Namco's first domestic PlayStation RPG is finally here, and it's the type of gaming experience that diehard RPG fanatics have been waiting for. Billed as a retro RPG, with a 16-bit look, it may not have the awe-inspiring FMV sequences found in many of today's RPGs, but it more then makes up for it in all other areas of gameplay.

Tales of Destiny is the epic story of Stahn Aileron, a free spirit who is out for fame and fortune. The game begins as Stahn is caught as a stowaway on a flying Dragon ship. The ship gets attacked by monsters and Stahn stumbles upon a mysterious sentient Sword called a Swordian. This Swordian is one of six mighty weapons from a war that was fought one thousand years ago. With the Swordian's help, Stahn survives the attack and begins a world-saving adventure worthy of a true epic RPG. Along the way, he meets many colorful characters, each with their own agenda and distinct personality. An impressive plot begins to develop as the player is drawn into the Destiny world.

The structure of the game is typical RPG adventuring, including the exploration of towns, the conquering of dungeons, talking to other characters, and upgrading equipment. What sets this game apart from a typical RPG is the excellent translation job Namco has done. The dialogue is believable in the context of the story, with a nice helping of witty humor that doesn't go overboard.

Evidence of the game's overall quality is found in the voices used during battles. Each character has their own battle cry or spell casting chant which adds to his or her individuality. The music and sound effects are also very good. They are varied enough to not be repetitive and good enough to offset areas which do have repeating music, such as battles and specific towns. A sound test option allows the player to hear all of the musical tracks, of which there are about a hundred.

While the land and town graphics could have been done on the SNES, the game does contain a lot of colorful scenery. The intro and ending sequences include anime movies which help set the mood of the adventure. While the characters are typical Japanese super-deformed type, there are full size pictures of each on the status screens.

The most innovative aspect of the game is the battle system. Done completely in real-time, you can run around the side-scrolling screen, hack at the enemies, perform cool combos, and cast spells. The player always controls the main character. The other characters, of which there can be up to four at any one time, are controlled by the computer. There is, however, the option of setting either aggressive or defensive strategies for the non-controllable characters. During battles these settings can be changed. It's also possible to cast any spell or technique that you want any character to perform, simply by calling up the menu bar during combat. Different skills (combos) are acquired with experience. Spells are obtained and strengthened only through continued use of Swordians. Swordians which are equipped also grow in attack strength along with the characters that carry them, which offsets the fact that some weapons are initially stronger than Swordians. Another plus is that the A.I. of the computer controlled characters is very competent. They will heal your character and others by themselves and cast good support spells and combos to help you out.

Battles occur often, even though you can see and avoid the enemy in some areas. The battle frequency is never a real bother because the battles are actually fun, especially when there are lots of enemies. The fights get very intense and hectic, with characters running around and jumping on the enemies to kill them. Add in the grunts, screams, and hybrid Japanese-English chanting that goes on during a fight, and I say the more battles the merrier.

With a huge world consisting of at least 4 continents, large and detailed towns, plenty of people to talk to, various modes of travel, great characters, side-quests, and a solid storyline, this game gives a big bang for the buck. Don't let the retro RPG style fool you. This game is right up there with Final Fantasy VII, Wild Arms, Suikoden, and the rest of the excellent PlayStation RPG library.