So… Is it?
BUT GAMECUBE SUCKS.
Fujishima’s art style is prevelant throughout ToS, and a lot of the characters are very famillar looking (Lloyd for instance looks a lot like a red leather-clad Keiichi Morisato from Ah! My Goddess), and really gives the game a distinctive feel that is a welcome change from the mediocre graphics of all those FF-wannabe RPGs that have been flooding the market since FFVII was released.
Sure, there are some faults with ToS, but as a whole, Tales of Symphonia is a very good game that I thoroughly reconmend to any RPG fan who owns a Gamecube – particularly as the GCN is seriously lacking in decent RPGs (Skies of Arcadia Legends being the only other RPG that I’m aware of – FF Crystal Chronicles doesn’t count, for being an absolute abomination).
And why don’t you like the earlier tales games? They’re awesome!
Especially the first one, Tales of Phantasia, which I think is only on an emulator. Even though it’s a blatent ripoff of FF6 and Chrono Trigger. Pretty much the same story as Chrono Trigger, with a lot of lines from it and from FF6.
("Hey, you back with us now?", "This can’t be our future…", "What’s ‘magic?’", etc. It also has time traveling like Chrono Trigger.)