Tales of Symphonia Remastered allows fans of the series to dive back into its unique combat and mess around with its many systems and mechanics again on modern platforms with slight enhancements to the visuals and many needed quality-of-life fixes.
However, there will undoubtedly be players coming in hot after just recently playing recent titles in the series, such as Tales of Arise, who may be thrown off by how vastly different this game’s combat system is in comparison. Luckily, there are many ways to make Tales of Symphonia’s combat more manageable and understandable, allowing you to tackle any challenge thrown your way.
Interrupt Casting Enemies
One of the most crucial aspects of Tales of Symphonia’s combat is the duration it takes to cast Spells for both your party members and the enemies. Just like you can get interrupted mid-cast, you can do the exact same to your enemies, which can save you the headache of getting annihilated from out of nowhere during your combo. You will know when an enemy has begun casting, as one or more of your party members will exclaim it during combat, allowing you to stop what you’re doing and single them out.
Unfortunately, not all enemies are created equally, and the vast majority of bosses cannot be interrupted during their casting period. At least, not easily. So, for these situations, we suggest utilizing your party to cast extra protections for everyone and mitigate the damage thrown your way.
Remember To Guard
Speaking of mitigating damage, do not forget to Guard during combat, especially after landing a combo. The general rule of thumb for Tales of Symphonia is to perform a combo, Guard through the enemy’s attack string, then combo again, repeating until the enemy is dead. Failing to Guard or respect your opponent can, and likely will, result in tremendous amounts of frustration and party wipes.
As our Beginner Tips Guide touched on, you should also be implementing the Backstep method into your combat strategy, which involves you moving backward while Guarding. While a seemingly simple move, it is one of the game’s most crucial and mastering it will save your life in more ways than one. Guarding, in general, is something that should not be neglected in this game.
Understand The Status Effects
While it is crucial to learn what every Status Effect is in Tales of Symphonia, the ones that really matter outright are the Debuffs or Ailments that can make your life difficult if inflicted upon yourself or your party members. These all have counters, but they can wreak havoc on you if you are unprepared for them or have no clue how to purge their effects. You can find all Status Ailments and Debuffs, along with how to get rid of them, by following our Guide on Status Effects here.
One last thing of note regarding Status Effects, particularly the Ailments, is that you want to get rid of them as soon as possible, as some can throw a wrench into your overall strategy if you let them linger on for too long. For example, if an enemy can inflict Petrify and turns you into Stone. You must deal with this immediately or risk the rest of your party getting hit with this Effect. If that were to happen, you would get an instant Game Over and have to reload your last save.
Keep Track Of Your Party
On the subject of your party, you never want to assume they will make poor decisions during combat, but the unfortunate truth is their AI isn’t always the smartest. This means that they will often get overwhelmed by the enemy, and as you’re hard-focusing a target and dishing out powerful combos, your teammates might be cowering in the corner and on the brink of death. Always keep an eye on them, and manage their actions via the Combat Menu when things get a bit hairy.
Nothing is worse than realizing that your party members are dead after you land a sick combo, but it can happen more than you might think, especially in the later portions of the game. Always keep their health topped up if you see it dip below roughly halfway, and be sure to utilize their Support Tech to ensure everyone is protected and taking as less damage as possible.
Auto, Semi-Auto, And Manual Battle Types
Keeping on the subject of maintaining your party members, if you ever wanted to control a different character during combat, you must make sure you have them set in the first slot of the party and set to the “Manual” battle type. If they are on Auto or Semi-Auto, you will not have complete control of them. Additionally, always be mindful of switching party members around, as some may be set to Manual, meaning they will not attack during encounters unless you switch to them.
In general, you want the first slot of the party to be set to Manual (or Semi-Auto if you prefer that) and the remainder of your party to be set to Auto. This way, they will attack and block on their own, and you can periodically cast Spells, Tech, Artes, and more via the Battle Menu. Absolutely do not, under any circumstances, set your additional party members to Manual, or they will just idly stand there during encounters and will get smoked by the enemy.
Though it may seem obvious to veterans of the series, this is never really explained in the game and can bite you if you assume the game will automatically switch them to Manual when you jump to them in combat. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and they should always be set to Auto.
Strike And Technical Gauge
You may have noticed the large bar with the letter ‘S‘ on one end and a ‘T‘ on the other. This is your Strike/Technical Meter, which determines what kind of Tech your character learns by performing actions in combat and leveling up. While this may seem daunting initially, please note that whatever side you are on is not permanent, and you can earn Tech from both sides. It will just take a bit of effort to learn everything from both ‘Tech Trees.’
Furthermore, you can influence which side of the Strike/Technical Meter you are learning moves from by equipping specific EX Gems, which you can obtain by defeating bosses, looting chests, and even stealing from some enemies. These EX Gems will either be Strike or Technical focused, and having an overwhelming majority of one type equipped over the other will influence the meter, having you earn Tech from that Tech Tree.
Lastly, the aforementioned “Tech Tree” refers to what Tech you can learn and equip. There are many ‘Neutral‘ Tech that then branches off into either the Strike or Technical Tree, which dictate what you can and cannot use at any given moment. For example, you can mix and match Tech from both Trees but cannot use Tech from opposing branches of the same Tree. So, Demon Fang can either become Double Demon Fang (T) or Demonic Circle (S) and while you can learn both moves, you cannot equip or use them together.
But, if you were to learn Acuteness (T) and Permaguard (S), you could equip and use both simultaneously, as they both branch off different Tech Trees. Essentially, if the base Tech is the same for the Strike and Technical ability you have learned, you cannot use them in unison with one another. They must originate from a different Tech. Again, it seems far more daunting than it actually is, and this is one of the best ways to obtain powerful Tech, so we suggest at least giving it a fair shake before outright ignoring it!
