Tales Of Symphonia(TM) Official Strategy Guide [Paperback]

Dan Birlew (Author), Phillip Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2004

BradyGames' Tales of Symphonia Official Strategy Guide features a comprehensive walkthrough, covering every aspect of the game. Strategies to customize and equip each character. Expert boss tactics and an all-inclusive bestiary. Complete coverage of all mini-games and side quests. Area maps, weapon and item rosters, and much more!

This product is available for sale in the U.S. and Canada only.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Namco-Hometek, Inc. is the U.S. consumer division of Namco Limited, a Tokyo-based world leader in the high-tech entertainment industry. Committed to providing the ultimate entertainment experience, Namco uses cutting-edge technology and advanced electronics to take their theme parks, arcades, and home video games far beyond traditional entertainment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Brady Games (July 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0744004039
• ISBN-13: 978-0744004038
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Birlew is an author and video game expert who has been writing official, published video game strategy guides since 1999. His original career goals included acting and directing. Video games always excited Dan since he was seven years old, but at the age of twenty-six he began honing his playing skills with the goal of becoming an expert gamer. He enjoyed publishing online documents regarding games, known as "FAQs". Dan inadvertently created an online persona for himself when he wrote and self-published on the Internet a plot analysis of the highly popular survival horror video game, Silent Hill. "The game's story was somewhat vague, and demanded that someone try to explain it," says Birlew.

Upon receiving an overwhelming number of positive responses from other Silent Hill fans, and after some gentle nudging from his wife, Birlew decided to set aside his acting and directing activities to establish a career as a video game strategy guide author. He sent writing samples to several publishing companies. Based on the merits of his very first submission, he was hired by a major publisher within 24 hours. Birlew says, "It was as though I had won the lottery."

Birlew has authored over sixty published video game strategy guides and seeks other methods of publication, such as review columns, articles, and other non-fiction video game-related books. Birlew says of his passion for games, "I love exploring video games, the industry, the culture, the fans -- and there is so much of it about which I can analyze and write." He also bears a strong desire to publish fiction, and is currently working on a novel concerning the paranormal.

Dan Birlew is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. He now resides in Las Vegas with his wife of seventeen years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Besides video games, Birlew also enjoys Japanese films and dining with his family and friends in the restaurants and clubs of Las Vegas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It was so close to being good!, June 14, 2005

By 

S. Rhodes - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tales Of Symphonia(TM) Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

There are times when people want to buy a strategy guide to get a leg up. Afterall, unlike most online guides they have maps and screenshots for us visual learners who can't learn by text alone. Unfortunately, the problem with being a visual learner with strategy guides, is when those guides are missing a lot of stuff. If this were a guide for an action/adventure game, it would be perfect. But RPG guides are supposed to be better than this.

To begin, let us first understand what a strategy guide is. It is NOT meant to be a "How-to" book. It's meant to be just what it is: A guide. Some things the guide really shouldn't have to point out to you (does the guide really have to say which direction is North on the worldmap? It's on display in the game for cryin' out loud!). Unfortunately, while this guide is helpful, it seems far from being complete.

The walkthrough is basic. It's written to where you should only refer to it if you're stuck. It's a quick easy to use walkthrough. I didn't have any troube understanding puzzle solutions (if the writing is confusing, just look at the screenshot, easy as that). I also didn't have any trouble being guided in the next direction. It seems like it's done it's job right? Afterall, all the EX skills and Techs are in the guide, and they're covered pretty well in an easy to use table. Items list, weapons charts, all the neat misc. stuff is here.

But there are problems.

The writing, as the others have pointed out, is confusing sometimes. Some paragraphs really DO end abruptly. And there are instances of them being none finished, but here's the trick to that. When a paragraph isn't finished, it means the next few words are the title of the next section. A technique BradyGAMES must've picked up from Versus Books along the road. It doesn't work though, as you can clearly see by the other reviewers who didn't seem to spot this sooner.

The walkthrough has more problems. An RPG guide NEEDS MAPS! I'll shout it from the roof-tops until the day I die! Without maps, an RPG guide is damn near useless. Where are the treasures? I don't know because the guide doesn't have maps! You'll have to rely on directions, and they don't even lead you to all the items. The good news is there IS an items list for each area.

Also, what's with the bestiary? I understand that it goes by the monster list in the game, but if it were alphabetical, it would've been easier to use. If you encounter an enemy for the first time, you'll have to flip through endless pages to find the enemy you want. More importantly, why aren't monster stats called out in the walkthrough? They are for bosses, but not regular enemies.

And let's talk about boss strategies for a moment. I've never seen a guide with such horrendous strategies before. Here's a boss strategy from one of the late bosses in the game. I can put it right here!

"Use ice, water, or fire attacks to defeat the monster, in combination with physical attacks and techs."

Now, what did you learn? Weakness? Yeah. But what about what the boss attacks with? What about what YOUR characters need to defend against? Does the boss cast status effects? Nobody knows!

Finally, there's no affections list. One of the most crucial parts of the story and character development, and the guide doesn't help you with it. What choices do I make for my characters to like me? Hell, I don't know.

I liked the side-quest sectin. Very detailed, but I wish they'd call them out in the walkthrough. I had a case of page-flipping after damn near every completed area just to see if a side-quest was availible. I'd waste precious game time (and some life) just seeing if a quest was availible.

Seriously though, this isn't the worst guide in the world. If you need help with the main quest, it WILL help you. You just have to make really good use of those screenshots and tips. The tips DO work, and you will find all the titles, EX Skills and obtain all the techs using this guide. You won't master the game with the guide, but you'll come close in more ways than you think. The only MAJOR problem with the guide is the Character affection and lack of maps. Other than that, you should be just fine with this guide.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mistakes and Gaping Holes, August 12, 2004

By 

Kate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales Of Symphonia(TM) Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

I honestly cannot believe they published this guide with so many mistakes. There are parts of it where the writing stops, and, when you expect it to turn up in the next column, it's got a new heading and talking about something completely different. Dan Birlew does a decent job explaining the dungeons and everything, but there is no map, and there are times where he gives you just a vague command. The best of the entire guide is the subquest listing. Especially since there are a lot of guides online that don't mention subquests, but just stick to the general storyline. Otherwise, I'd urge you to not spend the money and just find a good game guide site (gamefaqs.com is one I can think of off the top of my head).

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The writing is a puzzle in itself..., June 11, 2005

By 

SeskieFuzzy (Southern California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tales Of Symphonia(TM) Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

The book does help by giving details on what needs to be done but I am left to figure out what the guide is telling me. There is a writing and content issue here. The paragraphs end abruptly or they don't make any sense at all. The step by step guide that concerns dungeon puzzles are often more confusing then they should be because of the wording.

Weapons list, armor lists, EX skills and titles list are a plus. I wish the subquest missions are integrated into the book instead of written as an appendix at the back of the book since I have missed a couple of things to do and I've had to hurriedly flip to the back to see what I can backtrack on.

The affection scale is not listed on this guide. That's an integral part of the story and for it not to be included in a plus or minus list format is disappointing.

Overall it's a decent guide for quick reference. Bad writing and and a sense of incompleteness hold it back from being a great guide.