Tales of Symphonia (テã⠻ ;€šÂ¤Ã£Æ’Â&laq » uo;ズ Ã£â€šÂªÃ£Æ » ;’– ã‚·ã&AEl » ig;’³ãƒ• » ;ã‚©ã&AEli » g;’‹ã‚ » ;¢, Teiruzu obu Shinfonia?) is a video game first released for the Nintendo GameCube and later for the PlayStation 2. It debuted in Japan on August 29 2003, in Canada and the United States on July 13 2004, and in Europe on November 19 2004. The game received a Japanese-only PlayStation 2 release on September 22, 2004.[1] The game sold 118,000 copies during its first two weeks of sales in the U.S.[2] and went on to sell over 1.2 million copies worldwide.[3][4]

The game was produced by Akira Yoshizumi, a producer from Namco. It is the fifth main installment in the Tales RPG series, taking place long before Tales of Phantasia (hence a distant prequel), and was the third in the series to be officially released in the U.S. in many years. One notable characteristic of the game is its art direction by Kosuke Fujishima, a renowned Japanese mangaka (comic-book artist).

In 2007, Ufotable will release an OVA in Japan based on the events of Symphonia.[5]

The game begins in the world of Sylvarant, a land that is dying due to a steady loss of mana, the energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself. As the crops begin to wither and hardship sets in, the people turn their hopes to the Chosen One, a servant and messiah of the Goddess Martel, who can reverse the ills of the world by completing the Journey of World Regeneration. The current Chosen is a girl named Colette Brunel, who is protected by her childhood friends Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage, her teacher and Genis' older sister Raine Sage, and Kratos Aurion, a mercenary with a mysterious past. Later on in the game, the party is joined by four other people: Presea Combatir, a strong but strange girl, Zelos Wilder, an arrogant playboy, Sheena Fujibayashi, a female ninja, and Regal Bryant, a quiet ex-convict.

Such a quest is undertaken when the world is in an extreme state of decline. In order to regenerate the world, the Chosen must travel from continent to continent, awakening the Summon Spirits that sleep at ancient shrines known as "seals". With every seal released, the Chosen comes closer and closer to becoming an angel. Once the Chosen fully transforms into an angel, the world will be regenerated.