A couple of weeks before I came to Oslo, Tales of Symphonia was released in the US for the Gamecube. Unable to wait until it came out in the UK, I had already pre-ordered it and recieved it within a few days of its US release. I was glad I did.
It is definitely one of the best games I've played this year, and in fact still playing (despite having completed it, not 100% of course). One of the most appealing reasons to play this game is the actually enjoyable combat system, which unlike Final Fantasy games is real-time, which means fighting the same enemies over and over again (which you can avoid doing if you want without needing to find the sacred moo moo grass of tati-lala) is actually fun. With 8 different characters to control you can switch at any time and get a whole new fighting experience sinceeach character has their own strengths and weaknesses.
The basic premise of the game is that there is a "chosen" one who will perform world regeneration and save the world. You are not the chosen one, but you are friends with her =). So you end up travelling with her and the plot spirals out of from there (and boy does it spiral). I don't want to say too much here as I don't wish to spoil the plot to anyone else wishing to play the game.
You can have 8 characters in total in your party, and 4 at once in battle. You start off with 3 characters, and pick the rest up as you go. It doesn't take too long to get all your party members, and it is pretty obvious when you meet them who will be joining you, since the opening title sequence of the game has them all in it. My favourite character is Presea (the axe wielding little girl) whom you get later in the game, she doesn't get as many combos as some of the other characters but she is pretty tough.
Combat is good fun, fast paced, and varied enough to keep you interested. While it is vital to fight many enemies to keep your level up, you can avoid fighting relatively easily. Enemies appear as monsters as you walk around and if you "bump" into them you enter a battle. Battles take place outside the normal flow of things just like Final Fantasy, but instead of simply selecting menu items, you get directly involved in the fighting.
You control whichever character you have set as your "main" and use the control stick to move, with a combination of the A or B button and directions on the stick. You can configure which directions perform which special attacks, and even configure the C-stick to special moves (even moves of your other characters in the fight). The other 3 party members are usually controlled by AI, which is pretty good most of the time, however if you want 3 friends can take control of the other party members during combat for some interesting fights.
I really enjoy this combat system, and is a welcome change from entirely menu based battles, it is even one of the few rpg's of this nature where the DEFEND ability is used a great deal. If you dont guard in the fights you are going to die. Fights are in 3d but you move in a 2d plane relative to which enemy you are attacking, so it's incredibly simple to pick up and fun to master.
There are various other things that contribute to this being a great game, which include the cooking system, Ex.Skills, combined attacks, new game+ mode, excellent cell shaded anime "look" and what I think is an excellent soundtrack. Collecting everything in the game seems pretty hard but there are aids within the game to assist with this including percentage tracking of the various types of items. If you own a Gamecube you should play this game.