Tales of Symphonia (GameCube)

Tales of Symphonia was one of the first Tales games to be in 3D and to get a worldwide release. It later would get a Japan-only PS2 port which added some new content, such as new costumes, techs, boss fights, a casino minigame, and various gameplay changes. This PS2 port would later be released to PS3 in all regions as Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, bundled with a port of its sequel, and to PC on Steam, this time without its sequel included. Most recently, the PC port was ported to Switch, PS4, and Xbox One as Tales of Symphonia Remastered with enhanced textures and new bugs not present in any other version.

Of important note is that the GameCube version runs at 30 FPS on the overworld and 60 FPS everywhere else, while the PS2 version runs at 30 FPS in all instances due to less powerful hardware. The original GameCube source code was allegedly lost, resulting in every subsequent port being made using the PS2 version's source code as a base, so the original GameCube version is the only version of the game that runs at 60 FPS.

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes

Unused Graphics#

Unused Item Icon#

An unused item icon exists within the game's files, most likely used as a placeholder. It says "Now printing" in English on top of 4 vertical bars of different colours.

Lloyd's Weapons#

Appearance In-Game	Separated

Appearance In-Game	Separated

Despite Lloyd fighting with dual-wielded swords, the majority of the icons for the Twin Blades items feature only one sword each. The only exceptions are the Material Blade and Lloyd's Devil's Arm, Nebilim, due to both swords of each pair looking different. Instead of being just one icon, though, both are instead made up of two separate overlapping icons. While not technically unused, the individual icons are always obscured by or overlapping the other icon (aside from the few frames it takes to fade in the second icon). It should also be noted that the fire half of Lloyd's Material Blade is the same icon used for Kratos' Flamberge, and is thus the only one that can be seen by itself in normal gameplay.

Unused Cut-ins#

Upon performing Mystic Artes with Lloyd, Genis and Colette, cut-ins appear over the screen with that character's face. Oddly enough, there are unused cut-in graphics for the rest of the party members (Presea even gets two), plus Abyssion and Mithos, on the GameCube version disc. They were used in the PS2 port. You can see them here.

Unused Models/Characters#

Unused Kratos Costume#

In-game	Default Costume Texture	Unused Costume Texture

Normally Kratos has the fewest number of costumes in the game, having just one alternate one, but he actually does have one more in the game. It's very similar to his default, except the lower tails of his cape are both white instead of purple. Kratos will wear this costume if his costume value is set to 02 or higher, but only value 02 will let the costume show up in battle, as other values only work on the overworld and use his default costume in battle. The following code can be used to make Kratos wear it:

005B7449 00000002

It turns out that there is actually one instance where Kratos wears this alternate costume in-game, that being whenever he rides a Rheiard. All other characters are forced to use their default costumes when riding a Rheiard, so the fact that Kratos uses this otherwise unused costume seems to suggest the Rheiards were programmed before Kratos' costume was changed.

Rutee Katrea#

One of the battle models (which are distinct from overworld/NPC models) in the game is that of Rutee Katrea, one of the protagonists of Tales of Destiny. In a developer interview, Kenji Anabuki confirmed that Rutee was used as a test character early in Symphonia's development, acting as a stand-in while the game's character designs were still being worked on.¹ Considering one of the battles at the Coliseum has the party face off against two characters from Tales of Eternia (Farah Oersted and Meredy) and one from Tales of Destiny (Garr/Woodrow Kelvin), it's possible that she could have been planned to be included in this battle as well. Interestingly, the sword in her model is a generic one and does not resemble Atwight, her Swordian from Destiny.

Unseen Details#

Map Textures#

Many of the map textures in the game contain out-of-bounds details never able to be seen by the player, often in the form of signatures or notes left by developers.

Iselia#

ISA_T02	ISB_T02	ISC_T02

A signature that says Aiuchi 5/16 ② underneath a building.

Heimdall#

HEA_T00	HEA_T02

A signature that says Yoshiyuki Aiuchi underneath a building. The name Yoshiyuki Aiuchi is credited as a Level Designer, Town Graphic Designer, and Battlefield Graphic Support for this game.

Unused and Obscure Text#

To do: Add the Japanese equivalents of the below, should they exist, along with translations.

Tower of Mana#

When completing the Tower of Mana for the first time, your party splits into two groups. The first group always includes Lloyd and Colette, along with a third character of the player's choosing if they got Sheena beforehand. The second group is made up of the remaining party members and is always a group of three.

Leaving the dungeon as the first party will make the parties regroup until you re-enter the dungeon, but once the player has control of the second party, they aren't allowed to leave the dungeon as the character on-screen will insist they can't leave the first party behind.

For some reason, Colette actually has dialogue if she's on-screen in the second party, despite it being impossible in normal gameplay. Other characters that aren't supposed to be in the second party (Lloyd, Presea, Zelos, Regal) DON'T have dialogue here, so Colette specially having dialogue seems to indicate there was originally more flexibility in how the teams split up.

Dirk's House (Night)#

Close to the beginning of the game, Dirk's House is seen at night. This isn't done by a lighting effect but rather by sending the player to an entirely different map from the normal one. Normally, Raine blocks the exit by standing on the bridge, and if that wasn't enough, an invisible wall is placed directly behind her. If you manage to get past both though (such as by using the walk through walls cheat), then an unused message can be found. It forces the dialogue box to be yellow and makes the second and third lines of text rapidly cycle through seemingly every colour in the game. It refers to the "retail version", which seems to indicate there was a version of the game where Raine didn't block the bridge, although she's already there in the known March 30th prototype.

You can't go outside.
This message will not
appear in the retail version.

Water Seal#

If you try to burn the jars with lids using the Sorcerer's Ring, the character on-screen will have a unique comment saying it won't burn. Colette actually suffers from an oversight here; after losing her voice, her dialogue will change to ellipses as she can't talk. Even after she returns to normal and regains her voice, though, she continues to use ellipses for the rest of the game.

Furthermore, as Undine is the only Summon Spirit you are required to obtain before going to Tethe'alla, her seal is the only one you never have to revisit. Despite this, Presea, Zelos, and Regal all have unique dialogue here.

Ossa Trail#

Similarly, the trapdoor that Sheena falls in at Ossa Trail garners unique responses from everyone, but only when it's open (if not, no dialogue is shown and instead every character uses the ellipsis bubble emote). Once again, there is absolutely no reason to return here by the time anyone after Sheena joins the party.

Tower of Salvation#

Ever wonder what everyone's canonical screams are? ...No? Well, as it turns out, near the end of the game when racing through the dilapidated Tower of Salvation (which can never be returned to) to save Colette, everyone has a unique piece of dialogue the first time the player jumps onto the tilting platform, said dialogue being a scream. This includes characters who have absolutely no right being in the party here. This includes Colette, who was just abducted moments prior; Kratos, who is either not at the tower at all or supposed to only appear at the end of it to return Colette to normal; and Zelos, who is supposed to either save Colette in the same way as Kratos or have just been killed by the party.

Martel Temple#

This text box may rarely appear in the prototype version dated March 30, 2004, but it was cut from the final version of the game. According to the light novel Shokuzai no Kratos; Colette is the seventh Chosen One to embark on the Journey of World Regeneration, since the decline of Sylvarant began 800 years earlier.

Unused Items#

There are multiple unused items (at least three) within the GameCube version's files, plus one extra Japanese-exclusive item that is unused in all international versions. All of these items won't show up in the inventory if obtained due to not having a set "Category". What this means is that they won't be visible under any of the item categories in the inventory, although as proven with the Rename Gem the game does still recognise them as being in your inventory when obtained. To be able to view them, unequip Lloyd's second accessory slot and use the following code, replacing xxxx with the unused item's ID. The item will then be placed in Lloyd's second accessory slot.

Lloyd's Second Accessory Slot Modifier
(North American version)
025B6BCC 0000xxxx

(UK European version)
025C0DCC 0000xxxx

Rename Gem (ID 01F3)#

To do: It has been tested and verified that the Rename Gem does not work on the UK version of the game, but it's possible that other European versions work.

In the Japanese version of the game, an item called "リネームジェム" (lit. Rename Gem) can be found on the Sylvarant world map in the trees just outside of Izoold, and can be used to rename the playable characters in dialogue and menus (the audio still uses the original names, though). This item was replaced with a Lemon Gel in the international versions of the game, likely due to issues regarding the international version's variable width font. Colette's name alone is 7 characters long in English, meaning all text boxes would have had to accommodate all characters being renamed to seven letter names, which may have been considered too much of a hassle for a mostly pointless feature. Regardless, the item, its icon, and even a translated description for said item are all present within the game's files.

The Rename Gem in particular seems to have intentionally had its item category removed so that it won't be counted toward the Collector's Book, which also means it can't show up in the inventory in non-Japanese versions. In the North American version, despite not showing up in any of the categories, if one adds the Rename Gem to Lloyd's equipment (using the above cheat) and unequips it, the player will be able to rename all characters via the status screen, so the game does still know you have it. Also, due to the Rename Gem only allowing the player to enter names of 6 letters maximum, if you delete a letter in Colette's name, it will be impossible to give her her correctly spelt name again.

The Rename Gem's functionality is completely removed in the European versions of the game, where the name entry screen remains completely inaccessible even if the Rename Gem is added to the inventory.

へルム (ID 014B)#

This item, へルム, which translates to "Erumu", or literally "Helm", is the first completely unused item in the game. It is also the only of the unused items to have no unique icon (instead reusing the "Now Printing" icon) and to not have its name translated to English. Its ID is right at the end of the other Helm armour items, so presumably another Helm item was planned to be included at some point. Equipping it does not seem to do anything, even if it's placed in the head armour slot. It has no description.

The Chosen's Bible (ID 01FE)#

This peculiar item shows up in the middle of all the Valuables (key items) in the game, and was likely meant to be one itself. It has no description, so it's unclear if the "Chosen" in question is referring to Colette, Zelos, or one of the previous Chosen such as Spiritua. Interestingly, the cross design seen on its cover is of the standard Christian cross, which is used nowhere else in the game, so it's likely this item was scrapped early on.

Step Ring (ID 0200)#

This item shows up almost right after The Chosen's Bible and was likely also meant to be a key item given its ID placement and the various other ring Valuables (e.g. Pink Pearl Ring, Spiritua's Ring, Assassin's Ring, etc.). It has no description, so its intended purpose is anyone's guess.

Unused Areas#

Dirk's House (Destroyed)#

Watch on YouTube

Two unused maps can be found within in the game's files that show Dirk's house in total disrepair. The usual music ("Dirk, I'm Home") is replaced with "In the Ashes", the same used when Lloyd and Genis are banished from a destroyed Iselia. Dirk is also nowhere to be found. It's unknown where this was intended to be used, although seeing as it's using the same music, it may be that Dirk's house was intended to be destroyed along with the Iselians' houses at the beginning of the game.

Debug Rooms#

On the US version, after enabling the following Action Replay codes, you can press Z when on any area to teleport to the following locations, although there is the risk of your character getting stuck in the scenery. You can also save and load for quick access to these areas.

Testfield_01#

VJ1M-Q37G-XE3X0
0HHN-RVA3-CGGJ2
P3WY-K2VC-404EP

There are two NPCs here, and a bunch of airships lacking collision detection. The area's 3D model itself abruptly cuts off at some point. It seems to be meant for testing camera angles:

• The female NPC will say "Meow?" and trigger a cutscene where one of the airships takes off (but stays suspended at a certain height), then a close-up of you and her. You can move while in the cutscene.
• The male NPC has two options; the first one will trigger a cutscene where the camera pans very far away from the whole area but approaches with a panoramic view. The whole area model and even the skybox borders are visible. The second option spawns some monsters.

Testfield_02#

RFC5-5E97-4MK8U
0HHN-RVA3-CGGJ2
5RNB-EABT-9RX9B

This is by far the most interesting area: it features a row of blue Katz which, when talked to, allow you to freely edit their characters' 3D models! The available options are:

• Character: here you can choose from all the PCs and NPCs in the game (but not enemies), including some dummied-out and glitchy ones. Most of the values of the other options ("filthy dogs" and "registered character") crash the game.
• You can change the mouth and eyes, too.
• EN makes manga-style emoticons appear above their heads.
• Motion makes them do a specific animation, although you need to go to the loop options to prevent it from abruptly stopping.
• Bones options enables you to rotate any bone in the 3D model by any angle you wish. Video.
• There are Skin, In-between frame and Option (?) settings.
• The last option enables you to revert the character to their original appearance.

There are also three pink Katz, one of which is obstructed initially by the camera view, which changes after talking to any of the blue Katz:

• The bottom/rightmost pink Katz has four options: "Titles", "Techniques" (written in red), "Recipes", and "Weapon test". The first and the third options allow you to unlock all of the Titles/Recipes in the game, while Weapon test causes your character to hold their weapons (not the model of the weapon they have equipped, but rather the generic weapon models used in all overworld cutscenes). Selecting Techniques doesn't do anything, instead displaying the message "Under Development".
• The pink Katz behind the row of blue Katz has the same options as the blue ones, except it changes YOUR character's appearance, allowing you to walk around as any NPC model.
• The pink Katz above/leftmost of the blue Katz has options from 000 to 010, which seem to just crash the game.

Unused Techs#

To do: A new, better video is needed. The current one is very old, low quality, missing multiple unused techs, and also shows multiple techs that ARE used in the final game mixed in with the unused ones.

Watch on YouTubeSome techs are only available with Action Replay codes. Some actually function and do damage, but most will just crash the game.

Working Techs#

Crashing Techs, Ennemies Techs and Others#

Also mentioned in the Main.dol file:

• Inspect Eye: Healing (novice): analyze the target's current status. Clearly an early version of Inspect Magic, added for Raine in the later releases.
• Fairy Circle
• Holy Binds

Some oddities about it:

• Some titles of the techniques or their descriptions appear twice or in strange locations, depending on the version of the game.
• Thunder Blade and Spark Wave seem to have been swapped between "Technique" and "Strike". In the Main.dol file, the techs are generally classified as follows: Level 1, Level 2 in Technique, Level 3 in Technique, Level 2 in Strike, and Level 3 in Strike. In this specific case, Spark Wave occupies the Level 2 Technique slot, followed by Indignation and Thunder Blade is in the Level 2 Strike slot. This is the only oddity present in all versions.

Sound Only#

To do: Add the remaining unused voice clips. Also put the actual quote instead of romaji.

The Sound Test has some battle cries recorded for scrapped Techs (though most of them were seemingly removed from the English version). Some were implemented in later versions.

Raine:

• Fairy Circle: Banbutsu ni yadorishi, seimei no ibuki o koko ni. Sohite, warera ni kago o. Fairy Circle! (Offer us life essence nurturing all creatures, then bestow us your protection: Fairy Circle!) - This was finished and made into one of two Mystic Artes for Raine starting with the PS2 version.
• ...

Kvar:

• • This particularly...lewd callout for minor boss Kvar is found amongst his attack name callouts but is unused in-game. Unless he actually had an attack named Booty Call, this was likely a joke.

Unused Music#

Within the "Sound" directory of the game's files, there are six unused music tracks:

temp1.song A single, quiet piano key.

temp2.song A very fast-paced, high-energy tune. Sounds like a battle theme. It doesn't seem to match the rest of the game's soundfont.

temp3.song A laid-back track that sounds very much like a town theme.

temp4.song A somber rearrangement of Zelos' theme.

temp5.song Another single piano key, slightly longer than temp1.song.

bgm_etc004.song Sad-sounding cutscene music. Replaced by "Fortune Reel - Fast version" in the later releases.

By using the same list, we can also deduce the names and functions of certain missing or unused files:

• bgm_c002.song

Missing. Placed between Lloyd's second theme and Colette's first theme. Which means Lloyd was supposed to have a third theme.

• bgm_c005.song

Missing. Placed between Colette's second theme and Genis's theme. This could mean that Colette was supposed to have a third theme as well, or Genis had an initial theme rejected.

• bgm_c010.song

Missing. Placed between Raine's second theme and Sheena's theme. It could be a theme that was intended for Genis and Raine.

• bgm_c012.song

Missing. Placed between Sheena's theme and Zelos's first theme. Therefore, it was Sheena's second theme.

• bgm_c016.song

Placed between Presea's theme and Regal's theme. Present but it's a single piano key. It was Presea's second theme.

• bgm_c018.song

Placed between Regal's theme and Kratos's theme. Present but it's a single piano key. So it was Regal's second theme.

• bgm_c020.song

Placed between Kratos's theme and Mithos's theme. Present but it's a single piano key. Probably Kratos's second theme.

• bgm_c023.song

Placed between "Encounter with a Renegade" and "Eternal Oath". Present but it's a single piano key. Given its placement, this track was clearly an OST intended for a major character. Since it appears after the respective themes of Kratos, Mithos and Yuan/Botta, and before Origin's, there is a strong chance it could have been dedicated to Martel.

• bgm_e012.song

Placed between "Thanks for all" and "Floating in the Air". Present but it's a single piano key. It's weird, because in the prototype of March 30, 2004; this OST can play randomly alongside the battle OSTs in the "Hasetaka.bin" map (by speaking to Colette). All the other battle tracks are listed as bgm_b, while bgm_e are used for emotional events. This is supposed to be a different category. However given how the soundtracks are rearranged in the sound test, it is possible that this is a mistake...

• bgm_etc002.song & bgm_etc003.song

Placed after "Fun with idol!". Present but that is a single piano key. Replaced by "21 Tactics" and "Fortune Reel" in the later releases.

• bgm_j000.song & bgm_j001.song

Missing. Placed before "Have a Sweet Dream". They could have been used to animate certain scenes; "Have a Sweet Dream" is the only OST which can be played over another. Maybe they're still in the game but elsewhere, with the various sounds?

• bgm_damy_start.song & bgm_damy_end.song

Just a single piano key. Used to delimit the list of OSTs.

Another unused track can be heard during the first footage of the game.

A little oddity: "Secret from the Blue Sky" is named bgm_c007.song. It was supposed to be Genis's second theme, but it isn't designated as such. It was finally used for both Genis and Raine.

Playable Noishe? Playable Rutee? Minini?#

There is some evidence that suggests Noishe may have been intended to be a playable character at some point during development. If character ID 0A (10 in hexadecimal) is cheated into the party, they will have the name Noishe. Changing this name with the Rename Gem will actually update Noishe's name in cutscenes in the same way that other player characters have their names updated; this functionality can be seen here. Additionally, in the second debug room, when selecting a model, Noishe is listed under the PC category rather than the NPC category. Aside from that, this "Noishe" character is in a very unplayable state and crashes the game incredibly easily.

Putting him in the party on console will immediately crash the game when opening the menu due to Noishe lacking any menu graphics, although Dolphin is able to ignore this. His level, stats, equipment and title are seemingly nonsense and change constantly depending on what point in the game the player is in, although his luck stat doesn't change when sleeping at an inn as with other characters. His HP is always in the negatives when unequipped, but sometimes his equipment will let him have HP (said equipment is almost always random glitched items). His tech list always shows that he is able to learn Fire Ball and First Aid, but you can never learn them. If selected to be the party's cook, the game will lag considerably but not crash. As a cook, Noishe has a ridiculous amount of stars in every recipe (so many that they go off-screen) and also has an absurdly long list of extra ingredients, often including duplicate ingredients and bugged items. Certain recipes will also freeze the game if selected while Noishe is the cook. Trying to control Noishe while in a city or dungeon will always crash the game. Switching to Noishe on the overworld works but he will be invisible. Trying to mount Noishe while being Noishe will make Noishe appear and make all inputs stop working (although the game doesn't crash), but switching to controlling Noishe after mounting him with a different character works fine. Similarly, Noishe being on a Rheiard is fine, but if he is in control while mounting or dismounting them, player input stops working again. Both instances require a system reset as not even the menu can be opened in this state.

Entering a battle with Noishe can cause an imminent crash, but you also have a chance to play as Rutee equipped with Last Fencer (same with the character ID 0B or 11 in hexadecimal). Her movements and animations seem completed for the most part, but it's impossible to finish a fight with her; the game crashes immediately before displaying the characters in their victory poses. She's not dubbed.

Finally, there are three files called min_all.bin, Minini.bin and minini_ex.bin, which suggest that a playable character called Minini may have been planned at one point. They are also mentioned in some places in the Main.dol file, next to the names of the group's characters. This could instead be an early name for Noishe or Mithos, however.

Rheiards with Less Than Four Characters#

Watch on YouTube

In normal gameplay, once the player reaches Tethe'alla, the party never drops to below six party members at a point when the player has access to the overworld, meaning there are always enough party members to ride all four of the Rheiards normally shown. Despite this, the game actually accounts for if the player has parties of size three, two, one, or even zero by changing the amount of Rheiards that will appear on-screen.

Oddities#

Element Icons#

For some reason, the game has two sets of element icons, one used in battle when a Magic Lens is used, and the other in the Tech menu and Monster List. The most noticeable differences are in the Ice and Fire icons, but each one is different. Also, for some reason, the Physical element, which multiple enemies are weak or resistant to, is not listed with the other elements in the Monster List and as a result has no menu icon. The menu icons seem to be early versions of the Battle icons, as the Ice element's menu icon is significantly less detailed than the rest in both sets. The menu icons are imperfect circles and have dark black outlines instead of the battle icons' perfectly circular grey outlines (although, Water, Light, and Dark still use darker outlines than the others).

The icons here are listed in the same order as on the battle HUD sheet and are displayed at 200% size to make the differences easier to see, but can be clicked to see them at their original resolution.

Element	Battle	Menu
Physical		n/a
Water
Wind
Fire
Earth
Lightning
Ice
Light
Dark

First Element Water#

The most basic spell in the game is Fire Ball. It's the default magic spell character of every character with black magic (Genis, Zelos, Kratos) and is also used by several bosses and enemies, such as Botta, Magnius, Efreet, the Ktugachlings, Fire Elements, Evil Sorcerers, Witches, Sorcerers, Sorceresses, Chimeras, Manticores, etc. Fire is also one of the most prominent elements in the game even outside of Fire Ball.

Despite this, Water is actually the first element listed on Genis' Tech list, in the Monster List weaknesses/resistances, and even in the game's internal files, being the second element in the battle HUD sprite sheet (with only the Physical element type preceding it). In all aforementioned instances, Fire is listed second, except for the battle HUD sheet where it's actually the fourth element listed (after Physical, Water, and Wind). This also makes Aqua Edge (which is relatively rare, only used by Genis and one boss, Undine) the first spell listed on Genis' Tech list, making it the only non-default Tech to appear first in any character's Tech list.

Regional Differences#

Edit Playable Characters' Names#

As mentioned above, in the Japanese version only, you can edit the names for all of your party members with the Rename Gem, either by selecting it from the Valuables section of the inventory, or by selecting a character's name in the Status screen. As the item was removed in international versions, the naming screen is left inaccessible. The unused Rename Gem functionality in English versions can be seen showcased in the video below. Interestingly, when hitting the Default button to set a character to their default name, characters will use the Japanese spellings of their name. Colette will default to Collet, Genis to Genius, Raine to Refill, and Sheena to Shihna. All other characters will use the normal spelling of their name.

Watch on YouTube

Voice Acting#

The skits in the localized versions of the game have no English voice acting and are completely silent. The timing of the text boxes remains unchanged from the Japanese version, however; for instance, Sheena spends a lengthy time saying "I..." in the English version, accounting for the longer Japanese equivalent of the sentence. This was a trend in the series that continued until Tales of Vesperia's release in 2008.

Sound Test#

In the Japanese version, a Sound Test is unlocked upon completing the game, available on the title screen. It was made unavailable in English versions, much like in Phantasia's GBA port, but is still fully functional, featuring a very early translation that retains the Japanese names (Refill instead of Raine, for example). It can be enabled with either of the following cheats, replacing the Customize option on the title screen:

(NTSC)
Enable Sound Test
W3HR-1A7X-5QU90
CZN1-KAJD-5GPXZ
XB6T-UA6G-18ZEH
G0XN-MQ9H-EDPM7
JBMZ-Y73T-DAQRN

(PAL)
Enable Sound Test [Ralf]
XGUQ-E7F0-FDE5Q
277A-Z7P6-6TR5B
7418-AAPT-VF8RK
KYEA-QNT8-97GG5
5E6E-EBJN-H8FF0

Opening Song#

The Japanese version's opening song is "Starry Heavens" by Day After Tomorrow. This was changed to an instrumental song, "Tales of Symphonia Suite", in the international versions.

Heroic Theme#

When Genis casts Fireball on Yggdrasill during the cutscene at the Tower of Salvation, an instrumental "Heroic" version of the opening theme plays. As the opening song was changed in international versions, the heroic theme was accordingly updated.

Text Fonts#

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

The US and European versions have completely different fonts for dialogue and other text.

References#