session.” The remaster of Tales of Symphonia is based on the PS3 version and runs at 30fps which even then has lag on the Nintendo Switch. Here are some excerpts from selected reviews:
“To confirm if the problems present on the Switch version were also present on other consoles, I was able to play the PlayStation 4 version. As it turns out, many of my criticisms are not present in this version of the Remaster. The framerate is stable, as I don’t recall encountering any crashes, battle transitions have a glass-shattering effect, and backgrounds don’t disappear when opening menus. Plus, I’ve never faced a crash, although given how random it is on Switch, it’s hard to say it doesn’t exist on this platform.”
“Tales of Symphonia is a brilliant action JRPG that set the precedent for the genre. Even after all these years, its captivating storytelling, wide array of side activities, character interactions, and layers of combat options all combine to make it a must-experience adventure. Still, as a remaster, this particular edition fails to hit the mark, ultimately delivering a lackluster and disappointing revival that could have been so much more.”
“This remastered version of Symphonia is perfectly pleasing to the eyes. There are textures that needed more work, but most key locations look solid, and character models are more expressive and detailed than before simply because they’re sharper and clearer. The soundtrack is still as fantastic as ever, and the English and Japanese audio options are a wonderful choice.”
“Tales of Symphonia is still one of the biggest highlights in the series with a fantastic assortment of characters, simple yet enjoyable combat and a great story that will keep players engrossed. What hurts is that this remastered version has glaring issues that need to be fixed. Far from being impossible to recommend, we’d actually still absolutely want to for those who’ve never played it before, but with no autosave and multiple recorded crashes, it’s hard to tell people to run out and get it right away without a proper patch to address the bigger issues here. . With fixes to address the issues, Tales of Symphonia Remastered could easily be considered another fantastic port on modern systems that we hope to continue to see more of from Bandai Namco.”
“Tales of Symphonia seems to be a game that is doomed to get worse with each subsequent re-release. It’s hard to justify calling this new version a remaster because it includes all the problems with the previous version and introduces completely new problems on top of that. The bare minimum for porting a retro game should be that you won’t notice any technical issues if you haven’t played the original, and Tales of Symphonia Remastered doesn’t even clear that bar. It can be played; it’s still Tales of Symphonia, but that’s the absolute least we can ask of it, and it’s the absolute most we got from it.”
